United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

In 2007 the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Center conducted an e-Maturity Assessment with the objective of identifying the strength and weaknesses as well as the challenges and opportunities available across the entire Abu Dhabi (AD) government landscape. Among other key findings, the e-Maturity Assessment revealed a major void and shortage of readily available talented professionals including engineers and scientists. This finding did not tally well against the noticeable economical growth of AD neither provided satisfactory results for meeting the demands of the local job market.

With thousands of jobs created yearly, government entities in particular along with private entities were challenged with inefficient, time consuming and cost driven traditional recruitment processes. Employers’ surveys and interviews indicated that these traditional processes involved newspaper advertisements for junior positions and employment agencies as well as head-hunters for senior positions. The average cost spent on recruiting junior positions was approximately between $4,000, for middle managements and experts $8,000, and about $16,000 for senior managements, giving an average-cost of $9,000 per new employee.

Furthermore, this inefficient cumbersome process delayed employment, where it took around 3-4 months before the best fit candidate is identified, selected and then hired. This issue coupled with the inability to find the right skills, caused project delays, unmet targets and a decrease in the quality of service provide by both public and private sectors.

Additionally, AD entities faced difficulties in attracting international candidates, which hindered the possibility of knowledge transfer and the sharing of expertise and best practises from around the world. Overall, the traditional recruiting process restricted the development and success of entities and threatened AD’s potential economical growth.

From a candidate’s perspective, job seekers had low or no visibility of existing opportunities that matches their talents and credentials. Specifically, public sector job openings were, most of the time, only known via a word of mouth.

Potential candidates had little or no access to entities’ HR personnel. As a consequence, both women and fresh graduates were directly affected by this lack of visibility and transparency and had inadequate access to available opportunities. People with special needs who were skilled and willing to work had no reference to interested employers and had no means to display their availability in the job market.

Furthermore, there was no international visibility for available AD jobs, where skilled individuals around the world could apply and benefit from the large number of opportunities created monthly. Therefore, the hunt for skilled individuals was restricted to the low visibility of such vacancies and confined entities from employing the right talents that matched their requirements.

In summary, finding the right talents involved unnecessary costs and strenuous efforts yielding inefficient and ineffective results. AD lacked a government-wide, transparent recruitment medium to help facilitate the employment process and to attract best candidates from around the world.

Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) was found to address these issues and to help entities and job seekers from around the globe to access the thriving AD job market in an easy and transparent manner.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) creates a transparent forum to facilitate a direct bridge between Abu Dhabi (AD) employers and potential talents around the world. Now, Government and private entities posses a hub for talents with more than 90,000 registered candidates from 150 countries and territories around the world. JAD facilitated the posting of 11,000 job opportunities till today’s date and helped recruit 2800 job seekers within 8 months after launch giving them and their dependents a new and improved standard of living. JAD introduced a new and efficient- cost effective recruitment approach where employers freely post all their desired positions and search through JAD database (50,000 resumes). Government entities, biggest recruiters in AD, can utilize JAD strategic partner’s database as well which contains around 4 million resumes and can benefit from the direct support and assistance from JAD team. JAD customer satisfaction survey revealed 91% of employers are satisfied and 100% are willing to recommend this 24/7 available service. Additionally, JAD has allowed Employers to save a significant amount of money which was earlier used on traditional recruitment methods such as newspaper advertising and recruitment agents. An estimated amount of $US15 was saved by AD government entities and a similar amount was saved by private entities. Furthermore, the 26 search criteria on JAD facilitates instant finding of the right talent thus considerable effort and time is saved given that all information is available immediately in comparison to 3-4 months of effort and time using traditional recruitment methods. JAD is also equipped with an auto-filtration tool that allows employers to automatically exclude jobseekers who do not match their requirements. JAD brings to the Government and its entities a large pool of talents comprised of some of the world’s finest prospective candidates, who, despite wanting to work in the Emirate, would have otherwise faced obstacles of distance and lack of information. Since launch, the trilingual site was visited over 800,000 times allowing talents from all around the world to view available job opportunities and to expose their expertise. Candidates have the possibility to directly post their resumes on JAD where they expose their talents to all registered employers. Job seekers can also directly apply to any desired opportunity where their resume is sent to the HR personnel in charge. Women, fresh graduates and people with special needs found an efficient media to expose their talents which helped to overcome cultural barriers that restricted their exposure. JAD identified 30 jobs for people with special needs since launch and assisted to identify hundreds of vacancies for fresh graduates. JAD helps promote the healthy and modern image of AD as a place of choice for professionals from all around the world, providing them with a high level of security, stability and high standard of living. In addition, it formulates a recruitment hub where researchers and universities can conclude information and forecast future programs. JAD also supports the economic vision and growth of the capital and formulates a raw model for other governments to implement.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
1. Abu Dhabi Government and ADSIC In line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030, in 2005, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) was entrusted with the Abu Dhabi Government Modernisation Program by the Chairman of The Executive Council. ADSIC’s role is to develop, drive, and support various initiatives within the Government to transform government services in the Emirate. A key objective of this transformation is to establish a modern, efficient, and citizen-centric e-Government platform to rival the best in the world. ADSIC’s 2006 Strategic Plan identified the need for an Abu Dhabi Virtual Job Market (VJM). A Project Team was set up under the leadership of Director General of ADSIC. Team decided to use collaborative approach with a leading private sector recruiting virtual job site so as to design and leverage proven and successful technology platforms, integrate their existing large repositories of resumes and positions, and accommodate future collaboration between the VJM and relevant organizations. 2. Public – Private Sector Partnership After a comprehensive partner evaluation process, ADSIC Project Team selected Bayt.com, the #1 job site in the Middle East having presence in 11 cities, with more than 10 years of experience in the field. Partnership offered to ADSIC a complete range of end-to-end employment solutions and career planning tools with a good understanding of the local job market and its nuances. 3. Other Stakeholders To ensure all stakeholder needs and expectations are understood and integrated into design, ADSIC engaged with Department of Civil Services, Tawteen, Abu Dhabi Government Entities (ADGE) and local Private sector organizations. Verification and validation process with candidates and other stakeholder ensured their requirements are addressed. Through job posting, collaboration, advice, and recommendations, these more than 250 private and government entities play an important role in implementing and enhancing JAD. Some of the leading ADGEs using JAD are: - Department of Transport - Abu Dhabi Ports Company - Musanada - Emirates Steel Industries In addition, more than 200 private companies are present on JAD including: - Etisalat - Dubai Islamic Bank - Carrefour Finally, JAD also facilitates recruitment for several Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) such as: - United Nations Development Program in the United Arab Emirates - International Committee of the Red Cross in the UAE 4. Job Seekers Last but not least, the job seekers themselves are the most important part of JAD. Through their collaborative efforts in registering their resumes, they are key contributors of content to the JAD Portal. In numbers, more than 800,000 people accessed the website, out of which more than 90,000 registered and 50,000 completed online resumes. Most significantly, even in the ongoing economic crisis, 2,800 candidates found employment within the first eight months of launch through JAD.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
