There was a time in Dubai when professional experience clearly meant something. If you stayed long enough in the game, showed up consistently, and delivered, you could expect a natural progression in your career, not just in job title, but in the trust and compensation that came with it. I remember seeing how mentors in my early career were rewarded for their loyalty and growth. It created a sense of direction.

By Murielle Hebbo
That understanding didn’t vanish overnight. It unravelled gradually. There was no official turning point, just a slow shift. Job ads began showing senior titles with surprisingly low offers, and the surprise faded until it felt normal.

Just yesterday, when I was talking to my friend about the job offer I got and how low the salary is, a junior package salary, she mentioned that she also has a manager position with a junior package. What is going on?

When professional depth becomes a negotiation point
It’s increasingly common to meet highly experienced professionals who have led teams, launched projects, and worked across multiple countries, only to be told to “stay flexible” while being offered pay that doesn’t reflect their experience or scope of work.

Unfortunately, many of them accept not because they undervalue themselves but because of the fear of not finding a job and staying illegal in the country, which would result in paying fines or even being deported. Moreover, companies are ghosting and being unprofessional, which adds to months of waiting, and the fear of continued unemployment becomes heavier than the discomfort of compromise.

I went through this myself. I had to choose a 6-month contract that pays well to avoid remaining unemployed, but this didn't solve my problem. Now I'm in this loop again to find something permanent before these 6 months end.

We hear a lot about “adaptability” and “resilience,” especially in difficult times. But it’s important to ask: is someone adapting, or are they just trying to survive? Choosing to take a lower offer can be a strategic move. But accepting one out of fear to stay in the game is something else entirely.

When this becomes the norm, the market starts treating it as consent. Enough people settle, and suddenly, settling becomes the baseline.

When short-term cost-cutting leads to long-term problems
|There’s a long-term cost when senior people are undervalued. Motivation dips. Frustration grows. People disengage quietly, doing just enough to get by. Eventually, they leave and replacing them costs far more than paying them fairly in the first place.

When the role demands strategy, leadership, and pressure-handling, but pays like an entry-level position, something eventually breaks. And it’s usually the person in that role, followed closely by the system around them.

What many forget is that experience isn’t just a line item on a résumé. It’s also the quiet decisions, the difficult calls, the moments where you held a team together or averted a crisis no one even saw coming.

Those moments build a kind of professional instinct that can't be quickly taught or easily outsourced. When that value is overlooked, companies lose something far bigger than they realise.

Learning where to draw the line
After a difficult professional period, I decided to stop compromising just for the sake of movement. Not because I believed I was above compromise, but because I’d lived through what happens when you give too much for too little, for too long.

Just yesterday I turned down an interesting role, a role I might have grown in it and a permanent one because where I am now I cannot downgrade myself and accept a junior package just because it is a permanent role and the words they sell that you will be promoted fast if you were good, and these unrealistic promises and benefits to intrigue you to take the job.

I really don't know what is happening in Dubai's market! Being selective is not arrogance… It’s clarity, and for many professionals, that clarity comes from having lived through enough roles where the math no longer added up.

A final thought on alignment
Finally, none of this suggests that companies are acting in bad faith across the board. Many are under pressure themselves (but again, this is not a valid excuse). But that doesn’t mean alignment between expectations and compensation should be optional.

Reading CVs with real attention, recognising leadership experience, and offering pay that reflects actual responsibility, these are not generous extras. They’re essential to building trust and sustainable teams.

Of course, markets will shift; they shift all the time, and it is normal for people to adapt because they always do. But what is not acceptable is undervaluing seniors and playing on their psychology to make them accept a job with a low salary that doesn't even pay rent!

So, the real question is, will the market, in its push to survive, remember how to value experience? Because trust me, people are tired of how they are being treated, and that alone teaches too many people that loyalty, depth, and growth no longer belong in the equation.