In Focus
In Focus: Dubai Quantity Surveying and Construction Jobseekers' Toolkit
Moving to Dubai for a new quantity surveying or construction job can be a confusing experience for many. Some QS, Project Managers, Estimators and the like will have visited Dubai before accepting a job there, but many people have not visited at all, or have just had a all to brief holiday or two there. With this in mind, Maxim Recruitment has prepared a collection of various helpful links and references to try and help with the most common questions you may have about living and working in Dubai.
We take seriously the need for our job seekers to be well briefed on the working and social environments they will be exposed to, to ensure they are able to progress their application with us right through to many years of successful employment with the right overseas company.
General Information on Dubai
Let’s start with some general information, these two sites are excellent sources of information for anyone considering employment abroad.
www.Britishexpats.com is a website dedicated to expats’ experiences in moving to various locations around the world and although not Dubai focused it contains a wealth of information for all the most popular expat destinations. The site’s content includes blogs and photo galleries in which many current expats record their experiences for others to view, there are also discussion forums and a live chat area in which expats and expats-to-be can talk over any issues they have.
Another general site with plenty of expat information is www.Expatwoman.com. This site is geared towards women looking to move out to the UAE, both as employees and as partners of employees. They make reference to a wide range of topics that standard expat websites simply don’t think of. The site doesn’t seem to miss much out, with family orientated pages remembering to cover everything from the most essential issues such as life as an expat mother, all the way through to the simplest things we’d all like to know such as where one can get some decent shopping done!
Currency Conversion
One of the most basic, yet most important things to consider when moving to Dubai is currency. There is certainly no shortage of currency conversion sites in existence, but the recruitment consultants at Maxim have found www.xe.com to be consistently reliable and always up to date with exchange rates. This helps with understanding construction job offers if made in local currency, as well as getting to grips with evaluating the cost of living.
Accommodation
So you know how much money you’ll have once you reach Dubai, but you need somewhere to live. Many expat remuneration packages will have accommodation provided so you don’t have to worry about it at all, but in some cases your employer will only provide a housing allowance, leaving you to sort out the technicalities yourself. Each method has it pros and cons which are worth discussing with a Maxim Recruitment consultant
Dubai Luxury Homes is a comprehensive search engine for finding accommodation in Dubai, whether you’re looking for a simple apartment in downtown Dubai or a luxury villa on the Palm Jumeirah. If anything, the only problem with this site is one typical of the internet – it offers too much choice, which can be somewhat daunting at first. If this is your first look into Dubai accommodation it will be worth doing a bit of homework on some of the housing developments listed on Dubai Luxury Homes to help decide where you want to live. The site also includes a lot of helpful info to help first time buyers acclimatise to Dubai’s housing market. If you get snow blind to it all, why not call a Maxim recruitment consultant that handles overseas jobs and ask them to profile the different regions of Dubai or Abu Dhabi and the price brackets each of them fall into?
While the vast majority of packages will include accommodation, or at least an allowance for it, it never hurts to prepare for every eventuality. Propertyfinancelink.com is one of the largest international finance brokers operating in the region, who specialise in providing well informed and objective advice on financing any property you decide to purchase.
Tax Exemption
One of the greatest perks about moving to Dubai is the potential to receive a tax-free income. However there are procedures and processes that must be followed to qualify for this, the site www.hmrc.gov.uk offers some introductory information on this and some forms and guidance for applying for tax exempt status. Maxim Recruitment can not offer guidance in this area, and recommend you consult an appropriately qualified financial advisor who can help you make the best of your own unique circumstances.
Airlines
Sadly, the budget airlines don’t yet go as far as the UAE so you’re not going to pick up flights for 10p just yet. However, of the airlines that do run services to the UAE, Emirates airlines are often regarded as among the best to use. Once based from the UAE, you can get flights to Dubai from almost anywhere in the world, and since the UAE is currently such a fashionable destination, Emirates airlines are expanding their locations that fly both to and from Dubai on a regular basis.
Besides Emirates airlines, the two main competitors for providing reasonably priced and reliable flights to the UAE are British Airways and Virgin. All three airlines’ prices vary according to when you want to fly and ticket availability, so which airline is cheaper is always variable and worth comparing.
Maps of Dubai
One thing you’re sure to need for Dubai is a decent guide to find where everything is. One such website is the Dubai Geographic Information Systems Centre, this site is great for finding various locations of interest in Dubai, while not bombarding you with tourist-oriented sales talk about how great everything is. This simple, informative nature makes it ideal for finding things like major residential developments, schools, hospitals and so on.
Leisure
Once you’ve finished a week’s work, or are enjoying a well earned holiday break locally, perhaps you want all the tourist talk to help you decide which of the many leisure activities to pursue. The obvious place to start is the Dubai Tourist Board, it’s a site run by the Dubai government so is comparatively impartial, and is certainly a fairly comprehensive guide to any special events or places in or around Dubai. Included on the site is an impressively detailed map of Dubai, detailing locations of a huge number of entertainment venues.
Other potential source of similar information include www.the-explorer.com and Lonelyplanet.com, who both sell print guides on various cities around the world, including Dubai. Digital versions of these guides are available to buy and download as well.
The overseas recruitment consultants at Maxim have visited our associated office in Dubai many times and know most of what there is to know about Dubai from both a work and leisure perspective. Give us a call to discuss anything of relevance to helping you make a decision to work over there. Hopefully you’ll also have a favourite QS, PM or other job we are advertising that you’d like to have a chat about at the same time.
Please let us know of any other sources of information you come up with that might be of interest & use to others.
Happy researching!
Steve Thomas
Maxim Recruitment
0870 243 0446