Middle East Construction Recruitment Upturn Underway Now

As a Recruitment Consultant with nearly 5 years experience of recruiting Construction Professionals in the Middle Eastern market, I have come to notice the period between the end of Ramadan (Eid) and the start of Christmas to be a busy one.  We’ve just been through Ramadan and Eid, and as usual things slowed down somewhat. Line managers and key decision makers went on holiday, whilst companies work shorter hours and generally it becomes more difficult to recruit.  The next tail off period we’ll come to is just before Christmas and the New Year. You are then faced with the same issue. Line managers and key decision makers on holiday and things slow down until the New Year. So the ‘busy’ period I am talking about largely runs from mid August through to mid December (4 months).

Stop Go Project Awards & Recruitment Cycles
The ‘down time’ during Ramadan and Eid is a big factor why things get busier in the run up to Christmas and New Year. For a month or so during Ramadan and Eid, major decision makers in businesses are away or working less hours, so typically big decisions on contract awards are delayed until after Eid. Therefore, a build up of projects waiting for award is often created.
On the other hand, you have projects that are targeted to be awarded / started before the end of this year. Therefore these projects are often squeezed into this period before Christmas, so they are seen to be keeping on schedule.

Other Reasons
As well as the above issues relating to project awards, there are other factors that contribute to the making of a busy period in construction awards and project recruitment.
The start of school year coincides with the autumn period. When I speak to construction job seeking candidates with families, there is often one clear factor that dictates when they decide to look for a new position in a new location. That is Schooling. When can they move jobs with minimum impact on their family & children’s schooling?
Well the truth is construction companies hiring ex pat construction professionals are almost always very good at assisting with getting children into schools and helping with relocation. However it is understandable that for minimum disruption, a move during the summer holidays in time for the start of the new school year is favoured by most.  It is worth bearing in mind, depending on the location and time in the economic cycle however, that applying for school places as early as possible is never a bad thing to do.

Vacant Construction Jobs Increase at the End of the School Year
Whilst people are moving jobs all year round, at maxim Recruitment we notice an increase in people switching jobs this time of year. Almost a ‘changing of the guard’ but on a less drastic scale. Those who have had enough of working in the Middle East tend to use the summer months to return home permanently, hence leaving openings available for newcomers. Often there will be a period of reshuffling the pack, in terms of companies assessing “Can we cope without replacing our ex employee?” or “can we promote someone into the vacant role?  Once employers have gone through a period of consideration, they then have a clearer idea of whether they need to recruit externally or not.

Are You Ready to Make the Move Overseas?
By my reckoning, that’s where we are today. Ramadan and Eid is over, expect quite  a number of contracts to be awarded Worldwide between now and Christmas and there will have been a small number of people leave their jobs over the summer; in total creating quite a few good jobs available for new candidates to go for.
So if you are looking to start a job as a Quantity Surveyor, Project Manager or Engineer between now and the end of the year, it’s high time to polish up that CV and register / update your details with Maxim Recruitment so that we can get the process underway before it's too late!

Best wishes,
Stuart Hackett
Maxim Recruitment
UK & Qatar/Middle East Regions