Accountancy Forum - UAE Job Market: Ask your Queries Here!

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<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ArsalanYousuf
 Dear DxB.Raf

I have mailed my CV.. Kindly critically review it.

Regards
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I have seen it. Certainly need changes. Leaving office now. Will reply tomorrow.

Change your CV from 4 page to 3 page. Start squeezing your cv. Too much gap and line distance used. It took you to 4th page. You have totally wasted your first page which is the only page that will be seen during filtering process.

Currently the prospective employer will only see your education on 1st page...he wont care goin to 2nd you know. I have seen it myself. People don't like reading CVs.

Put...

Profile/Career Objective
Professional Strenghts,
Education SUMMARY,
Achievements and
Latest full job details on the first page...also try to put your personal information on first page but let it not take this much space.

2nd page should have earlier jobs goin to 3rd page. Where you elborate on your degrees, put other courses, training, IT literacy, Languages, References etc.

You cover letter really needs to be more professional. Revamp it.

Check grammer. Your old jobs should be in past tense. Performed, Prepared, Ensured etc...you are using both present and past tense in your old job details.

You have put extra information on education...that much is not required.

Dear Dxb.Raf,
i have mailed u my cv, please guide me as to whether it is appropriate.

Thankyou

@afnan, not much to write in your cv write now. Complete 3 years at PSO and then remove the internship and elborate more on each job responsibility.

Formatting is poor could be improved. Looks like a student applying for intership kinda cv, not professional.

@ Dxb.Raf
k, thanks man, ill try editing it, in which city are u in uae??

Dubai )

You can find CV formats on internet and then be creative to make some changes according to your needs.

Hi DxB Raf!

Finally got a job here in the UAE! Thank you for all your support and guidance....I am extremely thankful, keep up the good work. )

On another note, I would like to ask DxB Raf, as I have an ACCA Qualification (UK certificate) what is the process of getting it attested. I mean, like some people have told me is that you have to get it attested from Pakistan HEC>ForeignAffairs>UAE Embassy . ..but some have told me that an attestation from the Local UAE British Council is enough....Please advise....if you can send me your contact no. to my email id haris_alshafi@hotmail.com...I can contact you, if you dont mind.

Dear Haris,

Congrats man, where did u get job, which city?? and how much time did it take for the job search?? ur an ACCA qualified or got some other certifications too??
Guidance needed asap plz,

Thankyou,

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by afnan
 Dear Haris,

Congrats man, where did u get job, which city?? and how much time did it take for the job search?? ur an ACCA qualified or got some other certifications too??
Guidance needed asap plz,

Thankyou,
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dear Afnan,

Thanks!...I got a job in Sharjah after a month of INTENSIVE job searching. I am an ACCA Affiliate with over two years experience, and no, I don't have any other certifications.
Hope this answered your question!

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by haris_alshafi
 Hi DxB Raf!

Finally got a job here in the UAE! Thank you for all your support and guidance....I am extremely thankful, keep up the good work. )

On another note, I would like to ask DxB Raf, as I have an ACCA Qualification (UK certificate) what is the process of getting it attested. I mean, like some people have told me is that you have to get it attested from Pakistan HEC>ForeignAffairs>UAE Embassy . ..but some have told me that an attestation from the Local UAE British Council is enough....Please advise....if you can send me your contact no. to my email id haris_alshafi@hotmail.com...I can contact you, if you dont mind.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Amazing news. Really happy for you. Very big achievement and this is the platform from where your career will take off. Many Congrats to you.

Kindly do us all a favor and elborate on how you got the job. How you applied, what is your designation, job nature, size & industry of the company. Interviews that you attended and what good and bad you faced. How long it took and what is your opinion on overall job market here. Any other advices that you think is a MUST for every one to know.

Regarding the attestation process, ACCA certificate would not be attested. I think ACCA states in its policy that no one can attest its certificate. Niether do the UAE authorities accept professional certificates. They require attested academic degree. If you have a bcom or Bsc, you may get it attested but now since you are already here it is not possible. It may take 7-10 days or more. There are companies that gets all your Uni Degrees attested for a fee of around 200 AED. I faced similar situation and there is a simple solution for it.

