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well-travelled
Joined: 19 Mar 2003 Posts: 97
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:08 pm Post subject: Al-Falak |
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Al-Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies have advertised for English teachers recently on the International Job Board. The salary is good; the job details are vague.
Does anyone have any information about this company etc...?
(Someone actually posted a similar question back in July, but the posting received no replies!!!!)
Cheers,
well-travelled |
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Mark100
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Al Falak are the worst of the contractors at the moment.
They are managing the KFUPM gig I believe.
They do however pay on time I am told but they rip you off on everything they can.
Still if you are desperate better than not working i suppose.
Why not try and work directly thru KFUPM via their website? |
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guty
Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 365 Location: on holiday
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 6:36 am Post subject: |
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Cant say whether they are the worst contractor going at the moment, I cant say that I am working for them right now and there are some things to consider. Mark100 why do you say that?
The jobs you just saw advertised are for Jubail Industrial College, if you know anything about KSA you will have heard of this place.
AlFalak in general
Good points, salaries are higher than average, for instance at KFUPM I earn nearly double the money I would if I was direct hire
They pay
They leave you pretty much alone
Bad points
They do nothing for you, so you have to do all the red tape your self, that will cost you more than a thousand us dollars easily. Add to that flights and shorter paid holidays, and the sheer hassle of dealing with Saudi bureaucrats
So in short, if you want an easy life, dont use them, if you are prepared to do a bit of legwork yourself do it and take the extra money. |
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Belmont
Joined: 12 Jul 2003 Posts: 125 Location: Southern California
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 4:35 am Post subject: |
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guty wrote: |
Cant say whether they are the worst contractor going at the moment, I cant say that I am working for them right now and there are some things to consider. Mark100 why do you say that?
The jobs you just saw advertised are for Jubail Industrial College, if you know anything about KSA you will have heard of this place.
AlFalak in general
Good points, salaries are higher than average, for instance at KFUPM I earn nearly double the money I would if I was direct hire
They pay
They leave you pretty much alone
Bad points
They do nothing for you, so you have to do all the red tape your self, that will cost you more than a thousand us dollars easily. Add to that flights and shorter paid holidays, and the sheer hassle of dealing with Saudi bureaucrats
So in short, if you want an easy life, dont use them, if you are prepared to do a bit of legwork yourself do it and take the extra money. |
That's amazing you're making double the usual salary of around SR9,000 per month at KFUPM. I realize some make more, some a little less. Are you in the IEP or UEP? What is your housing like? |
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Mark100
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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You make double because it is a percentage contract.
That means that you pay for your own accommodation, car and you don't get paid for holidays. No sick pay either.You also pay for visas and iquamas i believe.
If you work it out i am sure you will be getting less than if you were hired direct by KFUPM or in this case JIC.
I am working with guys who are contracted by Al Falak and they only have bad things to say about them.
I didn't know they were recruiting for Jubail Industrial College.
It looks like they are branching out!
There is a very good reason why they lost the training contract at Aramco.
Simply, they suck! |
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Orange U?
Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 13 Location: Middle East
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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Al Falak Sucks? Absolutely!
The post about the colleague who (basically) died from underinsurance on the general Middle East Forum (5* International Health?) was an Al Falak employee. If Al Falak is your sponsor and you are on a percentage contract, you are totally self-insured & completely on your own.
Al Falak generally cuts every corner it can. Most of the larger chunks are cut out of the flesh of their contractor employees IMO.
If nobody else is offering work and you really need it, they do pay regularly (watch your pay stubs, though, for unexpected deductions: there's a story about one contract manager leaving with a few thousand dollars worth of unpaid phone bills that were then distributed among Al Falak's then hundreds of contractors). Carefully consider whether you really want to be bound by an addictively attractive paycheck to an organization that you are taught (through their maltreatment of you) to hate.
Al Falak is among the worst examples of 'indentured servant' attitude toward workers bound to them by contract. Unfortunately this sort of attitude is fairly common in the region.
Perversely, they have often seemed to make choices that deliberately irritate their contractor employees - maybe to discourage foks from bothering them? Or maybe some more sadistic motivation?
In any case, I'm glad as hell no longer to have any business association with them. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 4:18 am Post subject: |
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Direct hire is better than working for Al Falak. Money is less direct but the overall package is incomparably better. |
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