Garden at 9 Palace Green

7.1.11

Head Horticulturalist for Lattakia

36 Applicants for the position with a shortlist of 6 candidates with suitable experience and qualifications.

I have interviewed these six candidates over the telephone and from this group eliminated two, leaving four people who would be suitable for the position.

Andre Moolman – Excellent Candidate

·  Andre is a South African presently based in Kuwait, has a wealth of experience having worked in Abu Dhabi, the UAE and South Africa.

·  He has strong links in the Middle East which might be useful, he can speak basic Arabic and sounds to be a suitable person for the position with good experience of the horticulture and irrigation that will be essential at Lattakia.

·  He is looking for US $ 22,000 per month – this is very expensive and during our chat we discussed the possibility of him working with the team on site on the basis of three days a week every other week. This could actually work to our benefit as it may not require 6 months to do the necessary training and he can set them tasks and homework for the team to do between his visits.

·  The other additional expense would be his flights and accommodation plus disbursements.

David Davies – Very Good Candidate

·  David is Welsh and currently works in Jerusalem – his contract is due to finish at the end of this month at which point he will be back in the UK. He has experience working in South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Florida and Greece.

·  He has very good horticultural awareness and has all round knowledge in groundskeeping and irrigation. He has been working with people who he has been training to manage a redeveloped tropical conservatory (Jerusalem Botanical Gardens). He would appear to have the ability to manage people well and train them up to the skill level we require and therefore would make a good candidate for the job.

·  He has very basic Arabic.

·  He is looking for somewhere in the region of £2,500 per month plus accommodation and disbursements.

Safdar Hussein – Fairly Good Potential

·  Safdar is a Pakistani who has worked in Kuwait, has experience of looking after a team of workers and reporting back to clients and subcontractors. He is currently in London and therefore we could interview him at our offices.

·  He speaks good Arabic apparently and seems to have pretty good horticultural knowledge.

·  He is looking for £2,500 per month paid to a UK bank account.

Mumtaz Ahmed - Average

·  Mumtaz is an Indian, presently working in Bombay. He has average horticultural knowledge but did not give me a huge amount of confidence and therefore is a not a strong candidate.

·  He can speak minimal Arabic.

·  He is looking for US $ 3,500 per month

Israr Basha – Weak

·  Israr is Indian, presently in Bangalore. He does not have enough horticultural knowledge for the position but has a good background in grounds keeping - maintenance of lawns.

·  Not to be considered.

Patrick Dinner – Weak

·  Irish candidate – not good at communicating. Has more contracting knowledge and horticulture is poor.

·  Not to be considered.

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