Tell your company to apply for an employment visa in a category that does not require attested degree. My profession on visa is CLERK. This will give you 2 years before your next visa renewal, you can get your degrees attested and renew the visa in ACCOUNTANT or FINANCE category. The effect of having clerk visa is NIL. You will sign a labour contract that will have the same designation as on visa but the total package woule be whatever your actual total salary is. My labor contract says Clerk along with my full salary package while my company employment contract says the actual desgination. Its not a biggy.

You will find many high level designation low designation visas because everyone is too lazy to get it attested and there is a simple work around for it. It does not effect your stay in UAE in any possible way.

P.S send me your number on my email mentioned above. I'll get in touch with you.

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DxB.Raf
 <blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by haris_alshafi
 Hi DxB Raf!

Finally got a job here in the UAE! Thank you for all your support and guidance....I am extremely thankful, keep up the good work. )

On another note, I would like to ask DxB Raf, as I have an ACCA Qualification (UK certificate) what is the process of getting it attested. I mean, like some people have told me is that you have to get it attested from Pakistan HEC>ForeignAffairs>UAE Embassy . ..but some have told me that an attestation from the Local UAE British Council is enough....Please advise....if you can send me your contact no. to my email id haris_alshafi@hotmail.com...I can contact you, if you dont mind.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Amazing news. Really happy for you. Very big achievement and this is the platform from where your career will take off. Many Congrats to you.

Kindly do us all a favor and elborate on how you got the job. How you applied, what is your designation, job nature, size & industry of the company. Interviews that you attended and what good and bad you faced. How long it took and what is your opinion on overall job market here. Any other advices that you think is a MUST for every one to know.

Regarding the attestation process, ACCA certificate would not be attested. I think ACCA states in its policy that no one can attest its certificate. Niether do the UAE authorities accept professional certificates. They require attested academic degree. If you have a bcom or Bsc, you may get it attested but now since you are already here it is not possible. It may take 7-10 days or more. There are companies that gets all your Uni Degrees attested for a fee of around 200 AED. I faced similar situation and there is a simple solution for it.

Tell your company to apply for an employment visa in a category that does not require attested degree. My profession on visa is CLERK. This will give you 2 years before your next visa renewal, you can get your degrees attested and renew the visa in ACCOUNTANT or FINANCE category. The effect of having clerk visa is NIL. You will sign a labour contract that will have the same designation as on visa but the total package woule be whatever your actual total salary is. My labor contract says Clerk along with my full salary package while my company employment contract says the actual desgination. Its not a biggy.

You will find many high level designation low designation visas because everyone is too lazy to get it attested and there is a simple work around for it. It does not effect your stay in UAE in any possible way.

P.S send me your number on my email mentioned above. I'll get in touch with you.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dear DxB Raf,

Thank you for such a prompt reply! I have sent you my personal number to your email id.

Well, with regard to my employment here I would be happy to help all of the readers of this forum. I came to the UAE on the 13th of October. The first thing I did was get a local Mobile connection and update my number on my resume, my profiles on portals like Gulftalent.com, Naukrigulf.com, Monstergulf.com and so on. Then I created a profile on Gnads4u.com and Dubizzle.com (These websites allow you to place you own ads as a job seeker)As I am living with my father in Sharjah, I did not have any problems relating to food, accommodation e.t.c (These are the first things you would need to sort before you even think about applying - Read DxB Raf's earlier posts relating to Food and Accommodation and travel)

After I created these profiles from the day I arrived and till date I followed this routine
(1) Woke up early (I'll tell you why later) and placed 'carefully structured Ads' on Gnads4u and Dubizzle.com, mind you carefully structured ads mean emphasis on key words, spelling, and length.
(2) Then I went over to the job search section of Gnads4u.com - this section gets atleast 20-30 ACTUAL job posts per day, sometimes even more. and applied to every Accounting and/or Finance job that was posted. See, sometimes the company posts requirements like 5-10 years Gulf experience required or 3 years experience required - I was'nt put off by those requirements instead I emailed my CV to each and every post(emphasis on every)
(3) Grabbed the day's issue of Gulf News - classifieds and Appointments section, applied to EVERY job which had the term 'accounts' and/or 'finance' then copied the email ids of the job posts and emailed my CV.
(4) The Last thing I did was apply to job vacancies in the portals I mentioned above - I would not advise you against any particular portal ( even though some of them receive no responses) As you never know through which portal you would receive a response.

