The year 2020 may have highlighted the big impact of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to the business sector which translated to job loss, in general. However, there are few sectors of the UAE economy that have shown a promising turnaround.
According to online professional network LinkedIn, there has been a spike in the demand of some jobs.
LinkedIn lists the following jobs that have a growing demand especially for the year 2021.
1.Specialized Medical Professionals
According to the report, the category saw 112 percent growth in hires. Nurses and General Practitioners are on a high demand across the UAE.
It identified Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah as the top locations where they are hiring these individuals.
2.Digital Content Freelancers
The rise in online activity and the limitation in movements have also paved the way for companies to adopt to digital platforms across sectors. This led to high demand for free lancers where a 200 percent increase in digital content-related jobs was noted.
Most of these jobs include being a blogger, YouTuber, content coordinator, and podcaster.
3.Healthcare Supporting Staff
There was also a noted increase in the hiring of laboratory assistants and clinical managers who mostly work behind the scenes on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and vaccine development.
A 129 percent rise in the hiring of these roles was noted with top skills like hematology, infection control, microbiology, laboratory skills, and clinical research were needed.
4.E-Commerce
With the change of consumer behavior in turning to online platforms to buy products, e-commerce has also been steadily growing.
Most of the skills required here are digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and E-commerce.
5.Digital Marketing Specialists
A 71 percent growth was recorded in the hiring of Digital Marketing roles in 2020.
Some of the highest growth was on social media related roles such as social media marketing manager, social media manager, social media marketing specialist as among the job titles.
6.Business Development and Sales Roles
Software and technology, enabling digital transformation, saw an upward trend in the region.
As a result, more sales people were hired in the UAE with 74 percent growth in business development and sales hires recorded.
7.Professional and Personal Coaches
The pandemic has also affected the career paths of some people.
There was a 207 percent growth in the hiring of personal and professional coaches as compared in 2019.
Notably, the hirings were mostly filled by women, with majority of them being self-employed.
8.Creative Professionals
Freelance Writers and Video Producers were in high demand back in 2020.
This is due to the fact that more companies now are looking to make their digital presence stronger with the aid of high-quality content.
9.Education Roles
The hirings registered 72 percent increase in 2020.
The most high demand role is that of Teaching Assistants at New York University Abu Dhabi and American University of Sharjah.
10.Language Services
Medical Interpreters and English teachers transitioned to a Translator role in the previous year.
This job category increased by 134 percent compared to 2019.
11.General Business Roles
Many of the job openings here are for top management positions which requires skills like business strategy, strategic planning, organizational development, leadership, and team management as top skills needed in order to get hired.
12.Technology
Technology roles like Frontend Developer and Technical Director were some of the top technology roles that were hired in 2020.
The job category noted a 61 percent growth in its hires.
13.Specialized Engineering Roles
This job category continued to rise over the past few years with a 72 percent growth registered in 2020.
Most common job titles in this category include marine engineer, materials engineer, machine learning engineer, audio engineer and biomedical engineer.
14.Finance Roles
Expertise of financial professionals were sought after last year with a 63 percent growth recorded for this job category.
15.Online News & Journalism
The availability of fast, reliable, and accurate information during the pandemic was a must.
This fueled the increase in online media consumption.
As a result, there was a 58 percent increase in this category with more journalists and editors getting hired to the position.
Ali Matar, Head of LinkedIn MENA and Emergung Markets in Europe and Africa, explained that the pandemic has “opened up opportunities in a number of sectors as businesses continue to adapt to the pandemic”.
Matar added that “2021 will undoubtedly be a year of continued change, but companies will also continue to look for new ways to improve services, create fresh business opportunities and strengthen their talent pools, taking advantage of a greater diversity of skills and talent in the job market”.
