degree or experience

[leeshepherd]

Hi all I am sure this question has been asked alot of times but I am a experienced retail manager and seeking work in dubai? I do not have a degree only experience from working my way up through the ranks. will not having a degree make life hard for me at trying to secure a job ????

[Moe78]

Yes and no. Some companies require a degree and some don't. It would definitely be a plus to have the degree AND the experience but it is not necessary however not every company here will look at your CV without some qualification in there.

[cami]

Originally Posted by leeshepherd

Hi all I am sure this question has been asked alot of times but I am a experienced retail manager and seeking work in dubai? I do not have a degree only experience from working my way up through the ranks. will not having a degree make life hard for me at trying to secure a job ????

you must be kidding. look at your passport, your skin colour, your appearance, your communication skills, and negotiation abilities. that's what matters. i've met people who barely made it through the 10th grade in positions of managers and directors here. their salaries + benefits are grossly rising over other people's who are A LOT better qualified, but not from the right continent. sad, but true.

work hard to network here, and use your contacts. if your wife is smart enough to become a jumeirah jane, you could make a lot of friends among her social circle. plenty of happy hours with the right people, and plenty of barbeques where you could get info, especially when people start drinking.

this is a wild wild east frontier settlement mate, come-hit-and-run style, so forget all the logic related to qualifications and stuff.

[Gavtek]

Having a qualification generally means you studied just enough to answer the amount of questions correctly that enabled you to reach the passmark out of the section of the syllabus the examiner created a question on.

For example, professional accountancy exams have a passmark of 50% and the exam papers probably cover about 10% of the overall syllabus. That means you can become a professional accountant by only knowing 5% of what you should.

Having experience means you can generally actually do the job.

I'm white, British, ruggedly handsome, can hold a high level conversation, but I'm not professionally qualified in my field, nor do I even have a degree. The reason I get paid a reasonable amount to do a high level job isn't because of racial profiling, it's because I can do the job very well.

I'd also go as far as saying that in business, having good communication skills and being a good negotiator are far more valuable to an employer than having a piece of paper saying you're theoretically capable of doing something.

[Andy Capp]

Originally Posted by gavtek

i'm white, british, ruggedly handsome

pmsl!!!!

[ossie]

'wild wild west frontier'..... it sure is..........

the only missing are the ten gallon hats..

lots of two pint heads though..

[cami]

Originally Posted by leeshepherd

Hi all I am sure this question has been asked alot of times but I am a experienced retail manager and seeking work in dubai? I do not have a degree only experience from working my way up through the ranks. will not having a degree make life hard for me at trying to secure a job ????

ok, now you've got an idea how this forum is going to entertain you once you're here

seriously, if you are worried about not having the right papers to support an application for a well-paid job, simply choose a resume format that would focus on work experience and skills and abilities rather than degrees. good luck!

[pamela0810]

And this will make me sound like a traitor, but if you're planning on being interviewed by an Indian, you can forget about getting the job because our wonderful people pay more attention to the degrees we hold rather than the job that we do!
I say this because I was invited for an interview by this one person who read through my entire CV and didn't really see what I had accomplished, he first flipped through the pages to find out if I had ONLY a Bachelor's degree or a Master's degree to support it. Oh and then he wanted to know if I had contacts for pest control companies, etc. I told him that while I do not have a direct contact for a pest control company, I have personally got rid of a few pests in my experience. He didn't get the joke!

[Saint Ari]

that's cute ... You should've pointed him to Red Velvet cakes @ TDM ..

Originally Posted by pamela0810

And this will make me sound like a traitor, but if you're planning on being interviewed by an Indian, you can forget about getting the job because our wonderful people pay more attention to the degrees we hold rather than the job that we do!
I say this because I was invited for an interview by this one person who read through my entire CV and didn't really see what I had accomplished, he first flipped through the pages to find out if I had ONLY a Bachelor's degree or a Master's degree to support it. Oh and then he wanted to know if I had contacts for pest control companies, etc. I told him that while I do not have a direct contact for a pest control company, I have personally got rid of a few pests in my experience. He didn't get the joke!

[Dozza]

Originally Posted by leeshepherd

Hi all I am sure this question has been asked alot of times but I am a experienced retail manager and seeking work in dubai? I do not have a degree only experience from working my way up through the ranks. will not having a degree make life hard for me at trying to secure a job ????

A degree will just enable you to have a 'Manager Title' in your visa. My wife is Regional manager out here for a retail company, but due to her not having a degree, her visa just says Sales.

If you have the relevant skills, attributes, experience, etc, you should get a job easily enough

Hope this helps