Where do you Work? France, Dubai, The UK…you name it!
Well, it’s a great question, right now I am sitting on a sun kissed terrace in the South of France enjoying the 20-degree February sunshine for another half an hour. My base is my home here and my office is located in a round tower of the house overlooking the Pyrenees.
Having said that, this morning I have been to Dubai to discuss the complexities of Tax Consultancy and then submit paperwork to an Executive Assistant for one of the biggest Fortune 500 companies in the world. Then I jetted off to the UK to help a client get that promotion she’s been promised in her new EdTech company. This afternoon I’ll be in Saudi Arabia attempting to re-write a high-level CV for a client in the luxury concierge field. If I’m lucky I might have time to drive down the mountain to pick up some French items from the local shop before chatting to a student here in France who doesn’t know what to do with her life after school! That’s a lot of commuting to do in one day. It doesn’t feel as pretentious to say it in the new global marketplace though as it might have done before the pandemic. With all the new and wonderful flexible working positions and working from home situations I regularly encounter nowadays; my situation is becoming far more normal than I may have expected. (And yes, they really do exist and yes people really are leaving their old jobs to go for them!)
I lived and worked in the Middle East for 10 years so the vast majority of my connections and contacts in the industry in which I work are based there. It makes sense that the vast majority of the work I do would be based there. My other half is based in Saudi Arabia and my good friends and work relations are based in the Gulf, so I never feel far away despite the physical distance.
I did however, live and work in the UK, France, Spain & The Czech Republic before this so I’m not completely unaware of the world in which I currently work. Leaving the Middle East and coming back to earth with a bump in the middle of Europe at the time of Brexit and Covid has certainly given me a healthy, rounded perspective on the labour markets worldwide and I have to say I think it helps a great deal. It means I have started to specialize in helping my clients with global job searches and taking a much wider view of their achievements.
Unfortunately, though, I do encounter the odd occasion on which clients feel that as a result of my distance or inability to meet face to face for coffee I am not eligible to undertake the work. It is unfortunate but true. The most unfortunate thing, however, is not my loss of potential business, but the fact that this attitude still exists when helping my clients to find the right positions for them.
Does a client’s inability to fly halfway around the world to attend an interview make them the least eligible candidate in the new world of work? Is it really necessary for them to be present in the office daily? Is it really necessary now for employees to undertake so much corporate travel? These are questions which really must be addressed now or risk losing the best talent that’s out there.
As for me, don’t be fooled by the sun kissed terrace and the 3-hour time difference. I can still find you the best agents to work with, put you in touch with a super network of connections and make sure that your job search is 100% targeted to the marketplace in which you seek your next position! No matter where you are, don’t hesitate to reach out.