Do I need qualifications for working in Dubai

C

Carrie

Guest
Hi All,
I am looking to move to Dubai, and would love to continue working in advertising. Does anyone know if I need to have any qualifications or does experience count?
 
It helps, I spent 6 weeks in dubai and any agency I registered with or job interview I had they asked about qualifications and were looking for them to a degree/BA/Masters level.
I have a diploma in HR but it did not seem to be good enough. I had to come home in the end as any other jobs that were available to me were very badly paid and its an expensive place to live.
Also, a lot of jobs look for men. Well that was my experience anyway, if you look up jobs on the net you will see under requirements that males are their preference when offering jobs. I have a friend over there and she was there working for 5 years before she got in any way recognised for her qualifications and starting being paid to reflect her experience etc.
I'm really not sure about advertising though, could be a totally different ball game there, I'm just talking from my own experience.

Sorry my post is not the most helpful or hopeful but like I said that was my experience and I had to come home.
 
There was a report on BBC World recently about the impact of the changing world economy on Dubai. They interviewed a couple of people who worked in advertising but had lost their jobs and after a number of months were unable to find employment. They went to Bahrain and found jobs and said that they were much happier as they believed that the development on Bahrain is more sustainable than the boom in Dubai.

They had masters qualifications and experience in Dubai.
 
 
Thanks for the reply, it may be back to the drawing board for me!!
I had heard that it was difficult to get a visa if you did not have a degree.
Thanks again for your response
 
Thanks Ontour, maybe I should look into Bahrain instead
 
No worries, just on the point another poster made.
My brother is out there and has years and years of experience as a plasterer. He got let go from his job 3 months ago and only just got a new job in the past few weeks for half the money he was on (still better than what he would get here though)
he said the worldwide economy is deffo affecting Dubai and that most people he befriended when he got there that were working in a range of different sectors have either been let go, or are gone home.

He also said Oman is a place where a lot of people are headed to also, there seems to be major development going on there but would be a more stringent and strict country than UAE