Career Uncovered: Asher Noor, CFO of Morgan Stanley, Saudi Arabia
Best career advice I ever got Be positive and focused at work since you will never really win the lotto.
Favorite Job task I ever had to do Two very different stream of regular tasks readily come to mind
(i) Coach, mentor new hires or trainees
(ii) Negotiate with auditors, bankers, lawyers
Most dreaded job task I ever had to do Once when I was asked to represent my ex-employer at a ministerial conference; the meeting was in Arabic while my Arabic vocabulary at that time was barely enough to sustain me.
Interview with Barry Stokes, Senior Recruitment Manager at Al Ghanim, Kuwait
How do you like living and working in Kuwait?
Kuwait is an extremely hospitable and family oriented country with a great sense of history. The diverse and multi-cultural community makes Kuwait a rich and colourful environment to live and work in. The abundance of brand retail outlets and excellent restaurants also makes Kuwait a great place to relax after work.
What is your average day at work like?
At the Alghanim Industries Head Office, the day begins at 08:00am and ends at 5.30pm. Once you walk through reception, you could be in any major company anywhere in the world. With 32 businesses, and offices in more than 40 countries, we definitely have a diverse working community; but best practices, excellent internal communications and shared common goals, create very much a unified atmosphere.
Interview with Zuheir Khalil, General Manager at 360 Degrees Management Consultancies
How do you like living and working in KSA?
In my opinion, I think the living and working conditions in Saudi Arabia are very good. Although there are many things that can be much improved, I can safely say that life here for both the personal and professional sides is pleasant. To benchmark Saudi Arabia with other GCCs, I say that the Kingdom scores quite strongly in these factors: Religion, Economy (in terms of inflation rate, employment, real estate and infrastructure value, commodity prices), Security and Safety.
What is your average day at work like?
As a general manager of a management consultancy firm, an average day for me does not have a typical standard pattern. There are no constants since the business environment is pretty much very dynamic. The only thing that I consider regular in my job is the existence of a new challenge every day.
Read more
Career Tip: Ashraf Chaudhry, Pakistan’s Number 1 Sales Trainer and Author of “The Craft of Selling Yourself”
While you’re on prowl for job-hunting, treat yourself like an enterprise. Your skills are your products and services. And you’re CEO of “You, Inc.” A CEO’s job is mainly to sell: selling change, selling his ideas, selling his vision and image. CEO in other words refers to the Chief Selling Officer. You need to bring out your entrepreneurial skills to push yourself forward on the course of life
Starting a job hunting process is similar to launching a product or service. The only difference is: here you’re a product; you’re a brand; you’re a product manager; you’re a brand manager; you’re a sales manager. You’ve to position yourself. You’ve to bring out your Unique Selling Propositions. You’ve to craft your own marketing strategy. You’ve to open your own channels of distribution to make yourself ‘on-the-shelf’. You’ll press the launch buttons of your marketing campaign. For more elaboration, let me draw the comparison between job hunting and product launch.
