Hey I was there for 30 minutes, it was pretty boring . . . so I left

Finding a job in Dubai, was a full time job. I don’t expect job offers to drop from the sky, but comparing job hunting in London to Dubai, there is only one winner. The level of engagement and the rapport I tried to build with recruiters outside of London was extremely difficult. The usual “send a CV and LinkedIn request, and talk for 30–45 mins over the phone about my skills, experience and aspirations” was not how it works. Instead, you apply directly for a role you see, either on the recruiter’s job board or via LinkedIn DM’s in relation to a post you saw that day. You either fit that role and get an invite for Zoom/Teams appears or you don’t fit the role and you get radio silence. I got past a few first interactions, and had a “call”. It gets weird; I am asked if I have ever dabbled in digital forensics, web application testing and if I have worked in crypto. OK, so the role wants a unicorn. I assume recruiters haven’t challenged this with the hiring manager and just accepted that they may find someone. I proceed to ask about the organisation(s), hiring managers and the long term goal — is this delivering a project, is it providing capability uplift, have they bought in-house their SOC? “oh those are great questions, let me speak to the hiring manager and get back to you”. <a href="https://medium.com/@u91imran/hey-i-was-there-for-30-minutes-it-was-pretty-boring-so-i-left-749b16f3c1cf">Learn More</a>