Top Questions

1. Does managing in the Middle East differ from managing elsewhere?

2. In what countries have you worked – what were the differences?

3. Have you managed a multicultural team before?

4. What were the challenges of running a multicultural team?

5. Give me an overview of who you are/your experience?

6. What’s your greatest strength?

7. What’s your greatest weakness?

8. How have you managed a difficult situation and brought out a positive outcome?

9. When have you failed? What did you learn from it?

10. What is your proudest achievement?

11. Describe your management style?

12. How do you like to be managed?

13. Why should we hire you?

14. What would your employees say about you?

15. Why do you want to work for us?

16. Who else are you talking to?

17. Describe the perfect job?

18. What are you earning now?

19. What salary do you expect?

20. What would you do in the first month of this job?

21. Have you ever fired anyone before? How did it feel?

22. How would you build confidence in your manager?

23. How would you get your team’s trust?

24. What’s your favourite book/film – why?

25. When were you last seen to fail? How did you handle the criticism?

26. Do you live to work or work to live?

27. Which boss/leader have you/do you most admire – and why?

28. Do you have any questions?

29. When can you start?

30. Why are you leaving your present job?

31. Why did you leave?

32. What did you rate your previous boss?

33. What technical/personal training do you need?

34. Describe the type of people you like to work for?

35. When have you been the happiest?

36. How would you fire someone – describe the meeting?

37. Where do you see yourself in 18 months?

38. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

39. You win the lottery – what do you do?

40. Describe yourself in five words?

41. What do you think you can bring to this job?

42. What questions should I have asked you, but have not?

43. How has this interview been handled?

44. How would you judge my performance in this interview?

45. What do you think of this city?

46. How long have you lived here? How long do you think you will want to live here?

47. Are you willing to relocate?

48. If you were asked by your company to do something that broke the law, would you?

49. What is your greatest fear?

50. Name three positive traits you don’t have?

Private companies must henceforth recruit UAE nationals as human resources managers and secretaries, the labour minister said on Saturday.

“This will create 21,536 jobs including 671 managers,” said Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi.

Private businesses are being given 18 months to replace their existing human resources and personnel managers with UAE nationals, while no more work permits for secretaries will be issued with immediate effect, according to two decisions signed by Al Ka’abi on Saturday.

The minister said foreign secretaries who hold valid labour cards and are recruited by virtue of job contracts will remain in their jobs until the end of their limited-period contracts or otherwise until the end of the labour cards, “whichever is earlier”.

This, Dr Al Ka’abi said, implies that neither the job contracts nor the labour cards of secretaries will be renewed.

“Furthermore, private companies will not be allowed to transfer sponsorship of secretaries and they will not be issued temporary or part-time work permits or mission permits. Secretaries sponsored by their husbands or parents will no longer be issued labour cards,” he said.

“The labour ministry’s new emiratisation plan is meant to strengthen the recruitment of UAE nationals in certain jobs rather than in economic sectors after it [the ministry] found a lack of commitment to the emiratisation quota imposed by the Cabinet in the banking, insurance and trade companies.”

Companies which wish to recruit UAE national secretaries should coordinate with Tanmia, the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority and other human resource development programmes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Emiratisation, he said, will now be on the basis of profession, a policy that has succeeded in private companies with 100 workers or more, which recruit UAE nationals as government relations officers, also known as PROs.

The new decisions are applicable to all private companies, regardless of the number of their workers.

Dr Al Ka’abi said the emiratisation of human resource managers was prompted by foreign human resources managers’ “preference to recruit their own nationals.”

Calling the 18 months a suitable grace period, Dr Al Ka’abi said Tanmia will provide training to UAE citizens to be recruited in place of foreign human managers.