With over 15 years of Human Resources experience, I currently lead as the Head of HR at Independent Food Company, leveraging CIPD credentials and an MBA to deliver transformative HR strategies. My expertise spans talent management, performance systems, and employee engagement, helping shape an inclusive, high-performing workplace aligned with organizational goals.  

I oversee strategic HR initiatives, including enhancing recruitment processes, implementing innovative sourcing tools, and designing talent development programs. Passionate about data-driven solutions, I collaborate with leadership to drive sustainable growth, foster operational excellence, and empower teams to unlock their full potential.

Ahmad Al Cheikh Hassan

I'm a recruiter and I don't see the reason for cover letters. 
 
I find them archaic and pointless and should be left in the past. 
 
It's stressful enough being a job seekers these days. 
 
If a candidate is taking the time to apply to a role, this shows me they are interested. 
 
Plus, an applicants resume and work samples reflect their accomplishments and work history more than a cover letter ever could. 
 
 
#employeeexperience #talent #hiring #jobseekers #careers #hr #humanresources #culture #interviews #business #strategy #linkedin #linkedinconnections #aach

LinkedIn Top Voice | Head of HR | CIPD & MBA | 15 Years Driving HR Innovation | Strategic Leader in Human Capital Excellence, Business Integration & Organizational Transformation

30 INTERVIEWS and no one HIRED! Yet another friend telling me she can not find good talent. My thinking - If you interviewed 30 people and did not hire someone, then start looking in the mirror. The problem is recruiters and hiring managers are looking for the "perfect" candidate. NEWSFLASH!* - There is no "perfect" candidate. 

If you have someone with the right attitude and skill set to do the job, and they fit in with the team -- HIRE them. There are so many qualified individuals still job searching. Yet I see the same jobs being re-posted over and over again, being left vacant for months. Who took a chance on you? 

Who took a chance on you?

It's time to rethink what "good enough" really means.

The ideal candidate isn’t someone who checks every box on your list.

It's someone willing to learn, adapt, and bring energy to the team.

Holding out for perfection is costing you top talent.

You need to ask yourself: are you creating a process that catches real potential?

Or just filtering out anyone who isn't perfect on paper?

People are out there, ready to grow and make an impact.

You just have to be willing to give them a real shot.

#hr #humanresources #employeeexperience #talent #hiring #leaders #people #leadership #jobs #jobseekers #culture #culturematters #business #growth #branding #strategy #hrstrategy #interviews #tips #linkedin #linkedinconnections #aach

Dear hiring manager, 

A couple of suggestions:

1. Please post the salary in the job description. If you want to know my salary expectation, then you also should post the salary budget for the role.

2. Don’t ask me to repeat stuff that’s already in my resume or cover letter. You can assume that I have read the job ad carefully, so I should assume that you have read my application.

3. Please tell me who I am going to be working for and with. Yes, you are taking a chance on me, but I am taking a chance on you guys too.

4. Please tell me the outcome of the interview, even if I was unsuccessful. It takes less than a minute to write a polite rejection e-mail. Failing to do this is just plain rude.

5. For the third interview and onwards, you should pay my time at standard consulting rates including expenses, transportation etc. I won’t make a living by constant interviews.

Recruitment is a two-way street. Both parties need transparency and respect. Open communication builds trust and sets expectations right from the start.

Let’s make the hiring process fair and efficient for everyone involved. Prioritize clarity and mutual respect. It’s time for a change in the recruitment game. What's your take?

#hr #humanresources #employeeexperience #talent #hiring #leaders #people #leadership #jobs #jobseekers #culture #culturematters #business #growth #branding #strategy #hrstrategy #interviews #tips #linkedin #linkedinconnections

I’m #hiring for an open role. Know anyone who would be a good fit?

I’m #hiring for an open role ( Project Coordinator, FFE technical) Know anyone who would be a good fit?

Change Leadership, General Manager PFA @ Batgroup & Member of the Board @ Putzfrauenagentur

Leadership is not about volume.
It is about clarity, alignment and steady execution when the pressure is on.

I work with customer-facing and regulated organisations across MENA and Asia to strengthen leadership capability where strategy meets delivery.

In hospitality, banking, retail and other service-driven environments, performance rarely fails because of effort. It fails when:

• Leaders are promoted without structured support
• Executive teams are misaligned on priorities
• Expectations are implied rather than defined
• Accountability drifts under pressure

My work focuses on alignment first.

