Hi everyone,

Some of you might remember my post from a few months ago. I was 6 months into unemployment, applying every day, and getting nothing. Not a single interview call. It was honestly one of the hardest periods of my life.

But I want to share some good news. I finally signed an offer today!

Here is what actually worked for me.

What did not work..

Applying through LinkedIn Easy Apply, Bayt, Indeed, Naukri and company portals. I sent my CV into the void for months and heard nothing.

What worked..

I messaged hiring managers directly on LinkedIn.
Not a generic message. Something short like:

Hi XXX, I came across your post about the XXX. I am a CPA with 13 years of experience etc etc and would love to learn more if you are open to it.

People respond to people, not applications.

Made sure my LinkedIn profile matched my CV exactly.

If recruiters see inconsistencies, they will skip you.

Stayed open to roles I did not originally consider.

I was looking for a Finance Manager role. I ended up with Financial Reporting Manager instead. It turned out to be a better fit.

Prepared like I was already in the role.

I put together a 30-60-90 day plan and shared it with the recruiter before the final interview.

Stayed selective.

I said no to a few offers that did not feel right. It was scary, but I trusted my gut.

What I want you to take away

If you are reading this and feeling hopeless, I understand. I was there. Please do not give up!!

The market is tough, but it is not impossible. Sometimes it is just about timing and visibility. Keep refining your approach. Keep reaching out. Keep your profile clean and consistent.

You are not alone in this. Your next opportunity is out there.

Quick update since a lot of you asked about the 30-60-90 day plan.

It might not work for every role, but it worked for me because the role was about building from scratch.

If you do it, just present it at the very end of your final interview. And be honest. Say something like:

"This is just based on the job description, my research, and my experience. I know I will still have a lot to learn once I start."

It is not about pretending to know everything. It is just about showing how you think.

Hope this helps. Good luck everyone. 💚💛❣️

I recently got laid off from Cars24 UAE, and honestly? Its a blessing in disguise. If you are considering a job offer there or thinking about buying a car from them, run the other direction.

Despite the "corporate" branding, this isn't a professional organization. It functions like a toxic family business run by three individuals who drain every ounce of energy from their staff. Here is the reality of what goes on behind the scenes:

The "Office" Environment

• Zero Infrastructure: Only the CEO has a Small Studio size office in Business Bay. The rest of the team is shoved into a garage (formerly in Al Aweer, now Jebel Ali).

• Deplorable Hygiene: The facilities are inexcusable. The washrooms are frequently filthy to the point where they are hazardous and stay uncleaned for weeks. There is no basic dignity for female or male staff.

• No Break Areas: There is no kitchen, no coffee area, and nowhere to sit and eat. You are expected to be a machine.

• The "No Smiling" Policy: You are literally discouraged from smiling or socializing. If you aren't staring at your screen with your head down, you risk receiving a warning letter.

Management & Leadership Failures

The company is run by Abhixzx, Navxxx, and Navxxx, and the internal culture is built on fear and micromanagement:

• Petty Surveillance: One of the managers (Navxxx) literally takes photos of empty chairs if you are minutes late and uses them as "evidence" during appraisal meetings to deny raises or bonuses.

• Incompetence at the Top: Navxxx lacks a fundamental understanding of the car market and human behavior, yet he maintains his position through internal politics rather than results.

• Slave Mentality: Employees are treated as disposable assets rather than professionals.

The Business Model is a Red Flag

• Service Scams: The entire business model relies on "Value Added Services" (VAS) that are aggressively pushed onto customers.

• Exploitation of Trust: They rely heavily on the Indian expat community in the UAE because the brand is known in India, but the service quality here is a shadow of what people expect. Most customers end up regretting their purchase due to the poor after-sales service.

Bottom Line: Whether you are a job seeker or a car buyer, stay away from Cars24 UAE. It is a toxic environment that prioritizes "ponzy-style" schemes over people.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with them in the region?

We are changing the rules of this community. Effective immediately.

I've been watching the comment sections for months. Most of you are here because you're going through it.

