Advice appreciated: first steps towards securing employment in Dubai.

[hschofield]

Looking for some advice: any/all guidance greatly received!

My wife and I have recently made the decision to move our family (the two of us and 3 kiddies) to Dubai. The decision is driven by my desire to support my career (international experience being important) and our collective desire to enjoy a more complete and rewarding life.

A little about me: I am a 36 year old Vice President working for one of the UK's largest retail/investment banks. I currently run a global technology team focused on virtualisation and automation (a very 'now' technology area).

My wife and I have read through many of the forum posts here as well as hours of research on living and working in Dubai but I remain a little uncertain as to the best way to seek and secure employment. To date I have registered with teleportmyjob [dotcom] and have been looking at jobsindubai [dotcom] (although something doesn't feel quite right about the site: would appreciate any views/opinions).

So the primary reason for me posting: how should I be going about making myself visible (in terms of employment) within Dubai? Are there specific agencies that people could recommend? Should I be reaching out to target organisations directly? Are there specifics with regards to CV format etc that I should be considering?

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Kawasutra]

My wife and I have read through many of the forum posts here as well as hours of research on living and working in Dubai

To be honest with you, I doubt it, because otherwise you wouldn´t have asked this question!

But maybe someone reads your application who is in need of a Vice President.

[Elphaba]

Originally Posted by hschofield

Looking for some advice: any/all guidance greatly received!

My wife and I have recently made the decision to move our family (the two of us and 3 kiddies) to Dubai. The decision is driven by my desire to support my career (international experience being important) and our collective desire to enjoy a more complete and rewarding life.

A little about me: I am a 36 year old Vice President working for one of the UK's largest retail/investment banks. I currently run a global technology team focused on virtualisation and automation (a very 'now' technology area).

My wife and I have read through many of the forum posts here as well as hours of research on living and working in Dubai but I remain a little uncertain as to the best way to seek and secure employment. To date I have registered with teleportmyjob [dotcom] and have been looking at jobsindubai [dotcom] (although something doesn't feel quite right about the site: would appreciate any views/opinions).

So the primary reason for me posting: how should I be going about making myself visible (in terms of employment) within Dubai? Are there specific agencies that people could recommend? Should I be reaching out to target organisations directly? Are there specifics with regards to CV format etc that I should be considering?

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

If you have a specific area of expertise and you know which bank/finance house who would value that then you should contact the companies directly. It pays to do some legwork yourself.

Avoid any site that asks you to pay any money as that is illegal in the UAE. You'll find lists of recruitment agencies by searching this forum.

[hschofield]

Originally Posted by Kawasutra

To be honest with you, I doubt it, because otherwise you wouldn´t have asked this question!

But maybe someone reads your application who is in need of a Vice President.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

[hschofield]

Originally Posted by Elphaba

If you have a specific area of expertise and you know which bank/finance house who would value that then you should contact the companies directly. It pays to do some legwork yourself.

Avoid any site that asks you to pay any money as that is illegal in the UAE. You'll find lists of recruitment agencies by searching this forum.

Appreciate the advice! There do appear to be a number of 'agencies' that will happily take money to find you that dream job... no surprise that they are based outside of the UAE, I wasn't aware of the legalities of this practice, thanks for the warning.

[hungrytiger86]

Originally Posted by hschofield

Looking for some advice: any/all guidance greatly received!

My wife and I have recently made the decision to move our family (the two of us and 3 kiddies) to Dubai. The decision is driven by my desire to support my career (international experience being important) and our collective desire to enjoy a more complete and rewarding life.

A little about me: I am a 36 year old Vice President working for one of the UK's largest retail/investment banks. I currently run a global technology team focused on virtualisation and automation (a very 'now' technology area).

My wife and I have read through many of the forum posts here as well as hours of research on living and working in Dubai but I remain a little uncertain as to the best way to seek and secure employment. To date I have registered with teleportmyjob [dotcom] and have been looking at jobsindubai [dotcom] (although something doesn't feel quite right about the site: would appreciate any views/opinions).

So the primary reason for me posting: how should I be going about making myself visible (in terms of employment) within Dubai? Are there specific agencies that people could recommend? Should I be reaching out to target organisations directly? Are there specifics with regards to CV format etc that I should be considering?

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I too am in a similar position to yourself. I would definately advise you to stay away from jobsindubai.com , i registered with them and had a lady rang me up asking me for a payment - she didnt explain what it was for exactly and was very rude! and feedback from members on here also suggested to keep away from them. There is a great thread on here "Read before posting" and in there it lists many companies and the types of industries they specialise in. Worth taking a peep. i also found dubizzle very useful as it lists jobs and accomodation with filtered down results. Maybe you should get an open ticket and go direct to employers which is something i will be doing very soon all the best!

[hschofield]

Originally Posted by hungrytiger86

I too am in a similar position to yourself. I would definately advise you to stay away from jobsindubai , i registered with them and had a lady rang me up asking me for a payment - she didnt explain what it was for exactly and was very rude! and feedback from members on here also suggested to keep away from them. There is a great thread on here "Read before posting" and in there it lists many companies and the types of industries they specialise in. Worth taking a peep. i also found dubizzle very useful as it lists jobs and accomodation with filtered down results. Maybe you should get an open ticket and go direct to employers which is something i will be doing very soon all the best!

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. I'll look forward to the pushy phone call relating to my jobsindubai registration then!

The 'read before posting' thread is excellent and I've been through it on more than one occasion. The trouble is either exec level IT roles are not made available via agency websites/job searches or there just aren't any around in Dubai at the moment.

I suspect your approach might be the most fruitful. Have you made contact with potential employers prior to planning the trip or are you going out 'cold' (as it were)? I guess there is nothing like showing up in person to demonstrate commitment: best of luck!