Expo pavilion recruitment ‘a shot in the arm’ for job market
Dozens of Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions have begun to hire thousands of staff in anticipation of the event’s launch in October.
The boom in recruitment is for guest services, tour guides, chefs, hosts and site managers, as governments and embassies seek to hire personnel to host their pavilions.
A total of 192 pavilions are set up on the 438-hectare site. Some of the larger pavilions require up to 200 staff each.
Millions of visitors are expected to visit Expo 2020 between October 2021 and March 2022. Before the pandemic, the organisers predicted this number to be 25 million – a majority of them tourists.
Ahmed Al Khatib, chief development and delivery officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, said despite the travel disruption, he was confident of a huge turnout.
“We are very optimistic that, with vaccination and increased awareness of the entire world of how to deal with Covid, that people will continue to come to this event,” he said.
Mackenzie Jones Middle East is among the companies now filling roles.
“Everyone is gearing up now for Expo,” founder David Mackenzie said.
He said Global Affairs Canada, which manages the Canadian government’s diplomatic and consular relations, was the latest to send a tender for a recruitment agent to find them 60 staff to work in its pavilion.
The British embassy has already awarded its contract to a consortium led by ServeU to operate and staff its pavilion.
Recruiters are looking for a range of roles, from pavilion manager to visitor experience guides and back office staff – including cleaning and security.
An advertisement was posted on LinkedIn two weeks ago for an “enthusiastic operations officer to support ground logistics for the USA Pavilion”.
Big Fish Recruitment has several job advertisements on LinkedIn for a “European pavilion”, including visitor guides, receptionist and lounge staff.
Director Gary Segesdy said Big Fish was offering HR consultancy services to embassies seeking to recruit staff.
“Depending on the footprint, pavilions need anything from 10 to 200-plus staff, if you include all the blue-collar workers for services such as housekeeping as well,” he said. “It’s going to be a shot in the arm for the employment market, for sure. It can only be good thing.”
The salaries on offer vary depending on the pavilion and their local employment laws.
Languages are a key requirement. Guides or receptionists who can speak English, Hindi, Arabic and Tagalog are in demand.
Recruiters are keen to hire a mix of staff as pavilion guides, from graduates to mums looking to return to the workforce on a temporary basis. The effect of the recrutiments will be felt globally, as agents said they were looking further afield for talent. Tasc Outsourcing, a staffing agency in Dubai, has just won a contract to recruit about 190 people for two pavilions, said the company’s senior vice president, Abbas Ali.
“We are bringing lots of technicians from different parts of the world – real specialists like laser technicians,” he said.
Estate agent Harry Tregoning, founder of Tregoning Property, has noticed a sharp rise in business.
“I’ve had inquiries from two separate companies looking for more than 150 rooms for seven-month leases for Expo,” he said.