A Day in the Life of a Middle East Consultant (in London)

I’m often asked what my job actually involves so I thought I would do a couple of posts on “A day in the life of a Middle East Consultant”, firstly from a day from here in London and then a later post on a day in the life when I’m in the Middle East working with clients!

So first of all let’s take a look at the general day-to-day tasks involved in being a Middle East Consultant.

So while I obviously spend a lot of time travelling to the Middle East, I’m based out of London and actually do a lot of consulting and training work for companies here that want to help them with their own work in the Middle East.

My day-to-day tasks and responsibilities will depend on the specific industries and companies that I am working for at the time. However, there are some general tasks that will stay the say regardless of which clients I’m working with at the time

 

Research and analysis: A significant part of my job as a consultant involves gathering and analysing information about the market, industry, and specific challenges faced by my clients in relation to their work and life in the Middle East.

Sometimes I will use a variety of tools and resources, such as market reports, industry data, and chats with the clients themselves to gain a deeper understanding of the company and what its aims and goals are.

Strategy development: Based on my research and analysis, I will then work with my clients to develop strategies and plans to address their challenges and achieve their goals. This may involve designing and implementing new business processes, identifying new opportunities, or helping to optimise existing operations. Sometimes it will involve creating and implementing a training plan to help give the company a better understanding of life in the Middle East.

Project management: As a consultant, I will sometimes be hired to oversee specific Middle East projects for companies so in these cases, I will be responsible for managing various projects for my clients.

This may involve coordinating with different stakeholders, setting project timelines, and ensuring that projects stay on track and are completed. This may involve setting up a training program for staff, or helping set up an office in the Middle East, training and advising on how to best find staff to work on Middle Eastern Projects etc.

Reporting and communication: As a consultant, I am expected to keep my clients informed of my progress and provide regular updates on the status of our projects together. This may involve preparing presentations and reports, and making recommendations to clients as well as having regular meetings with clients.

Relationship building: Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients and other stakeholders is an important part of your job as a consultant. You may be expected to attend meetings, events, and networking functions to establish and strengthen your connections in the industry.

 

A Day in the Life of Star-CaT Middle East Consultants

Being a Middle East Consultant no 2 days are exactly the same as it varies depending on who my clients are and what their main needs are but here is a little breakdown of a recent day for me!

6.30 am: I start the day with a cup of tea and prepare some breakfast before dropping my son at school and going for a cold water swim. This is something I love to do and find it a great way to start what will be a busy day!

9.30 am – 11 am: I head to a private client in London to train them on how to better understand the Middle East including its culture and how to communicate with their clients and form better relationships.

This training takes approximately 2 hours and afterwards the client lets me know that knowing how to communicate and respect their client’s culture is a lot clearer now for them and their staff and will be a big asset moving forward.

Sometimes training like this is a one-off but most of the time it will be repeated at some point especially as places like hotels or hospitals often have a regular turnover of staff, so new staff will then need to be trained.

11 am – 12.30 pm: Once my first consulting job of the day is complete, I open up my laptop in order to catch up with news, and create some training and marketing resources. I also work on my next newsletter that will be sent out to our email list and lastly I reach out to Saudi people to celebrate their recent country football win in the World Cup.

12.30 pm – 1 pm: I quickly grabbed some lunch before my next client appointment. Normally I would take an hour for lunch but today is too busy a day, so it’s a quick bite to eat before going on to the next client.

1 pm – 2 pm: It’s another training job in the afternoon this time for a concierge company, focusing on relationship building with their clients. Touching on some cultural expectations and using appropriate communications to grow their existing client relationships and to help get new clients.

2 pm – 3 pm: Before the school run I have a quick catch-up with my colleague Didi on new ideas for our social media and new opportunities that have come in.

3 pm-4 pm: I head to pick up my son from school, chatting about his day before heading home to do some more work.

4.30 pm – 6 pm: First I sit down to plan my next trip to the Middle East, this time to Saudi Arabia. I go over some ideas from my last Saudi Trip for a little bit of inspiration on where to book dinners and who to reconnect with.

I then map out networking events, I want to attend and make a list of local contacts that I haven’t seen for a while.

Once that is done I then work on our membership program for our website, in order to help more people with life and work in the Middle East. I hope to launch this early in 2023.

6 pm: I close the laptop for the evening, another busy but productive work day is done and now it’s time for dinner and family time!

There you have it, a day in the life of a Middle East Consultant In London. Some tasks remain consistent day to day but in general, there is a lot of variety which I love!

If you would like to learn more about how Star-CaT, Middle East Consulting and Training can help your business attract and keep Middle Eastern clients then please just get in touch!