Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has offered jobs to more than 150 young UAE Nationals at Ru’ya Careers UAE.

EGA conducted more than 200 interviews at the career fair, mostly for positions on the company’s long-running National Training and Graduate Training programmes.

During the Ru’ya Careers UAE, EGA signed a collaboration agreement with the UAE chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to support Emiratisation and gender diversity in the industrial sector. IEEE is the global technical professional association for these fields of engineering and related disciplines.

EGA’s National Training programmes develop high school leavers for technical roles in the company’s industrial operations and administration. More than 5,000 UAE Nationals have graduated from these programmes since they were first established in 1982, with many then having long and successful careers with EGA.

Some 52 UAE Nationals, including 28 women, have joined EGA’s National Training programmes so far in 2024. New recruits from the Ru’ya Career Fair are expected to start from November 2024.

EGA’s Graduate Training programme provides university graduates with an approximately 18-month training programme enabling them to assume permanent, leading roles in the organisation.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “EGA has focused on the recruitment and development of talented young Emiratis for decades to secure the people we need to grow our business and contribute to our nation’s sustainable economic development. I am pleased to see many young talented UAE Nationals engage with our team at Ru’ya Careers UAE and I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to our company.”

EGA already has one of the highest Emiratisation rates of any major company on a like-for-like basis accounting for the high proportion of blue-collar roles in heavy industry.

EGA’s in-focus Emiratisation rate was 42.6 per cent at the end of 2023. EGA aims to accelerate in-focus Emiratisation, targeting that the number of UAE Nationals rises as a proportion of the in-focus workforce by two per cent every year to reach 48 per cent by 2026.

This means EGA’s goal is to create 500 additional opportunities for UAE Nationals over the next three years.

More than 1,200 UAE Nationals now work at EGA. Over 700 of EGA’s Emirati employees are under the age of 35.

EGA has participated in 12 career fairs so far in 2024, including both major fairs and EGA’s own recruitment drives, such as those conducted with Dubai Government Human Resources Department, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, Department of Government Enablement, HR Department of RAK Government, HR Department of Fujairah Government. These events have taken place in every Emirate.