Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

Looking to quickly line your pockets with big money and enjoy benefits beyond your wildest expectations? Newsflash: Salaries in the kingdom generally have been stagnant or declining over the past 4-5 years. (And forget about living in employer-provided accommodations in a fancy-schmancy western compound.) Add Saudization and the region's present oil industry slump to the mix, and you have a more realistic picture of earnings for prospective EFL teachers.

Although there are umpteen posts throughout this forum indicating that job applicants should get (or even demand) a salary of no less than X amount, be aware that criteria for determining worker pay varies and is often subjective -- there's no one-size-fits-all standard across the industry. Salary generally depends on 1) how solid the applicant's qualifications are relevant to everything on the employer's wish list; 2) what the position entails; and 3) who the employer is (e.g., direct hire vs for-profit contracting company).

Therefore, what you've been offered by X university or company may not come close to what others claim to currently earn. So unless you have stellar qualifications, you might want to lower your expectations of what you feel you should get.

[niti team leader]

I concur with the views expressed by my colleague above...

[psychedelicacy]

I was offered 16,260 per month by Hafr Al Batin University (direct hire). That was for CELTA, DELTA, unrelated degree, unrelated master's, plenty of experience including in the Gulf. But thanks to Saudi stupidity and incompetence, it didn't happen (my working visa was denied). Though disappointing at the time, to say the least, it was just about the most positive thing that could have happened.

People should be realistic about their salary expectations, of course (I also, in recent months, interviewed with a contractor for KSU and was offered 10,100). That was a lot less than what I got for my first Saudi job back in 2010! But most of all, people need to be realistic about what it's like living in Saudi Arabia, living under Saudi law, teaching only Saudi males day in, day out, and living in the 7th Century. People need to reflect on the fact that they're willing to put up with that for a few grand a month. Is it better than unemployment and welfare? Definitely. But that's about the best you can say.

[scot47]

"Living in the 7th Century" ? I find it hard to understand this analysis of what life is like in KSA.

[dragonpiwo]

We're getting replaced by Uzbeks, Mexicans and Bulgarians for less than half the money.

[PC Parrot]

Good job for us that it took them so long to figure it out!

[Makkah]

..for a few grand, the atrocious smell from their breath. The inane sense of being superior no matter how intellectually challenged. Going back to the real world and doing your best to describe how it helped your career.

[nomad soul]

Back to the subject of salaries...

Don't count on negotiating for more money unless you have some skill or knowledge that hits the prospective employer's wish list.

Also, be aware that contracting companies are for-profit businesses; they make their money by taking a percentage of each employee's earnings upon payment from the client (e.g., university, Saudi military, etc.). The goal of these middlemen is to make the company profitable, which entails keeping employee/teacher-related costs to a minimum. As business operating expenses increase, salaries offered go down.

[Makkah]

It's more simple, Saudi''s smell the desperation and make a hefty margin on the desperate.

[hobartwells]

SR 10000-11000 is what is being offered nowadays with an apartment usually.

Other fancier jobs ( SR 16000+ a fancy compound) exist but not in big amounts anymore. Because it's now easy for those big employers to get teachers, they constantly observe and fire them at a whim.

The companies that pay less are less strict and just want you to show up, teach from a book, test papers and not talk sex, politics or religion. That's all.

Paradoxically, you end up saving more over time with small ones than with these big ones who enjoy to sadistically observe and fire teachers for any perceived malfeasance such as an accidentally untied shoelace or " not being able to control your class".

[scot47]

Real wages have declined in the West too - in all sectors. Maybe not if you are an accountant working in Finance.

[nomad soul]

[scot47]

Deragonbeer !

Maybe the Uzbeks and Bulgarians are better at teaching ? I have certainly encountered many Bulgarian teachers of English who are better at this craft than loads of practitioners from Britain.

We have all met the teachers of EFL who ask coleagues, "Waht do you mean it is an adjective ?"

[siologen]

[nomad soul]