In 2005, the Abu Dhabi Government began work on a far-reaching service transformation program transcending all government departments, authorities, and administrations. The strategic vision behind Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) derives from Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre’s (ADSIC’s) e-Government strategy, which is for the Abu Dhabi Government to be a “High-Performance Government Delivering World-Class Services to the Benefit of All Its Customers.” The strategy is based on the internationally recognized and proven conceptual framework that addresses e-Government challenges in a comprehensive fashion: the Environment-Readiness-Usage (E-R-U) framework. JAD falls within the Usage dimension, which lays the foundation for a service-oriented government. To achieve this, strong enabling attributes aligned across government must be in place, which is achieved through the Readiness (R) dimension, such as the national Web portal or governmental IT standards. The Environment (E) dimension accounts for nationwide factors that are relevant to ensuring a conducive “environment,”. The objectives JAD were to enable the following: ̶ Radically improve efficiencies in recruitment process in Government Departments thereby reducing process cycle time and cost ̶ Attract top notch talent from international markets ̶ Access for citizens, residents, and potential residents to comprehensive job market services, by providing the ability to search and apply for public and private-sector jobs online, to be automatically matched with jobs that present a reasonable fit, and to communicate matching results ̶ Efficient alternatives to traditional recruitment process for employers, by providing employers the ability to post vacancies and to search and screen potential candidates based on 29 criteria, to automatically match open positions to job seekers who present a reasonable fit, and to manage initial communications for positive matches ̶ Improve matching rates for both employers (the right person for the right job) and potential employees (the right job/employer for their needs) ̶ Improve transparency on open positions, jobs attained, and job market information for Abu Dhabi as a whole, including both the public and private sectors ̶ Provide automated links with relevant employer organizations for the efficient exchange of job and candidate profiles, available positions, and other job market information resources including advice, training opportunities, and volunteering ̶ Promote Abu Dhabi’s booming economy internationally Following four strategic themes of the e-Government strategy were used as JAD’s guiding principles: - JAD’s approach was based on addressing e-Government vision and being part of the comprehensive master plan portfolio set forth by ADSIC. - JAD is cross-governmental in design, directly serving numerous government and private entities in Abu Dhabi. - JAD is designed with an end-user focus as it directly serves job seekers to successfully find a job. - JAD provides efficiency to job seekers by being available 24/7 and providing a comprehensive and focused virtual job market for Abu Dhabi. Employers can access thousands of resumes and search according to specific criteria.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
1. Planning and Partnering Phase In June 2006 Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) developed a high-level vision of Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD). In September 2007 ADSIC chose to partner with leading commercial recruiting sites. JAD’s partner was identified using a comprehensive evaluation process, laid down in ADSIC’s “Roadmap to Implementation.” The evaluation criteria and objectives were to leverage existing technology platforms and repositories of large commercial recruiting sites and to assess available specific partnering approaches, within the projected time and expense. In February 2008, ADSIC issued a Request for Interest to leading commercial recruitment site vendors. After thorough negotiations through May 2008, Bayt was selected as the most suitable partner. 2. Roll Out Project took five months and was divided into three broad phases: Design, Implementation, and Operations. a. Design Phase (May–June 2008) Key steps: 1) Best practices review 2) Identification of all stakeholders and understanding their needs and expectations 3) Analysis of existing government recruiting 4) Definition of functional requirements 5) JAD layout 6) IT requirements for JAD and the linkages to the Government Portal 7) Design of a functional operating model 8) Detailed implementation and rollout plan 9) Pilot JAD development b. Implementation Phase (June–October 2008) Key steps: 1) Approval by the Ministry of Labour 2) Allocation/procurement of the JAD components 3) Building the JAD hosting environment 4) Development 5) Testing 6) Quality assurance 7) Deployment In implementation Phase, ADSIC’s role included: - Creation of website’s look and feel, including pictures and colors - Onboarding of Abu Dhabi Government Entities, including training and assistance to post and import listings - Onboarding of private sector through presentations to identified companies - Branding, including logo and use - Launch Marketing, including organization of newspaper, radio, and billboard/street advertisement campaigns throughout Abu Dhabi - Launch plan at the Najah career exhibition 4. Operations Phase (October 2008 onwards) JAD’s unique public-private partnership has allowed the site swift and efficient entry into the Abu Dhabi Virtual Job Market (VJM) space. Upon launch, JAD was able to offer an effective VJM solution with more than 3 million resumes available for employers to search and thousands of vacancies for job seekers to review. Maintenance and technical support of JAD after the launch has consisted of: - Technical maintenance from Bayt - Content management from ADSIC and Bayt - Knowledge transfer from Bayt to ADSIC - 24x7 online, onsite, and telephone Customer Service through ADSIC and Bayt JAD invested in several marketing activities including presentations at several career fairs and on university campuses. Additionally, Google campaigns were conducted in April and October 2009. By early 2009, JAD had become a key player in job placement in Abu Dhabi with, for example, more than 40,000 web visits in May 2009 and continually increasing. In May 2009, JAD was recognized with the Arab e-Content Awards in the Regional World Summit Award (WSA) Competition at Bahrain.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Implementing Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) involved some obstacles, as is always the case when a project of such scale and novelty is introduced to a government and its citizens. 