Any chances in the GCC?
Sep 20th 2009, 12:55 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Jubail, KSA
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Any chances in the GCC?
Hi Folks, brand new here, second time poster/first time threader.
I work in the construction/engineering industry, have done for ca 16 years now. Currently, I'm employed as MD at the Project/Contracts Management and Cost Engineering Dpt. of a major national (Hellenic) contractor/constructor. I'm an Engineer by training, holder of M.Sc. in Infrastructure Development and Rural Engineering from National Technical University of Athens and MBAer in Management Sciece and Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also from NTUA.
By any means it's beyond my intentions to turn this thread here into a resume submission, yet I wanted to give a quick highlight of qualifications/experience. As you've perfectly understood I am looking for my next engineering career step by giving a fresh kick-back towards the GCC area.
What I really need to share with you is that although I've been submitting applications to the foremost recruiting agencies of the area for over a month now I hardly get any personalized emails back or interview invitations.
What I have achieved so far is a couple of phone calls from London and some email correspondence with agencies' consultants. I understand that among others reason for that is due to my residency in Athens.
Do you believe there are any chances of getting a job in the area just by submitting my CV. Being an EU citizen but not a UK national, would you suggest I stop contacting British recruiting agencies? In any case and judging by your experience in your previous job searches do you might see any other actions that I possibly don’t take into consideration but are definitely needed to achieve my current career objectives?
(e.g. professional CV writers, interview preparation courses, etc.)
I definitely don't feel desperate, only a bit puzzled as I can't excuse that typical politeness at the recruiters' end who rarely do they take the trouble to explain the 'reasons why' out of a probable rejection. What else could be folks except from being that busy
Appreciate your input
TIA,
George
I work in the construction/engineering industry, have done for ca 16 years now. Currently, I'm employed as MD at the Project/Contracts Management and Cost Engineering Dpt. of a major national (Hellenic) contractor/constructor. I'm an Engineer by training, holder of M.Sc. in Infrastructure Development and Rural Engineering from National Technical University of Athens and MBAer in Management Sciece and Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also from NTUA.
By any means it's beyond my intentions to turn this thread here into a resume submission, yet I wanted to give a quick highlight of qualifications/experience. As you've perfectly understood I am looking for my next engineering career step by giving a fresh kick-back towards the GCC area.
What I really need to share with you is that although I've been submitting applications to the foremost recruiting agencies of the area for over a month now I hardly get any personalized emails back or interview invitations.
What I have achieved so far is a couple of phone calls from London and some email correspondence with agencies' consultants. I understand that among others reason for that is due to my residency in Athens.Do you believe there are any chances of getting a job in the area just by submitting my CV. Being an EU citizen but not a UK national, would you suggest I stop contacting British recruiting agencies? In any case and judging by your experience in your previous job searches do you might see any other actions that I possibly don’t take into consideration but are definitely needed to achieve my current career objectives?
(e.g. professional CV writers, interview preparation courses, etc.)
I definitely don't feel desperate, only a bit puzzled as I can't excuse that typical politeness at the recruiters' end who rarely do they take the trouble to explain the 'reasons why' out of a probable rejection. What else could be folks except from being that busy
Appreciate your input
TIA,
George
Sep 20th 2009, 1:10 pm
#2
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: By the old canal...
Posts: 7,715
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
Hi Folks, brand new here, second time poster/first time threader.
I work in the construction/engineering industry, have done for ca 16 years now. Currently, I'm employed as MD at the Project/Contracts Management and Cost Engineering Dpt. of a major national (Hellenic) contractor/constructor. I'm an Engineer by training, holder of M.Sc. in Infrastructure Development and Rural Engineering from National Technical University of Athens and MBAer in Management Sciece and Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also from NTUA.
By any means it's beyond my intentions to turn this thread here into a resume submission, yet I wanted to give a quick highlight of qualifications/experience. As you've perfectly understood I am looking for my next engineering career step by giving a fresh kick-back towards the GCC area.
What I really need to share with you is that although I've been submitting applications to the foremost recruiting agencies of the area for over a month now I hardly get any personalized emails back or interview invitations. What I have achieved so far is a couple of phone calls from London and some email correspondence with agencies' consultants. I understand that among others reason for that is due to my residency in Athens.
Do you believe there are any chances of getting a job in the area just by submitting my CV. Being an EU citizen but not a UK national, would you suggest I stop contacting British recruiting agencies? In any case and judging by your experience in your previous job searches do you might see any other actions that I possibly don’t take into consideration but are definitely needed to achieve my current career objectives?
(e.g. professional CV writers, interview preparation courses, etc.)
I definitely don't feel desperate, only a bit puzzled as I can't excuse that typical politeness at the recruiters' end who rarely do they take the trouble to explain the 'reasons why' out of a probable rejection. What else could be folks except from being that busy
Appreciate your input
TIA,
George
I work in the construction/engineering industry, have done for ca 16 years now. Currently, I'm employed as MD at the Project/Contracts Management and Cost Engineering Dpt. of a major national (Hellenic) contractor/constructor. I'm an Engineer by training, holder of M.Sc. in Infrastructure Development and Rural Engineering from National Technical University of Athens and MBAer in Management Sciece and Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering also from NTUA.
By any means it's beyond my intentions to turn this thread here into a resume submission, yet I wanted to give a quick highlight of qualifications/experience. As you've perfectly understood I am looking for my next engineering career step by giving a fresh kick-back towards the GCC area.
What I really need to share with you is that although I've been submitting applications to the foremost recruiting agencies of the area for over a month now I hardly get any personalized emails back or interview invitations.
