Working in the UAE at an executive level

Anonymous wrote:

I am a Chartered Accountant with Big 5 experience. I have wide exposure from Banking, Manufacturing, trading and other industries. I am currently (past 15 years) in the Information Technology field in managerial position with extensive experience in global implementations and initiatives. I am 48 years old and am based in the USA. I have prior work experience in UAE and am looking to move there for work at an executive level. Do you assist someone like myself in this pursuit?


The regional manager of WH Marks Sattin Middle East replied:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am afraid without a CV I cannot judge exactly what skills are transferable, but a couple of general rules which are relevant are:

1. Temporary work is legally not viable in Dubai. You can sign a one year contract, but daily or hourly rates are not possible as employees must be sponsored on a companies work permit and short term mission visas are being discussed at governmental level, but are not yet available. Most IT implementations rely on temporary workers for short term projects and as such companies tend to turn to management consultancies for that sort of work. The closest work to that which may suit is in a PMO department doing project/cost accounting on initiatives.

2. To get a job in Dubai experience must world class, current and an exact fit to a job spec. The work you are most likely to be selected for will reflect exactly what you have been doing over the past two to three years and within the industries you are currently working in. This is for two reasons; the first is that Dubai is immensely popular as a destination for aspiring high flyers from all over the world. Each job positing we list in Dubai receives around 6 times the number of responses than a job in London, which is traditionally the most desired working destination in the world. Competition is tough, employers can afford the best and will only go through the convoluted process of recruiting from the US if the application is perfect.

3. Experience is valued highly here, whereas other markets can value youthful potential as the greater asset.

I hope this helps

WH Marks Sattin

http://www.whmarkssattin.com/dubai