Pros
The work at Protiviti Member Firm (Middle East) is varied and there are great challenges for anyone at the company, which could be seen as beneficial developmentally. The market is also still underdeveloped in terms of professional services competition and presence, which facilitates winning interesting assignments.
Cons
Kuwait is a hardship posting regardless of what others may say. There is virtually no night life, and regulations are generally very fundamentalistic. Employment laws and other regulations in general are outdated. The firm itself is not representative of an Arab office and is mostly staffed by expatriates from Asia. Protiviti Member Firm (Middle East) is one of a few franchise operations for Protiviti globally. Not surprisingly, this means their internal systems are not up to par. Although the assignments are attractive in nature, office organization is shambolic and not conducive to professional quality due to under investment in facilities. Human Resource quality is very poor due to deficient hiring and training policies. Formal training is almost non existent. Client commitments are almost never met, and adherence to time is a virtually unknown, including arrival at the office on time. During my stint at the office in Kuwait I continuously worked from 70 - 80 hours per week to attempt to change mindset and ensure client commitments were adhered to. Adherence to contractual (employment) terms is also very poor. Basically an organization that grinds poorer quality graduates and professionals while pretending to be a top class professional services firm.