Jobs in Dubai - What is actually available?
Discussion
I seem to see stories on a weekly basis, either on forums or in the media, about how someone has decided to move to Dubai from the UK. These are, for want of a better term, "normal people" who will be looking to obtain employment over there and rent/purchase a property, send their kids to a school, and do all the usual things that you would do when living and working in a country.
My question is this: Given that barely any of these people will be able to speak Arabic, or read or write it, what jobs are they obtaining?
For the purposes of this discussion, I think we can discount or ignore 3 categories of people:
1) Those who have a practical trade or skill - Building/construction, vehicle repair, photography/videography, electricians, graphic designers, and similar. They can set up their own business in Dubai offering these things, or potentially work for an existing Dubai business as their skills are what is required, not their Arabic language abilities.
2) Those who are already performing a remote/WFH job, and can do it from anywhere in the world.
3) Those who already own and operate their own business, but it doesn't matter where they manage it from. They could be managing an established UK, European, or global business, from Dubai, instead of from the UK.
But, for everyone else who is say, an experienced middle-manager, senior manager, or director, in any other sector or industry, such as finance, property, healthcare, sales, insurance, IT, etc, what jobs are available for these people?
If your work involves managing people, making phone calls and emails, reading and wiring documents, and sitting in meetings, then I presume you will struggle with only English as a language, or perhaps I am very wrong. I am aware that Dubai likes to say that English is their business language, but how far does this really go?
I'm just not sure how it all works and would be interested to hear from anyone who knows, or knows someone who has done this.
My question is this: Given that barely any of these people will be able to speak Arabic, or read or write it, what jobs are they obtaining?
For the purposes of this discussion, I think we can discount or ignore 3 categories of people:
1) Those who have a practical trade or skill - Building/construction, vehicle repair, photography/videography, electricians, graphic designers, and similar. They can set up their own business in Dubai offering these things, or potentially work for an existing Dubai business as their skills are what is required, not their Arabic language abilities.
2) Those who are already performing a remote/WFH job, and can do it from anywhere in the world.
3) Those who already own and operate their own business, but it doesn't matter where they manage it from. They could be managing an established UK, European, or global business, from Dubai, instead of from the UK.
But, for everyone else who is say, an experienced middle-manager, senior manager, or director, in any other sector or industry, such as finance, property, healthcare, sales, insurance, IT, etc, what jobs are available for these people?
If your work involves managing people, making phone calls and emails, reading and wiring documents, and sitting in meetings, then I presume you will struggle with only English as a language, or perhaps I am very wrong. I am aware that Dubai likes to say that English is their business language, but how far does this really go?
I'm just not sure how it all works and would be interested to hear from anyone who knows, or knows someone who has done this.
Most global businesses carry out the vast majority of their day to day work in English. You could fairly easily work for a company in the Middle East with English as your only language. I know quite a few lawyers, project managers, sales people.. who have made the move. Personally, Dubai holds no appeal to me whatsoever, but as a generic middle-manger in the cooperate world it is always an options that is open to me.
)In some cases people in the Middle East can be a bit offended if you try to speak Arabic to them, as they can take it as meaning you don't trust them to be able to speak English well. So don't worry about the language.
Personally I wouldn't want to live in that climate, cultural and meteorological. There's isn't enough money to tempt me.
Personally I wouldn't want to live in that climate, cultural and meteorological. There's isn't enough money to tempt me.
I ran a media business in London and opened an office in Dubai - I sent a non Arabic speaking young English chap out there to run it, he's still there.
There are around 5,000 UK businesses in Dubai and obviously thousands of other European and American businesses too.
I wouldn't want to live there, but it's quite a dynamic spot for some.
There are around 5,000 UK businesses in Dubai and obviously thousands of other European and American businesses too.
I wouldn't want to live there, but it's quite a dynamic spot for some.
My father spend about 25 years in the middle east as a Design Engineer (Chartered)/Project Manager. He worked in an office of mainly Europeans but knew plenty of Arabs. His Arabic extended to "Salam alaikum" and "Yallah"
My brother has been in Dubai for the best part of a decade as a Teacher (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), the kids he teaches are locals not Europeans. He only speaks English.
English is spoken by pretty much everyone you'll meet including Arabs.
My brother has been in Dubai for the best part of a decade as a Teacher (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), the kids he teaches are locals not Europeans. He only speaks English.
English is spoken by pretty much everyone you'll meet including Arabs.
Shaoxter said:
Language is not an issue at all for expats, I know plenty of people out there who only speak English.
Biggest issue for me would be the weather and having to live under continuous AC for at least half the year.
Agreed. Its like the reverse of our winters, except its the sun you're trying to aviod rather than the cold/rain!Biggest issue for me would be the weather and having to live under continuous AC for at least half the year.
Edited by 98elise on Thursday 7th August 13:55
Mont Blanc said:
But, for everyone else who is say, an experienced middle-manager, senior manager, or director, in any other sector or industry, such as finance, property, healthcare, sales, insurance, IT, etc, what jobs are available for these people?
There's plenty. From what I've seen healthcare tends to be too low salaried to be attractive for anyone not willing to setup their own business, but if you don't have any kids it might be different. IT is becoming increasingly the same, but if you have AI or cyber specialisms there are opportunities. Finance seems to be a big thing, every other person in Dubai is a real estate agent. The big accountancy firms are there, some of the big tech firms; Amazon, Google, Meta and some of their own with Talabat and Careem. Airlines are a big employer. Defence is there too. And recruitment for all of the above.All sorts of more niche companies have the odd person out there in sales roles. There's a lot of Emiratisation, sometimes that means you're training up someone to take your job.
The kicker is that there's seriously high competition for the roles at the moment. The average role on LinkedIn has literally 10x as many applicants as in the UK. And culture is varied; some places take over 6 months to recruit for an urgent need role, I've been warned off the big accountancy firms as they have a culture of very long hours, but not everywhere is like that. The ideal is probably to be one of those people you've excluded; work for your own business or one elsewhere, while living there.
In fact, I'm not sure why more companies, tech companies at least, aren't offering people the same salary tax free if they'll work from Dubai. It seems like win-win to me for those who want it.
I spent some time working in the UAE for a major healthcare provider as well at HAAD and DHA - most senior roles (director level) I undertook were salaried at 50-70k DHS per month plus allowances for accomodation, kids schooling, flights back to the UK, etc. so pretty decent packages all in especially with the tax situation.
I did find that the roles I undertook in Doha and then in Riyadh was wee slightly higher paid but the living costs dramatically cheaper so worked out even better.
This was only a few years ago (post covid).
I did find that the roles I undertook in Doha and then in Riyadh was wee slightly higher paid but the living costs dramatically cheaper so worked out even better.
This was only a few years ago (post covid).
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