Give us a second chance
Thank you, Gulf News, for publishing the article (‘Women get a second chance at a career,’ Gulf News, May 25). It was motivating and gives me hope in my quest to restart my career. I’ve been on a break since 2008, looking after my family. Even though I have eight years of project management experience and a good track record, my search for a job for the past two years has not yielded any results. Especially when we live away from home and family as expatriates, it is a necessity for women to take a career break and concentrate on family. It is a pity that our experiences and skills are not given another chance when we are willing to utilise them. I request all decisionmakers in organisations to give women like me a second chance to prove our worth. After all, all we did was to put our career on a temporary hold to look after the family.
From Ms Bindu Mathew
UAE
No part-time jobs
Hats off to Saundarya Rajesh of Flexi Careers for this wonderful initiative! I am a mother of a seven-year-old son. When I was in India, I worked throughout my pregnancy and after, until my son was two years old. I was successfully heading a department of a large banking and financial group. However, I decided to give up my career and stay with my husband, who was based in Dubai. I moved to Dubai and decided to take a sabbatical until my son could start schooling. A year later, I started looking for part-time opportunities in Dubai in order to balance my time between work and home. I soon realised that it wasn’t easy to find one. I was disappointed but I kept trying. I was left with no choice but to give all my time at home. Now my son has grown up and spends most of his time in school. Even after a break of five years, I still keep looking but I don’t see any scope of part-time jobs in my area of expertise. With my degrees and eight years of rich corporate experience, I am left to wonder how and when I will utilise them. Perhaps there are opportunities and I will have to still keep knocking doors. I hope organisations here realise this and create part-time or flexible working hour jobs.
From Ms Sangita Ravi
Dubai
Care takers are expensive
Great job Saundarya Rajesh! Even I am trying to restart my career as a secretary after a year and a half’s break. But it has really become a challenge to get a call for an interview. Here in the UAE, it is difficult to think about a career, as there is no family support and hiring a caretaker for children is very expensive and requires many legal procedures.
From Ms Merlyn Mathew
Sharjah
Climbing down the ladder
Like most parents, my parents struggled but put me through a good business school. I had a fantastic job in Human Resources (HR) and looked forward to scale heights and explore the corporate world. I thought everything was under control as I a acquired good education and accumulated three years of work experience before getting married. I assumed that I could take a break for a few years and then get back to work. But then my husband got a job in a very well known multi-national company, which took us away from home and family support. He was being transferred from plant to plant every two years and it kept me away from most corporate opportunities. However, I took these changes in stride and worked as recruitment consultant, freelance trainer, college lecturer, trained college students, etc. But after seven years of constantly moving I was desperate for a corporate job. I decided to stick to one place. I was ready to work at any level. I worked night shifts, so I could look after my daughter during the day. Higher the career ladder my husband climbed, I found myself stagnated in my career or my attempts to have a career. I hate social networking sites because they show me what my colleagues and friends have achieved and what I have missed. I did not plan a second baby because I thought the cycle will continue. But now with only one daughter and with a husband who is required to travel all the time, it has become more than necessary to be with her. Though financially it’s not a problem and I have a well groomed and intelligent daughter, I feel I have not achieved anything for myself. So the search is on.
From Ms Anjali Kulkarni
UAE
Safer elevators
Congratulations to Gulf News reporters, Janice Ponce de Leon and Jumana Khamis, for shedding light on the importance of elevator maintenance (‘Spare that creaky ride to the top in the elevator,’ Gulf News, May 25). As an elevator engineer I urge the owners, builders, contractors and facility managers to kindly ensure that the elevators in their properties are being maintained by qualified and certified companies, preferable the same as their manufacturers. Today the market is flooding with agencies that offer maintenance of both elevators and escalators at low price to tempt the clients. However, these agencies are unable to replace the original spare parts when required. Most of these companies use under-qualified men to complete the maintenance and repair jobs, which could lead to severe fatalities. Our country is known for its concerns and commitments to its people and I am sure that the authorities will further toughen regulations to ensure safety while using elevators or escalators. Let’s all play our role in insisting original equipment manufacturer maintenance on all elevators and escalators. Kudos to Gulf News for publishing this important report.
From Mr Hemanth
UAE
Shame!
A few weeks ago, a South African colleague said to me that the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches have contributed towards enhancing a positive image of India, worldwide. He said it adds to the image of modern India where sports were excelling. However, after the recent match-fixing scandal, the image of India is severely dented. Now, it has just become a colossal shame.
From Mr Rajendra K. Aneja
Dubai
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