Who got that job?

Were you one of the people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?

Job title: Divisional manager.

For: Information directorate, research, analysis and quality control division, State of Bahrain.


Mark Broomhead, 32, had been looking for an overseas post for a year or so - the goal: getting ahead financially, and in his career - when he spotted an advertisement in the Herald and applied.

That was before the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Bahrain, joined to the east coast of Saudi Arabia by a 26km road, is a Muslim country. The risk of unrest despite its large expat community did cause Broomhead to pause and rethink.

However, he has been reassured by New Zealand authorities in the region that he should be safe, and the Middle East isn't unfamiliar to him, anyway.

Thanks to his father's oil-company job, Britain-born Broomhead spent two years in Oman up to the age of 13. And he loved it - the weather, the outdoor activities, the expat community.

His decision to head for Bahrain was fuelled by favourable reports from former colleagues working there in surveying.

"Quite a few New Zealanders have been to Bahrain," he says. He will be based in Manama, Bahrain's capital, and will be working on information management issues such as data maintenance, processes and quality control.