I facilitate Leadership & Performance Alignment Sessions that help senior and mid-level leaders:

• Clarify must-win priorities
• Align leadership behaviours to business goals
• Identify capability gaps
• Define a focused 90-day execution plan

From there, we implement through structured leadership capability projects, including:

• Development journeys for emerging and mid-level managers
• Team coaching during change and transformation cycles
• Targeted 1:1 leadership coaching for high-potential and critical role holders

Across 25+ years with Apple Retail, Swissôtel, The St. Regis and multi-site service organisations in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, I have seen the same pattern:

When leadership alignment improves, engagement rises, execution stabilises and commercial performance follows.

I have led brand integrations and organisational transitions while maintaining performance and cultural stability.

If you are strengthening your leadership pipeline or want greater alignment between strategy and day-to-day delivery, I am happy to explore how we can work together.

📞 Book a call: https://cal.com/jeffross

Jeff Ross

One of the hardest leadership transitions isn’t from manager to executive.

It’s from expert to business owner.

I’ve seen this first-hand with Zach Cairns.

He trained as an Optometrist.
Deep expertise. High standards. Total focus on doing the work well.

At some point, he made a different choice:

Not just to run a clinic,
but to build a business, a team, and a standard of care that doesn’t depend on him being everywhere, all the time.

That shift requires a different kind of leadership:

🟣 Letting go of control without lowering standards.
🟣 Building trust instead of relying on personal effort.
🟣 Making decisions that serve patients and the people delivering the work.

I became a client through a recommendation from my friend STUART
And I stayed because of how the experience was designed, delivered, and led.

That was not by accident.
It's what happens when someone takes self-leadership seriously before leading others.

Transitions like this, from specialist to leader, are rarely talked about.
But they’re where leadership really starts.

If you’re navigating a similar transition yourself, you’re not alone.
Most leadership challenges don’t come from lack of skill.

They come from outgrowing the role you were originally trained for.

Leadership Capability Partner for High-Pressure, Customer-Facing Organisations | Alignment Sessions, Leadership Development & Coaching | MENA & Asia

One pattern I see repeatedly across the UAE.

Managers believe they are being clear.

Teams do not always experience it that way.

This is not about intent.
It is about calibration.

Support is often interpreted as availability or warmth.
What multicultural teams need first is precision.

✅ Clear priorities.
✅ Clear decision rights.
✅ Clear escalation paths.

In fast-moving environments here, ambiguity creates stress faster than workload does.

When managers are trained to be helpful instead of direct, pressure builds quietly.

The organisations that scale well in this region design for usefulness, not approval.

Clarity reduces stress.
Consistency builds trust.

Both require development, not goodwill.

Before your next promotion, can you answer these three questions:

1️⃣ Who needs to respond to this person for them to succeed?
2️⃣ What authority do they need to borrow from you?
3️⃣ Where will they hit resistance?

If not, you're promoting blind.

Issue #001 of The Operations Brief: When your best ICs get promoted into influence gaps.

The hotel GM and FC pulled out their calculators mid-debrief. Started working out their bonus impact while I was still talking. I was 26, delivering a

Open article: When Your Best ICs Get Promoted Into Influence Gaps by Jeff Ross • 4 min read

When Your Best ICs Get Promoted Into Influence Gaps

Burnout rarely shows up all at once.

It builds through small moments:

➡️ Decisions being revisited.
➡️ Priorities shifting midweek.
➡️ Authority that exists on paper but not in practice.

People cope for months before they disengage.

Many managers are not overwhelmed by volume.

They are overwhelmed by friction.

One practical move this week:

Identify one decision you are still holding that should sit lower.

❌ Not to offload responsibility.
✅ But to remove noise.

Pressure does not disappear when you absorb it.
It multiplies when you block it.

Leadership is not about protecting yourself from stress.
It is about designing flow so stress does not pile up unnecessarily.

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone observing across the UAE, GCC, and beyond.

This is a month that asks something of us beyond the professional.

Reflection. Discipline. Compassion.

In my years working across this region, Ramadan has consistently reminded me that the best leaders I know carry those qualities not just in this month, but as a way of operating all year.

To my colleagues, clients, and connections marking this time, I hope it brings you peace, renewal, and meaningful moments with those who matter.

Ramadan Kareem.