1. Technical Challenge Ensuring technical robustness of the e-Service represented one of the key challenges e.g. : there were no technical flaws, data privacy violations, or security risks. It also had the imperative need of being scalable to withstand anticipated growth. To fulfil these requirements, JAD partnered with the leading provider of online recruitment company and ensured compliance with the governmental IT Architecture and Standards, including the Abu Dhabi Information Security standards. 2. Initial Take-Up and Government Change of Culture The innovative concept of a governmental online recruitment platform was met with some resistance from Abu Dhabi Government Entities (ADGEs) as it requires a different mindset and a change from traditional recruitment processes used for years. This sentiment was overcome through meetings with all ADGEs addressing all concerns. New concepts such as Facebook groups and Google campaigns were met with initial scepticism. But once Entities started realising the value and major benefits in terms of speed, quality of candidates, cost, ease, simplicity etc. Use of JAD e-Service were eventually employed by many to attract talent from all around the world. Initial take-up was ensured through large-scale marketing programs (radio and newspaper advertisement, billboards. 3. Government Entity Skill Level The limited ICT readiness of human resources (HR) departments of ADGEs was another obstacle. To alleviate this, JAD supported the ADGEs through an entity onboarding team and face-to-face tutorials on exploring and using the services’ functionalities. 4. Job Posting Take-Up Many ADGEs registered but only searched for resumes without actively posting positions. Through individual follow-up with these entities, they were encouraged to actively use job-posting function, which has led to the usage of this option by all registered ADGEs. 5. User Friendliness for Job Seekers To enable the use of the intelligent search criteria, job seekers must complete a resume in several separate online forms with drop-down menus, which has been a challenge. Continuous feedback from users has allowed the JAD team to modify the interface to enhance its user-friendliness. 6. Latest Trends Job seekers and ADGEs lose interest quickly if website is not up to date with latest technology and functionalities. JAD constantly monitors the competition and keeps on top of these functionalities. Mobile services and smart agents through business intelligence functionality are soon to be introduced. 7.Attracting UAE Nationals including Women and People with Special Needs Initially not many UAE Nationals and People with Special needs used JAD. Entities were also finding it difficult to search and attract UAE National women candidates and people with special needs. Personalised marketing campaigns were targeted to attract them. Job vacancies for people with special needs are given preference posting on JAD portal. 30 positions for people with special needs were posted on the home page.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
I. Technical Resources The public-private partnership with an online recruitment company having more than 10 years of experience allowed Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) to leverage state-of-the-art technical resources. The following resources have been leveraged for JAD. 1. Distributed Data Centres JAD benefits from a distributed network of data centers and monitoring systems. 2. Off-Premises Backup Full backup of the system is performed weekly. Tapes are kept outside of the hosting premises. 3. Power Continuity and Protection Cabinets are provided with independent, fully redundant power circuits fed by power distribution units. Three power generators with 72 hours of onsite fuel are automatically activated in the event of a power disruption. 4. Environmental Controls Environmental systems include multiple independent cooling units with redundant chillers. Fire suppression is provided through a gas system and a multi-zone pre-action dry pipe sprinkler system; each sprinkler head has its own zone, monitored by a multi-zone smoke and fire detection system. 5. Raised Floor The data center was constructed using a 24-inch raised floor to accommodate cabling and cooling. Seismic cabinets, steel structure, and bracing support all equipment through Zone 4 seismic activities. 6. Bandwidth The data centre maintains redundant Tier 1 upstream Internet providers with the network traffic load balanced over redundant providers. II. Human Resources JAD HR entails a network of people spanning ADSIC, Bayt, and HR departments in more than 40 Abu Dhabi Government Entities (ADGEs) and more than 200 private-entity departments, which are constantly interacting to improve the service provided through continuous feedback and enhancements. This collaboration naturally also includes cooperation with more than 90,000 job seekers registered on JAD. Specific ADSIC team members comprise the following: - Two persons responsible for the operations - One person with communication responsibilities - One person assisting in HR-related matters - One person assisting with finance-related matters The Bayt core team assists ADSIC through: - Two account managers - Two persons responsible for JAD operations Bayt has 192 employees, out of which 26 are Information Technology (IT) specialists. III. Financial Resources JAD, a non-profit initiative, is funded by the Government of Abu Dhabi. The project’s cost amounts to around US$1.5 million. However, a single ADGE has reported cost savings between $1.5 and $3 million in the first year of operation. Through an ADGE survey, it has been established that JAD saved more than $10 million for the Government of Abu Dhabi in its first year of operation in addition to many other intangible savings. The overall financial expenditures of approximately $1.5 million are divided into the following: - Technical (hosting, maintenance, domain name) and Bayt accounts offered to government entities, $600,000 - Operational and HR cost, $150,000 - Marketing (launch, stands, banners, billboard, Google campaigns), $770,000.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
