Job Discussion Forums

HARISMAWH · Joined: 19 May 2010 Posts: 3

Please help me

I have been offered a job by SAUDI BRITISH CENTER in 6000SR including transportation and accommodation.
I have Master in Linguistics and three years teaching experience.

Is it right with my qualification or not?

What about the reputation of SAUDI BRITISH CENTER?

Zajko · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:35 am Post subject:

6000??? I don't know a great deal about the institution, but the salary's an insult. Even if you're a non-native speaker, you should be looking at considerably more than that. Especially with an MA and experience.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The place is probably full of pious ones with beards who used to live in Bradfors and/or Multan. The type who count it to be a blessing to be in the Kingdom.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Kornan DeKobb · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 242

How about 9000 for an unrelated BA & doctorate and six years experience (non-uni, non-ME)?

Sadebugo · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 524

They're a joke! Their reps once came to my employer's site in Saudi and observed me and my colleagues for the purpose of identifying deficiencies in our program. Within 24 hours, having gotten our e-mails from the RSADF, they sent me and several of the other teachers job offers. BTW, the offers were insulting compared to what we were getting at the time.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

Kornan DeKobb · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 242

Looks like that's their strategy. Lowball tons of people until you get enough suckers.

djub · Joined: 23 Jul 2010 Posts: 5

Is it also true that SBC only offers single status visa s for women
I accepted their offer, which was much more than 6000 SR and they replied stating that I can not bring my children

ozwizz54 · Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 11 Location: Hungary

I got a job offer from them too. With a PhD and 5 years experience (non in the ME) I thought I was worth more than 9500 SAR plus accomodation allowance and transport allowance (12250 SAR all up).

When I suggested that I was not satisfied I got told that as I was not going to Riyadh I should expect less because it was cheaper to live outside the capital. I politely declined their offer

freesoul · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:24 am Post subject:

They are the worst in the market in terms of pay, allowence and most importantly staff treatment. If you need some horror stories about them, pm me.

ozwizz54 · Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 11 Location: Hungary

Thanks for the offer but it is unnecessary. I passed on the offer and am looking elsewhere

Grendal · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 11:48 pm Post subject:

Here is the offer we received:

Dear (addressed to my wife),
We appreciate your interest to work with us and look forward to welcoming you here at the Saudi British Center. Based on a careful review of your CV,here's our offer to you:
Basic salary: SR 8500
Accommodation: SR 2125
Transportation: SR 850
Monthly total salary with all benefits: SR 11475
This is in addition to all the benefits we mentioned in our ad, repeated here for the record:
Full medical insurance .
Annual ticket to country of residence only for teachers . Can be reimbursed for cash if applicant decide not to travel
1 academic year
Flexible working hours: 40 hours on Thursdays for professional development for language and computer skills.

Once we get initial acceptance to our offer, we are going to send you an official contract and how to start your visa procedures.

Dear Grendal,
We appreciate your interest to work with us and look forward to welcoming you here at the Saudi British Center. Based on a careful review of your CV,here's our offer to you:
Basic salary: SR 8500
Accommodation: SR 2125
Transportation: SR 850
Monthly total salary with all benefits: SR 11475
This is in addition to all the benefits we mentioned in our ad, repeated here for the record:
Full medical insurance .
Annual ticket to country of residence only for teachers . Can be reimbursed for cash if applicant decide not to travel
1 academic year
Flexible working hours: 40 hours on Thursdays for professional development for language and computer skills.

Once we get initial acceptance to our offer, we are going to send you an official contract and how to start your visa procedures.

two letters look so similar I almost felt transparent

Here was our reply:

Dear Mr. R,

Hello my name is Grendal, I'm my wife's husband. It seems you have offered us both the same amount even though my experience and credentials exceed my wife's. Can you explain the reason for this? Also we are curious as to the working hours. How many student contact hours will we have per day? My wife and I work with the most up to date computer programmes, Widows 7 and MS office 2010. We do not need to develope ourselves in this area, plus we are members of KSAALT (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Association of Language Teachers) and attend conferences and workshops regularly. The Arabic language we do not understand. We both speak English and see no need to learn Arabic in a classroom setting. We are slowly and little by little (shwaya shwaya) learning Arabic at our own pace. We are curious as to how many days we have to work for 8500 SAR.

Regards.

Grendal and his wife

as my M.O. dictates I am pawing around with them for all our sakes

ozwizz54 · Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 11 Location: Hungary

Grendal,

That's close enough to identical wording to the letter they sent me. Only the numbers were different.

The reply I received said that, as I would not be working in the capital, they sthings were cheaper so the wages were less. Clearly these guys don't consider that doing the same job is worth the same wage regardless of locality.

Regardless of what they say, I know what else is cheaper!

ozwizz