Employee wellbeing in the UAE has improved over recent years.

That matters.
It shows intent is there.

What is less comfortable is this:
only around half of employees feel their manager gives them the support and clarity they need.

❌ That gap is not about benefits or policies.
✅ It is about day to day leadership behaviour.

Wellbeing improves when managers are able to:
➡️ set clear expectations
➡️ make decisions stick
➡️ remove friction quickly
➡️ hold pressure without passing it down

None of that happens by default.

When organisations invest in leadership development early, wellbeing rises naturally.
When they do not, wellbeing becomes a separate initiative trying to compensate for weak leadership design.

Wellbeing is not something managers deliver.
It is something the system enables through how managers are developed and supported.

In multicultural teams, feedback is not just about what is said.
It is about how it lands.

That distinction matters more in the UAE and GCC than almost anywhere else.

What works consistently here:
✅ Behaviour-based. Specific. Private.

What fails:
❌ Vague language
❌ Delayed conversations
❌ Feedback delivered only when something breaks

When feedback is unclear, people fill the gaps with assumptions.
Assumptions create friction faster than workload does.

Leadership capability in diverse environments is not about being softer or tougher.
It is about being precise.

Clarity travels further than intent in multicultural teams.

What is one feedback conversation your team needs from you this week?

93% of managers in the UAE consider themselves a good manager.

Around half of their employees disagree.

In Gallup’s UAE workplace research, that gap is not about character but about calibration.

Most managers do not see what their team is actually carrying, because the signals arrive late.

By the time burnout is visible, the conditions that caused it have been in place for months

Unclear decision rights.
Responsibility without the authority to act.
Every priority treated as the top priority.

In large service organisations - retail, hospitality, leisure - managers absorb pressure from above so the operation keeps moving.

They keep the shift running.
They hit targets.
They protect the guest or customer experience.

Until they cannot.

Gallup’s UAE data shows that disengaged employees report burnout at nearly twice the rate of engaged ones.

This is not primarily a workload story.
This is an engagement story.

Which means it sits with how managers are set up to lead.

Most organisations in this region can tell you their sales figures or occupancy rates.
Fewer can tell you how their managers are actually doing.

If burnout is appearing in your organisation, do not start with resilience training.

Start with how clearly your managers know:
– What they are accountable for
– What they can decide
– What is truly a priority

What is one pressure your managers are absorbing right now that the system should be carrying instead?

You cannot say people matter and then design roles that leave managers guessing.

❌ Authority without clarity creates fear.
❌ Clarity without authority creates frustration.

Both are design failures.

When organisations talk about wellbeing, engagement, or retention, they often skip the layer in between.

The manager.

This is where intent becomes experience.

Where strategy turns into behaviour.

Where pressure either gets processed or passed down.

If you want performance that lasts, start here.

Not with slogans.

With better role design.

Someone on your operations team has done the work you're hiring for.

They led system integration during the acquisition. They managed the brand transition. They consolidated operations across locations.

But when you post "PMI Lead" or "Integration Manager," they don't apply.

They assume it's different work.
You hire externally.
They get quietly frustrated.

This is not a capability gap you are having.
It is a translation problem.

I was at a networking event for M&A professionals last month. The room was full of consultants and advisors casually discussing deals "we don't touch 

Open article: The terminology gap that's costing you internal talent by Jeff Ross • 5 min read

The terminology gap that's costing you internal talent

Most organisations say they value feedback.

Few build the conditions for it.

Avoided feedback does not disappear.
It turns into frustration, workarounds, and quiet disengagement.

What I see most often in new and middle managers:
❌ They wait too long
❌ They soften the message
❌ They hope performance issues resolve themselves

Until the conversation happens anyway.
Just later. And heavier.

Feedback failure is rarely a courage problem.
It is a practice problem.

When managers learn to give feedback early, they learn how to:
✅ Be specific without being personal
✅ Address behaviour without drama
✅ Keep trust intact under pressure

Silence is expensive.

The conversation you are avoiding is already costing you something.

What conversation are you putting off this week?

taplio

The Battle

Ahmad Al Cheikh Hassan

Jeff Ross

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAhmad Al Cheikh Hassan's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJeff Ross's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Ahmad Al Cheikh Hassan

Jeff Ross

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ahmad Al Cheikh Hassan's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJeff Ross's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAhmad Al Cheikh Hassan's LinkedIn Performance