GUEST COMMENT: Dubai is only for the short-sighted
I have a word of warning for those who are still hoping to cash in on Dubai's sun sand and seriously low taxes. Firstly, you clearly haven't been reading the press over the last quarter. And secondly, my own experiences should be a precautionary tale for anyone thinking they are trading one developed financial hub for another.
Initially impressed that the firm's recruiters had seen my CV on this site and contacted me to arrange interviews, my view soon changed. It took the firm six months to arrange two telephone interviews, with the same two managers, during which I was asked almost exactly the same questions. I had the strong impression that no-one had bothered to make and records of the first interview.
Over two months later, I'd still heard nothing back. Suddenly, however, I got a call from HR asking me to fly out to the firm's head offices for final rounds.
Given less than a week's notice, I was told that senior managers had little flexibility - it was now or never.
My local contacts had told me that the last rounds were almost certainly a shoo-in, so I changed my entire schedule for the forthcoming week. Two days prior I still hadn't heard back regarding final travel arrangements, so I sent a polite email requesting confirmation.
The reply was what I can only describe as a generic rejection email ("we would like to thank you for your time and we wish to keep your details on record should a suitable opportunity arise etc"). I had not seen anything similar since my milkround interviews.
Subsequent events (my story happened before Dubai blew up) and the due diligence I did at the time turned up some pretty salient observations.
Macro concerns: If the fact that the Emirate needed to be bailed out by its bigger brother down the road in Abu Dhabi wasn't enough of a forewarning, examine the way the news broke, shortly before one of the two largest holidays in the Islamic calendar. Dubai World slipped a few sentences, almost a post-script, into a routine press release, mentioning potential problems with the following quarter's interest payment. The city's financial managers then disappeared until the following week, leaving global financial markets in turmoil. The quasi-governmental guarantee traders took for granted never really existed. As evidence of this, look at the spread on Nakheel's bonds. Lenders and markets will be fairly sceptical of the region's future financial plans.
The toxic ex-pat community: It's not just the notorious Jumeirah Janes. Anyone wanting an insight into how the country really functions should read Johann Hari's piece in The Independent. Despite his left-wing bias he makes several very astute observations. Chelsea it ain't.
Accept inequality as a way of life: Locals will always be paid more and will generally be of very low educational standards with poor finance skills. Half of your job will be to teach them, and it will be a test of the sincerity & truthfulness of your interviewers whether this is made clear from the start. Assuming this policy of on-the-job training works and a real transfer of skills takes place, you can expect to be redundant in a few years as Emiratisation really starts to bite.
Superiority of the Regional Banker: Be aware that there will always be a better more qualified and certainly more culturally- & linguistically-rooted Lebanese, Moroccan or even Gulfie. The local reputation, said behind the back of a hand, is that anyone European in the Gulf was not quite good enough to cut it in London, Paris or New York. Many Gulf-based funds lost heavily in the market crash and are being encouraged to invest domestically or at least regionally. Can you read a business plan or letter of intent in written (classical) Arabic? Even if these are provided in English, can you negotiate in colloquial Arabic?
And when you come back, people will know that you are only as good as the most recent organisation you've worked for. Doors will close. You may view your move as a fairly short-sighted punt, in retrospect.
The author is an anonymous private equity professional, currently still based in London