Till the eid holidays (from 13th of October) I received only two calls for an interview. The first interview I gave was for a small trading company in Dubai, the interviewer was Pakistani and that too an ACCA student. The interview was terrible, I had forgotten everything I did'nt know what debit/credit was, no idea what the defination of an asset was and so on. The Interviewer even asked me If I was an actual ACCA Affiliate or not. You could have imagined my surprise and the shame I felt on those remarks. But it was a good thing never the less, beacuse it prompted me to start preparing myself for interviews - I started reading ACCA course notes from paper F1. The second company was a Free Zone Trading company (will elaborate on the Pros and cons of FZ comapnies later) the interviewer was Egyptian, so it did'nt matter how good I was at speaking English because neither he nor I could understand each other. Generally I was'nt too keen on that interview.

After Eid, I started receiving calls for interviews on a daily basis - some of them requesting me to send my CV in reponse to my AD on Gnads4u. Others were from the Ads I applied to on Gnads4u and Gulf News. I had an expected salary on my mind, but I never made salary a filter for going to interviews. I went to each and every interview I received a call from, that helped me extremely in such a way, that I was able to impress all my interviewers enough to offer me a salary package then and there. trust me, getting good at interviews is extremely important- if you feel you are shy or you can't relate to people you better start practicing.

This was my actual job searching technique. It would please all of you to hear that even though I had a lot of Professional references here in the UAE, all of the interviews that I got a call for had nothing to do with those references at all. So need to feel sorry for your self if you know no one here.

With regard to the employment I secured, I will definitely elaborate more on that in my next post.

^^
You were quiet spot on with your job search. These are some basics that one needs to do correctly and interview calls definetly flow in.

Also your 2 years exp negates my original view that minimum 3 years exp is required. I would like to know more about the level of your job and nature of tasks involved.

I visit Sharjah regularly as there are some good eating places. Hope you are enjoying the rich food over here and the price tags specially )

Gone contact you soon.

Thanks

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DxB.Raf
 ^^
You were quiet spot on with your job search. These are some basics that one needs to do correctly and interview calls definetly flow in.

Also your 2 years exp negates my original view that minimum 3 years exp is required. I would like to know more about the level of your job and nature of tasks involved.

I visit Sharjah regularly as there are some good eating places. Hope you are enjoying the rich food over here and the price tags specially )

Gone contact you soon.

Thanks

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dear DxB Raf,

Well when you have little time and you are basically jobless you need to be focussed and goal oriented when it comes to job searching. For example timing is everything when it comes to posting ads and I found out that almost all companies in the UAE look to the Gulf news for their recruitment campaign. As far as my job goes, I am appointed as a Senior Accountant - however the bonus bit is that my job description states that I am basically incharge of accounting and finance in the organisation- tasks range from finalising accounts to managing the company's finance portfolio to managing the existing Financial controls, being hired as a Senior Accountant now, I know I would be stepping up the career ladder soon, Inshallah! My company is basically the market leader in its industry here, it has international presence as well. What attracted me the most was that the company was growing, I am a firm believer of being part of a growing company rather than a mature one.

Finding a job is only half the battle, impressing your employer in the interview is the other. Please, please people reading this post, do not take basic accounting knowledge for granted, as far as my experience goes even though you might be a chartered accountant or a CFA, your employer might only be able to question you on basic accounting and finance knowledge! so brush up! as far as experience is concerned I felt that having two years experience would enable you to get shortlisted atleast, anything lower than two years you would be having a tough time.

