Anyone in Dubai with competence to answer this question or has connection to someone who could answer it please help me.
I am on a very low pay so I cant afford to pay a lawyer.
Many sources on the web say that you can not change employers in Dubai before you spend two years with the employer. If you do you will get a 6 months employment ban.
I am currently on probation (first six months) and would like to know if I will be able to switch employers. My current employer is not teaching me anything and at this rate I will either be fired by the end of probation period of I will bring the bank down.
BrokeCFA, I can’t help you on the legal advice, but maybe we can help on the situation itself? It seems like you’re struggling with the learning curve? Maybe if you describe your position and what you’re having difficulty with we can point you in the direction of some good materials for self-guided learning?
Its my first job ever, I am a credit analyst. You would think that having Levels I and II with >70 on all in Level I and all but one topic on Level II would be more than enough. I am just failing to take the CFA to real application. In CFA we are used to seeing a question and then having to get an answer but we never practice to apply all the tools we learned towards answering one question, should we lend? So I am frustrated, I have a project worth 20 million $ which I was suposed to have decided on today. I been reading the financials all week but all I gotten done is a page of bull****. I managed to get out of work without showing it to my boss cause I told him I am comming in on my day off tommorw to finish it. So I dont know whats the deal, am I stupid? Other credit analysts dont have Level II and somehow they learned their job and they are good at it. It seems like the employer wants me to learn the job on my own with zero guidance. Is this typical?
Ok, so don’t freak out. Go to your coworkers and ask them to help you and walk you through your project. The learning curve is tough, but you can pick this up pretty quickly. You messed up by waiting until the last second instead of doing this from the onset, but you can recover from this. How long have you been at this job? Secondly, start by putting together basic credit ratios (quick ratio, current ratio, leverage ratio, turnover ratios, growth & profitability ratios, etc) in a table and look at what they say against the company now. Add in ratios over the past couple periods and see what they say about the trends in the company’s credit relative to how long the loan is set to mature and where you see this company going. It’s helps to have peer / industry comparables, but you may not have time to compile something like that. Lastly take into account how experienced the company is, it’s position in the field, and any unique interrelations between it’s business line and credit structure. Try to pull this together as a starting point if your coworkers are out tomorrow and then go to them first thing when they get in and say something like “this is what I have, and what I understand so far, could you walk me through bringing this together into a final presentation and what your thoughts are”. Stick this out, you can pick it up.
Thank you Black Swan, you seem like a very helpfull person and you know what you are talking about. I am gona stick to it, if the non CFA guys learned it there is no reason I can’t. Thanks again.
I can sympathize with your predicament having completed the CFA before realizing it is totally worthless in the real world for analyst jobs. I would be willing to help you over email if you can send any materials or a ticker – if it’s confidential, I could probably at least answer some questions for you. Feel free to drop me a line if you want at bromion15@gmail.com.
You say the CFA is worthless for analyst jobs. What is it usefull for? It did not help me get the job, I was unemployed for a year untill a friend refered me to his childhood friend who is the banks deputy CEO. He hired me without even seeing me or knowing about my CFA. It sure is not helping me at work. Should I save myself the 300 + hours I plan on putting in for 2012 Level III? Thank you for the support, I will email you if I have any questions. Maybe if you can point me to a nice IFRS guide for partnerships that would be a good start. All I have seen in school and CFA is coorporations and partnerships are very different.
Yes, but it applies to traditional credit analysis just as much in my opinion (the fields aren’t so different), and you would definitely be running into this same issue if you took the CFA expecting to learn how to do equity research. Here’s my 2 cents on whether or not to take LIII. I disagree that the CFA is worthless, in fact, I think it’s a very valuable thing to have, particularly as you gain experience in the field and use it to leverage to more advanced positions. HOWEVER, experience is by far the most important thing, so it sounds like you need to be focusing on living, eating and breathing your job for the next couple months to a year until you have it locked down. So I say, postpone taking LIII if you haven’t already registered and focus on showing up to work early and well rested. If you’re not sure your performance is up to bar with the learning curve, the best thing you can do is to show up early, stay late, and be focused. If people see you’re working hard to get better, they’ll cut you some slack and give you some time to see if it i pays off. Also, don’t get so focused on performance that you forget to build coworker relationships, those are in my mind, even more important than performance itself. Make sure to include yourself in office social events and take time to talk to your coworkers (and be humble!). Nobody likes a new guy who’s arrogant. Also, ask your coworkers to explain things, but always thank them and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS try to figure something out first before you ask the question. In other words, you want to ask “This is what I tried, is it right?” or I was thinking, “djkfjkldsj is that correct?” Rather than saying “What’s the answer to _________?”
