Job Discussion Forums

[Jum Jum]

Hi all,

I have just got off an interview with QEHC for an ESL position at PNU and would like to share my experience and hear your opinion.

Brief background story about myself: I'm Thai/American living in NY state. I have MA in TESOL from a university in Australia with about 4 years of teaching experience. My last professional job is teaching at a university in Thailand.

And here come the details of my encounter with QEHC.

26/12/13
- Received two emails for interview invitation from QEHC.
- I wrote back to notify them that I have received their emails and will get back to them the next day.
- Received another email saying they have scheduled me the interview for Sat 28 Dec 2013 at 1PM KSA time
- I wrote back to say, that's 5AM my time, too early, let's make it 7AM my time or 3PM KSA time
- Heard nothing back
27/12/13 Heard nothing back as I assumed it's their day off.
28/12/13
- Checked my email twice, once at midnight and once at 6AM my time, nothing.
- 7:14 got a phone call from QEHC, didn't answer in time
- 7:15 got another call this time I answered in time, it's a male voice. So, I told him I can be ready for an interview in 45 minutes.
- 7:17 checked my e-mail and found that they have emailed me to confirm the interview at 6:10AM, again at 6:24 saying it's 3PM there already, and again at 7:14 to say they are still online and waiting for me whenever I am ready.
- 8:00 Got in touch with them on Skype and here come a brief detail of the conversation which lasted about half an hour.

I was talking to a female recruiter, the same person who sent me the invitation. After asking questions about me, my qualification, my experience, my teaching philosophy, how I deal with classroom in terms of discipline and learning difficulties; she offered me a job and laid out some important info as follow:

1. For my 4 years experience she offers me 500 SR
2. For my American passport she offers me 250 SR
3. For my MA in TESOL she offers me 12,500 SR
4. This equals to an amount of 13,250 SR every month in my account
5. Plus with this, she offers me fully furnished (non sharing) accommodation OUTSIDE PNU compound which has a bed room, a kitchen with microwave, cutlery, crockery, fridge, kettle, also the drawing room has a plasma flat screen tv with sattilite system . Your company covers for electricity and water bills. Also the internet is free to use.
6. I will be teaching there at Princess Noura University not as a direct hire but under a contractor which is QEHC.
7. The company will pay me SAR13,250 monthly every month in the calendar year not for the academic year.
8. The company will cover all other fees i.e. visa and getting my degree attested plus airfare except the medical test which I have to cover.
9. It will take about 3 weeks to get the visa processed.
10. As for transportation, they offer the ride to and from PNU to the bus stop near the apartment, free transportation to do grocery shopping and free excursion trip on the weekends
10. If I agree on all of these terms, she will send me a contract which I have to sign and return it within 24 hours.

I told her I would like to see the contract first; she said all I needed to know she already told me. She will only send me the contract if I accept the job. So, I said, I will think about it and let her know. I then write to her to thank, put what she offered in the email as a reference and ask more questions as follow:

a. If all the visa process is done, when will I be flying to take my teaching post? Will I have to wait until August to fly and start teaching in September?
b. Is there any possibility to negotiating the salary? I'm actually looking into getting paid at least $4500 or approx. SAR17,000 a month.
c. What type of visa am I getting? An employment visa or a business visa?
d. Once I get there do I have to surrender my passport to your company? I have heard from people who are working there that some companies take their passports once they arrive in KSA.
e. Ask for contact details of three teachers that they have hired for PNU? I would like to get in touch with them and ask how life is there just so I can prepare myself.

So, what do you all think? I have read about them that people have shared on this board and quite skeptical about them. Does anyone here work for QEHC and care to share your experience? If you don't, you know anyone who works for them at PNU and could may be get me in touch of one? Any suggestions? Any thoughts?

I don't need this job but why not if it means I can save a lot of money and go with my plan of retiring in five years. I don't need much to live happily and thought this pain may be worth to endure.

Oh also, when I asked them about direct hire at PNU she said I have to have 10 years teaching experience to be hired directly from PNU, is that true? Is anyone here direct hired by PNU and would you mind to give me a contact?

Thank you all for your time on this! Any comments would be gratefully appreciated.[/list]

[scot47]

Was it wise to post this on an open forum ? You may have made an enemy for life ?

[sicklyman]

not a great offer IMO and you can smell a big fat rat in that sleight of hand about the contract. You've read around this board and you say you "don't need this job" and then ask "but why not?" Maybe you should read all that again.

Some people get themselves into really sticky situations with contractors like QEHC. If you don't need to come to Saudi Arabia, why would you? No one is here for the scenery, I can tell you that much

[Jum Jum]

Thanks, Scot47. I'm new here and not sure about all the settings. I actually thought of that right before I read your message. So, how can I post it in a closed discussion board as oppose to the open one?

Thanks, sicklyman. As for the comment about not needing this job, it means that I manage fine out here but if I get extra 1.5-2k a month in exchange of going over there, why not? I just think it's good to have a good cushion...and make my mid/long term goal appear faster.

[veiledsentiments]

There is no such thing as a "closed" discussion board... that I have ever heard of. (emails? private message?) That means that employers can as easily read your message here as anyone else in the world with a computer. If you wish to remove your post... or edit it, there is a button on the upper right portion of your posts that allows you to make changes.

VS

[nomad soul]

[plumpy nut]

OP delete the words in your post and replace them with something else. People are going to figure out who you are which is not what you want on a forum.

[Jum Jum]

Thank you all and the moderator for watching out for me. And sorry if I brought in wrong attention to the board. I didn't mean to.

Thanks again for all the comments. I have received more clarification and answered to my questions I wrote to the recruiter. To be fair, as I understand more now, they actually practice their business like many others do.

It has really been a good experience. I am now more educated about the Middle East market and the market in general. I was unable to negotiate the pay. Since it's not more than I could make here in the States and the living off campus thing makes me feel uncomfortable. So, I'm going to just give it a miss and looking out for other opportunities.

Thanks a million, everyone xo

[Jum Jum]

Oh forgot to share the answers I got from the recruiter.

a. It takes about three weeks assuming everything goes well to join the company. The answer to when I will start teaching is not clear. They said that when I finish my contract I may stay longer in the summer if the university ask me to teach the summer courses. So, I guess, they want to bring me in right away.
b. They can't alter the offer--no negotiation for the salary.
c. I'll enter the kingdom under a business visa which will be changed after a month of my arrival.
d. They have no policy to keep my passport with them.
e. They can't provide contact details of their employees already working there as it's not their company policy.

Hope this is helpful for some.

[Jum Jum]

[veiledsentiments]

[Dejvice]

For 13,500 SAR I wouldn't even bother. Equally for 17,000SAR I still wouldn't bother. Each to his/her own. It is your decision if you are happy with such a salary.

[Jum Jum]

Thanks, veiledsentiments. I don't worry much about the recruiter especially those with dirty secrets. Good ones are not afraid of the truth. And if they are bad; I don't want to work for them anyway. But do understand I shouldn't use real names on here. To be fair, I quite like the lady who was communicating and interviewing me. I think she is trying her best to do her job. I don't think she is the evil one who is in charge of the company.

Certainly agree with your point on the visa thing, I am not going to help them exploit the system. One more thing that I'm not comfortable with is the off-campus housing; to me, it's too risky. I don't want to rely on others too much; in-campus housing, I'd be more in control on my travel back-fro to work. It's also true on the non-tax salary part, but it's still not that great to take the risk.

Dejvice, agree with you on this one.

[veiledsentiments]

[nomad soul]