Job Discussion Forums

[ai565ai565]

I worked for this organization a year ago.

The good points

Some people return every few years and do short contracts and leave.
A few people who are well adjusted to Saudi Arabia stay much longer.
You can work all over Saudi, and if you speak Arabic, have a fascinating experience.

The bad

Although the school has English management it is of the �stayed too long in Saudi� variety.

Turn over is extremely high at the school even though most people have come with the intension of working for one or two years. Leaving the school also means leaving Saudi as your visa is not transferable.

The job is exactly as described in the contract. Read it very closely because this is exactly how your day to day life will be. People are often moved 1000's of miles across the country only a few hours warning. Some times this will happen every couple of months. If you get sick for a few days your employment will be terminated and you will be put on a plane.

If they don't have any classes for you to teach they don't have to pay you.
If this continues for more than 2 weeks they will offer to send you home.

Over time is the only thing that can make this job financially attractive. This is always paid extremely late.

The quality of accommodation is rough. One building was vandalized by an angry teacher just before he left, and has never been repaired. When it rains water pours through the electrics.

Payment is always by cash. You get no receipt or way of checking what you have been paid for. It is however paid fairly promptly.

When you are leaving the country however they will refuse to pay you until after they have bundled you into a car heading for the airport. You will therefore find yourself traveling with a great deal of cash hidden on your person. I was given damaged notes that were very difficult to exchange.

When it comes to a dispute between teachers and students, the teacher never receives back up.

In the current advert they state

" We teach English in a task-oriented way and we place emphasis on learning-by-doing. Applied language practice is more important for us than descriptive language or grammar-bound approaches to language teaching. We also believe in pushing learners hard even if this means taking them outside their comfort zones. Applications from enthusiastic candidates who are interested in multimedia are especially welcome. "

This sounds really good, but it bares absolutely no relation to reality.

Although the school has a good library, teachers are not allowed to make unsupervised use of it.

The courses are effectively general English courses. The choice of course book is usually very inappropriate if not random. Nationally centralized tests are undertaken every 2 weeks, ensuring that the teacher has no flexibility to teach to the needs of the students or their jobs.

The students are very unmotivated.

Student level is determined by number of courses attended not by ability.

Generally speaking I would suggest that people consider other options before agreeing to work there

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

"People are often moved 1000's of miles across the country only a few hours warning."

The longest straight line distance that I can measure on Google Earth for the k.o.p. is 1350 or so miles. You meant "kilometres", right?

NCTBA

[scot47]

Hyperbole man ! Aint you got that back home ?

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

The only thing that we hyper-boil back home are our eggs when we're in a rush in the mornin'!

NCTBA

[I Rub Ruchi]

Poster 1 might be right.

The teachers that were the most discontent were were on a business visa. Without a work visa, one can't wire money nor open a bank account.

Nobody I ever knew lasted very long. They had some great teachers working for them, but they had to live with some who were very disurbed. They were at times afraid to be with one of the teachers. Another teacher was a spy for the director, but everyone knew it. That spy is now in Oman from what I have heard.

Again, they did have some nice people working for them, but then others were really out of it. I guess that's normal for the ESL circuit, but in most cases one is not forced to live with difficult characters.

How do I know this information? My school was short on teachers, so they contracted some from the European Centre. Yes, one was fired for getting sick and he was a very popular teacher at my college.

It's probably good for fast cash on a short term contract from what I saw, but still not an easy gig.

Also, be prepared for petty games with the English man.

[Zajko]

I did a couple of short stints there years back (in Jubail and in Riyadh) and actually found it a fairly pleasant place to work. Short contracts were available (from 6 weeks upwards) which can be great as a stop-gap if you don't want to commit yourself long-term to life in Saudi, but still need to save a few $ quickly. The classes themselves were fine, the workload by no means over-stressful, the management pretty decent and laid-back, and my colleagues among the best I've worked with in the Gulf. I was always paid on time and as agreed, so I can't honestly say I had any cause for complaint.

Yes, you're on a business visa, and there are certainly plenty of places where you can earn a bit more in Saudi: but on a 6 or 12 week contract, what would you expect? You still got flights and accommodation provided, a relatively good salary and even holiday pay at 2.5 days pay for every month worked. If you're looking at a long-term deal in Saudi, it might (might) not be your best option, but for short-term work, it's fine.

