The Middle East offers many exciting employment opportunities for eager professionals worldwide, with powerful economies and blossoming trade promoting growth across many industries.
The luxurious lifestyle available for workers in the more affluent areas of the Middle East are often difficult to pass up; featuring a range of amenities and opportunities that are the envy of many other nations. However, when it comes to choosing the ideal job to jump into, or the perfect career path to follow, you want to be making an informed choice.
With the economic forecast in the Middle East region still looking predominantly good for 2015, now is the perfect time to reap the rewards of becoming part of some of the world’s biggest up and coming economies.
If you’re preparing to make the jump, you’ll want to be heading in the direction of the highest performing industries; the industries that offer the highest profits, and the greatest career potential.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five of the most attractive industries in the Middle East, for 2015.
IT and Communications
Seeing as it’s largely the case in most other international regions, IT and communications are somewhat unsurprisingly a necessary, well-paid industry in the Middle East.
Indeed, it’s fair to say that, in today’s world, the IT and Communications sector forms the cornerstone of some, if not all, of the world’s most successful businesses.
However, while there are plenty of home-grown businesses, and already established international businesses, crying out for IT professionals to enable and ease further growth, there is too small an amount to keep up with present demand.
Many theories abound as to what has caused this shortage; with some pointing towards a lack of enthusiasm and education in regards to IT in the region.
Regardless of the specifics of the cause itself, the need is established, and presents an ideal opening for IT and communications professionals looking for employment in the region.
Construction
With the economy remaining stable across large swathes of the Middle East region, and actively thriving in others, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in particular have seen massive influxes of construction workers and businesses.
This demand has created an abundant supply; with many skilled workers travelling from overseas to find better salaries in the Middle East than they could ever hope to find in their native countries.
There has been a wealth of high profile construction projects undertaken in the Middle East regions in recent years, with many more scheduled, and it’s a given at this point that overseas expertise is required to facilitate these projects. Now is the perfect time to fill the gaps in the skilled labour force in the Middle East region!
Banking/Finance
The Arab Spring has curbed economic growth and development over many Middle Eastern states; including Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.
While this certainly hasn’t helped the overall fortunes of the region, it hasn’t diminished the still growing wealth of many of the more stable states like the UAE.
Indeed, with the amount of money being earned and exchanged in the UAE at the moment, banking and general financial staff are still very much in high demand. The Monster Employment Index for the Middle East calculated that Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI) industries are the top growth sectors for the nation (as of October 2014); it looks there will be a requirement for skilled workers in the financial sector in the region, and the UAE especially, for the near future.
Education
A trend in the Middle East which has been gaining less visibility in the media in recent years is massive growth in the education sector.
For example, enrolment rates in all levels of education in the have been on the rise, keeping in step with population growth, and the massive influx of foreign workers and families that are emigrating to the Middle East to make the most out of the growth in other industries.
Some have also posited that the gradually diminishing size of gender division across some nations in the Middle East have led to a boom in the demand for tertiary level education from women; increasing the need for education professionals and establishments. This is again good news for professionals looking to work in the Middle East in similar fields; providing numerous opportunities for gainful and fulfilling employment in education.
Oil, Gas, and Petrochemicals
Of course oil, gas and petrochemicals are still the lifeblood of the Middle East, with the region’s oil reserves totalling 47.9% of the total amount in the world.
While there have been indications over the last few years that oil and gas production will cease to increase above present levels in the Middle East, there is little evidence to suggest that profits will destabilise in the near future.
In other words, the oil, gas and petrochemical industry is still an almost ridiculously lucrative one to be part of; the demand for fossil fuels isn’t going away any time soon, and there is a wide range of potential positions within the industry to choose from; finances, management, logistics… the list is a long one, and well worth exploring.
The writer is a content specialist