What it does: A government agency dedicated to a global free trade zone, enterprise hub and trading for commodities.
Best known for: The Financial Times’ fDi magazine recognised DMCC as the world’s top free zone for five consecutive years since 2015.
Staff stats: Up to 500 employees.
The good bits: DMCC encourages a high-performance work culture through several awards (eg employee of the quarter).
The not so good bits: Career progression tends to be slow due to the company’s supposed preference to hire people from the outside.
The Dubai government established DMCC in 2002 to provide businesses with a financial, market and physical channel for global commodities trading. DMCC’s members comprise more than 17,000 companies from large, multinational companies to start-up enterprises. An estimated 170 companies join the free trade zone.
Members can engage in commodity trading through DMCC’s collaboration with the DMCC Coffee Centre, DMCC Tea Centre, Dubai Diamond Exchange, Dubai Good Delivery Standard for Gold and Dubai Pearl Exchanges. Their financial products include the DMCC Tradeflow, Dubai Commodity Asset Management, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange and Dubai Shariah Asset Management.
The hiring process at DMCC can last several months. Internship applications can take up to two months, while permanent roles for the digital marketing division can even take over five months. Most of the interview questions for candidates will relate to their decision for joining the company.
You should sign up for the company’s career portal if you can’t find a vacancy that matches your profile. The company will send an email once they have a relevant job opportunity. Be ready to attend multiple interviews. Some previous applicants said that the company tends to be strict with their security background check.
Interns work for 2.5 months, on average, at DMCC. Some of the former summer interns said that they worked between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, five days per week. Recent graduates can join the company’s Emirati Graduate Development Program (EGDP) for a 12-month paid training period. Graduates will attend several courses at the Institute of Leadership and Management for the program’s duration.
Entry-level roles at the company like project executives normally require at least one year of experience. Computer applications or IT graduates will have better luck in their application if they have worked on business analysis, project management and user acceptance testing.
Be ready to work as an intern without pay. The average monthly salary at DMCC is AED15,400. Your actual compensation, however, will be much lower depending on the position. Administrative assistants at the company earn AED8,000 per month on average, while the median salary of HR coordinators is at least AED8,250 per month.
Average salaries for experienced professionals can range from at least AED11,000, per month, for client development executives to AED32,000 for development managers. DMCC doesn’t disclose the compensation for EGDP participants, but they claim to provide competitive salaries. The company also offers the following benefits:
DMCC values gender equality in the workplace. The company signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles-Equality Means Business initiative in 2018. Competitiveness and high performance don’t go unnoticed at DMCC. There are annual and quarterly performance reviews to honour the best talent through several awards: employee of the quarter and employee of the year awards, biannual project team recognition, and project team of the year award.
Graduates, however, should be aware of slow career progression despite DMCC’s relatively small size. Some employees complained about the company’s preference to hire from the outside for higher positions. You can overcome this challenge by participating in the DMCC Leadership Academy, which supports the skills development of employees for advancing their careers.
DMCC said that almost 50 different nationalities represent the company’s workforce, but some employees disputed the multicultural environment by noticing favouritism at the workplace. Other employees remain satisfied because of the competitive benefits, flexible work hours and DMCC’s location near public transportation.
DMCC’s competitors include the Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai Creative Clusters Authority, Dubai Car and Automotive City Free Zone and Jebel Ali Free Zone.
The company’s corporate social responsibility projects mainly involve a commitment to the Government of Dubai Authority’s programs. These include the UAE Vision 2021 and the National Committee on Sustainable Development Goals. In 2017, DMCC became the first free zone in the Gulf Cooperation Council to join the UN Global Compact.
You’ll need to make your mark at DMCC as soon as you join the company if you’re targeting a promotion. The high-performance culture can exert unnecessary stress, but it’s also a way to challenge employees and achieve their full potential. Graduates who have previous exposure to business management and different nationalities will likely have an advantage over their peers.