Job Discussion Forums

[Nochasauras]

i just want to give the folks out there who might be applying to work for m-trading in the upcoming fall term, and as a contracted "consultant" aka teacher, my experience so far.

first of all, m-trading operates in other cities besides Jubail, such as Ha'il, and i cannot speak for those situations outside my sphere of influence, but as per my experience, I have been here for just over a month. I've gone through one payday and we DID get paid, although it was a day later than the last day they said they would pay us. (i.e. they say we'll get paid between the 1st and 5th of the month). the month before i got here, the teachers got paid on the 1st of april. We were recently paid on the 6th of may, hence a day late. many teachers were trippin out b/c they have to send money home and we took this problem to the m-trading that is in direct contact with us.
he lied to us several times about when he would bring the checks. first saying it would be the 4th, then it became the 5th. then it was 2pm on the 5th, then it was 4pm on the 5th. then finally it was "meet us as the bank" which we did, only for m-trading to arrive too late for us to cash the checks, thus forcing us to have to wait until the weekend passed to cash our checks.
*this is simply business as usual in the kingdom* and all of our complaining will fall on deaf ears. if you come to saudi through an agency such as m-trading, you are a consultant on paper. you are NOT a teacher. therefore you have a business visa, not an iqama (resident permit), therefore you are at the mercy of the company paying you. you virtually have no say. you cannot go to the labor department and complain b/c you are not supposed to be getting paid in the first place. this is just the fact of life. so you WILL get paid, it could just be a day or two late. now there are some colleagues up in Ha'il who are suffering worse, having not gotten paid in 3 months in some instances.
the other thing about m-trading is if you come here with them, dont let htem buy anything for you such as a cell phone, sim card or the life b/c they'll overcharge you for it and keep the difference. if u think you dont know any arabic and you won't be able to buy something, dont worry b/c most menial positions in saudi society that you'll interact with are filled by foreigners from south asia and can almost always speak an elementary level of english.

so that's the negs

on the bright side, we teach at Jubail Industrial College which is under the umbrella of the Royal Commission, and it is a great working environment. our boss is great, respects us and sticks up for us. our students are less than choice and have behavior/respect issues with many teachers. the key to teaching young saudi men is making them fear you first, and then respect will soon follow.
on a day to day basis, we don't deal w/ m-trading at all, and life is quite nice and quiet. its just when payday comes around that things start to get dicey. the other nice thing is that our boss, who does not work for m-trading, has offered many of the teachers direct hire for the next fall term, thus allowing many people who want to stay to be able to bypass the stress of agencies like m-trading.
another good point about m-trading that i'd like to share is our housing. we don't live on a compound, its just a normal apartment building and very nicely furnished. much nicer than i had expected in fact. the apartments are 2bed, 2 living room, 2 tv, and 3 bath. one bedroom is a master suite. we don't pay any bills whatsoever. a bus picks us up from our building and drops us off after work as well.

m-trading will pretty much hire any warm body, and some of the teachers who came from teaching kindy in asia couldn't hack it and were let go by the college, not m-trading. so if you're a newbie and reading this, thinking daaaaaayum its not that bad afterall, i could handle a late payday or two, i'm going......well these students WILL TEST YOU!!! i'm a newbie as well, w/ just a couple years under my belt, but if you don't have you skills on lock, i'm talking classroom management, lesson planning, grammar skills, and activities, you will suffer, and possibly be let go. this is not somewhere to come cut your teeth. do that in china/korea.

on a side note, maybe you were wondering why m-trading does not pay on time, and its a complicated answer.
first of all, its not from a lack of funds. the royal commission, funds the college, which in turn funds m-trading, and since the royal commission comes under control of the royal family, you can deduce they are not lackiing in funds, and they pay on time. thus, m-trading chooses not to pay on time. m-trading's bank account receieves daily compounding interest on their assets within their account, so the royal commission pays them on the 15th of the month, and they get to keep all these hundreds of thousands of Riyals in their account, accrueing interest until payday, and the scrupulous lil punks try and keep it in there and out of your pocket for as long as possible.
according to our boss, being paid late is endemic throughout the saudi education system, even at state universities, the only reason it doesnt happen at JIC is because its under the umbrella of the royal commission. so there you have it. 'nuff said

[tannhauser]

For your interest.

http://www.learn4good.com/board/index.php?action=vthread&forum=68&topic=4445&page=-1#6

There is more discussion about this company at the link above.

Kind regards,

Tannhauser

[veiledsentiments]

[cptgulliver]

There are pros and cons with M-Trading for sure. You get stuck payuing for the flight and visa, etc...but the pay may be hirer than some of the people with the regular contract. of note, should be that they have changed names at least a half a dozen times in the span of a half a year. The "contract" they hand you when you arrive is different from what they tell you before you arrive. Are they some intelligence front?

[007]

[mouse5]

Sample of what Saatchi & Saatchi have come up with for M-Trading's new Alice-in-Wonderland look:

[jdl]

Nochasaurus,

One month. A start to your diary. What will month 2 hold? It will be interesting to review this thread in a few months time as your adjustment sets in.

[Nochasauras]

[Nochasauras]

[trapezius]

[veiledsentiments]

[jdl]

2tv or not 2tv? The stuff of philosophy.