Career oppurtunities in Dubai

Society Business and Career
1

Dear Guppies,

I got a lot of inquiries regarding the IT situation here in Dubai. I’ll present a general overview. I hope this benefits my dear guppies.

Let me start by saying that Dubai has recently started a lot of projects, varying from building the tallest skyscraper in the world, to building a Financial District.

All these projects will be completed by 2007 or earlier.

During this period 32 hotels will sprout up in The Palms. Good news for students who are completing their management courses in hotel & tourism.

Dubai has already started selling property to overseas expatriates on a free for life basis. Pakistanis holding foreign passports are also welcome & they have absolutely no trouble in obtaining visas.

A state of the art Gold & Diamond park has also been constructed. Another good point for someone in the jewellery business.

Dubai Internet City was constructed around 5 years back & still continues to grow. Leading international companies like Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, HP, Cisco & others have already setup their offices & established themselves.

Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) was recently held this week & the response was tremendous as always. Come December & we will have the Dubai airshow too. This is another international event which attracts many aeronautical companies. I might post pics in the future. Emirates airlines purchased 50+ aircrafts from Boeing during 2001 airshow & all of these aircrafts will be delivered by the end of 2006. Some of these aircrafts have already been delivered. A dedicated terminal is being constructed for these aircrafts & it will be ready for operations by the end of 2006. Emirates airline will expand considerably & it will require a lot of professionals, ranging from IT experts to aeronautical engineers, from cabin crew to ground staff.

The recent International Monetary Fund & World Bank Group members came to Dubai for their conference & Dubai has established its name for being the safest city in the world.

Crime rates are very low & there are no restrictions on the flow of money in & out of Dubai. International driver license can be converted easily & cars are not very expensive to buy. That explains the road jams we have during work hours.

Any further inquiries, just post your replies, & I’ll try & answer all of them.

Thanks

Noman

2

Applying to places like UAE and SA is like sending your resume in a black hole. No reply from them ever. I used to apply thru the net but got tired.

I have heard that you have to almost be there to get a job and that applying via the internet is pretty useless.

On the other hand I guess it would make sense for them to hire indo-pak talent from there locally since they could be hired for literally pennies on the dollar rahter than to hire someone from USA who will prolly have more nakhraas and will demand a higher salary.

3

I’ll keep this thread updated.

Another point I would like to add here is that there is Dubai Media City. People with interests in the media field will benefit over here. CNN, Reuters, MBC, & a couple of other channels have their offices setup over here.

4

Cisco source

Dubai has recently announced the construction of Dubai Silicon Oasis.

Source

The visionaries statement

Anyone interested in a disney arabia…?

Take a 5 billion dollar ride

5

Re: Career oppurtunities in Dubai

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mal1k: *
Pakistanis holding foreign passports are also welcome & they have absolutely no trouble in obtaining visas.

Crime rates are very low & there are no restrictions on the flow of money in & out of Dubai.
Thanks

Noman
[/QUOTE]

There goes the crime rate!!

6

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by zman: *
Applying to places like UAE and SA is like sending your resume in a black hole. No reply from them ever. I used to apply thru the net but got tired.

I have heard that you have to almost be there to get a job and that applying via the internet is pretty useless.

On the other hand I guess it would *make sense for them to hire indo-pak talent from there locally since they could be hired for literally pennies on the dollar rahter than to hire someone from USA who will prolly have more nakhraas and will demand a higher salary. *
[/QUOTE]

I'm thinking the exact same thing. Even considering that you'd save on the taxes and the cost-of-living is a whole lot lower. But as Mal1k put it, there's a lot of expansion going on, so lots of opportunities.

7

Actually the cost of living in Dubai is extremely high. It would be good if one of the perks of the job was housing.

8

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by zman: *
Actually the cost of living in Dubai is extremely high. It would be good if one of the perks of the job was housing.
[/QUOTE]

Compared to what? Karachi or New York? In New York the monthly rent of a 1 bdrm apartment is about $1500-1800.

9

1500-1800 dollars is lot of money. As I earlier posted, there are projects already initiated & in its completion phase, where an overseas expat can buy a villa or an apartment on a free-for-life basis.

Housing is a perk in the top notch jobs my friend zman.

10

I got family living in Dubai for 20+ yrs - so I have some frame of reference. My comparison was not with karachi but rather comparing std of living between dallas,tx and Dubai.
1500 to 1800 not enough for a complete family to move from USA to UAE. I have known people in karachi/lahore to make Rs 40000 to Rs 60000 per month in an IT job so maybe 1500 to 1800 USD is a good salary figure for local Pakistani and/or Indian IT workers.

Please, these are my feelings and thoughts from my own frame of references and I am certainly not here to argue.

You guys are certainly doing a good job of keeping us updated and quite frankly having this discussion.

JazakAllah

11

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by TofiBaba: *

Compared to what? Karachi or New York? In New York the monthly rent of a 1 bdrm apartment is about $1500-1800.
[/QUOTE]
You surely are talking about Manhattan if i am not wrong... I have an apartment with 2 bedrooms paying $900.. my parents 2 bedrooms $ 700 ... my uncle yes one bed room for $ 1000.. and the list goes on.... and i am in Brooklyn.
But yes in manhattan your figures are quite close to reality IF you are thinking to live by PARK AVE, LEXINGTON, and upside/ and westside highway or by the central park on 5th ave. Other than that even in manhattan harlem and other areas you can find one bedroom apartment for easy $ 1000.. Not trying to prove you wrong but just trying to give the right figures.
-Salman

12

ATA, this 1nz 4 U. I hope this thread helps u out in some way.

13

I must agree with ‘Zman’, sending resume through website, is like sending your resume into a black hole. When I first thought about getting a job in the Gulf, seven months ago. I thought that it was going to be a breeze, I have US IT education and 13 years of professional IT experience, well I was wrong :crying:

So, I guess if you can share the secret of getting hired in Dubai, would be much appreciated. Any particular websites? Particular style of resume? CV vs RESUME? Insider connection? Pretend that you are white? etc!!!

Thanks

14

A new airline started in Abu Dhabi…November 2003. I was in pak 4 vacations & I could not post an update.

This airline is based in Abu Dhabi & the chairman is from the direct ruling family of Abu Dhabi. This airline has a lot of financial support from Sheikh Zayed & visions itself to become a leading airline. It currently started operations to Lebanon & it has its eyes set on the sub continent, because that is a major revenue sector.

Interested candidates can apply here

15

looks like its already flying to Karachi...
lots of Managerial opportunities in Marketing...

thanks for the link mal1k

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http://www.hydropolis.com/homepage.html

hope it helps you all

17

like someone said, it's hard to find companies that respond. I sent my resume to various head hunters over six months ago and also to Microsoft but they didn't respond. i've been working in IT for over 5 years in SAP at a Fortune 500 company but would like to move there but no go. any tips anyone? bless you...

18

:salam:

I recommend you go through the employer’s own application channels, rather than 3rd party recruitment agencies. My fiance was just offered a position with Acer, who have just expanded their operations to dubai.She applied directly from pakistan on their emirates website,and was offered a fully accomadated trip there (-airfare) for an interview.Since she was applying for an upper management position,her signing package included a company car and housing. Definately a positive and rewarding employment enviroment. I am in the process of job searching there myself and can point you all instrested to some resources i am using.

tc :slight_smile:

The Emirates Network
Acer Computers-Emirates
Fujitsu Emirates
Intel- Sharjah

19

thanks for the info

20

thanks for the info yar.

Any idea about job opportunities for finance professionals? specifically investment banking opportunities?