What I have achieved so far is a couple of phone calls from London and some email correspondence with agencies' consultants. I understand that among others reason for that is due to my residency in Athens.Do you believe there are any chances of getting a job in the area just by submitting my CV. Being an EU citizen but not a UK national, would you suggest I stop contacting British recruiting agencies? In any case and judging by your experience in your previous job searches do you might see any other actions that I possibly don’t take into consideration but are definitely needed to achieve my current career objectives?
(e.g. professional CV writers, interview preparation courses, etc.)
I definitely don't feel desperate, only a bit puzzled as I can't excuse that typical politeness at the recruiters' end who rarely do they take the trouble to explain the 'reasons why' out of a probable rejection. What else could be folks except from being that busy
Appreciate your input
TIA,
George
A preliminary analysis of the function describing the ratio of your applications to the quantity of replies might suggest that the underlying reason is the slow-down in the UAE construction sector, rather than anti-Hellenic sentiments amongst UK head-hunters....
There are non-UK construction firms in the UAE, however, if you feel that you aren't being given a fair crack by the Brits.
The Greek firm listed below has some projects in the UAE:
http://www.archirodon.net/content/careers.php
Sep 20th 2009, 1:27 pm
#3
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Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Jubail, KSA
Posts: 41
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
Wow, what a timely response...Great THX 
Actually I NEVER-NEVER meant to put the blame on the sentiments of UK head-hunters or worse, not being given a fair crack by the Brits. It's exactly the opposite as new era history has been proving so far!
I'm sure the things I was asking in the previous post are quite more simplistic than the above subject
Yes Archirodon is sought-after for their GCC projects and I'll explore some openings with them, although for obvious reasons I'd go for a five-continent engineering/construction firm in the first place.
Take care,
George
Actually I NEVER-NEVER meant to put the blame on the sentiments of UK head-hunters or worse, not being given a fair crack by the Brits. It's exactly the opposite as new era history has been proving so far!
I'm sure the things I was asking in the previous post are quite more simplistic than the above subject
Yes Archirodon is sought-after for their GCC projects and I'll explore some openings with them, although for obvious reasons I'd go for a five-continent engineering/construction firm in the first place.
Take care,
George
Hello George,
A preliminary analysis of the function describing the ratio of your applications to the quantity of replies might suggest that the underlying reason is the slow-down in the UAE construction sector, rather than anti-Hellenic sentiments amongst UK head-hunters....
There are non-UK construction firms in the UAE, however, if you feel that you aren't being given a fair crack by the Brits.
The Greek firm listed below has some projects in the UAE:
http://www.archirodon.net/content/careers.php
A preliminary analysis of the function describing the ratio of your applications to the quantity of replies might suggest that the underlying reason is the slow-down in the UAE construction sector, rather than anti-Hellenic sentiments amongst UK head-hunters....
There are non-UK construction firms in the UAE, however, if you feel that you aren't being given a fair crack by the Brits.
The Greek firm listed below has some projects in the UAE:
http://www.archirodon.net/content/careers.php
Sep 20th 2009, 2:22 pm
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: By the old canal...
Posts: 7,715
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
Wow, what a timely response...Great THX
Actually I NEVER-NEVER meant to put the blame on the sentiments of UK head-hunters or worse, not being given a fair crack by the Brits. It's exactly the opposite as new era history has been proving so far!
I'm sure the things I was asking in the previous post are quite more simplistic than the above subject
Yes Archirodon is sought-after for their GCC projects and I'll explore some openings with them, although for obvious reasons I'd go for a five-continent engineering/construction firm in the first place.
Take care,
George
Actually I NEVER-NEVER meant to put the blame on the sentiments of UK head-hunters or worse, not being given a fair crack by the Brits. It's exactly the opposite as new era history has been proving so far!
I'm sure the things I was asking in the previous post are quite more simplistic than the above subject
Yes Archirodon is sought-after for their GCC projects and I'll explore some openings with them, although for obvious reasons I'd go for a five-continent engineering/construction firm in the first place.
Take care,
George
Quite a few posters on this site are in construction, they may be able to give you some pointers on who is hiring. There have been a lot of redundancies in the sector, however.
Good luck.
Sep 20th 2009, 2:29 pm
#5
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Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Jubail, KSA
Posts: 41
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
A-ha-ha-ha...that's exactly what they need
And maybe some even stronger wording
And maybe some even stronger wording
Don't worry, George - I was being a bit tongue in cheek about the racist head hunters!!
Quite a few posters on this site are in construction, they may be able to give you some pointers on who is hiring. There have been a lot of redundancies in the sector, however.
Good luck.
Quite a few posters on this site are in construction, they may be able to give you some pointers on who is hiring. There have been a lot of redundancies in the sector, however.
Good luck.
Sep 20th 2009, 5:33 pm
#6
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Joined: May 2007
Location: Utopia
Posts: 1,644
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
You might want to give J&P a try as well.
Sep 20th 2009, 7:28 pm
#7
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Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Jubail, KSA
Posts: 41
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
Benzonar, your suggestion is warmly welcomed. Given their origins Aktor, J&P, Archirodon and the like are the safe bets of this search. However, I'd like this fresh kick-back to be coupled with an offer from a major international player instead of an 'overlocal' contractor. Thx anyway
Sep 22nd 2009, 6:49 am
#8
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Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Jubail, KSA
Posts: 41
Re: Any chances in the GCC?
I was wondering if any of you are using the AlJazeera daily alerts...it's been a couple of days I'm not receiving the least notification, does anybody else here experience this very same issue? Checked the spam folder also, no chance however 
TIA,
George
TIA,
George
