Hello there

I was wondering if health and safety could be considered a transferable skill. By that I mean could the HSE experience acquired in one field be used in other industries? For example, could HSE experience gain in Facilities Management or Logistics, be used in Construction or Oil and Gas? If not, why not? How can I persuade recruiters in O&G and Construction to consider my application since this is where all the advertised jobs in Dubai appear to be.

I've been out of work for over 2 years. Please could someone advise me?

Thanks

Thank you for the reply JayPownall. You make some excellent and valid points. The problem is that in Dubai, if an employer says Oil and Gas or Construction experience is essential, I cannot even apply for it. On the other hand, if I do apply regardless of what the advert says, I think that the points you made in your reply might help me. I hadn't even thought of them. Thank you.

Birjees,

From my own experience I would definitely say yes. I have worked in the construction sector, oil and gas and soon to start work in the renewable energy industry.

Thank you so much for all your replies.

Yes there may be a fair bit of competition with regards to workers with experience in Oil & Gas and Construction.

I think, as westonphil suggested, doing some research before sending in a covering letter will show initiative. However, many companies will not budge from their requirements even if a candidate has potential to do the job well. They would much rather recruit a candidate from the Indian subcontinent because he is cheaper, even though his language skills are very poor indeed.

I have been in certificate audits where the auditor's language skills are so weak, it is almost impossible to determine what non-conformity he found and what he was suggesting. We would spend ages just doing guess work or, at best calling him to ask for clarification.

I also have the problem in that many employers will say they want 'an Indian with Indian qualifications' or 'Arabic speaker' a must'. Or they insist that the candidate has to be a male. Sometimes all they want all of these requirements at once.

As a result, whenever I apply for a role, my expectations are almost zero in terms of even a response. Hiring managers rarely say 'no thank you'. One gets left hanging around wondering what happened to the application. They don't even send a follow up even after they have interviewed you. Again, they do not do that here.

Moreover, 80% of the QHSE roles in Dubai are not advertised. They are filled through word of mouth and through a network of reliable contacts. Despite having almost 400 contacts on LinkedIn and repeated post for help in finding a role or referrals to any potential openings, I get zero replies. I have registered with about 15 recruitment agents and no a single one has found anything for me.

I recently undertook a NEBOSH IGC course online. I passed the written exams and just completed the practical.

I am not even interested in making a financial killing in Oil & Gas because I am more interested in getting a job, with some money coming in to tide me over and to have residence visa. The reason I made specific reference to Oil&Gas and Construction was because these are the 2 areas where QHSE jobs appear to be going. My field is Security, FM, Cash Services, Logistics and Port Operations but there do not appear to be any openings here. I need to look outside my fields.

Suffice it to say I am terribly despondent. I am confident I will pass, but despite this qualification, I do not believe it will help.

Gav81 how did you persuade a potential employer from a different sector to consider your CV. I find in Dubai that, unless you match their job description to the letter, your application is discarded

Imagine you are the employer.
100 applications arrive on your desk.
You need to filter them down to about 10 maybes (whose application you will read more closely), taking less than a minute per application.
Unfair or harsh, but that's the reality.

jodieclark1510 thank you for your encouraging words. I will keep you posted certainly. Many thanks :)

Hi walker, not necessarily. The people you know need to be reliable and know you on a personal level, like family, uncle, brother, sister etc

My comments will indeed be considered racists in the UK but not in Dubai. Here the recruitment process is entirely racist. Every person who lives out here, British, American and any other country would say exactly the same thing. In fact, many of the Indians themselves say it too.

Employers pay salaries based on nationality. If there are 2 people with exactly the same skills and experience and qualifications but one is a Westerner and the other is not, the Westerner will be paid 10 times the salary and be given huge benefits.

Even recruitment agents here use the same approach.

One time I applied for a job through a recruitment agent. The job advert said they wanted someone who was UK/US educated. I applied because I have British qualifications and I am a British citizen. The agent (who was an Indian) said that I could not apply. I said to him that I was UK/US educated. He rudely said to me, when the advert says UK/US educated, they mean they want a white person which I am not.

If you speak to anyone in the UAE, your race plays a huge part in the way you are treated in the workplace....;)

@walker you are right. I have been wrestling with this for the past 2 years.

Looking elsewhere is something many people in Dubai and London have suggested. But I am in two minds because leaving Dubai would mean leaving behind my late father whom we buried in Dubai just over 2 years ago. If I left, I would feel like I am leaving him behind.

Also, the only option would be for me to return to the UK but who's to say there are jobs there? From what I hear, the job market is very bad there because a lot of British people seems to be coming out here because they can't find anything in Britain.

But it is something to think about.

I know a guy working on a rig in sub-sahara africa. We come from the same city. He had zero experience in O&G or offshore work but he got himself the NEBOSH certificate for general industry and got an offshore job via a mate of his.

I have 10 years experience in the petro-chemical industry as a HAZMAT technician, operations manager, and various other roles. Have a SAMTRAC qualification, IOSH and SAIOSH registered, have completed advanced fire fighting and first aid courses, am an authorised level 2 permit issuer for Petronas, gas tester, WaH training, confined space training and rescue, BP Control of works and defined practices training, asbestos training, transport of hazardous goods and to top it off I have a certificate in industrial electronics, motor and diesel mechanic, mechano technology and electrical trade theory and I couldnt get that same job today. I even have experience working in the middle east for the oil and gas industry

But...once you get that first position in O&G you are set. Even if it is through a recruitment company. The advice I received from a friend of mine is use the job search portals on the internet (you can find them on google by searching offshore jobs or oil and gas jobs), send out your CV to just about every single position, even if you are not qualified. Recruiters keep your CV or sometimes of they cant find the right candidate to look at the next best. Keep an eye on the jobs that you are best qualified for. Resend you CV a day or two before closing time on those. Recruiters tend to only remember the last few applications they received.

Rinse and repeat this process and eventually something will fall out the tree.