I. Sustainability The following sections describe key factors that are in favour of the sustainability of the initiative. 1. Financial Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD), a non-profit initiative, is funded by the Government of Abu Dhabi. Although JAD required a considerable initial investment, JAD has generated approximately US$15 million in savings for the Government of Abu Dhabi. The private sector also benefits from JAD’s services and is achieving similar cost savings. Finally, from a job seeker point of view, the reduction in costs for office materials, postal services, and even transportation is significant, especially because people from all over the world are attracted to work in Abu Dhabi. 2. Social JAD allows qualified employees to find better positions, thus creating vacancies for the unemployed to fill. JAD also facilitates job searches for people with special needs who may have struggled with standard job search methods. 3. Economic Abu Dhabi is in continuous expansion and growth, which will increase the availability of jobs, driving JAD usage even higher, by both employers and job seekers. In alignment with its 2030 Economic Vision, JAD promotes a dynamic economy and good working conditions in Abu Dhabi, which distinguishes itself by the levels of comfort, security, stability, and diversity of the people it hosts, allowing it to continue attracting best-of-class professionals seeking to work and live in the Emirate. 4. Institutional The JAD initiative strengthens the public-private partnership through its collaboration with Bayt. It also reinforces its relationship with other Abu Dhabi Government Entities (ADGE) in two ways. First, it provides them with a more efficient and effective service for recruitment, allowing them to cut costs and recruit better talent. Second, as a result of recruiting better talent, it enables the ADGEs to perform more effectively and to offer a higher quality of service to the citizens of Abu Dhabi. 5. Regulatory JAD continuously monitors content and provides internal regulation to protect its users and maintain a high quality of resumes. JAD censors foul language and disqualifies the responsible person or entity. In addition, and in order to give applicants a fresh look at available positions, job postings are kept online for a maximum of 30 days. 6. Environmental International research shows that e-Government services lead to considerable carbon footprint savings, which qualifies JAD as an environmentally friendly initiative. Carbon footprint savings are especially generated through reduced travel and transportation, which are significant in the case of recruitment. Also to be considered is the reduction in the use of paper (resumes, letters, and envelopes). II. Dissemination JAD is the first Virtual Job Market (VJM) in the region. As public-private partnership with a competitive job matching service it is unique globally. Several other countries in the Middle East like Qatar and Bahrain and around the world have admired the efficiency JAD brings to the government and have been inspired to start similar initiatives. The governments of Saudi Arabia and India have requested JAD’s advice in terms of technical aspects and governmental infrastructure.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
A successful project of such magnitude has significant impact on key stakeholders with a multiplier effect: • Attracting top notch talent from around the world enabled Entities to significantly improve their performance and service • Brought prosperity to the families of people hired through JAD • Improved the image of Abu Dhabi locally, regionally and internationally • Encourage e Literacy • Significantly improved transparency in the job market. • Inspired other countries to develop a similar solution. Lessons learned: 1. Strategy It unveiled the opportunity, derived from the Government’s vision of a “High-Performance Government Delivering World-Class Services to the Benefit of All Its Customers.” The strategy included an instrumental three-dimensional framework and core strategic themes. 2. Partnering Concept Deep functional and technical expertise was of paramount importance to choose the public-private partnership model approach. Crucial choice of the right partner was based on a comprehensive partner selection process. 3. Communication and Marketing Initial take-up among citizens and residents was achieved through various campaigns on radio, newspaper and billboard throughout Abu Dhabi. Young graduates were attracted through JAD stands at several exhibitions and on university campuses throughout all seven emirates. Talent from all around the world was attracted through Google campaigns and a Facebook group. 4. Entity Onboarding ADSIC achieved “buy-in” by Government Entities through a set of messages to HR and to the management of all entities. ADSIC explained: (a) how the decision for JAD was made, (b) why it was made, (c) what alternatives were considered, (d) how it fits in with Abu Dhabi’s e-Government and economic vision, and (e) how it impacts the organization and its employees. 5. Entity Support Active involvement of Entities through close cooperation was essential to JAD’s success. Clear and proactive communication, guidance, and support helped entities more efficiently utilize the e-Service, thus helping them recruit in a more efficient and effective manner. 6. Customer Support Learning emerged from user feedback, gathered through various customer service channels (online, onsite, telephone) with 48 hour Service Level Agreements, allowed the JAD team to fine-tune the service to better meet users’ needs. 7. Social and Cultural Perspective JAD encouraged women to search for job opportunities overcoming the traditional social limitations. 8. Latest Trends To keep JAD competitive, it is of great importance that the service remains up-to-date with the latest trends and newest functionalities. For example, the introduction of enhanced mobile functionalities and of business intelligence–based smart agents is currently planned. 9. Commitment of Leadership and Project Team Strong, visionary and inspiring leadership and the competencies and motivation of the JAD project team had a major contribution to the success of the project. Having the right people filling the right positions impacted the morale of team and the efficiency and speed of execution as well as the overall success of JAD. 10. Project Management Detailed project planning, monitoring, reporting mechanism was critical to keep the project on track.


Institution Name:		Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Sunil Thawani
Title:		Business Excellence Manager
Telephone/ Fax:		00971506667953
Institution's / Project's Website:		0097126717333
E-mail:		sunil.thawani@adsic.abudhabi.ae
Address:		P.O.Box 3133
Postal Code:
City:		Abu Dhabi
State/Province:
Country:		United Arab Emirates

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information