Dubai: In 2017, British national Jodi Thompson was offered a job opportunity like no other.
She was working as a regional manager for a global financial services firm in Liverpool, UK, with 72 offices around the world, and she was told she could be placed in any one of those offices – from Botswana to Vietnam to Switzerland.
But there was a catch: she’d have to agree and do all the necessary training, before being informed about the city she’d be relocating to.
So, she took the gamble – and it paid off.
In September 2017, at age 26, Thompson was given the news: she was flying to Dubai.
She remembers the decision that changed her life forever: “I'd never even visited the city before, but within four days of receiving the opportunity, I'd packed up my life in Liverpool and relocated on my own. No family, no friends waiting for me, and very little time to overthink the decision. It was a huge leap into the unknown, but I knew it was an opportunity I didn't want to turn down.”
Thompson gave herself six months – she would see if life in Dubai suited her, and if it didn’t, she would return to Liverpool.
Nine years later, she said she’s never looked back: “The six-month mark came around, and I simply wasn't ready to leave. I don't think I ever made a conscious decision to stay for nine years. I just kept finding more reasons to stay than to go back.”
Her Dubai-it journey, of achieving excellence and fulfilling her dreams, is well on its way in the city that made her stay.
Building a life from scratch
But it took a while for Dubai to truly feel like home. Thompson had to adapt and adjust to a new environment where she didn’t know anyone.
Before moving to the emirate, she said she had never even moved houses, let alone live on her own. Homesickness and imposter syndrome didn’t help.
But as she began settling in, she discovered that Dubai had an authenticity and unique charm that made her feel welcome. She said: “Within those first few months, I started building a life for myself. I was meeting people from all over the world, experiencing a completely different lifestyle and realising that there was so much more I could achieve here.”
Getting out of her comfort zone helped her grow up quickly – she learned to figure things out for herself and became more independent.
Professionally, she found an appetite for ambition in the city that was contagious: “What Dubai gave me was an environment where ambition was encouraged. I was surrounded by people who were motivated, successful and constantly pushing themselves to achieve more, which in turn made me raise my own expectations of what I could achieve.”
Thompson focused on work, and became the top sales professional in her company. Everything was going great, socially and professionally.
A difficult period
Then, 2020 came along, and her life ground to a halt – she found herself alone again, in the COVID-19 lockdown.
She said: “It was probably one of my hardest periods in Dubai. I went from such a busy, sociable lifestyle to spending weeks on my own with virtually no human interaction. I thrive in environments where I can bounce off other people’s energy and while I'd always been very independent, I think there's a big difference between enjoying your own company and having no choice but to be alone.”
Thompson even considered returning to the UK during the height of uncertainty.
But her saving grace was a furry rescue cat named Boo. Thompson, who is an animal lover and passionate about rescuing animals, credits him for keeping her sane in a difficult time. “For weeks, Boo was quite literally my only companion. Just having him around reinforced my sense of purpose. There was another living being depending on me, a reason to get up in the morning and keep working.”
As months passed, Thompson said she began to appreciate just how effectively Dubai and the UAE's leadership responded to the pandemic, “particularly in comparison to what I was seeing elsewhere in the world. What initially made me question whether I should stay ultimately reinforced my confidence that I was exactly where I wanted to be.”
Finding new purpose
Following COVID-19, Thompson decided it was time for change. The company she was working for had a vacancy in their recruitment team.
She said: “When I applied, it was never supposed to be a long-term career move, but it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I'd always enjoyed working with people, but recruitment gave me something I hadn't quite experienced in my previous roles. I wasn't just focused on my own performance or business targets anymore. I was helping other people take steps towards building their own careers and, in many cases, completely changing their lives by relocating to Dubai.”
Her first hire landed in the city in January 2021 – a fresh start, mirroring her own experience all those years ago. To know she helped make it happen was thrilling: “I realised I had found something that I genuinely loved and six years on, I have never looked back.”
Today, at age 35, Thompson works as regional director at White & Co Real Estate in Dubai. Early this year, when regional tensions began, she said she was advised to pack her bags and return to the UK.
At her company, though, it was business as usual. "We took an aggressive approach to growth, continued investing in our people and focused on the opportunities ahead.”
They followed the Dubai-it blueprint – clear communication and transparency gave employees the confidence to stay focused. So much so, that the company has had its best year ever, in 2026.
During the challenging period, the resilience and reassurance from the management in her workplace emulated the same confident outlook of the authorities in the city – and it had a direct impact on employees, who were counting on good leadership.
Thompson said: “Our results this year demonstrate what can happen when strong leadership, a clear strategy and a team working towards a common goal come together. It's easy to be optimistic when everything is going well. The real test is how you respond when things become difficult.”
A permanent home
Over the years, Thompson has witnessed how Dubai overcomes challenges, and continues to thrive. She said the stability, safety and quality of life the city offers, along with career opportunities, make for a compelling package – it’s why residents are putting down roots, rather than treating their time here as a transient period.
She explained: “Dubai has changed enormously over the past decade. When I first moved here, there was very much a mentality of coming for a few years, earning money and eventually returning home. Now, I'm seeing more people making long-term decisions about their lives here. They're buying properties, starting businesses, getting married and raising families. Longer term residency options have also given people greater confidence to invest in their futures here.”
For herself, the realisation that this is the city she wants to grow old in, happened gradually: “I built my career, developed friendships, bought property and created a life here that I genuinely love. I'm now married, and when my husband and I talk about our future and raising a family, Dubai is where we see that happening.”
Thompson’s husband also works in real estate, and it’s what brought them together. They live together with their two cats and two dogs in Dubai.
Thompson hopes to one day open her own animal sanctuary, pursuing her love for animal welfare and rescue. Meanwhile, she is continuing to Dubai-it at work, and build her personal brand – The Dubai Recruiter – while using her platforms to “educate people about the realities of relocating, working and building a successful career here”.
And although she arrived in the city with a suitcase and a six-month deadline, Thompson is swapping it with a different plan – she now wants to raise a family here.
She said: “Dubai has given me so many opportunities over the past nine years, and the thought of my children growing up with access to the safety, experiences and quality of life this city offers is something I'm really excited about.”