Re: How is business?
 

Interesting. I wonder how many PMCs are actually involved across the various works packages - I presume 5 with Lusail? It would seem an obvious area to cut costs.

Re: How is business?
 

I have a few agent friends working the technology sector. Both set up their own companies last year after working for big name agencies for years. They were both raking it in until summer-time last year....

At this point one has closed his company and left and the other is doing okay on volume roles (i.e. grunts to mid-level management). Senior management roles are few and far between. There are exceptions and as a candidate you may get calls and even interviews, but most roles never make it to offer stage....

Re: How is business?
 

As if any recruiter is going to tell anyone they are struggling! They'll largely claim the sky is green and the sea is pink if they can get a commission. (Scamp being in a minority in that industry.)

Re: How is business?
 

I got called yesterday by a recruitment consultant - he was quite surprised that I had no intention of moving.

Re: How is business?
 

I worked a 6 month contract at a western construction company, and the person who put me in the role is a director (E&MENA). They are struggling and they are a big player.

Re: How is business?
 

My mate in construction hasn't been paid for 4 months. they haven't been paid by their government client for 9 months, and they haven't paid their suppliers for almost 12!

Decent sized contractor too and was the inspiration behind this thread

Re: How is business?
 

House of cards, the client doesn't pay, the company can't pay, the suppliers don't get paid, their suppliers don't get paid etc.

Weirdly enough we've just got a new contract from AD Gov, they're paying 50% up-front, 50% on delivery.

Re: How is business?
 

Follow the money.

I was accused (not to my face) by the MD of a substantial international company of being an opportunist after having negotiated a decent package for myself as a result of a supply-and-demand situation which was in my favour (they desperately needed someone with my skills and experience, and I was available); he intended the term to be pejorative. That was a move into a new industry for me (although related to my core experience), which was buoyant at the time. I'm now in a different industry, which is relatively buoyant, and I applied the follow-the-money maxim when taking this role, not only from an industry perspective but also from an employer and role perspective. You can have the best job in the world but if its in an industry, or with an employer (or clients), which either don't pay well or may not pay at all when times get tough, then you're at risk.

Most of us have skills that are transferable across industries, and staying in one when government clients are not paying for 9 months or more is a risk I wouldn't be willing to take.

Re: How is business?
 

It's not the Westerners i feel sorry for it's specifically the Filipinos and the like, they don't usually have savings and get trodden on by so many employers, also scared about bans, about eos, everything. they are the ones that suffer the most, the ones at the bottom of the pile.

Re: How is business?
 

Invariably. The world is not a fair place.

Re: How is business?
 

thankfully

Re: How is business?
 

Today's Telegraph is talking $16/barrel:

RBS cries 'sell everything' as deflationary crisis nears

That said, our place is still recruiting and is pushing ahead as planned with a big infrastructure project. One thing that's changed though is that HR is now sourcing candidates directly rather than using agents. Our principal contractor is doing the same (both us and them are large employers in Dubai). That may be down to a combination of belt tightening, more folk available looking for jobs and/or the rise of t'internet. I don't deny that there's a slump on but the fact that recruitment agencies are feeling the squeeze may be as much a bellwether of a longer-term structural shift in the way the market works (i.e. cutting out the middle man through easier direct access) as it is of economic downturn.

Re: How is business?
 

The biggest employers have been moving recruitment in-house for years. It's typically a strategic move rather than a cost saving measure. Of course some companies will try doing it for cost cutting reasons now and most will fail to save money....

The average Dubai HR person clearly thinks they can just directly substitute a professional agent with Linkedin. I recently hired a few mid-level IT managers and my HR contact sent me a few profiles she 'had found'. I had to tell her manager to make her stop wasting my time.

Re: How is business?
 

During the 2010/11 recession, I was made redundant. Many recruiters literally said. I have no jobs, actually to the point of being so honest to me. I've not placed anyone for a couple of weeks/months. So to say a recruiter will say its booming is incorrect. My first hand experience of British recruiters they tend to fairly reliable. But when one says this company is the best, etc etc...I don't believe that crap.

Re: How is business?
 

Oil forecasts are pointless. Not long ago when oil was 80, the banks were saying 120.