BlackSwan, I can’t argue with anything you said. All good advice. I already paid for Level III so now I have got to really think about it. I am on a very low pay and paying 600$ next year sure wont be easy. So maybe if I have no life for the next six months ( I already dont know anyone in this country) I can manage to do Level III while catching up at work? Anyway I will seriously be thinking about not doing it now. Its not like it will get me a promotion since I just started, so passing it next year or now is the same, agree? You seem like you have a lot of experience, I am very likely stuck in this credit analysis job for the next two years, by that time I will be 26 and I would have Level III done. Would I have good chances moving to equity or asset management or by that time the guys who started in the feild at 21 are ahead of me and I just wont be able to get it? Thanks BlackSwan, and all the other supportive guys
When joining his new job, the worker should be classified in the first, second or third professional class and that his salary should be not less than Dh12,000, Dh7,000 and Dh5,000 if he is in the first, second and third class respectively. this was very helpfull, given that i cant afford to pay a lawyer to confirm it right now, I will have to accept it. It gives me a reason to stay alive. Maybe after a years experience I can get a job for 12000 and then I would be allowed to move. Thank you
Breaking into asset management and equity research is nearly impossible (I can only speak in the US) and gets harder as you get older. However, it can be done, particularly if you excel at your current job and have managers that will give you rave reviews and network your butt off. Some sort of quality full time MBA can also help with that transition. To be honest though, credit’s a pretty good gig in my mind. I’ve worked in various risk roles most of my career (mostly corporate / business credit) and I think it’s pretty interesting, stable and well rewarded.
@brokecfa - i work in treasury sales for a local bank in dubai. I am not into credit analysis for corporates but i work alongside the business relationship teams who prepare credit applications for large corporate houses here so i know a little bit of how bank’s asses credit in dubai. One common reference for all bank’s in the UAE is the CBRB (Central Bank Risk Bureau) which is prepared by the UAE central bank and is available as per request to all banks. This reports includes all current outstanding credit facilities made available to a company in the UAE by all the banks. This gives you a picture of what all the other banks have lent. A good report to compare after you perform the credit analysis mentioned by Black Swan Another alternative is to use Emcredit, http://www.emcredit.com/en/default.aspx This portal is relatively new and i don’t know how developed so far. In the future, this will be the to-go portal for all credit analysis On entering asset management and equity research: I have been trying to do the same for the past few years but to be honest, Dubai is probably not the place for asset management and equity research. The market is tiny and there is a lot of gap in the demand (very little demand, expecially after the 2008 crisis) and supply (too much supply) for equity analysts. Even if you do break into equity research or asset management (which is practicaly non-existent compared to other major financial hubs) the exposure will be far inferior. The reason for that is the lack of professionalism and transparency by companies in this part of the world. If i was you my plan would be to develop equity research reports yourself during your free time and use that along with your CV to apply in fund houses in maybe places like Hong Kong or Singapore
Thank you for the help kunalcfa, since your based in Dubai and you probably have been in it longer than I have (two weeked) maybe you can tell me about the job market. Are there opportunities for a Level III candidate graduated from a decent university but currently have no experience. I would take any finance related job at a firm that would help me get somewhere. I am currently working with bosses who dont understand the basics of accounting and attempting to argue with them would be suicidal. They have nothing to teach me, and they dont even want to teach me !
The job market is slow but surely not dead. Dubai is still the main place in the middle east to find a job in finance, followed by Bahrain and Doha (Qatar). If you are willing to give up all of your social life (actually your whole life) then you can consider Saudi. There are a lot of finance jobs out there, but unfortunately, only if you have the relevant experience. Changing careers or starting in a new field is extremely difficult, but you can get one. The pre-requisites to get a job in finance in Dubai are the following: 1) Networking 2) Networking 3) A decent degree in Finance Ofcourse the CFA is a plus but it is not a requirement. Some of the things you can do to find a job here are: 1) Get yourself registered at all major headhunting firms. I can send you a list to your email if you like 2) Set up an appointment with these headhunters and go meet them 3) Call these headhunters regularly and look up their websites for vacancies (but do keep in mind a lot of recruiting happens without the job actually being advertised, so calling and keeping in touch with the head hunters helps a lot) 4) If you have a list of companies/banks which you have always thought of working in, then go to their UAE careers website, register, post your CV and call their office. They will most probably tell you to go to their website. What i do is that i ask for their finance departments number and call them directly to get through to a person to speak to and take it from there. This is something which has worked for me in getting my first job 5) Network - As much as i hate doing this, it is something which helps you in any place your in. You can start by attending CFA classes Cheers