Job Discussion Forums

[alter ego]

Another job search gone bad, this time at the hands of Bahwan Cybertek, who today sent me an offer letter of employment (no contract, as promised) along with a salary offer:

Here are the emails from their secretary:

Greetings from Bahwan CyberTek!
Further to your application for the teaching position in Oman Government colleges, we are glad to inform you that your resume has been short listed by the expert panel for the position of English language lecturer in Colleges of Technology. The position is for any of the seven colleges of technology in Oman (Muscat, Musanna, Salalah, Shinas, Ibra, Nizwa, Ibri). The Monthly Package consists of Basic Salary, Annual Airfare, House Rent Allowance (or accommodation can be provided in certain locations), Allowances. The Total Salary will be between 1200-1400 OMR (USD $ 3000- USD $ 4000). In addition to this you are also eligible for Family Status, Medical Insurance Coverage for self and family, Gratuity-End of Service Benefit and Vacation Salary. Kindly let us know your willingness to join us and the date by which you can join us. Eagerly waiting for your reply.

This is my email to them:

Thanks for your interest in my application. I'm interested in joining your team in either February or March. Please let me know the next step. I look forward to hearing from you again soon!

Their reply:

We have forwarded your profile to Musanna College of Technology and please to inform you that they have selected you for the position of English Lecturer. They want you to join as early as possible. (Possibly end of January). Please confirm is you can join the college by the end of January. On your acceptance I shall send you the Job Offer letter and Employment Contract.

My email to them:

That sounds great, please send me the job offer letter and employment contract at your earliest convenience. Please let the college know that I'm married and will require FAMILY STATUS so my wife can travel to Oman with me.

Their reply:

Thank You for continuing your application with us. You will be working for Musanna College of Technology. To gather more information regarding the college please visit www.act.edu.om/ They would like you to join by end of this month. Please find attached your Job Offer Letter. Kindly send your acceptance in the return mail.

So, no response to my query about family status. Just contact the college (and the website address is even incomplete!). No solid info. about how to arrange for my visa + costs, my air tickets + cost, travel arrangements + cost. Would I still be eligible for Family Status, Medical Insurance Coverage for self and family, Gratuity-End of Service Benefit and Vacation Salary? (*See offer letter below.) Who knows? They wanted me to sign a job offer letter and salary offer letter with so little information it's funny. Really, my wife and I had a good laugh over this.

Here's their job offer letter:

Sub: Job Offer
Further to your job application and the subsequent interviews (there were no interviews) you had with us, we are pleased to offer you employment on Contract in our Company as �Lecturer� subject to medical fitness and approval by the Ministry of Manpower, Sultanate of Oman. The duration of the contract will be initially till 31st August 2010 (*this is about 7 months, not one year as advertised, which could easily change my status). Thereafter, following a satisfactory review of your performance and approval from the Ministry of Manpower, Oman, this contract may be extended for a further period on mutual acceptance. You are requested to join us by 30th of January, 2010 (very short notice with no info. on family status and all of the aspects of obtaining a visa, traveling to and from airports, accommodation on arrival, etc.) subject to obtaining the Employment Visa and Clearance from Immigration office at Sultanate of Oman. Kindly produce all the necessary documents for processing your visa and at the time of joining. The place of initial reporting will be Musanna, however you are liable to be transferred to any of the following locations (Muscat, Nizwa, Ibra, Salalah, Shinas & Ibri) in Oman where college is situated based on the organizations requirements. (Their emails and offer letter say Musanna, but this clause allows them to change my location AFTER arrival, a classic shady recruiter trick). You are requested to acknowledge and return the signed copy of this letter as a token of your acceptance of the terms and conditions mentioned herein.
Yours truly,
For BAHWAN CYBERTEK LLC
I accept the above terms and conditions
Shankaranarayanan
Manager - Recruitment
Signature: ��������������..
Date : ����������������.

Here's the salary offer:

Bahwan CyberTek LLC
Monthly Component
(in RO) (approx in US$)
Basic 650 1,677
HRA 250 645
Transport(Conveyance) 150 387
Special Allowance 100 258
Airticket ** 150 387
Monthly Salary 1,300 3,354
Other Benefits :
- Medical Insurance coverage for selfand two children below 18 years of age for treatment in Oman
-Joining Air Ticket for self and tfamily members who are under company sposorship
Signature: ��������
Date: ���������
- End of Service Gratuity ( Half monthe basic pay for each year of service for the first 3 yrs and thereafter
one months Basic Pay for each year.

Notice all the typos in their letters. Notice, too, that it appears I'd have to pay for my air ticket up front (or tickets if and when my wife joined me) and be reimbursed in my salary. Notice yet again, that my basic salary of 650 is way below the normal 800 to 1,000 that most FTs with my qualifications and experience are getting for these jobs. And notice one last time how acting like an uninformed fool when corresponding with recruiters like Bahwan CyberTek LLC just gives them (the wolf) all the more incentive to offer you (the sheep) an offer fit for a TEFL fool.

