Shameem Baghdadi

One of the UAE’s leading manpower outsourcing companies, I joined them as HR Operations Specialist and based on my performance and previous employment record, I was appointed as the Acting Operations Manager, to completely manage the day-to- day business operations with full P&L responsibility, and involves more than 6000 workers spread across the UAE comprising more than 170 sites.

Below mentioned are some of the key developments and achievements, both for the HR Operations Management as well as the Business Operations.

HR Operations:

 Staff engagement and development (job descriptions, career/succession planning)
 Organization Development (Restructuring) - from Group of Companies to a Holding Company
 Core HR functionalities such as complete Recruitment Cycle, Compensation & Benefits, Labor Law, Performance Appraisals, Learning/Training, Payroll and HR Administration tasks related to MOL Employee Contracts, Work Permits, Health Insurance, Emirates ID, Accommodation and Transport.
 Participation in the formation of new policies and procedures for the new Training Academy
 Staff accommodation and labor camps administration
 Absenteeism, Payroll Process, Timesheets and OT
 Employee/Workers welfare program

Business Operations:

 Conflict Resolution - Client
 Conflict Resolution - Workers
Reduction in “Idle percentage” manpower
 Reduction in “Refusal to Work” cases
 Operations Workflow Process Improvement
 Absenteeism - Control and Correctional Measures
 New and effective changes in operating the existing Training Center and its available space
 Fleet/Transport Management - revised the transportation process to ensure reduction on operational costs, reducing the number of external transportation agencies, better utilization of our fleet and drivers’ thereby overall reduction of expenditure resulting in direct savings.
 Workers Welfare - contributed to ensuring workers welfare and safeguarding their legal rights which directly had an impact on reducing legal cases in the labor courts, betterment in workers living standards and their overall well-being.

As a result of implementing these new changes the Idle percentage went down from almost 6% (5.7% precisely) to around 3% and for more than three weeks now this percentage is further reduced to 1%. In fact, we had the lowest idle number of workers for this year, around 45 workers only, which is 0.5%.

Having joined this start-up company, my key role was to help organizations to streamline their operations and achieve their business targets by acting as a Subject Matter Expert and work with the HR teams to leverage best practices. Providing these businesses with excellent design, management and execution of the resourcing strategies for Nationalization projects irrespective of industry, level, and discipline, and have successfully delivered mandates for semi-government, private sector and large family owned businesses.

A Dubai based Executive Search Consultancy offering Human Capital related solutions to a broad spectrum of organizations operating throughout the Middle East and North Africa regions.

As Principal, I lead the Consumer Electronics and Built Environment (Construction and Real Estate Development) practice. I performed as a vibrant and dynamic brand ambassador responsible for managing operations, client relationships, market awareness and public relations, all of which have helped the company grow. I was part of the initial management team and instrumental in establishing the company in 2014.

Originally focusing on growing the technical and professional sectors of the business, I hired and groomed associates and researchers spanning from real estate, asset management, facilities (O&M), engineering and construction; and to my passion of all things green - environmental and sustainability, with a strong focus on UAE National Development (Emiratization).

Driven by my passion to do what is best, I take into account all possible scenarios before making a decision, how it will impact the team, client and overall success of the project. This drive has enabled me to deliver the company’s HR structure, including policies and procedures. My current primary focus is to lead all recruitment initiatives, including Direct Talent Solutions, Tailored Talent Solutions and Nationalization.

I have a successful track record consisting of over eight years managing complex and often confidential executive search and selection assignments for organizations both within the UAE, KSA and internationally.

• Provide leadership and vision to the organization by assisting the Board and staff with the development of long range and annual plans, and with the evaluation and reporting of progress on plans.
• Research and write discussion papers, analysis documents and proposals as needed to assist the organization in determining and meeting its long and short term goals.
2. HR management:
• Recruitment and contracting of company staff.
• Employee development and training.
• Employee relations, performance management and improvement system.
3. Marketing and PR:
• Manage advertising opportunities with media/PR events as necessary.
• Oversee content, production and distribution of all marketing and publicity materials (posters, program, flyers, mail outs, brochures etc) with director, designer and project manager.
• Co-ordinate the invitation of potential future promoters and supporters of the company.
4. Financial management:
• Provide recommendations regarding investments and cash strategies.
• Provide vision regarding overall financial health of the company.
• Provide recommendations regarding effective utilization of long and short term debt including refinancing and purchasing/sales.

I was assigned the task of HR Manager and directly reported to the General Manager. Under this role my main responsibilities were:
• End to End Recruitment across all levels starting from lower to leadership hiring.
• Responsible for Employee Relations.
• Devised a plan for Talent Management through Performance Appraisal.
• Suggested improvements in Quality Management, Compensation & Benefits portfolio, HR policies and Implementation.
• Devised comprehensive plans for Manpower Assessment, Resource Planning and Mobilization, Training and Development etc.

