With more than 6,000 job vacancies on offer to UAE nationals at this year's Tawdheef careers fair, the show's organisers have launched a new Recognition Award, presented to the company which conducts the most interviews on the exhibition floor. Forty three organisations are in the running to receive the award, representing a combination of government, semi-government and private institutions covering a wide range of business sectors. The winning company will be chosen by the organisers of Tawdheef in the weeks following the event when the on-site interviews have been recorded and verified. The award has been created to encourage exhibitors to be as proactive as possible during the event, and to support the thousands of UAE national graduates and candidates in their search for a new job or career. Bouchra Navel, Emiratisation Development Manager at UAE Exchange, said: “The recognition award is a really good idea; it encourages employers to meet with candidates face-to-face. Within the first few hours of the show opening, we had already conducted more than 15 interviews on our stand.” Ahmad IssaMohd Al Shawish, Recruitment Consultant at Reach Group, added: “We've spoken to lots of graduates, fresh out of university – the award is a great incentive. We estimate we spoke to more than 150 prospective employees over the course of three days.” Taking place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) Tawdheef was inaugurated by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth & Development, and featured thousands of job opportunities across more than 100 government and private sector organisations. New to the show this year was the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) which took part to help engage with talented Emirati graduates. Mohamed Abdulla Al Suwaidi, Director, Business Support Department said: “The show is a great opportunity to introduce our company to students and Emirati jobseekers. We developed a special website application specifically for Tawdheef where visitors use our touchscreens on the stand to upload their CVs. “We want to empower Emiratis in the UAE and this is why we hope our workforce will be built up of almost 80 per cent UAE nationals in the near future,” added Al Suwaidi. Another new participant at the event, National Bank of Fujairah, has focused on growing its presence through national recruitment platforms. Commenting on the success of the event, Abdulla Aleter, NBF's Head of HR, said: “We are committed to cultivating Emirati talent for leadership roles within our organisation and the local banking sector and are doing so through the implementationof a holistic strategy based on providing training and development, staff recognition and employee welfare programs. “Indicative of our success in attracting promising talent is a goodnumber of applications which we have received from jobseekers, and we are looking forward to adding more valuable talent to our growing team.” Diversified international energy company, TAQA, had a successful three days at Tawdheef, introducing its 18-month graduate training programme, with the aim of recruiting at least five graduates at the show. Mayed Khaled Al Jassim, Management Graduate at TAQA, who was recruited at Tawdheef in 2013, said: “If it wasn't for Tawdheef, I wouldn't be where I am today. TAQA has given me the opportunity to travel the world through its international placement programme and the training is a gateway to a world of opportunities.” Tawdheef is sponsored by Titanium sponsor, GHQ Armed Forces, Platinum sponsors, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), and Gold sponsors, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Cultural Authority, ADNOC, and the Department of Municipal Affairs, all of which had current job openings and long-term career opportunities to offer Emiratis. The UAE's leading recruitment fair returns to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in February 2015. More information is available at www.tawdheef.ae. Recognition Award Participants: 1. National Bank of Abu Dhabi 2. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank 3. Abu Dhabi Tourism & Cultural Authority 4. Department of Municipal Affairs 5. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank 6. Abu Dhabi Education Council 7. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority 8. Abu Dhabi National Energy Company – TAQA 9. Abu Dhabi Sports Council 10. Abu Dhabi Terminals 11. TDIC 12. St Regis Abu Dhabi 13. Grand Millennium 14. Emirates Palace 15. Armed Forced Officers Club and Hotels 16. Starwood Hotels 17. Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi 18. Shangri La Abu Dhabi 19. Anantara Desert Resort & Spa 20. DusitThani Abu Dhabi 21. Jumeirah Etihad Towers 22. Advanced Integrated Systems 23. ADVETI 24. Al Wathba Company for Central Services 25. Arabtec Holding PJSC 26. CofelyBesix Facility Management 27. Commercial Bank of Dubai 28. Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation 29. Etihad Rail 30. First Gulf Bank 31. Hays FZ LLC. 32. Higher Colleges of Technology (Central Service) 33. Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones (Zones Corp.) 34. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited 35. Monster 36. Reach Employment Services 37. Sawaeed 38. Schlumberger 39. Standard Chartered Bank 40. Tabah Foundation 41. The Petroleum Institute 42. TwoFour54 43. UAE Exchange Caption: The organisers of Tawdheef have launched a recognition award, presented to the exhibitor which interviewed the most candidates throughout the three day show.