After 5-year search, Emirati with disability hopes for job at industrial careers fair (original) (raw)

When Obaid Al Habsi arrived at the Industrialists Career Exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, he carried with him more than just copies of his CV. The 25-year-old Emirati had travelled from Ras Al Khaimah in search of something he has spent the past five years looking for: His first job.

"I came hoping to find a vacancy that suits my needs and the requirements of the workplace," said Al Habsi, who uses a wheelchair and has lived with a physical disability since birth. After graduating from high school in 2021, he spent years applying for jobs, attending recruitment events and taking courses while waiting for an opportunity.

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On Monday, he visited five companies at the exhibition and submitted applications for customer service roles. "They asked me to send my documents and CV by email," he said. "Hopefully, I will get a chance."

Al Habsi was among more than 3,000 Emiratis who had registered for the first day of the exhibition, according to organisers. The event, hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, brings together job seekers and employers from industrial, engineering and technology sectors.

Despite struggling to secure work, Al Habsi has continued developing his skills. He has completed training courses, enjoys reading and writing, and hopes to study artificial intelligence in the future. "AI has a big future and the labour market needs these skills,” he said.

His story was echoed across the exhibition halls, where hundreds of young Emiratis queued at company stands, clutching CVs and searching for opportunities in a competitive job market. Among them was 21-year-old Sultan Al Mesabi, who graduated from high school in 2023 before completing national service and spending a year studying English in the Philippines.

Now back in the UAE, he is looking for a scholarship or company-sponsored degree programme that would allow him to pursue engineering studies. "Most of the jobs require qualifications I don't yet have.”

He said he did not want to join the police or the military like the rest of his siblings and was keen on studying aviation engineering. He came to the exhibition hoping to secure a scholarship to university through one of the companies.

For others, the exhibition has already changed the course of their careers. Moza Al Zaabi, now a senior quality supervisor at Emirates Food Industry, attended an earlier edition of the exhibition while searching for work after earning a degree in biochemistry. She said she was interviewed on the spot and received a job offer the next day. Two years later, she has been promoted and now works across the company's industrial operations.

"I wasn't fully convinced when I first saw the site," she admitted. "But you need to start from somewhere."

The reason is that she had to spend working hours at a portacabin in industrial zones like Jebel Ali or ICAD; "most women aren’t comfortable with that." Nonetheless, she said she was happy she had made ‘a few sacrifices’ to have achieved where she’s at today.

After graduating with a biochemistry degree, Al Zaabi initially expected to build a career in medical laboratories, which she said remain the preferred option for many science graduates. "I was in medical laboratories before," she said.

"Most people with similar backgrounds prefer that route, so they don't usually think about working in industrial laboratories." However, she said the skills she learned through her degree translated well into the food manufacturing sector, where laboratory testing and quality assurance play a critical role. "The laboratory work is still there. You're still testing, analysing and applying scientific knowledge, but you're doing it in an industrial environment."

Her experience reflects a broader shift highlighted by organisers, who say increasing numbers of young Emiratis are considering careers in private industry rather than focusing exclusively on government jobs. Ibtisam Al Saadi, acting assistant undersecretary for the industrial development sector at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, said attitudes towards industrial careers have changed significantly in recent years.

"Today you are finding people who are actively looking for opportunities in the private sector because they understand that the opportunity to learn more is there.” Alsaadi added that industrial careers increasingly extend beyond traditional factory roles into fields such as artificial intelligence, advanced technology, healthcare, genomics, food safety, engineering and research.

For job seekers like Al Habsi, however, the immediate goal remains simple. After five years of searching, he hopes one of the conversations he started on Monday will finally lead to a job offer.