Sharjah24: "Gateway to Career Opportunities" was the theme of the first virtual career fair for the new academic year 2020/2021 organised by the Students Career and Alumni Department at Zayed University (ZU), with the aim of supporting Emiratization and providing employment opportunities for university students and graduates and helping them build their career options on practical grounds.

This year Career fair was exceptional, as it was virtually held through an online platform specialized in professional networking between employers looking for exceptional talent and fresh graduates. 

The event hosted 35 companies that included a variety of governmental, semi-governmental organizations and private companies covering all the academic disciplines that ZU offers such as administration, IT, business, insurance, retailers and the health sector. The companies presented an array of opportunities such as full-time and part-time vacancies and offered ZU’s graduates direct discussions with jobseekers. The graduates got the chance to conduct interviews on the spot via zoom platform upon meeting the requirements needed for the job that they applied for. 

Dr. Hind Alrustamani- Assistant Provost for Student Affair: “We were very excited to announce our first Virtual Career Fair, considering the current conditions with the pandemic, our team was determined to take that as an opportunity to embark on a new chapter when it comes to employment possibilities. With creating a virtual career fair, the major perk was connecting our students and graduates with esteemed employers from the convenience of their own space along with both parties being able to use the platform’s tool to narrow their search towards suitable opportunities.”

She further added: “We managed to bring together more than 840 graduates to attend the event, who has the chance to discover different job opportunities offered by the participating companies. Due to the high demand, we are planning to host a similar event by the end of the semester to provide the senior ZU students a special event focused on internship opportunities.” 

Fahed AlAreqi, ZU Alumni ‘14 expressed his gratitude towards the University for the virtual event and stated: “The platform presented to us an array of government and public entities that offered multiple job vacancies at once, the online meeting made it easier to browse through all openings. The virtual conference eased the process of obtaining important information during the job seeking process”.

He added: “I prefer the virtual career fair – apart from it being far more accessible, additionally, it has a great impact on the environment as it avoids us from printing hard copies of our resumes and application forms”. 

A senior student R.S from the College of Technological Innovation at Zayed University commented on her experience with the virtual career fair saying: “I found it very easy to look for what I want, and I believe it is very helpful for undergraduate and graduate students. I discovered companies that I wish to do my internship with, and hopefully secure a long-term position in the future. Both online and physical career fairs have their advantage. In my opinion, I prefer the online career fair as I can easily communicate with various people at the same time, whilst viewing my options all at once.’’
 
Zayed university hosts two career fairs per academic year on both campuses. Zayed University’s Career fairs gives an opportunity for leading organizations in the UAE to connect with ZU students and alumni to discuss job opportunities and learn about the needs and requirements of the job market.