Degrees vs Skills: Middle East Hiring Shifts Focus to Hands-On Experience

Tim Elliott (0:00)

Jobs and HR and recruitment and talent now on the Morning Drive. David Mackenzie is the apex predator.

And the regional recruitment consultancy, Mackenzie Jones. I've got a great one to finish. Do you know what? Actually, I was looking at being the big cheese is no longer, by the way, apparently, the thing. According to many reputable online sources, therefore, it must be true.

David Mackenzie (0:25)

What have you been looking at? Chat GPT again?

Tim Elliott (0:28)

I was Googling.

David Mackenzie (0:29)

You're on Instagram, weren't you? I was.

Tim Elliott (0:32)

I was like, tell me about big cheese is. It's not big cheese anymore. Do you know what it is now? According to the kids, it's, you're the big salad.

I promise you, that's apparently the new phrase.

David Mackenzie (0:42)

Never, ever call me that.

Tim Elliott (0:43)

I'm not going to call you that.

David Mackenzie (0:44)

The big salad. For us, what's it all about? You've been hanging with the kids too much, I think.

Tim Elliott (0:49)

I really don't hang with the kids. I don't think I ever did, to be honest. But that felt, big salad felt a bit out of date to me. I felt, I thought, if you were like the big cheese now, you would be the big protein bar. Because that's what the kids want now. It's all about protein.

David Mackenzie (1:03)

Or the big woke man.

Tim Elliott (1:05)

The big woke man. Do you honestly describe yourself as woke?

David Mackenzie (1:10)

No, I don't.

Tim Elliott (1:11)

You've all got a little short at times.

David Mackenzie (1:15)

I was just, I was looking at the, I was caught up in this whole thing. I won't go into it because it's about this pop star that's being called out for something. And I just suddenly thought sanity is, we've lost our reasoning these days about individuals. If you do, if you make one wrong move, you are called out. And I think it's very interesting.

Your reputation as an individual, whether it be in the workplace or in, if you're a celebrity, you're on a real knife edge, aren't you?

Tim Elliott (1:43)

You are, you're talking about Ed Sheeran, I'm guessing.

David Mackenzie (1:45)

Am I allowed to say that? Yeah.

Tim Elliott (1:47)

You can say whatever you like about the Macklemore debate.

David Mackenzie (1:51)

Yeah.

And I really like Macklemore. And what he said was very good. And I think him and Ed Sheeran are friends. And Ed Sheeran is a commercial guy. Let's be honest, he's doing it for commercial reasons. He's a pop star. He's doing a concert. He does it for money and also to get to his audience. And because of a certain individual that owns a stadium has said no, then he's had to kick him out. And everyone's blaming Ed Sheeran now.

Tim Elliott (2:13)

Yeah, this is true. To be fair on Ed Sheeran, I'm no Ed Sheeran fan.

David Mackenzie (2:18)

Nor am I.

Tim Elliott (2:18)

But I've never noticed him being massively political anyway.

David Mackenzie (2:22)

No, but he says that about... He said this on... We're going off track here, aren't we? He said this on The Thing, saying that he doesn't bring politics or anything. And what his view on the thing that Mackenmore was talking about was, he has his own beliefs, but he doesn't share them with... Because it's a private thought.

Which I sort of agree and disagree, because you have to make a stand somewhere. And I think Mackenmore was right, but no, let's get off this topic, because this could be a long one. It's a bit like Darth Maul and Darth Vader, you know.

Tim Elliott (2:53)

Yeah, I've often thought about Darth Maul and Darth Vader.

David Mackenzie (2:56)

I just tried to change the subject.

Tim Elliott (2:57)

You did that so well. But you've got me thinking about Darth Maul. Darth Maul is the great Star Wars character, as far as I'm concerned.

David Mackenzie (3:03)

Yeah, but he was very limited, wasn't he?

Tim Elliott (3:04)

Very limited, but that enables cult status.

David Mackenzie (3:08)

Very true. I'm a big... I like Mando.

Tim Elliott (3:11)

Oh, OK.

David Mackenzie (3:12)

I'm a Mando fan.

Tim Elliott (3:13)

Yeah.

David Mackenzie (3:13)

I'm a bit of a Star Wars fan, actually. Not a Star Trek fan.

Tim Elliott (3:17)

I was much more Trek than Wars.

David Mackenzie (3:18)

Do you know what's going to happen in a minute, Farage is going to look at us and say, last guest run out of time, and you two are talking about Star Wars.