As hundreds of Emirati students and young professionals gathered at the Dubai World Trade Centre this week, Ru’ya 2026 offered a platform for career exploration and talent development across more than 150 employers representing over 23 sectors. The three-day career fair, which runs until tomorrow, brought together government entities, universities, and private industry partners under the theme "Ready for What’s Next? The Future of Work."
The event emphasized not only job applications but also career guidance, leadership development, entrepreneurship, innovation, and STEM opportunities. Organizers encouraged visitors to engage openly with employers and advisors to better understand potential career paths and the skills needed to succeed.
For Mohamed Al Marzooqi, CEO of HSBC Bank Middle East in the UAE, recruiting Emirati talent is straightforward; the challenge lies in nurturing and retaining those hires. Drawing on his own experience entering HSBC through a graduate program, Al Marzooqi urged graduates to view their CVs as evolving documents, recommending the ongoing acquisition of new skills each quarter. HSBC anticipates employing some 900 Emiratis by the end of the year and has 70 positions available at the fair primarily in wealth management, risk, and compliance.
The Emirates Group showcased a hands-on approach, bringing uniformed pilots, engineers, and other professionals to engage directly with aspiring candidates. Youssuf Bin Lahej, Vice President for Emiratisation and Government Partnership, emphasized the value of connecting students with current employees to gain practical insights into specific roles. He advised job seekers to evaluate the substance of a position rather than its title and highlighted the strategic importance of expanding the national talent pool amid Dubai’s aviation sector growth.
Discussions at Ru’ya also addressed the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Industry leaders stressed the benefits of AI in enhancing productivity by automating routine tasks such as summarizing documents, organizing data, and conducting initial research. However, they cautioned that employees must retain domain expertise to effectively oversee AI outputs and identify errors, particularly when learning new skills.
Ergul Hemmingsen, Chief Human Capital Officer at Core42, noted that AI is most effective when it removes friction in workflows while human judgement remains central to decision-making. Arturo Buzzalino, Chief Product Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Epicor, highlighted AI’s potential in industrial operations for real-time monitoring and anomaly detection, asserting that human assessment is crucial where trust, ethics, and accountability are involved.
Experts agreed that while AI can support preparation and routine work, complex tasks requiring empathy, negotiations, strategic thinking, and leadership must remain under human control. Hemmingsen suggested that employees ask themselves whether a task requires understanding of wider implications to determine if human ownership is necessary.
The skill set needed to thrive alongside AI goes beyond technical expertise. Fluency with AI tools, combined with critical thinking, curiosity, communication, adaptability, and deep subject matter knowledge, emerged as key factors. Core42 is pioneering role-based learning pathways and sandbox environments to help employees experiment with AI, refine skills, and tackle daily workplace challenges under expert guidance.
Buzzalino underscored the rising importance of critical thinking, as generating answers becomes easier but questioning their quality grows more vital. Communication, collaboration, leadership, and empathy remain essential for successful workplace outcomes, reinforcing that while technology evolves, human understanding and relationships continue to shape professional success.