As far as the food here goes, amazing. It's a wonderful place I have found Pakistani/Indian/Lebanese/Western and Chinese cuisines all in one place! Price tags are a bit too much...well seing I have'nt been paid yet.

Hope to hear from you soon, and hope this helps!

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by haris_alshafi
 <blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DxB.Raf
 ^^
You were quiet spot on with your job search. These are some basics that one needs to do correctly and interview calls definetly flow in.

Also your 2 years exp negates my original view that minimum 3 years exp is required. I would like to know more about the level of your job and nature of tasks involved.

I visit Sharjah regularly as there are some good eating places. Hope you are enjoying the rich food over here and the price tags specially )

Gone contact you soon.

Thanks

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dear DxB Raf,

Well when you have little time and you are basically jobless you need to be focussed and goal oriented when it comes to job searching. For example timing is everything when it comes to posting ads and I found out that almost all companies in the UAE look to the Gulf news for their recruitment campaign. As far as my job goes, I am appointed as a Senior Accountant - however the bonus bit is that my job description states that I am basically incharge of accounting and finance in the organisation- tasks range from finalising accounts to managing the company's finance portfolio to managing the existing Financial controls, being hired as a Senior Accountant now, I know I would be stepping up the career ladder soon, Inshallah! My company is basically the market leader in its industry here, it has international presence as well. What attracted me the most was that the company was growing, I am a firm believer of being part of a growing company rather than a mature one.

Finding a job is only half the battle, impressing your employer in the interview is the other. Please, please people reading this post, do not take basic accounting knowledge for granted, as far as my experience goes even though you might be a chartered accountant or a CFA, your employer might only be able to question you on basic accounting and finance knowledge! so brush up! as far as experience is concerned I felt that having two years experience would enable you to get shortlisted atleast, anything lower than two years you would be having a tough time.

As far as the food here goes, amazing. It's a wonderful place I have found Pakistani/Indian/Lebanese/Western and Chinese cuisines all in one place! Price tags are a bit too much...well seing I have'nt been paid yet.

Hope to hear from you soon, and hope this helps!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

A very decent designation and job description to start with. 5 years down the line we might be Finance Managers Inshallah!. However, i doubt the managing company's finance part as it would be a decision making role confined to your finance manager or CFO. You will start to know more about the job once you join. When are they gona apply for labor approval and visa? One drawback of having Sharjah visa, you will have to get driving license from Sharjah itself. You are in for a ride on this one. Get ready for another more pissing battle. As compared to AUH and DXB, SHJ authorities are autocratic still most of them are jahils living in stone age. You can't modify your car in Sharjah and get ready for Pak style snap checking after 10 o clock by the police. They don't take bribe but 90% of the times they would have a reason to give you 200 dhm fine for something or another.

It's true that everyone of us ignore the basics and know everything about advance concepts. 90% of the interviwers only ask for basic double entry concepts, TB, basic fixed assets and AR AP accounting. The test i gave for my job was CAT basic T1 and T3 level questions. Although now in the job i have to prepare a full cash flow statement every month. The rule is that if you know the basics you would be a good learner on the job.

I'll contact you on weekend. Its a 3 days weekend coutsery Islamic New Year.

<blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DxB.Raf
 <blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by haris_alshafi
 <blockquote id="quote">quote<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DxB.Raf
 ^^
You were quiet spot on with your job search. These are some basics that one needs to do correctly and interview calls definetly flow in.

Also your 2 years exp negates my original view that minimum 3 years exp is required. I would like to know more about the level of your job and nature of tasks involved.

I visit Sharjah regularly as there are some good eating places. Hope you are enjoying the rich food over here and the price tags specially )

Gone contact you soon.

Thanks

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Dear DxB Raf,

Well when you have little time and you are basically jobless you need to be focussed and goal oriented when it comes to job searching. For example timing is everything when it comes to posting ads and I found out that almost all companies in the UAE look to the Gulf news for their recruitment campaign. As far as my job goes, I am appointed as a Senior Accountant - however the bonus bit is that my job description states that I am basically incharge of accounting and finance in the organisation- tasks range from finalising accounts to managing the company's finance portfolio to managing the existing Financial controls, being hired as a Senior Accountant now, I know I would be stepping up the career ladder soon, Inshallah! My company is basically the market leader in its industry here, it has international presence as well. What attracted me the most was that the company was growing, I am a firm believer of being part of a growing company rather than a mature one.

