Job Discussion Forums

[Tazz]

As somebody departing from Oman I'd like to give one or two pointers as it were, to anybody considering moving here to work at either the MOM [Ministry of Manpower] or MOHE [Ministry of Higher Education] Colleges through the various recruiters.
First of all, and most importantly-things are in a state of flux here right now, contracts with some recruiters are not being renewed, others are being amended. Some teachers are being retained with 'changes' made to contracts of renewal that are basically cut backs in the form of salary, benefits. and holiday entitlement. Other teachers are not being renewed at all. These are decisions that are sometimes shockingly made at the last minute, for example Hawthorns recent 'cull' of all its native speaker staff at the Ibri CAS- something that those teachers didn't even find out about until the last minute, and in some cases-after they had departed for vacation expecting a renewal to be offered for the beginning of September!
In another thread a newbie was advised of the need to 'get' a car. Anybody opting to work at the MOM Colleges through any of the recruiters will soon find out, if they didn't know already, that there's going to be a lot of these 'gets' on arrival-depending to some extent on the location of the College. The 'gets' include transportation.....for many renting and furnishing an apartment from scratch, including such basics as air conditioning units-all in all this is going to cost a pretty penny and potentially negate any saving potential for the first couple of months. So what is my point? Simply this, in this current state of flux, with the hiring and firing situation, keep your initial 'getting' to a minimum....remember you're just an agency worker hired from overseas. Hire a car-don't go down the massive loan route to buying a new one....keep the furnishings to a minimum.....how often have I seen those 'unexpectedly' let go with very little notice desperately trying to sell all the furnishings before departure?! This is a short term gig, nothing more. Keep it tidy and save the coin!

[Lord T]

Thanks Tazz for your sound advice. I would add that this advice should be followed by all ESL teachers in the region.

The state of flux that you describe means that teachers who come to the Gulf region to make and save money can actually end up losing significant amounts of money.

[Roses189]

Excellent advice Tazz. With the CAS contract being taken over by Al Nawa those of us who manage to retain our positions are now heading into the unknown. At least with Hawthorne we got paid on time and had fairly decent accommodation with any issues being fixed promptly. Private renting will be an expensive pain. As far as I know either renters pay for repairs to their rental accommodation or put up with the problems. Even if you get a one year contract it can be terminated at any time and we don't know how far austerity measures will go if the economy doesn't start to improve soon.