Have many people heard of demand for management consultants in anywhere exotics like Dubai, Thailand, Singapore, UAE etc.?I'd love to relocate and live the expat life but not sure if it's possible or how to go about it.I'm an analyst working in change management consulting amongst other things.

its closed now, but there was a consulting event for dubai from here (i.e. top consultant) a little while ago. they did however want at least 3 years exphttp://events.top-consultant.com/UK/careerconference.aspx?ID=149

Yes, I know it gets a bad press on here, but PA Consulting’s BOP practice do about 40% of their work in Dubai. We are always looking for people to work out there. The only big draw back is that you have to travel in your own time – as PA discourages staff travelling to and from client sites during client working hours.In true BOP style, not only are they doing lots of public sector work out there, but they actually run large parts of the civil service for the Emirate

Are you kidding? What do they expect you to do, take a few days of vacation just to fly to and from the client site every couple of weeks?

40% of nowt ain't much!

Does anyone know any good job wensites for positions overseas e.g. middle east and asia?

Yup anon, that's effectively what they do. You are expected to travel in your personal time, with the result that staff come home very infrequently. PA have a real thing about not standing up to clients on excessive travel time.

PA also have a policy of being as tight fisted as possible regarding expenses, IT equipment, working from base office on a Friday etc.

Aldi would be proud.

How many days holiday allowance do they offer?

Do they provide stationary, including HB pencils?

In response to ee's comment, PA offer 23 days annual leave to non-partners (and you get a single additional day after 10 years service, but only in that year)How does this compare to other consultancies?

so if you go home twice a year that makes it 19 days holiday. that will soon be less than the legal amount

PA - the consultancy sector's own answer to Ryanair !

Do you have to pay them to join?

anyway- rtfq: itchy feet expressed an interest in relocating so travelling from UK to Middle East isn't an issue.

Thanks. Yes I'm at an early stage in my career and would like to stay in consulting but to live an ex pat life overseas in places like the middle east and Asia. Wondering how do-able this is in consulting essentially and where to find such jobs.

re. PA and travel to Dubai: they don't expect you to fly home every couple of weeks... you'd be expected to fly over on the overlapping weekend Saturday (their weekend is Fri-Sat), so it doesn't necessarily affect your annual leave, but it does mean spending a Saturday in a business-class aircraft seat instead of passed out on your sofa surrounded by empty bottles, the words 'my annual leave!' scrawled across your walls in lipstick...

So how many days worth of weekend time would you spend per year on an aeroplane when you should be at home maintaining a healthy work life balance?

The deal for PA travel to Dubai, is that you can fly home every second weekend if you want, but very few do.In effect, this means flying out from London early on a Saturday evening, so long as you can get to the client site for 9am on Sunday, and getting a late flight out from Dubai on Thursday evenings, meaning that you get into LHR mid-morning on Friday, and probably won’t be back home before mid-day. So, in effect, it means that your weekend really only runs from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, by the time you exclude the business travel element.The policy in most other London based organisations for travel to the Middle East is far more generous, with most companies offering at a minimum the opportunity to travel during work hours, or the chance to work at home for a few days on client deliverables, in order to at least get over the jet lag. PA’s culture is not one that trusts staff to work away from client sites, so this would never work for us.

What a load of rubbish. Who on earth thinks it's reasonable to fly all the way back home from dubai just for 1 day with your family every 2 weeks. Not to mention wasting your weekends sat on a plane for the company. Do you get any choice as to whether you have to accept such a bad deal? I thought PA was better than that.

...but your utilisation target is immovable so you'd better have lined yourself up with something else.

So that's PA's stance on the matter, is it? i.e. give up your weekends for business travel and accept a family-destroying work-life balance, or get out?

I think PA's stance would be:- if you're single, go and enjoy Dubai- if you're in a couple, take your partner with you: they made a point of forwarding a 2for1 deal on business class plane ticket...- if you have kids, consider one of the permanent relocation packagesORJust don't volunteer to go if you don't like the sound of it!It isn't a case of 'give up your weekends for business travel' because people with a family they couldn't take with them would avoid taking a long-duration project 8 hours flying time away. It's the same if you work in banking and are relocated to Hong Kong or Singapore, etc. You don't blame the job if you relocate long-haul and don't take your family with you.

I think PA's stance would be:- if you're single, go and enjoy Dubai- if you're in a couple, take your partner with you: they made a point of forwarding a 2for1 deal on business class plane ticket...- if you have kids, consider one of the permanent relocation packagesORJust don't volunteer to go if you don't like the sound of it!It isn't a case of 'give up your weekends for business travel' because people with a family they couldn't take with them would avoid taking a long-duration project 8 hours flying time away. It's the same if you work in banking and are relocated to Hong Kong or Singapore, etc. You don't blame the job if you relocate long-haul and don't take your family with you.

Hi, I moved to Dubai two months ago and found that management consulting is a very fast-growing sector. However the standards vary widely - there are lots of opportunistic start-ups with dubious credentials. Try a recruitment firm called Charterhouse - they might be able to help. Most of the big names in consulting are present here too.Re: the expat life - if you mean lots of allowances, forget it. Most organisations are moving away from 'expat' packages. Life in Dubai can be as expensive as in London - or more; considering the rents. But you do end up with more money in the piggy bank since you don't pay tax.Good luck with your search and do get in touch if you want more info!

I would question in the first place why you would be trying to commute ME to UK anyway, it would drive you mad. For Managers upwards around the Big 4 and comparables you can expect a relocation budget, help on housing and school fees. If you are around anything niche, for example IT Forensics or Transaction/Corporate Advisory and have a track record there would be a lot of interest. Google Cautela + Middle East may be helpful/might not be.

Two points for anyone considering relocation to exotic locations:1) You have to think about how your skillset and experience will play in the local market. For example, the market for change management and efficiency-related consulting in these developing markets is near non-existent at this time, whilst the market for financial management and growth-related consulting is hot.2) These exotic locations offer transactional career opportunities not developmental ones. Demand for experienced consultants is high; for inexperienced consultants supply far outstrips demand.

Disagree with the above, there are many learning opportunities in the Middle East, but do expect it to mightily less structured than you're used to so you've got to put the effort in to make a proper career path.Don't know why this became a PA-bashing thread in particular but business class flights every couple of weeks when on the other side of the world is pretty standard for many consultancies. I know 2 friends at "top tier" consultancies who got one flight a month when in China, though admittedly that's further than Dubai. On the question itself, there are a few threads on recruitment consultants in Dubai on here including some good self-promotion by some of them. The person above is right there are few exceptional packages in the UAE, the housing/ car allowances are mostly just an excuse not to pay gratuity on your base pay so the package is the same. If you want less of a life, go direct to Saudi or Kuwait and you'll get more cash.