[thebigeasy]

I know some people who worked for European Centre; friends going back many years in fact who, because of cutbacks all over the globe in ESL and many other things, decided to take one of the 'short term' contracts discussed here.

They were, as the original poster said, moved from place to place at a moment's notice, not offered any pay for when the school had no work (which was about half the intended contract); they had no medical cover whatsoever because of business visa status, were constantly bullied, belittled and ignored by the 'extraordinarily arrogant' MD (I believe this is 'the English man' a poster above referred to and who, by all accounts, is an uppity, self-obsessed megalomaniac), put in dirty, broken, cramped living conditions with the mentally disturbed (I also heard from my friends about how one teacher, a disturbed young Irish guy who was fired for being incompetent and verbally and physically abusive to his students and his flatmates, sold the flat's TV and his bed to someone or other before being booted out of the country); and they ended up making about a quarter of the money they thought they would make in 8 weeks before being unceremoniously dumped at the airport without a by your leave.

European Centre? Well, all I know from what I was told and from what I have read many times over on multiple threads here is, I'd have to be absolutely desperate - no, just plain crazy - to work for them.

[happyroofus]

Hi Bigeasy:

Your friends tell it right: contracts ignored, pay deducted whenever one left the country, people dumped at airports if there was "suddenly" no work for them (even though they had been hired for a specified longer duration than what they ended up with). In addition, and this is my favorite one: the hiring of non-qualified teachers and I mean in one case a non-qualified teacher was brought in on a bizz-visa - poor Canuke didn't even have a degree, never mind a teaching cert of any kind.
The sheer arrogance and paranoia of Le Englishman is beyond analysis. Only the absolutely desperate may apply. I was, and boy was I glad to get out - fast!

and ps: yes, that was a (crazy) Irish guy, but he wasn't exactly young. Same "boy" ended up back in KSA by the way with BAE of all people! Still there I believe..

[rdobbs98]

I am receiving a last minute offer from the European Centre in Saudi Arabia. Any background or concerns. I have seen some on the internet.

They say they are offering 12,000 SR per month but when you read the contract it is broken down into many categories and may not be paid according to the language.

They claim they are short teachers and from the above, I see why.

I guess don't walk away, run!

[I Rub Ruchi]

Do a search on this site and you will learn a lot more.
.
Nothing has changed since the other posts. The English man is still in Jubail and a whole lot worse.

I have this gossip being that I know someone who is working for them presently and has his location changed frequently, I mean to and from cities that are 10 hours away from a current location. He paid for 1 year gym membership and then was told to move after two months without any compensation.

Anyway, at the salary you mentioned, why don't you go to another country. IT'S A CRAPPY SALARY FOR KSA.

The advantage of working for European Center is that they give you a business visa and you can leave the country when you want to and end your situation. Read more on this site about types of visas.

European Centre doesn't recruit on this site for very clear reasons.

You can probably survive it if you are desperate. Or you might just be the special one who survives for more than 3 months.

[rdobbs98]

Which country is best then? I figured looking at the details of the contract it wasn't good and I appreciate the info here, it helps from learning through hard knocks.

I served Army Airborne and know how some countries care little about "foreigners". Plus I am done with the living in lousy condition thing.

[gibon]

I did a short stint there (May-Aug this year) and would go back.

I'd read some of the posts here before I went and found them to be exaggerated. Perhaps it isn't the best place in KSA, but it certainly isn't the worst, and as private language schools worldwide go, it is really quite good.

It has a lot of things going for it, and contract/work/accommodation -wise, they did everything they said they would.

[rdobbs98]

@gibon. With whom did you work for?

[I Rub Ruchi]

You must do research and read always read between the lines. Remember that many posters are even recruiters for schools, so you must read with more caution.

I remember one school would write offensive and irrational posting on some threads here to get the entire thread locked or deleted by the moderator. This really happens and you will see it on this site if take time to do the research.

If you want good living, then go to Japan or South America. Even Europe offers options. People tell me they love Oman.Some posters have working problems anywhere because they never get over culture shock. For example, I loved Korea, but most don't last for a year there. In KSA they take your passport away so you cannot leave; I'm not bothered by that, would you be?

Anyway, your last posting makes it clear that you don't do the research. @gibon is answering your own question.

[scot47]

Be aware that the DARK LORD sends his emissaries amongst us to tempt and recruit the unwary. Spare us from the Evil One.