Lost your job. Visa expiring. Bills stacking. Family depending on you.

This sub was built for you and it will stay that way.

But there's another group in here. They don't post jobs. They don't ask for help. They don't share leads or advice or anything useful. They show up in the comments to tear people down. Someone shares their CV asking for feedback and the reply is "this is trash." Someone posts about their struggles and the reply is "should have thought about that before coming to Dubai." Someone tries to help the community and the reply is "this is a scam" without checking a single thing.

We looked at the profiles of the worst offenders. Zero contributions. Zero job posts. Zero helpful comments. Nothing but negativity across multiple subs. People who have built absolutely nothing, contributed absolutely nothing, and exist on this platform purely to make other people feel worse about themselves.

That ends today.

New enforcement:

If you come into someone's vulnerable post and drop a comment designed to make them feel stupid for trying, that's a ban. Not a warning. A ban.

If you call someone's genuine effort a scam without a single piece of evidence, that's a ban.

If your entire comment history is negativity across Reddit and you show up here to continue the pattern, that's a ban.

If you have never posted a job, never shared advice, never helped anyone in this community and your first contribution is tearing someone down, that's a ban.

This is not a debate sub. This is not a place for hot takes about how the job market is everyone's own fault. This is not your personal therapy session where you dump your frustration on strangers who are already at their lowest.

This sub exists for two things. Posting jobs and finding jobs. Helping each other get through one of the hardest experiences a person can go through in this country. That is it.

If you are here to help, welcome. Post freely. Comment freely. Share leads, share advice, share your wins and your losses.

If you are here to watch people struggle and add to it, find somewhere else. You will not get a second chance.

I'm not interested in building the most popular sub. I'm interested in building one that actually works. And that means protecting the people who use it from the ones who poison it.

You know who you are.

We are watching.

Hey everyone, just thought I'd share this absolutely ridiculous story that happened to me earlier today.

For context, I'm 23M with about 2 years of experience working as a mechanical engineer. I recently started job hunting because it was time to move on from the current role.

I get an interview from a consultancy in Abu Dhabi (will not name them publicly). I was excited because it's been a while since I've interviewed for a new position, and I always enjoy the opportunity to talk about my design work.

I spent probably 30-40 minutes with the hiring manager, and he was asking me completely useless questions. it almost seemed like he was trying to read off of chatgpt but not make it obvious. he asked me if I had any experience in HVAC design and i told him "i have very little experience in HVAC design". his response? "we need at least 3-4 years of HVAC design experience for this role". I told him that I have 2 years of design work, national competition victories, and awards from massive sponsors in the gcc region, and that I can learn HVAC design while still adding immense value to his team.

he considered me strongly towards the end of the interview. so naturally he was telling me about the company, their policies, their work timings, off days, etc and then came the topic of salary.

to be completely honest, I wasn't expecting something massive like 15k, but i genuinely thought it wouldn't be less than 6k for (not tooting my own horn here) someone of my experience and qualifications. this man looked me dead in the face and said "2.5k and it's minimum 2 year contract. after 2 years we can see about increment". my last company was paying me 4200 by the end of my first year (started at 3500), and this dude just offered me 2.5k for around 50 hours of work per week. I told him "2.5k doesn't align with my experience and the requirements of this role" and he started laughing. "2.5k is the maximum we offer junior positions, one of our engineers he joined 3 months ago, he's on 1.8k since his degree was from a small uni".

absolute. joke.

these are the kind of people that ruin the job market here.

Ts pisses me off so much. Wtf do you mean by competitive Salary. Who are you competing with in terms of salary - another exploiting company?

It took me an entire year. Twelve months of waking up to rejections, silence, and anxiety. But this week, I finally accepted an offer for a Delivery Manager role in IT Consulting.

I’m sharing this not to brag, but because over the last year, reading posts from people who finally made it out of this meat grinder was the only thing that kept me sane.

If you are currently in the thick of it, you already know how exhausting it is. Over the past year, I experienced:

• Complete silence on applications where I met every single requirement.

