Resurgence of tourism presents numerous opportunities for qualified professionals

Saturday, 5 February 2011 02:30 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Head hunting guru Fayaz Saleem briefs top Sri Lankan executives during visit to Middle East

Sri Lanka’s head hunting guru, Fayaz Saleem has met with top Sri Lankan professionals based in the Middle East during a recent visit to the region to provide them with an overview of Sri Lanka’s job market, especially on the numerous opportunities that exist in the resurgent tourism industry.

During his six-day tour of the region including the United Arab Emirates, Saleem told Sri Lankan executives that with the onset of peace generating a steady economic turnaround in Sri Lanka, there was an increasing demand for highly qualified professionals in various sectors, providing a great opportunity for top Sri Lankan executives employed abroad to return home and immensely benefit from the economic revival.



Saleem is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Colombo-based Appointments of International Management Specialists (AIMS), a pioneer Head hunting and executive search consultancy, and Executive Search Ltd, one of the top foreign and local employment companies in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s economic growth is poised to accelerate this year on the back of rising tourist arrivals, foreign investment and business confidence after the end of the island’s nearly three decade civil war. Sri Lanka expects to achieve a growth of 8.5% in 2011 up from 8% last year. 

Commenting on the economic transformation now underway in Sri Lanka, Saleem said that in the light of the present economic realities, an opportunity has opened for the country to introduce incentive policies to reverse the pervasive brain drain that has taken a toll on all sectors over the past three decades and more.

“The opportunity is right for seasoned expatriate professionals to return to tap the growing opportunities that await them in their home country.  Tourism is a sector that is currently on an upward momentum. In fact, the hospitality industry, which is a key beneficiary of the peace dividend, is one of the sectors that holds much promise for highly qualified Sri Lankan professionals, as a number of hotel projects will be launched in Sri Lanka this year”, Saleem said.

Saleem believes that Sri Lanka’s domestic job market at this juncture cannot meet the increasing demand for quality professionals to handle the magnitude of the reformation process.

“The ground reality is that some of the best Sri Lankan professionals are gainfully employed all over the world including  the GCC states, UK, Canada, Africa, Australia,  New Zealand, Singapore, Maldives etc, many of them holding positions of great responsibility.  In such a situation, it would be necessary to attract migrant Sri Lankan professionals back to the country by formulating proactive measures to create stable employment and investment opportunities at home, attracting both young home-grown talent and experienced immigrants whose expertise and knowledge will promote social and economic development”  he added.

AIMS is a professional Executive Search consultancy body in Sri Lanka, head hunting senior level executives for large and reputed multi-national and national organisations locally and overseas. AIMS has established itself as the leading head hunting operation in Sri Lanka and has a government licensed overseas arm that is mandated to conduct overseas recruitment. It has associate offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Dhaka, Dubai, Maldives, Myanmar and Nepal.

 AIMS conducts a systematic and process driven approach to identify senior level profiles only, such as CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, COOs and senior management including  heads of marketing, finance, sales, HR and other senior categories. ESL has been in the people business for over 30 years, and is rated amongst the top three reputed foreign employment companies in Sri Lanka covering search, selection and placement of professionals at all levels for business conglomerates and blue chip companies overseas.

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