Banking and finance jobs

Hi

the job market is tough here these days. There are lots of banks that are consolidating their businesses and layoffs are very much there. Therefore there is too much supply against the demand. Banks are retaining the best ones. Having said that there are some jobs coming up here and there. But you need to be very good at it.

I would prefer you to contact the big recruitment firms, like Robert Half, Charterhouse, Micheal Page. these are the big executive companies for recruitment of talent like yourself.

Contact me when you are here and will try to connect you to some banking personal.

Best of luck.

Kamal
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In terms of timings, pretty much the worst time is between Dec/Jan.  Things start winding down towards end of Nov for recruitment firms and mandates and then start picking up Feb onward.

The banking industry was already going through a tough time when the pandemic hit.  And after that mass layoffs, salary cuts and so on started happening.   So right now, it is quite tough.  Obviously having UAE experience is preferred over none. 

There are jobs out there and the best approach is through networking.  Recruitment agencies are an option but the more senior you get, the less likely that those roles are advertised or handed over to standard recruitment agencies.  The agencies mentioned by the previous poster are standard and cater up to the mid-senior level.  I have worked with all of them on employer side for positions in my team and I keep chatting off and on with them.  Right now, they are also struggling as a lot of companies want to avoid paying recruitment fees and instead are relying on in house searches or through networks.

For the really senior roles (usually 70-80K AED per month and above), you are looking at retained search agencies e.g. spencer stuart, Egon Zehnder, Heidrick Struggles, Korn ferry etc - and these guys are proper headhunters i.e. they find you; you generally don't engage with them out of the blue like you can with the other ones above.  Because, the other guys get paid when they place someone so it is in their interest to have marketable candidates whereas the retained search agencies are on a "Retainer" with the client i.e. they get paid regardless.

I would start connecting with people on linkedin and trying to do cold calls with agencies to start building some relationships.   Mentally accept that it can take 3-6 months to find an ideal job depending on your luck.

That's very helpful. Thank you.

I may postpone my arrival until the new year then as most city's job markets tend to quiet down in the lead up to Christmas. The gap on my CV however is already so large that an extra couple of months won't make too much of a difference. While not ideal I expect recruiters are now used to seeing candidates with large gaps in their experience.