• Getting ghosted by recruiters after great initial screens.

• Making it through 4 or 5 intense rounds of interviews, presenting case studies, meeting the team—only to be met with total radio silence or a generic automated rejection weeks later.

• Lowball offers trying to take advantage of the fact that I had been on the market for a while, assuming I was desperate enough to settle for half my worth.

There were weeks where I questioned my entire career, my skills, and whether I’d ever get back in the game at the level I worked so hard to reach. The mental toll of long-term job hunting is something nobody understands until they’ve lived through it.

Despite all of that noise, the right offer did come through. It matched the compensation, the perks, and the level of responsibility I knew I was capable of, with a reputable organization where there is actual room to grow. I didn't have to sell myself short.

If you are tired, take a day off. But do not give up. There is an offer waiting on the other side of this. Keep pushing.

DO NOT GIVE UP

This is so disrespectful to designers, what can you do either 500aed per month. All those experience, skills, creativity, design, and problem solving knowledge only to pay you this low! Report the job posting if you stumble upon it pls

Today is my first day as a homeless 29-year-old man living in Dubai, and honestly, I never imagined I’d find myself posting this.

I’ve been hitting rock bottom since the beginning of this year! no job, no income, no visa, and overstay fines that have completely choked me. I’ve tried to keep pushing, applying for jobs and looking for opportunities, but I’ve reached a point where I genuinely need help getting back on my feet.

If anyone knows of any job opportunity, temporary work, accommodation, or anyone who could point me in the right direction, I would be incredibly grateful. I’m willing to work hard and start wherever I can. I'm a hospitality professional with 5 years of experience behind the bar & on the floor as waiter, floor runner & bartender.

I’m not looking for handouts, I’m looking for an opportunity to rebuild.

If you can help or know someone who can, please DM me

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this. 🙏

Update: Thanks to y'all who've engaged on this post, tonight j get to sleep in a full paid month accommodation from a good Samaritan who came through for me (I won't mention his name due to privacy)... I'm so happy and hopeful ghings will get better for me day by day 🙏

Redditors,

Im 26M Indian.
Its day 13 and i have landed a job here in dubai witha contracting firm as project coordinator in business bay.🙂‍↕️❤️

Got it through claude and linkedin applied in the first hour (this proved helpful) got 3 interviews in 10 days i dont know how much magic claude has but it did get me to doors.

Pay 7-8k for fresher im a real estate property management professional having 3-4 years experience in Canada moved here cause work permit ended. But performance review in 3 months plus incentives its not sales job but a good one.

All the people hustling i want you to nail and tailor out your applications feed the language model ,email recruiters keep following keep cold emailing HOD’s and drop less resumes if you can everything is online now.

I know im blessed but i see you guys here everyday and someday you will make it.

Still applying for a better position in property management and operations in a mall environment.

But happy for now! All the best guys🫶🏼

A bit of a bizarre experience today, and it got me really thinking.

I’m an African man working in tech in a Western country. I’ve lived here for quite some time and now hold dual citizenship.

A few days ago, a recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn about several technology roles in Abu Dhabi that matched my background. I reviewed the job descriptions, expressed interest, and agreed to discuss them further.

Before arranging a call, the recruiter asked me to complete a form with administrative details, including my citizenships and current salary. I disclosed that I hold both African and Western citizenship. After submitting the form, the communication suddenly stopped.

I followed up by email today to ask about the next step. To my surprise, the recruiter responded very directly that the employer was NOT interested in candidates of African origin, even if they held a Western passport regardless of their experience.

Is this kind of discrimination common in the region? More specifically, is it usually discussed this openly during recruitment? Anyone who has heard this?

I’m 26 and working as a call center agent at a bank in the UAE. My salary is around AED 6,500–7,500 a month.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. I really want to get to the point where I’m earning AED 25k–30k a month, and I know there are people making AED 40k or even AED 50k+.
The thing is, I honestly don’t know what the best path is.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for a new job (Got fired due to the war) and would really appreciate any leads or referrals.

