My number one priority now that I'm back in Dubai is to find a job. Once I have a job, I will have free healthcare. I will also have a paycheck. I haven't had a paycheck in ten months, and my bank accounts are certainly looking worse for wear. When I have a paycheck, I can finally kiss cohabitation goodbye (that's another blog altogether!) and move into my very own flat with all my own furniture and personal items and use the bathroom with the door open and eat cereal for dinner again. But, like I said, I'll save all that for another blog.
My point is this: Job=Independence. Now many of you out there might shake your heads in disagreement, convinced that slaving away 9 to 5 (8-8 in these parts) for, proverbially speaking, "The Man" is the antithesis of independent living. I would have wholeheartedly agreed with you two years ago. However, given my current circumstances, I just want to feel normal again, and by normal I mean no longer living out of a suitcase, no longer depending on others for everything, no longer being a leech.
Therefore, Operation Job Search has now commenced and I'm taking no prisoners. Within days of arriving in Dubai, I began setting up meetings with recruiters, scouring job boards, sending my resume this way and that, even updating my Linked In profile (although I'm still not convinced people actually look at that).
So far, the search has been quite interesting, to say the least. For example, a colleague had passed my resume on to a guy who was hiring. This guy immediately began to constantly hound me for numerous examples of my previous work...I spent hours sending him this information while he ignored my requests to see the job description. The final straw came when, after a week of back and forth correspondence, he asked for my picture. I politely told him to *&%@ off.
I have also started to get a bit disgruntled with recruiters in particular. There have been countless incidents in which a recruiter has contacted me, told me about an available position with such-and-such company, asked for my updated resume, gotten me excited about it...and then disappeared off the face of the planet. And when I do call them back to find out what's going on, they always act flustered and nervous and give me some lame run-around excuses, like "Oh, I was just about to call you!," and "Unfortunately, that position was put on hold," or "Yes, well, they were already in the final stages of interviewing when they received your resume..." Cut the crap!
Not all is doom and gloom, however, as yesterday I had my first official interview. It was for the position of Training Manager at a US-based company in Abu Dhabi. I met with the HR Director and the Head of Recruitment, and they loved me (naturally!). The job sounds interesting, the company seems stable, and the pay is great...but it is in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is an exhausting 70-minute drive from Dubai on a road where driving 80mph would put you in the slow lane. I would never do that drive twice a day, so I would move to Abu Dhabi. Since most of the good jobs seem to be in Abu Dhabi, I'm trying to make peace with the probability of having to move there. Pros: Fresh start, good salary, change of scenery, more cultural events (art, music, performances). Cons: Boring city, high rent, far from friends, chiropractor, social life (not that I really have one), and comfort zone.
So let's see what happens. I am trying to be open to everything but at the same time I don't want to get desperate and just jump for the first opportunity that comes my way. Ramadan is coming up in just a few weeks and everything completely dies for a month, so I am hoping I can get something before then!
Oh, the joys of job hunting. In the wise words of Dolly, "It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it!"
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