How to become an assistant in Dubai requirements, CV, where vacancies come from and how to get the first job

Requirements: what employers really ask for

Vacancies list many things; four matter in practice. The rest is negotiable or learnable in the first months.

• Written and spoken English at business level: you will write to banks, landlords, partners and authorities on behalf of someone else, so your text is their text
• Organisation that can be demonstrated: a calendar you run, a task list that nothing falls out of, a system for follow-ups
• Tools: Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace with confident Excel or Sheets, shared calendars, a task tool, travel platforms, WhatsApp Business, basic AI assistants for drafts and research
• Discretion: a history of handling private or commercial information that referees can confirm
• Experience of two years or more in any role where you served a demanding person or team: hospitality, aviation, legal, medical administration, sales support all count
• Formal education is a plus, not a filter; employers rarely ask for a specific degree for an assistant role, though a family office or a C-level role may prefer business, finance or law

Languages: English first, then the principal's languages

The principal's world decides the second language. In Dubai the most requested combinations are English plus Arabic and English plus Russian; French, Hindi, Urdu, Chinese and others appear depending on the employer.

• English is the base for every assistant role; if your English is not at business level yet, that is the first thing to work on, before tools or a CV
• Arabic helps with government offices, Arabic-speaking partners and front-desk duties; it is a plus for most roles and a must for a few
• Russian is requested by Russian-speaking owners and families; write it in the CV as "Russian-speaking, fluent Russian", a skill with a level, not a nationality
• Be honest about levels: employers test languages on real tasks, and a line in the CV that does not survive a five-minute switch mid-interview costs the offer
• A third language rarely raises the salary on its own, but it widens the set of employers who will consider you

The CV that gets read

An employer or a consultant reads an assistant CV in about a minute and looks for one thing: can this person run my week. Make that visible on the first screen. Our Dubai CV format guide covers the general rules; the points below are specific to assistants.

• Headline under your name: the type of assistant you are and your languages, for example "Executive assistant, 6 years, English and Arabic"
• For each role: whom you supported (title, not name), for how long, what you owned (calendar, travel, inbox, documents, household, vendors) and one or two concrete results
• Tools as a separate line, including the level: Excel with pivot tables is different from Excel basics
• Confidentiality and references: write that references from direct principals are available on request, and have two ready
• Visa status in one line, factually: current status and notice period; the employer sponsors the work visa for the person they hire, so do not promise or request anything else
• No photo requirements, no age, no marital status; describe skills. Build the CV in our free CV builder if you want a clean structure in minutes

Where assistant vacancies come from

Many assistant roles are never published. Understanding the channels saves months.

• Personal networks of owners and executives: a good assistant is recommended by name, which is why references and visible reliability matter more than applications
• Job boards and LinkedIn: real vacancies, but hundreds of applicants; a short tailored note with the CV helps more than a long cover letter
• Hiring consultancies such as TLNT: an employer asks us to search for a person against agreed criteria; we assess candidates on practical tasks and introduce the ones who meet the criteria. Candidates never pay us, and we let you know when an employer has a matching vacancy
• Internal moves: receptionists, coordinators and administrators inside a company often become the owner's assistant when they show they can run things
• Communities: professional groups for assistants and expats in Dubai, where roles are shared informally
• Be careful with offers that ask for a payment, a deposit or a fee from the candidate; a legitimate employer or consultancy does not charge you

What employers test before the offer

Interviews for assistants are increasingly practical. Expect a short task, usually 30 to 45 minutes, built from the real job. Our interview questions guide shows the employer's side; here is what to prepare.

• Email triage: 12 to 15 sample emails to rank by priority with short replies to the most important; practise on your own inbox by sorting it in three groups every morning
• Calendar conflict: overlapping meetings and a flight; be ready to say what you would move, whom you would tell and in what words
• A writing sample on the principal's behalf: a polite refusal, a rescheduling message, a thank-you note; practise writing in the principal's voice, short and warm
• A confidentiality scenario: someone asks for the principal's schedule or address; the right answer is to decline politely, offer to pass the request on and tell the principal
• Language switching: part of the interview may run in each language the role needs
• Questions about mistakes: have a real example of a mistake you made, how you caught it and what you changed afterwards

Strategy for the first job in Dubai

Without UAE assistant experience you compete on adjacent experience and on proof. A realistic plan takes a few months, not a few days.

• Start one step below your target if needed: administrative assistant, coordinator or receptionist roles lead to executive assistant roles faster than waiting for the perfect vacancy
• Translate adjacent experience into assistant language: a hotel guest relations officer managed VIP logistics and complaints; a teacher managed a calendar of 30 families; a sales coordinator ran a CRM and follow-ups
• Build proof: a portfolio of templates you made (travel plan, weekly summary, vendor list format), anonymised; employers like to see how you think
• Prepare two referees who can speak about reliability and discretion, and tell them in advance
• Visa: the employer sponsors the work visa for the person they hire; if you are abroad or on another visa type, say so plainly and check the current rules for your situation, see our guides on moving to Dubai for work and on the job seeker visa
• Send your CV to us through the candidates page; we keep it on file and contact you when an employer has a matching vacancy. We cannot promise a job, and candidates never pay

How we help

TLNT is a hiring consultancy. Employers ask us to search for assistants against criteria agreed at the start; we assess candidates with a practical skills assessment on real tasks and introduce the ones who meet the criteria. The employer interviews, makes the hiring decision and agrees the terms with the candidate; the person is employed directly by the employer, the employer sponsors the visa and we give a step-by-step checklist.

For candidates: send your CV through our candidates page or build one in the free CV builder; we let you know when an employer has a matching vacancy. Candidates never pay us.

Our fee is fixed for each role and agreed before the search starts. A 10% prepayment of the fee starts the search, the rest is due once the person has started work. If it does not work out, we find a replacement free of charge; the period is set in the contract. Consulting and CRM projects are priced after a free review.