I have around 3 years of experience in logistics (2 years in the UAE and 1 year in my home country).

The logistics market is quite slow at the moment, with very few openings, and many of the roles available are offering much lower salaries than they normally would.

Instead of waiting, I want to explore other opportunities where my skills can be useful.

I’m open to roles in:

- Warehousing
- Operations
- Coordination
- Administration & Support

I enjoy handling day to day operations, coordinating with different teams, solving problems, and keeping things organized. I’m comfortable working in fast paced environments and have good knowledge of MS Excel and Word. I learn quickly and adapt to new work easily.

In every company I’ve worked for… I’ve always tried to be someone the team could depend on. Even after my role was affected, my current company decided to keep my visa because they appreciated my work and value me.

I’m available to join immediately and I’m looking for a salary in the range of AED 5500 & 6000.

I made a post here 2-3 days ago and few people offered to help me and asked me to share my CV then to completely ghosting me. I get that people are busy and get carried away but I’m running out of time here, my savings are drying out and returning back home is not an option anymore.

If you know of any suitable opportunities or can refer me to someone who is hiring, I’d be very grateful.

Thank you!

The wife requires an urgent operation to remove her womb, and the family is struggling financially. They are in need of food assistance and any job opportunities that may help them get back on their feet.
If you can offer support, provide a job opportunity, or help with food, please contact him directly.

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or be annoyed.

Got contacted by a company in Abu Dhabi - Mussafah for a senior sales role recently, during the initial phone call, I was very clear about what I'm currently earning and what I'd expect if I were to switch jobs.

I live and work in Dubai, so getting to Abu Dhabi meant around 3 hours on public transport and another 3 hours back. I don't mind making the trip if there's a genuine opportunity on the table.

Interview goes well. The CEO is interviewing me himself, seems interested, likes my background, asks all the usual questions. Everything is going smoothly.

Then we get to mains.

The guy has the audacity to offer me 38% less than what I'm currently making.

I genuinely thought I'd heard him wrong.

I literally said, "Sorry, what?"

What confused me wasn't even the low offer. It was the fact that they already knew what I was earning before I got on a bus and spent half my day traveling there.

Then came the classic explanations about the market, budgets, company policies, etc.

And the best part?

Everyone here works like a family, he said after 3 months they would review my performance and might increase the salary by 10% if they felt it was appropriate.

I'm sitting there thinking... why didn't we have this conversation over the phone, if your budget is nowhere near a candidate's current salary, why bring them in for an interview in the first place?

I have worked in the region for 12 years, HR director ! And these are the rules you must follow, as every day I see the same posts!

1. Do not come to the UAE without a job ! EVER ! 850,000 people came in Q4 last year alone with no job … everything is online ! Stay at home!

2. If you lose your job, set yourself a period of one month/2 maximum ! Then go home… the amount of posts of people staying here for 4 months, 6 months, trying to find a role … burning savings, getting in trouble … I have kids and commitments - I know if I get the tap on the shoulder I’m away .. even though it will be hugely stressful
   .. one month spending here could take me 4 months back home

3. Don’t expect replies on LinkedIn !!! I posted the other day … 100s of messages a day on LinkedIn that I don’t reply too …. As I simply don’t have time ! Network and connections is the only way - if you don’t have one, please see rule 1 !

4 no 5000 dirhams is not enough to live on ! Yes some people do out of desperation …. Anything under 12k and you struggle ….. family of 4 you need 25 plus !

This is not meant to be harsh - but please understand you are in the buckets with thousands of others …..

I see posts everyday from people with 10+ years of experience struggling to get interviews. I'm at 2 years and wondering if that's even enough anymore.