Okay, this might not be such a bad gig for everybody, but ALL of the warning signs are there, and it sure looks and sounds like this recruiter is indeed living by the P.T. Barnum credo: "There's a sucker FT recruited every minute."

Who do these charlatan shysters think they're fooling, anyway?

Thanks to those who PM'd me about this job...and good luck to all those who've thrown caution into the wind and signed on for what will either be a great Oman experience or a horrendous Middle Eastern nightmare.

[jdl]

Pretty standard. It does take getting used to. It is more the norm than not; but if it doesn't feel good for you, it probably isn't.
Good luck in future searches

[usa_in_gulf]

Very, very standard. Your offer was actually on the "upper end" for the Colleges of Technology.

They want you before the end of January because its semester break now. You stated you wanted to arrive in Feb or March---thats simpy too late.

The initial contract will only be to August because thats the academic year end and thats when all contracts expire. Again, too disrupitve to have a teacher leave Feb/Mar- if you had joined in that time -and then left one year later.

The standard offer letter you received mentions airfare and medical insurance for you wife and two dependants-- you have "family status".

Anyways, good luck with you search.

[veiledsentiments]

That is the normal offer letter. It does mention family status, so that is covered. It is the usual 1300 per month (including housing allowance) mentioned by others... in fact, the top of the usual scale... and any system with branches always reserves the right to send you where they need you.

Typos? Of course. Bahwan is not a company of native speakers. So, now you know that the Ministry system doesn't offer you what you want or expect.

VS

[ThaneKerner]

Cybertek isn't going to give you an actual contract until you get there. This is because if you knew ahead of time they want you to give three months' notice or three months' salary if you bug out early, you wouldn't go!

Yeap. You gotta give 'em 3 months notice if you hate it.

And trust me, Al Musannah College, with its turnover, terrible students, incompetent dean, and career risk isn't worth it.

Stay the hell away from Al Musannah College!

[veiledsentiments]

Three months is actually unusually short. The normal in tertiary education in the Gulf is 6 months or one full semester.

VS

[ThaneKerner]

You know...I think you're right, V!

But no westerner I know wants to be shackled for three months. A month is fair. I wouldn't want to give more than a month. If they need more than a month, then they're not working hard enough at finding replacements.

[veiledsentiments]

I wouldn't consider an employer who accepted a one month notice. This means that teachers will be constantly saddled with covering classes for those who decide to leave in a month... and who knows on what whim?

One month notices are for cowboy language schools... A professional employer is one which retains its faculty and doesn't have to be constantly hiring.

Personally, I would only look at university/college employers who are hiring professionals - who would never break a contract with a notice that disrupts the classes and the students. I think that one semester notice is completely fair.

VS

[ThaneKerner]

You're probably right, V, especially when it comes to jobs in the Gulf. Those jobs don't pay the high(est) salaries because they're generous. I'm a guy who believes the jobs should be good enough that no notice at all is required. Naive thinking, sure.

Know that an agency in the Gulf by the name of CECN requires only 20 business days' notice if you want to leave a contract early. These guys operate in Oman, and I know of several people who were recruited through them and are doing fine. CECN teachers don't leave any more frequently than teachers hired by other agencies.

Only Bahwan seems to require the 3 months' notice or 3 months' salary. This requirement actually encourages running. 3 months is too long to work at a job that has gone WAY south. And nobody knows how to make your life more miserable than employers in the Gulf. Korea can come close, but places like Saudi and Oman are champions at getting you to quit if they don't like you. If they fire you, they look bad, after all. If they don't like you, they WANT you to quit and run. They can put the blame all on you and label you as a mere tourist who doesn't care about teaching. Blame-the-teacher works.

[jdl]

Employees having continuing contracts with the Ministry have a 3 month notice clause, I am surprised that all the contractors have not followed suit?

A little history here may explain Educonsult's (formerly CECN) practice. CECN was originally a Canadian company which bound itself to British Columbia law regarding employee, specifically teacher/instructor, contracts. Educonsult has since moved passed its earlier Canadian connection, but there are vestiges of the connection with the standard contract with its 1 month notice clause being one. I would expect that to change.


Very little in life is conspiratorial as much as it is accidental.

[alter ego]

[jdl]

So alter ego, where did you finallly end up in Oman?

[veiledsentiments]

[italihurr]

You're one opinionated pussycat, VS.

I thought that a long time ago but didn't like to say so.

[johnslat]

Dear italihurr,

"You're one opinionated pussycat, VS."

"I thought that a long time ago but didn't like to say so."

Why not? You're entitled to your opinion - or would that make you seem opinionated, too?

Regards,
John