SamiM

Good morning all,

As the title states, I am a building services design engineer (mechanically biased) with over 4 years experience in a consultancy environment, and looking for an opportunity in the middle east.

I have worked on commercial, residential, retail and educational buildings. In terms of services, I have designed HVAC, Domestic Services and Above Ground Drainage systems. I've had training and experience at using TAS for thermal modelling and Part L assessments as well as additional software to perform SAP assessments.

Possibly irrelevant, but from what I can gather, the rate at which things move would mean I have 5 years experience by the time I actually manage to land a role and move across, should I be successful.

I have an additional 2 years experience as an application engineer working for a software company.

Does anyone have any advice with regards where to look as most of the jobs I have applied for have not even responded with a no or reason for being unsuccessful? Also is it an industry that would put me in good stead of finding a job in the UAE?

I am from the UK and have a mechanical engineering bachelors degree if this helps.

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be brilliant and much appreciated.

Kind Regards,

SamiM

reddiva

Most of these roles are filled by non Western nationals who will take a much lower wage. The job market as a whole is down and it has been a very slow start this year. Wages have dropped and many people are dealing with salary delays or non payment. If you are stable in the UK i would stay there
Recruitment in the UAE works very differently to the UK, as they work directly for clients. They won't contact you unless they have a suitable role and due to the volume of applications they recieve they won't contact you unless you have been invited for interview. Feedback is normally given after an interview not before

gottheTshirt

The ME building service consultancy roles are dominated by Egyptians working for a lot les than you would need to earn. Unless you can get yourself on a prestigious project where the client is willing to pay for decent designs than I don’t think there is much opportunity. Western based consultants typically employ local consultants (staffed with Indians and Egyptians) for MEP works

SamiM

Appreciate the honest feedback above. Are there any fields out in the UAE that I would be able to get my foot in the door with transferable skills I have obtained with my degree and experience?

Canada was another location I was considering so will post a similar question in the correct section later.

It will be myself, my wife and our child that is due in 2 months all being well. We're looking to experience things abroad and if it is somewhere we can save a little extra then that would be brilliant.

scot47

Canada and the UAE are both "abroad" but they are quire different !

gottheTshirt

I have run design offices in the ME since 1990 working with most western consultantancy companies. I have employed senior mechanical and electrical engineers on power, pumping systems and district cooling etc. I have never employed western MEP/HVAC engineers. I have just completed a design project in Kuwait - Mechanical, electrical and ICA design was provided by very short inputs from western engineers based in the home office. MEP/HVAC was all by local consultants (Egyptian).

Millhouse

Havoc engineers.

SamiM

Thanks for the heads up...

SamiM

Appreciate the input. Would you say this is across all sectors or only specific build types. I.e. Retail/resi/commercial etc.

reddiva

Across all sectors. Most Westerners went into senior roles however even that is changing
Clients want to pay low wages for senior guys ( Rolls Royce for the cost of a Mini Cooper)

gottheTshirt

Clients and ministries also employ low cost review engineers. You will be totally frustrated by the nonsense they impose. I have designed pumps and power systems that are 5 times oversized simply to get approval. - Low wages = inappropriate design = very expensive projects, but not my money

SamiM

So I received a call today from a UAE identified number claiming to be a recruitment company. It didn't sound right to me as they were asking for a fee to process and validate my forms of ID for any potential employees.

Does this sound legitimate for the recruitment process in the middle east or is it a scam?

weasel decentral

Complete scam

reddiva

Scam. It is illegal to charge for recruitment services and no agency can guarantee you a job
These sorts of scams have been doing the rounds for years and it was recently in the press here
Do not pay a penny. Recruiters bill clients not candidates

SamiM

Thank you for the replies guys. Will avoid without worrying about missing out on a potential opportunity.