Job Discussion Forums

[Faizansaleem3]

Hi All,

I have just received a job offer from ASIS and would like to know if anyone has any information on the school? I would also like to know whether the salary is acceptable. It is 1100omani Riyal (500 basic salary, 300 accommodation allowance and 300 expense allowance).
I've never worked abroad and so would like some guidance.

Thank you

[Tazz]

If you've never worked 'abroad' then it's extremely unlikely that you've been offered a job ANYWHERE in the Gulf.

[Whatever will be]

A salary of 1100 OMR will be enough to survive.

Calculate more or less the following

300 OMR for accommodation
30 OMR for water, electricity, gas, home internet
20 OMR for mobile phone and newspaper (5 per week) to search for flat, ...
280 OMR for food (10 per day, good quality fruit and vegies are expensive)
250 OMR for transportation (car insurance, maintenance, petrol, fines)
40 OMR (10 per week for entertainment, e.g. movies, books)
20 OMR for personal items (shampoo, toilet paper, soap)
40 OMR for clothing/ shoes (10 per week)
20 OMR for hairdresser
20 OMR for household consumables (dishwashing liquid, washing powder...)
10 OMR laundry service (bed sheets, pillows, work pants, delicates...)

That leaves you 100 OMR per month to save or splurge on holidays
If you want to join the gym, take Arabic classes or have other hobbies, that money will be gone as well.

In my humble opinion, the salary of 1500 OMR is acceptable; especially since the agencies get 2000 OMR from the government for each and every month that you are under their contract.

[Faizansaleem3]

Tazz I have done my research and currently in talks with the headteacher regarding the position so it's legit (plus how am I supposed to get experience if I don't get a job abroad?).

And thank you 'whatever will be' for the information. It was really helpful. Just wondering whether I could negotiate a better salary? Mainly going there for the experience so it doesn't bother me as much.

[nomad soul]

[balqis]

Yet, if your degree is B.A. level, then bear it in mind that the main recruiter for the colleges in Oman, and the one with most stable reputation, Hawthorn, pays not much more to their lecturers than your salary would be. I mean, their salary for BA is 925, yours would be 800. And they. I mean Hawthorn, recruit lecturers with a number of years of ESL experience.

In general employers do not allow for negotiations and do not like it when applicants ask for it, and if you get such advice that you should try and negotiate your money, it is the devil's advocate's whisper. So think twice before you raise this issue. They honour you by extending an offer to your good name, and they select you against a number of applicants, large number usually, most often against hundreds of CVs.

The ESL market is tough and disillusioned, after all, and all stories about having unusual skills are quite woolly, unhumble and silly. What are they, the skills I mean? Nobody knows.

Also, bear it in mind that there are people in Oman, a million or two of them from the Indian continent, who spend monthly not more than 50 OR on all save housing. So a lot depends on your IQ with your money. ''La Grande bouffe'' is over all over the world.

balqis

ps. toast of champagne to Brexit

[Whatever will be]

If you are just after experience in the Middle East, apply for Saudi Arabia or Kuwait as they are happy to take 'fresher' but pay significantly more.

It's important to save some money for a rainy day (illness/emergency) or old age.

While recruiters get hundreds of CVs, the quality is usually low: alcoholics, those with family (which is costing the employer more due to visas and allowances), those close to retirement age, those with dubious qualifications (fake, from a shoddy university), without references or poor references, those with large gaps in their working life, those with disabilities, etc.

There is a reason why you were chosen: you were the best candidate out of that lot.

Yes, as balqis pointed righty out, it is possible to live on very little as our Indian cleaners get 120 OMR per month in salary. Their accommodation (4 people in a 1 bedroom place, 12 people in a small, often old villa = shared bathroom), Internet, Food (3 meals a day, including a tiffin lunch), clothing and laundry needs (for their uniforms) and so on comes for "free". Also included in their package is free transportation to and from work in company mini busses and a fully paid annual flight home. As they are very frugal people (not indulging in movies, or weekend getaways, travel to see the country side, have any costly hobbies or smoke/ drink alcohol...) Hence, they have virtually no expenses.

They make extra money by cleaning by cleaning teacher's cars (in the car park), by fetching coffee/snacks for teachers and by moonlighting at night (the sleep a good deal during the day in special hiding places) and on the weekend. Thus, they can save up to 500 OMR per month.

[Tazz]

I still can't accept that any employer in the Gulf is going to offer a job, however low the salary, to somebody with Zero classroom experience. If the OP was chosen from a long list of other candidates-makes you wonder what the other candidates didn't have to offer?

[nomad soul]

[Whatever will be]

@ Tazz

The OP didn't say that s/he had _no_classroom_experience, only that s/he "never worked abroad".

Our current expat staff is a hotchpotch: a small group of crackpots unable to find work in their own countries (e.g. coming intoxicated to work, having sexual relationships with students, yelling and/or sleeping in the classroom); a large proportion of disengaged underperformers (e.g. been there for yonks and focus their energy and time on their family/personal life); desperadoes only there for the money (e.g. study and/or housing loan, tax owning, business gone bust); and a couple of highly qualified professionals who got lured by false promises.

Most teachers have a Bachelor degree (a few have Masters and a couple come with PhDs) from countries with subpar educational standards (compared to a global level) such as Pakistan, India, the Phillipines, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan and "broken Russia", with heavy accents, limited vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and an incomprehension of English colloquialisms.

Given the existing body of staff and it's quality in terms education, professionalism and English language skills, the OP might be a catch.

[Faizansaleem3]

I have 3 years teaching experience in the UK. Woah I hope it isn't like that where I'm going to work. Ps The job I've been offered is mostly Teacher of ICT with English on the side due to me having both a PGCE and a CELTA. Am I able to ask for the contract before hand?

[nomad soul]

[Faizansaleem3]

I'm waiting for my visa to be approved first so I assume the next step after that would be the preliminary contract. They've told me the start date would be around 17th to 19th August.

[nomad soul]

[Tazz]

As it transpires that the OP has qualified teacher status in the UK + 3 years experience there, may I suggest seriously negotiating that salary upwards? 1100 Omani rial seems low when recruitment agency hires for the MOM colleges, with nothing more than a B.A. + a CELTA [in some cases] are receiving almost 1400 a month......