College: Fujairah Men's College
I graduated in 2007. Before my graduation the college arranged a Career Day with different companies in the UAE. I applied to all of the companies that I was interested in, where I could see myself growing within those organisations.
One week after the Career Day, I started to get calls from those companies asking me to come for an interview. Around 6-8 companies called me within one month and I was really excited that I was going to work as soon as I graduated. I completed the interviews successfully and I passed all of them, which was a really good sign for me. After that each company sent me a job offer and each company had it is own package with different salary…etc.
However, one of those companies I was considering was Emirates Airline as the job offer was in the Cargo Department. I discussed again with HR what my job role would be and what I was going to do in Cargo. At first I thought I was, going to carry boxes and load them into an aircraft, but they have told me no it is going to be a customer services supervisor job and front desk. I still was not convinced about that so they asked me to come over to Dubai and see the place and the environment where I would work.
I decided that I would go and see the place as I didn’t have anything to lose. S,o I went and I saw the job role which was an excellent environment and totally different from what I thought. Also, during that visit I noticed that they were very few UAE nationals working in the Cargo field. After the visit I evaluated the job role and the duties. I decided to work for Emirates Airline in the Cargo division as I saw it was going to be a big challenge for me as a person and as UAE national working in the Cargo area.
I started work about two weeks after my graduation. When I joined I told my line manager that before I became a Cargo Supervisor I wanted to do the job of the joiner staff as I needed to learn first the work and know what each staff member is actually supposed to do before I could supervise them. My line manager liked the idea so I started working in that job for 2 months. I learnt a lot!
Then I decided to move to another area and deal directly with customers who had never been involved with any cargo business. This meant that I needed a lot of experience to be able to explain to them about the process and procedures, so I worked in that area for 2 months more. Then an idea come to me to develop this area and make more business for the company so I developed the “express counter” which allowed those customers to come and finish their documents, process of sending cargo…etc. faster than before. I worked there for another 2 months.
After that I was ready to supervise staff, so I worked as a supervisor for 1 month. Then one of the duty mangers left the company so the line manager decided to make me acting duty manager. This was a shift basis job. During my work as acting duty manager I got a call from HR saying that I had been selected as one the best UAE nationals who had given an idea to increase the revenue of the company in the Emirates Group, and I was to be awarded by HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of Emirates Airline Group. I was so happy and excited for it was less than a year and I was being recognized for my work in the company.
A few weeks after I received the award from HH, I got another call from HR saying that they were going to promote me and put me as a trainee manager in Cargo. This programme was going to be for 2 years and I would have to visit the entire Emirates Group departments, not only the Cargo department. I was so excited for it and started the job immediately. I was allocated a few months in each department and learned what they did and how they worked…etc.
Before I completed the programme there was a plan that I would travel abroad and work in one station as an acting manager. I chose Beirut, Lebanon as the first place. I worked there for 3 months and then worked in Hong Kong for another 3 months. By that time I had completed my training programme and returned to the Head Office of Emirates. I was asked if I wanted to work in either the Head Office or abroad, so I decided that I wanted to work in the Head Office. I was then nominated to be the Regional Cargo Manager for Europe and Americas.
After working for 2 years I was selected to be the Head of Cargo for flydubai. I started the cargo division for them from the scratch, which was a big challenge for me and for the company. It required a lot of travel to outstations, to visit them and build the customers base, staff, business…etc.
Now I have been working in flydubai for the past 3 years. I have more than 151 staff reporting to me and 35 managers are under me. It is really exciting and every day I am learning new things.
Awards:
- Emirates Group -Chevron “Best UAE National Trainee of the Diploma Graduates” Programme for the Year 2007. Presented by HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of Emirates Airline Group
- Certificate for installing a school intranet and organising the network
- Attending the conference of the World Leadership 2006 in Abu Dhabi
- Four Letters for achieving an average of 80% or higher on my PDA
Achievements
- Being the highest academic achiever (Dip year 1)
- Achieving a GPA in the top 15% of students in the programme 2006 (Dip year 1)
- Having made a significant contribution by helping other students in their studies 2005 – 2006
- Being a role model for others and making a contribution to college life2005 – 2006
- Achieving a GPA in the top 15% of students in the programme 2005 (Dip year 1)
- Having made a significant contribution by helping other students in their studies 2004 – 2005.
- Being a role model for others and making a contribution to college life 2004 – 2005
Any Words of Wisdom on How You Got to Where You are Today:
Learning is never a stop point for me. Every day I learn something new in my life and work.
Words of Wisdom for Current HCT Students:
I always use this quote by Colin Powell:
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure”