I’m fed up of reading takes that don’t align with the reality.

In the past week I've seen these two pieces about my current and former home.

I’m not going to link to the articles as that’s giving them coverage but google either and you will see them straight away.

I get it, a balanced headline doesn't get engagement or clicks but why do we keep giving this airtime?

60% of you said your biggest frustration was finding the right roles.

I’ve built a tool that pulls roles directly from company pages, before they ever hit LinkedIn and way before they get 1000 applicants.

You can check it out here 👈

Firstly, these posts are usually written by middle-aged expats who have the privilege to leave and return to their home countries.

This is particularly true for the UAE where people perceive the weakness coming from its famous expat ratio - bordering something like 92%.

What they don't realise is a lot of that 92% have lived in the UAE their entire lives. No Emirati passport, but no other home.

You would have to hold a large opinion of yourself to presume that because you have left somewhere, life won't carry on for the people who have been there far longer than you have…

Similarly, I've only been in Hong Kong for 18 months but that's long enough to call it home. Through living here I've also had the privilege of traveling to six Chinese cities and while they're fantastic in their own right - they do not compare to the unique energy of Hong Kong.

When you are in China, you are in China.

When you are in Hong Kong, you are in Hong Kong.

That it no longer aligns with life pre-handover (29 years ago btw) is hardly surprising. Like people, cities also change. Are they meant to keep still to cater to our nostalgia?

For qualitative data on what's happening right now, I can only speak from the perspective of a recruiter. Hiring is down compared to last year in both of these markets but I'd argue this is the case everywhere.

There are major (and now prolonged) geopolitical conflicts occurring - one less than 70 miles from the coast of the UAE. Anywhere would suffer.

My first year in the UAE (2021) was the year of the fiftieth and I remember the celebrations for it. To reiterate - it's only fifty years old as a country and has achieved a disproportionate amount. It's not going anywhere and you'd be naive to bet against it.

Likewise, speak to any HK resident of recent history and they will talk of lived experience of protests, Covid, SARS.

Resilience (and change) is at the core of both of these cities' stories.

I'm only getting defensive because these takes from ‘experts‘ reduce the people who make up these cities to bystanders when they're the drivers who built both places - while massively overvaluing their own contributions.

Talk is cheap and it’s easy to make these predictions knowing there’s nobody waiting five years down the line to call you out on absurd takes.

Keep the faith and ignore the doubters. You and I both know, eventually this craziness will come to an end and there’s few places I’d rather be than one of the two cities I’ve been lucky to call home.

If you're fed up not hearing back I will review your LinkedIn profile today, on video.

This market is tough and you don't have to go through it alone. Right now you're one of 500 applicants for every role and the silence is becoming expensive.

I will tell you exactly what I tell the candidates I actually place. What's working this week. Why you're getting passed over and what to change to start getting interviews.

- Charlie