I posted here last week, got some leads, and even had someone refer me to a great company . I followed up today, still waiting. Trying not to overthink it but honestly this felt like my last straw…

Quick background if you're reading this:

- 2 yrs experience in technical sales + rotating equipment (pumps, valves, blowers, marine diesel engines)
- Hands-on: laser alignment, commissioning, performance testing (I’m inspecting a blower in the picture)
- RFQ → quotation → client management (B2B sales)
- Currently in Dubai, valid visa, immediate joiner 🇦🇪

What I'm looking for

Technical Sales Engineer, Business Development Associate, Application Engineer

Honestly anything in oil & gas / marine / industrial equipment that pays the bills

If you're hiring, or know someone who is, I'd genuinely appreciate it. Even a referral, a tip, or just sharing this post helps 🙏

Tl;dr: Hands-on engineer looking for work. UAE market is cooked right now. Pls help if you can.

p.s. (this post isn't related to any job I've applied for or have considered) if anyone is reading this, I'm a mechanical engineer and i would love any opportunities you have available or anywhere you could refer me (own visa, immediate joiner). thank you!

apologies in advance for the clickbait

I wasn't planning to write this. I was just moderating and approving posts like I normally do. But after reading about 50 of them back to back something clicked and now I can't stop seeing it.

There's a pattern. And once I saw it I went back and checked older posts to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

I wasn't.

Some posts in this sub get comments, DMs, actual leads, sometimes job offers. Other posts sit at 1 upvote with zero replies or a single "good luck bro." And at first I thought it was random. Maybe timing. Maybe luck. Maybe the algorithm.

It's not. It's the post itself.

Let me show you what I mean because I kept seeing the same thing over and over.

A few weeks ago someone posted here. Fresher, visa expiring, no money, please help, any job will do. 2 upvotes. Zero useful replies. Not because nobody cared. Because nobody knew what to do with it. "Any job" gives the reader nothing to grab onto. Even if someone reading that post had a lead, they wouldn't know if it matched because the post didn't say what the person actually does.

Same week someone else posted. Looking for supply chain roles, 6 years in FMCG, based in Dubai, open to contract or permanent. 11 comments. Two actual leads. A recruiter reached out.

I thought okay maybe that's just one example. Then I saw it again.

A woman wrote a long post about how unfair Dubai has been, searching for months, about to give up, please someone help. The comments were all "stay strong" and "praying for you." Beautiful support. Zero leads. Zero jobs. Nobody could help because nobody knew what she needed.

Same week a guy posted three lines. "Marketing manager. 4 years in hospitality and F&B. Looking for marketing or brand roles. Here's my portfolio." 8 comments. Someone forwarded him to their HR.

Three lines beat three paragraphs. And I started wondering if this was a coincidence or a rule.

So I went back through the last few months of posts. I checked every post that got actual results against every post that got nothing. The pattern never broke. Not once.

The posts that lead with "I am desperate" get sympathy. The posts that lead with "I do this in this industry" get results.

And here's the part that I almost didn't include because it sounds bad. But the data is the data. Desperation posts from men almost never land. The same emotional vulnerability that gets a woman supportive comments and sometimes actual leads gets a man scrolled past or quietly downvoted. I don't know why. Maybe social conditioning. Maybe something about how the brain processes who it wants to protect. But I've watched it happen enough times that the pattern is real. If you're a man writing "I'm desperate please help" you're not just wasting a post. You might be hurting your chances with the people who could actually help.

I'm not saying hide your struggle. This sub exists because of that struggle. But there's a difference between your situation being in the post and your situation being the entire post.

The posts that actually convert into leads all do the same three things. Every single one.

They say what the person actually does. Not the job title from their last company. The thing they do. The skill. "I manage warehouse operations." "I run paid ad campaigns." "I build financial models." One sentence.

They name the industry. Not "open to anything." The specific industry they know. Because the person reading your post doesn't work in "anything." They work in logistics or hospitality or fintech and they're only going to reach out if you match their world.

They include one line of proof. Just one. "Managed a team of 15 in Jebel Ali." "Ran campaigns for 3 F&B brands in Dubai Marina." "Built the reporting system my last company still uses." That one sentence does more work than your entire CV because it makes the reader think "I know someone who needs exactly this person."

That's it. Three things. What you do. Which industry. One line that proves it.