Finding a job is only half the battle, impressing your employer in the interview is the other. Please, please people reading this post, do not take basic accounting knowledge for granted, as far as my experience goes even though you might be a chartered accountant or a CFA, your employer might only be able to question you on basic accounting and finance knowledge! so brush up! as far as experience is concerned I felt that having two years experience would enable you to get shortlisted atleast, anything lower than two years you would be having a tough time.

As far as the food here goes, amazing. It's a wonderful place I have found Pakistani/Indian/Lebanese/Western and Chinese cuisines all in one place! Price tags are a bit too much...well seing I have'nt been paid yet.

Hope to hear from you soon, and hope this helps!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

A very decent designation and job description to start with. 5 years down the line we might be Finance Managers Inshallah!. However, i doubt the managing company's finance part as it would be a decision making role confined to your finance manager or CFO. You will start to know more about the job once you join. When are they gona apply for labor approval and visa? One drawback of having Sharjah visa, you will have to get driving license from Sharjah itself. You are in for a ride on this one. Get ready for another more pissing battle. As compared to AUH and DXB, SHJ authorities are autocratic still most of them are jahils living in stone age. You can't modify your car in Sharjah and get ready for Pak style snap checking after 10 o clock by the police. They don't take bribe but 90% of the times they would have a reason to give you 200 dhm fine for something or another.

It's true that everyone of us ignore the basics and know everything about advance concepts. 90% of the interviwers only ask for basic double entry concepts, TB, basic fixed assets and AR AP accounting. The test i gave for my job was CAT basic T1 and T3 level questions. Although now in the job i have to prepare a full cash flow statement every month. The rule is that if you know the basics you would be a good learner on the job.

I'll contact you on weekend. Its a 3 days weekend coutsery Islamic New Year.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Well DxB, the terms and conditions of the contract specified my job description as well; It sounded to me that they expected me to fill in a FM's shoes. Well any how, I just confirmed from a source in the ACCA - they told me that UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not attest Professional Certificates; same reason as yours - thats unfortunate. So I am still in the process of discussion with the company's PRO to find an alternate. As far as driving licenses are concerned you are absolutely right, sharjah is the most difficult to pass then Dubai and the easiest is Abu Dhabi. I have been informed that as my company's operations are all over the UAE, I can take the test anywhere - Don't know if thats true or not, will ask the PRO for more details. Without a car in the UAE you are basically handicapped - Public Transport here is too damn expensive!

Regarding Interviews, another thing I would like to add is that the interviewer often asks you for your expected salary - that question is a loaded gun, see if you state a salary too high the interviewer would have already striked you out in his/her mind. stating a salary too low would get you stuck in a very low salary band where you cant negotiate anymore. In my case I stated a salary package that was high enough in my mind, but very low for the post. So the Interviewer never once argued or tried to lower my salary expectations - and slapped that package on my offer letter )....So I would suggest is that keep a decent package in mind, forget about your qualification, your experience would get you a decent pay - qualification related pay matters if you are selected for the post of Finance Manager or a senior position. If you know the designation they are holding interviews for then you have a decent idea what salary to expect. another important thing in terms of salary is the company size, business and staff and existing accounting team. If you get to that stage of an interview then you would be able to negotiate a better package. Never ask for a package like ' I want 6000 AED plus accommodation' It is MUCH better if you tell them that I will manage my own accomodations, instead you can increase my basic pay with that allowance. A company would get you a bed space in a room that you would have to share with 8-10 people for 1500 AED, whereas in sharjah you could even get a Two bedroom hall flat for that amount!

Well hope my input helps, DxB waiting for your call on the weekend. Take care everyone, and I assure everyone planning on coming to UAE - with the right mindset and a little bit of luck anyone can find a job here!

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