Category: Travelling Tips

Dubai runs on relationships. This is not a platitude. It is an operational reality. Hiring managers shortlist referrals before they read applications. Business deals close over coffee meetings. Promotions go to people who are known, not just qualified. I have worked in the GCC for over fifteen years. Every significant career opportunity I have witnessed,…

Dubai’s economy shifts fast. Industries that dominated hiring 5 years ago are not the ones leading today. If you are job hunting, changing careers, or relocating to Dubai, you need to know where the growth is. Not where it was. I work in senior HR leadership in the UAE. I see hiring trends across sectors…

I review LinkedIn profiles weekly. Recruiters in my network do the same. The pattern is consistent: 80% of profiles targeting the UAE market make the same mistakes. The mistakes cost opportunity. A strong profile opens doors. A weak one closes them. In the GCC talent market, visibility is competitive. One profile might secure you three…

Instagram shows you the Marina penthouse. The Lamborghini rental. The Friday brunch at Atlantis. That is not how most African professionals live in Dubai. Not in year one. Not in year three. The reality is more modest and more manageable than the extremes suggest. Dubai can be affordable if you make informed decisions about where…

The African professional community in Dubai has grown significantly over the past decade. Nigerians, Kenyans, South Africans, Ghanaians, Ugandans, Ethiopians, and Egyptians now work across every major sector in the emirate. Yet most relocation advice online targets Western expats. The salary benchmarks, housing recommendations, and cultural adjustment tips assume a European or North American starting…

Kenya produces exceptional professionals. Accountants. Engineers. Hospitality managers. Healthcare workers. The GCC knows this. Dubai’s hospitality, healthcare, and finance sectors actively recruit from Nairobi. The demand is real. The opportunity is real. The problem is the gap between expectation and reality. I have worked in senior HR across the GCC for over fifteen years. I…

Early morning. Your phone shows three messages before you reach the office. One supervisor resigned overnight. Two team members did not show up for shift. The restaurant is running short-staffed. This is not a crisis. This is a regular morning in hotel HR across the Middle East. Over my career in GCC hospitality HR, I…

High turnover. That is the default state of hotel HR across the GCC. Industry average in the GCC hospitality sector sits between 30% and 45%. Some properties hit 60%. Everyone treats it as normal. It is not normal. It is expensive. One front office agent leaves. Recruitment cost: $800 to $1,200. Training cost: $1,500 over…

Over the years in hospitality HR across the GCC, I have reviewed thousands of CVs from Nigerian professionals. Roughly a fraction of those people now work in Dubai. The majority made predictable mistakes. Wrong industries. Wrong salary expectations. Wrong CV format. Some applied for roles that stopped hiring internationally five years ago. This article maps…

I moved to the UAE in 2009. From East Africa. No job lined up. No insider contacts. Just a work permit and a plan. Seventeen years later, I work in senior HR leadership in Dubai’s hospitality sector. I have hired and onboarded hundreds of African professionals. I have also watched hundreds fail before they started.…