REVIEW MY CV: I have been searching fruitlessly for a job in Dubai for nearly four years

Another brave candidate has put their CV forward for critique by the eFinancialCareers community. Please, read this person's job hunting story and offer tips on what they can do to improve their CV.

I've been working in various middle office roles within large investment banks in the UK for over seven years and am keen for a move out to Dubai - I have a network of friends and family there, the tax free salary appeals and I'm want to add an international dimension to my CV.

I've been applying for roles for the best part of four years, but have managed only to get a few telephone interviews for product control positions. They all seem to take a long time to provide feedback, usually provide positive feedback when they do, but then I find out the position is on hold or gone to a more qualified candidate.

One the disadvantages I face is that I don't have a formal accountancy qualification and this seems to be a prerequisite for audit or product control roles in the UAE. I appreciate the middle office isn't big in the Gulf, as support functions can be in other locations, but what are the chances of me finding an audit or risk role in Dubai with my CV below?

PERSONAL PROFILE

I have an investment banking middle office background combined with audit experience. This combination has developed my risk awareness, product knowledge and leadership skills. My educational background, solid analytical and problem solving ability would be a considerable advantage to the role.

EDUCATION

2001 - 2002, UK university

MSc Management (Pass)

· Modules Studied Include: Financial Management, Business Forecasting, International Business, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, E-Commerce and Information Systems

· Developed advanced analytical and numerical problem solving skills from analysing complex data

· Developed excellent written and verbal communications skills including report writing and seminar presentation skills

· Coordinating work with others to produce group projects and PowerPoint presentations

· Project: "Analysis of UK Retail Banking"

1998 - 2001, London university

BA (Hons) History and Politics (2:1)

Dissertation: "Britain and the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, 1983 - 1993"

1995 - 1997, 6th form college, near London

A Levels: Economics (B), Government and Politics (B) and Geology (D)

1990 - 1995, High school, near London

9 GCSEs (including English and Maths)

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Nov 2010 - present

Large UK bank, Audit Manager (Wholesale Markets & Trading)

· The role involved planning, execution of audits and reporting the results to management. My area of specialism was the bank's investment banking division

· A variety of audits conducted including lead roles. Audit exposure: Sales, Middle Office, Market Risk, Operations, Product Control and Integration Projects

Sept 2009 - Nov 2010

Large US bank, Middle Office Controller (Credit Flow)

· Compilation of daily P&L for the credit and prop trading desks. Product exposure: swaps, futures, options, bonds, CP, CDS and FX

· Explained P&L using Risk (delta, gamma, theta)

· Daily reporting of Flash P&L, Actual P&L and variances

· Projects - testing and migration of pnl infrastructure from legacy platforms to new bank platforms

Jan 2008 - Sept 2009

Swiss investment bank, Business Unit Controller (Collateral Trading)

· Daily analysis of P&L into its various components and providing commentary on movements. Product exposure: Repo Basis (a hybrid Repo and derivative product incorporating bonds, swaps and futures)

· Ownership of the Basel II "Eurobank" collateralisation process. Monitoring a multi product (Repos, equities and commodities) collateral pool and involved frequent interaction with the trading desk. And additionally overseeing the work of junior colleagues

· Projects - enhancement work related to collateralisation process (automation of manual work)

· Front to back process - clearing breaks across various sub ledger systems

· Reconciliation of the Front Office produced P&L to the P&L posted to the Financial Accounts

Dec 2004 - Dec 2007

Swiss investment bank, Securities Financing Collateral Manager

· Performing daily analysis and control function for counter-parties within the Fixed Income collateral desk. Product exposure: Repo, structured transactions, tri-party, sec lending ABS, CDOs, MBS, FRN, high yield bonds, illiquid fixed income products and derivatives

· Monitored mark to market position, liaising with clients (hedge funds and institutional clients) and arranged daily movement of variation margin to ensure transaction exposures are fully collateralised

· Introduced the Repo Haircut Control Report - this high profile control identified trade miss bookings which had real world cash flow implications

· Projects - worked on various enhancement projects and new initiatives (auto-re-pricing, collateral booking methodology, new SharePoint reporting platform, external vendor enhancement requests)

· Responsible for daily manual pricing update and check - this process involved identifying and manually updating miss priced bonds and providing a solution to rectifying the problem

· Supported the initiative for re-pricing aged and high net interest trades. This process has been recognised to save the bank $200k per quarter

· Liaising with the prime brokers, securities operations, traders, IT support teams and accountants on a daily and monthly basis to ensure accurate pricing, booking of trades, ensuring correct margin settlement and accurate reporting

April 2004 - Nov 2004

Large French bank, Static Data Analyst (Credit Risk Management)

· Input of static data limit and maintenance - involved extensive close contact with credit officers, traders and salespeople

· Daily hedge fund valuation and excess management reporting

· Reconciliation and validation of credit limit positions against front end trading systems

· Provided credit administration support and helped the resolution of credit limit queries

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Awards / IT / Financial knowledge / Industry qualifications

· Part of award winning collateral desk - International Securities Finance margin team of the year 2006

· Proficient in Word, Excel (macro, pivot table and v lookup level), Power point, SharePoint and currently learning basic VBA (written codes to automatically send emails, formatting spreadsheets)

· Passed three papers for the full IAQ qualification (Securities, regulatory environment and operational risk)

· Competent user of Bloomberg, FT Interactive, Markit and Reuters for bond pricing analysis

· Attended training courses - Hedge Funds and Credit Derivatives

INTERESTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

London Student Newspaper, City columnist (1999)

· Pioneered a fortnightly business column providing a breaking overview of City developments for newspaper with 100,000+ circulation

· Applied and developed analytical skills to research and interpret business news

REFERENCES: Available on request