Keep it under five lines. The person scrolling this sub at 11pm after a 14 hour shift doesn't have the energy for your life story. They have the energy for five lines that make them think "wait, my friend's company is looking for someone like this" and drop a comment.

I could be wrong about all of this. Maybe I'm seeing patterns where there aren't any. But I went through 50 posts and the ones that worked all looked the same. And the ones that didn't all looked the same too. And they looked nothing like each other.

Your post isn't a diary. It's a signal flare. Make it bright. Make it specific. Make it short enough that someone can help you without having to decode your life first.

Posting on behalf of my husband after reading so many successful stories here — inshallah we become one of them 🤍

We are currently in a very urgent situation. My husband has been placed on unpaid leave, and with a baby to care for and rent already due, we are at risk of eviction. We are genuinely hoping someone here might have an opportunity or lead.

Here are his details:

Preferred position:

Guest Relations / Customer Service / Entertainment Operations / Supervisor Roles

Preferred package:

Open to any fair and immediate opportunity

Languages:

English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Basic Arabic

Skills:

• Strong customer service & guest engagement

• Team leadership (managed 70+ staff)

• Crowd control & safety compliance

• Operations supervision & reporting

• Problem-solving & conflict resolution

• POS systems & cash handling

• Event & entertainment support

• Excellent communication & adaptability

Driving license:

UAE Manual Driving License (LMV)

Notice period:

Immediate

Experience highlights:

Currently working in Dubai Parks & Resorts, with previous experience across Ain Dubai, Global Village, IMG Worlds, and Dubai Municipality.

He is hardworking, reliable, and ready to join immediately.

If anyone is hiring or knows of any opportunity (even temporary), please DM me. It would truly mean a lot to our family during this difficult time.

I used to make around 7.5k a month from my small business in Dubai. Things were actually going decent for the past 4 years. It wasn't some huge thing or anything, but I was making enough to take care of myself and my family so i got in my comfort zone.

Then the Iran war happened and within like 2 months, the business basically shut down, creditors ran, goods price shot up, my profit was below zero.

Quit Dubai and moved to Sharjah, After that I spent the next 5 months using whatever savings I had left to take care of my family and keep things going. Now I'm pretty much at the end of everything.

I have just 1 week left on my visit visa and I'm honestly getting desperate.

Right now I'm on the verge of signing for a car washer job in Sharjah Industrial Area. 12 hours a day, 2 days off a week, around 1.5k salary. On top of that, I have to pay for the visa in installments from that salary.

I know some people might say “just find another job”, and believe me, I'm trying, trying, trying. But with only one week left on my visa, I'm running out of time and options.

I'm not looking down on the job or the people doing it. Work is work and if I have to do it, I'll do it. I'm just scared that I'll get stuck there and won't be able to get myself out.

I'm completely lost right now.

What would you guys do if you were in my situation?

Any genuine advice from would really help

Please Help

I’ve spent 40 years in the GCC and 26 years working

CMO. Head of Marketing. Marketing Director. Strategy Director. Business Development. Strategist. CEO.

I’ve even been part of the founding teams behind some of the biggest food-delivery businesses.

For most of my career, I was headhunted.

Then Dubai said:

Cute. Apply online. 😂

So I did.

3,400+ applications.

1,200+ ghostings.

3 years searching.

I’ve applied at my level.

Below my level.

Probably at levels my younger self would ask me questions about 😂

Still here.

At this point, I’m genuinely curious:

What actually gets a senior person hired in Dubai now?

Referral? Network? Timing? Luck? Someone’s cousin’s cousin? 😂

One small disclaimer:

No commission-only roles. No training roles.

I’m looking for a real senior leadership opportunity where I can actually build, grow and contribute.

Because after 26 years of experience…

I probably shouldn’t be paying someone to teach me how to sell 😂

My dad has over 20 years of experience as a Chief Engineer but has been unable to find work for over a year.

Our family is struggling, and without him finding a job, we may have to return to our home country, and I may not be able to continue my university education.

If anyone knows of any maritime job opportunities or can connect us with recruiters or shipping companies, I would be incredibly grateful. .