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Desperate Project Manager decides to cut out the recruitment agencies and advertise direct

How is this for a novel approach to finding a new job? Get your black marker pen out and advertise yourself on the back of your £40,000 (AED 200,000) Porsche!

The BBC today reports that this is exactly the approach that one UK national, who has just been made redundant from his construction manager’s job in Dubai, has decided to do.

The 28 year old, Andrew Blair, from Bristol in South West England, explained his surprise at the sudden turnaround in fortunes which many Dubai based companies, especially those in the construction industry, are facing.

“Initially we were in a bubble here in Dubai, thinking we were immune from the credit crunch and really being arrogant about it,” said Mr Blair who moved from the Clifton area of Bristol to Dubai two years ago.

Now he is resigned to the fact that “At end of day if I don’t have a job I can’t afford the car, simple as that,”

Mr Blair, no relation to the ex-prime minister Tony Blair, shrugged his shoulders and accepted that “It’s desperate times so sometimes it takes a new approach.”

Mr Blair went on to say that if the plan didn’t work a re-spray of the car would cost around £500.

Mr Blair is yet another casualty, albeit one who still owns a Porsche, of the Construction industry’s woes in Dubai. Despite being home to the most ambitious building projects on the planet, including the world’s tallest tower and the world’s biggest shopping mall, as well as the surreal offshore Palms and World islands, its real estate economy is now seriously starting to unravel.

Its over dependence on tourism and real estate, with no major oil reserves to back it up (unlike its oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi) has left it exposed to the global credit downturn.

Last week, property development giant Nakheel disclosed that it is delaying construction of its new record-breaking tower project that was designed to rise more than a kilometre high into the sky.

“Developers have got serious cash flow problems,” says Colin Foreman from Middle East Economic Digest.

“Their revenue was coming from selling properties which hadn’t been built yet and they were supplementing this with financing. ”

“Banks aren’t interested in lending them money and nobody is interested in buying property, so their two avenues for finance have gone.”

“At the same time they have got huge outgoings because they are building projects that they no longer have money to pay for.”

Is it all down from here for expats invested in Dubai?

The trouble is that expats, like Mr Blair, make up four-fifths of Dubai’s population. If they start going home, demand for property will slump even further.

A further concern is that with falling incomes and credit, and now sterling hitting a record low, the tourism market is also being hit. Western tourists are cutting back on spending, and occupancy rates at many of Dubai’s luxury hotels are down.

Loss of Confidence

It is quite amazing just how many companies around the world and countries in the region have bought into Dubai’s success, bearing in mind it has come all this way in just the last 20 years or so.

It truly is the financial, retail and tourism hub of the Gulf region. So how much will this developing shake (sheikh) down damage the Golden Emirate’s attractiveness and future prospects?

According to Khalfan Saeed Al Kaabi, who runs a handful of construction related companies based in Abu Dhabi it will cause a palpable loss of credibility. “Looking at the long term, Dubai has built itself on the promise of tomorrow and people have been buying into the dream it will deliver,” says Mr Al Kaabi.

“It now says it will not be able to deliver these dreams, so as an investor that credibility has gone.”

“Dubai needs to do a lot of work to restore that credibility over the next two years.”