Job Discussion Forums

[brasscat]

Time for some truth, from someone who teaches ESL at Hail University.

1. Most of the recruiting is performed by Al-Falak, Vista(an Al-Falak cover company), or direct hire.

2. The majority of what you see on-line for position hiring is pure propaganda.

3. You get to live in a place out in the desert called Mishar I. About 15 miles from any town. The housing is a nightmare out of the public housing ilk.

4. Administrtion is at best caprcious. At worst vendictive.

5. The students are very much below the beginning level, yet are given technical English text books.

6. Pay is unpredictable and sometimes late.

7. You can't open a bank account or own a car until you get an Iqama(usually takes 6 months).

8. Overtime pay is a sometimes thing, even when you report it.

9. You pay for your health insurance.

10. You will be teaching 5 classes per day.

11. The quit rate for the first 4 months is: 50%.

12. Very basic computer and university only Internet.

13. Mishar I housing has no phones, TV, or Internet.

In general most experienced teachers here don't consider Hail to be a real University.

Just call me: Older & Wiser.

[007]

Do you mean Hail Community College, which is a University Campus of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, or is it a diffrent university?

[Cleopatra]

[Stephen Jones]

First, who is the employer, and if there is more than one, who is responsible for the matters you criticize.

It normally takes a week to get an iqama. You would have to do the medical first, and it will take longer if the papers can't be dealt with in Hail but have to go to Riyadh or somewhere, but I cannot see why, if the visa was in order in the first place, it should take longer than a month. I have worked in Saudi with three different employers and getting the iqama has taken from two days to three weeks. If you have not been bought over on a work visa to start with, then that is a different matter.

What makes you think the online hiring is pure propoganda? Middle East insititutions are notoriously slow at getting the recruitment process going, and often even worse at letting the applicant know what is happening.

[007]

[Stephen Jones]

In terms of universities I would say the West are still the leaders by a long shot. In the list of the best 200 universities the US and UK have way more than the others, though China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore also feature whilst India and South Korea have two entries, and Thailand one.

http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/

[brasscat]

Hail Community College became Hail University in 1998. It is still under the sponsorship of KFUPM.


One sure thing will cost you your job here: Complain about all the things that are busted.

I live in a place where every faucet leaks. Yes, it has been reported 5 times.

The stuff put out on the Internet about Hail is a shadow of the real picture.

The failure rate for this term's Final Exams in English Language is 70%.

Just the facts, no coating of the real picture.

Older & Wiser

[Cleopatra]

[trapezius]

[Stephen Jones]

[Cleopatra]

I suppose you've also failed to notice the hundreds of thousands of Indians working here? Did you not yourself include India as one of the countries mentioned in the list you linked to?

Trying to be smart-alecky merely for the sake of it gets tiresome very quickly.

[brasscat]

Let's face it it ultimately does not matter whether the skunk has stripes or spots. The odor is the same.


If the name of a place is all it takes to get you to sign a contract, then you have problems.

Frankly, the history of a place has little bearing on the professionalism the institution should be practicing.

If you like this place so much, then do apply, there are plenty of openings and more to come by this summer.

Older & Wiser

[007]

[Cleopatra]

[007]