• Plans and controls all recruitment and selection activities required for the provision of qualified personnel.
• Take an active role in the screening and assessment process, through reviewing CV's, conducting telephone interviews and assisting with hiring manager interviews as appropriate.
• Initiates related activities and programs to ensure proper application of company's policies and procedures and consistent with approved manpower plans.
• Identifying sources of supply for critical positions and recruitment methods for critical categories.
• Responsible for organizational development in lieu with business plan, manpower planning, preparation of job description, entire recruitment process (for staff and workers, mobilization & demobilization of manpower, issuance of employment contract, succession planning process with business strategy and its implementation.
• Actively participated in the process of amending of HR policies & procedures.
• Analysis, consolidation and extraction of manpower requirement from all Projects to chalk out the plan of recruitment and mobilization of required personnel well in time in coordination with the project managers.
• Mobilization and demobilization of personnel on long term projects and shutdowns.
• Liaise with the recruitment agencies for mobilizing the personnel and ensuring that all legal formalities are met.
• Reporting on identified salary and benefits surveys as necessary against the internal and external market.
• Supporting annual salary review process, bonus planning, design, review and administration.
• Support as necessary for the day to day operation of the UAE and KSA benefits portfolio, working with third party benefit suppliers on issues such as healthcare, pensions, company cars and risk benefits.
• Acting as internal advisor on all projects/initiatives with a compensation & benefits impact involving interaction with staff at all levels from administration staff to senior business leaders.

• Managing a team of sourcing specialists who are responsible for the complete recruitment cycle for leadership and lateral recruitment for all Strategic Business Units (SBU’s) as mentioned above in ERP domain i.e. SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel and Oracle in particular.
• Devise and implement strategic recruitment initiatives to understand recruiting demand, market recruitment scenario and share best practices to meet multi- SBU hiring needs using best practices.
• Implement Strategic Recruitment initiatives and strategies to understand recruiting demand, market recruitment scenario and share best practices to meet multi- SBU hiring needs.
• Proactive headhunting, company mapping, Sourcing, pipeline and extensive Networking/Relationship building.
• Leading the team and designing a strategy with the team to meet the targets.
• Responsible for research on job market trends and salaries to ensure successfully contract and salary negotiations.
• Resource Planning.
• Vendor Management.
• Reporting directly to senior manager HR and dotted-line reporting into respective SBU heads.
• Generating monthly/weekly/daily reports.

• Lead a team which is responsible for the complete recruitment cycle for campus/off-campus, leadership and lateral recruitment for all Strategic Business Units (SBU’s) of IIHT like Individual Learning Solutions (ILS), Enterprise Learning Solutions (ELS), Global Learning Solutions (GLS), CISCO learning Solutions (CLS) and Academic Learning Solutions (ALS).
• Devise and implement strategic recruitment initiatives to understand recruiting demand, market recruitment scenario and share best practices to meet multi- SBU hiring needs using best practices.
• Manage the internal Employee Referral programs (Build strong rigor around employee communication and query resolution during employee referral program).
• Suggesting compensation and retention strategies.
• Devise recruitment matrix for various types of requirements and streamline the hiring process by reducing the overall cycle time.
• Part of the policy formulation/revision panel and to implement the same.
• Ensure compliance of various policies and effective communication to employees regarding various changes/amendments made in the existing policies.
• Vendor Management.
• Reporting directly to senior manager HR and dotted-line reporting into respective SBU heads.
• Generating monthly/weekly/daily reports.

• Lead a team of recruiters and sourcing specialists who were responsible for end to end recruitment for Enterprise Solutions vertical of Wipro Technologies.
• Resource Planning - Understood the business goals and hiring requirements, development and execution of comprehensive sourcing strategy, allocation of resources, sourcing relevant profiles through various channels, compensation negotiations, generate offers and post offer follow up for timely hire.
• Assisted campus hiring teams with relationship building with placement officers and evaluate candidates on various proficiencies like analytical, behavioral and communication skills.
• Worked with account managers & hiring managers to aggressively source and recruit candidates for a multitude of hiring requirements from various verticals.
• Implement Strategic Recruitment initiatives and strategies to understand recruiting demand, market recruitment scenario and share best practices to meet multi- SBU hiring needs.
• Manage the internal Employee Referral programs (Build strong rigor around employee communication and query resolution during employee referral program).
• Suggesting compensation and retention strategies.
• Proactive headhunting, company mapping, Sourcing, pipeline and extensive Networking/Relationship building to build a supply chain for excellent business development channels.
• Leading the team and designing a strategy with the team to meet the targets.
• Responsible for research on job market trends and salaries to ensure successfully contract and salary negotiations.
• Generating monthly/weekly/daily reports.

• Handled IT, Engineering and Accounting/Administrative skills.
• Developing recruitment database on various skills by using various sourcing techniques such as Headhunting, job sites, employee referrals and advertisements.
• Recruited the prospective candidates for US market through multiple sources such as data banks, Job portals and referrals.
• Handling bulk recruitment and type included Contract, Contract to Hire & Permanent.
• Screening and short listing the profile. Conducting preliminary and first level of Technical interview. Evaluating the candidate on various parameters according to desired specifications.
• Scheduling and facilitating interviews.
• Follow up with the client on a daily basis to know interview result/status.
• Generating monthly/weekly/daily reports.