I’m a six-year PQE corporate associate at a large Bristol firm. The ‘crunch’ is chewing through our department’s deal pipeline and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there is evidence of firms savagely undercutting one another to land mandates. Promotion, pay and securing exposure to decent work are already under threat and job security will become, I imagine, increasingly a concern. So far, so real world. Offshore, particularly Dubai, or Australia are therefore of interest for, say, two or three years.
I have a few queries. Any thoughts on the M&A and employment market underlying the rationale for my proposed move? What’s the quality of ‘expat life’ (including cost of living) in Dubai or Oz and approximate pay-scales for 6PQE corporate? And how hard will it be to return to the UK (assuming an ‘average’ recruitment market)?