Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

Why so few posts in Kuwait ? Does no one have anything to say ? Or have all the EFL instructors run away ? Like the Kuwaiti Army in Gulf War 1

[shebab]

I was offered a post at KU back in March, at the TESOL Convention, in the Language Center. After months of waiting and waiting, I get back sporadic emails with little information. Finally, the weekend before classes start, I am suddenly told that my appointment has officially been approved, and they will be mailing it to me (at the wrong address!).

I will not work for a place that is this blase about communications...imagine how they are about getting paid! In fact, I have heard horror stories about getting a paychecks out of them.

Has anyone had the same experience with KU?

[veiledsentiments]

I have twice been offered jobs by KU and accepted the second one. I only stayed one year as it was a disasterously messy department which lost half of its staff for three years in a row.

This delay in word is typical and I would almost say standard for KU.

I found the Kuwaiti bureaucracy the worst in the Middle East. I never thought that I would find a country that would make the Egyptian Mogamma seem friendly and efficient. Interestingly the Kuwaiti staff in the government treated the Kuwaitis as badly as they treated the expats.

But, I will give them credit for one thing mentioned. The pay was always correct and on time in the year that I was there.

VS

[ohman]

I had a similar experience with KU's language centre many years ago. I'd been hired in October and was told to be ready to leave by December. In early December, I sold the car, moved onto a friend's couch, prepared to enjoy a holiday season with family and friends before leaving for the gulf. December, January, February and most of March came and went--bills went unpaid not the least of which were international long distance phone bills (this was before easy email access), still no ticket, no visa. I then scraped up enough money to move to a town where there was a university on the quarter system. I was by that time desperate for work. Once I'd secured a meager part/time job, before I signed a contract, I gave KU one last chance, phoned them and told them it was now or never. Somehow, a visa and ticket appeared within days and I went. Once in Kuwait, I didn't get paid for an additional two months.