Repeat business is one of our most important KPI’s. First of all it demonstrates client satisfaction. Secondly, the more we work with a client, the more effective the partnership becomes. However, closely followed by repeat business is winning new clients through recommendations.

Following the successful recruitment of a General Manager for a Dubai based Wayfinding Design consultancy, our client kindly recommend our services to one of their supply chain partners. Recommendation led to introductions, and as a result, we were soon recruiting in Dubai again. Only this time for another new client in the UAE.

The Client

Following our compulsory initial consultation, we were engaged by the client, a multi-disciplinary architectural design, supply and contracting company, specialising in architectural glass and metalwork.

To summarise, as a Group, they operate throughout the Middle East, supplying design, engineering, fabrication and installation services for a variety of construction and architectural solutions.

Their products and services, include:

• Architectural Glass
• Architectural Metalwork
• Interior Fit-out
• Aluminium Curtain Walling
• Cladding & Architectural Facades
• Signage & Wayfinding

Servicing a range of industries, including infrastructure, commercial, hotel and leisure, as a business they assist designers, specifiers and developers with construction, interior and exterior architectural features, fitout, signage and wayfinding solutions.

Operations Director | Dubai recruitment brief:

At the time of this assignment, development in the UAE was booming. Numerous infrastructure, visitor attraction, venue and general commercial construction projects were springing up. As such, our client was experiencing huge growth. Winning numerous prestigious contracts. As a result they required additional skilled resource to oversee the manufacture and implementation of these projects.

To date the business had operated with a lean head count of skilled / experienced management professionals, overseeing a much larger number of low or semi skilled labour. However as the business grew, the Group MD wanted to up-skill the leadership team. As a result we were briefed to source an experienced Operations / Production Manager, with responsibility for:

• Overseeing the Manufacturing, Installation, Design & Administration departments.
• People Management, including Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals, Disciplinary, Performance Management, & general support to staff. C.300 reports.
• Resource planning –  including a restructure to reduce the low skilled headcount & replace with a smaller number of skilled professionals.
• Sourcing & purchasing new equipment for the manufacturing facility.
• Prototype design, specification & value engineering to produce the same quality, or better, products achieving cost reductions.

The candidate / contractor specification

The Ex-pat lifestyle isn’t for everyone. As a result it was decided that if the candidate was relocating to Dubai, for the position, initially they’d be engaged on a contractor basis. In short, this was to see how they’d adapted to life in Dubai.

The candidate specification also included:

• The ability to communicate to a high level, written & verbally, in English.
• Experience of working in a similar senior technical role within a manufacturing / fabrication & installation business.
• Strong technical understanding of engineering, specifications, materials & finishes.
• High levels of people management skills & experience.
• Ability to manage across a broad range of nationalities.
• Empathy of, & the ability to integrate, with different cultures.

Dubai Contract Recruitment | Conclusion

Notably, at the time of this Dubai recruitment assignment, social, and to some extent digital, recruitment methods weren’t anything like they are today. Our Talent attraction strategy combined a mix of the available channels of the time. In short, this and included: Executive Search / Head Hunting, Networking, internal and external Database Search and Selection and Advertising.

The lure of a tax free package led to a huge response to our recruitment advertising campaign. Whilst you always hope for good ad response, the volume was ridiculous. Unfortunately as with a lot of recruitment advertising the relevance of the applicants is often less than the more targeted approach of head hunting and networking through our own network. However we still needed to go through all applicants, to see if there were any hidden gems. Having completed a thorough search and selection process in the end the successful candidate was sourced from our established network of industry experienced talent.

The success of Operations Director soon led to us being engaged again by this client. Our next assignment was to recruit a Programme Delivery Director to oversee the activation and implementation of their latest project wins.

Got a domestic or international recruitment assignment you’d like to discuss with us. Get in touch, we’re confident we’ll deliver on the most challenging recruitment briefs.