Job Discussion Forums

[gibon]

[happyroofus]

LOL. Cheers Scot. Loved your post!

Yes, beware the masked crusader that says any good about EC!

By the way,the above anecdote is pretty much bang on! Le Englishman will move you at the drop of a hat from one location to another, sometimes with notice given that afternoon to get to Jubail from Riyadh or visa versa. You'll arrive all right..at like 2am then will have to be up at 6:30am for classes. There is NEVER any compensation given for anything other than your salary. Also be very aware that you'll be deducted a % of your GROSS salary (not base salary, which is mentioned in your "contract") prior to going on any holiday. The word is that Le Englishman actually makes a killing from this form of blatant theft of salary.

I do agree with the idea that you could almost go with EC if you're on a bizz-visa and it's about a 3-6 month stint. Be prepared to live in squalid conditions, with the occasional lunatic or insanitary alien, and quite possibly without a/c in mid-summer..

[happyroofus]

[gibon]

[happyroofus]

[tannhauser]

EC deals are usually as follows:

Salary
SAR 10,400 - 12,400 - depending on experience. Non-native teachers around SAR 5000 - 8000 - depending on age, experience and nationality

Housing
housing Jubail - (3 homes: ''The Lifestyle House", Dammam Street - tiled floors, old fixtures and fittings, some ceiling damage in hallway, newly fitted AC. "Yarmouk Street House" - housing quality fine. "Khaleej House" - housing quality good. **There was talk of renting single flats in Jubail town.

housing Riyadh - a block of flats - roof over head plus bed, shower and kitchen.

housing Dammam - individual flats - after my time.

Length of contracts
6 weeks
3 months
6 months
1 year*
*iqama status

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The EC's strongest points are that you get paid on time (aside from overtime which is an administrative shortcoming) and you don't have to take any work home with you. The hours are 8:00am to 4:00pm with no go home early clause. Overtime classes run from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. Some teachers have done double OT although this isn't the commonly done thing anymore. The students while not being the brightest or best motivated weren't totally unpleasant and some teachers had good rapport with them. Communal breakfasts and afternoon lunches with teacher present were not uncommon. Personalities are always a hit and miss thing. Some people get on and others don't. As I remember the Jubail crowd, we had times when it was really peaceful and pleasant before some nasty element would be introduced and it really did bring the worst out in people. It's unfortunate that because EC isn't the top payer, you often get tons of CVs coming and with client's snap demands and last minute class bookings, you can run the risk of losing a good candidate and end up with a disgruntled and tetchy personality. I know that during my time at EC, there were these very nerve-exposed people who were either used to dealing with things run more efficiently (Saudi Arabia being a paragon of timely delivery and efficiency) or had the propensity for exploding/imploding when things didn't go according to plan. In that regard, if someone is having problems at home or doesn't like to put up with anything other than their own plan - try somewhere like a university. It's worth knowing that as long as the EC offers the salaries it does, you probably aren't all that great in terms of teaching experience or have missed some age cut off point if you are applying to work there. The exception being that you are doing it for some kind of 'money & mobility convenience'. A few of the guys are still the seasonal EFL people who come out to Jubail when the work dries up in Europe.

The majority of teachers I worked with were nice people. There were personality clashes between members of staff and this had a lot to do with having to share homes. It becomes very easy to label this guy unhygienic or that guy a noise oik, but most of the gripes and paranoid behavior comes about because there are all these guys cooped up together. I think on average it is 3 to a house and at a push we once had 5 of us living for about 6 weeks in the nice Khaleej villa. It wasn't all that bad, but it did get a bit tribal. The rooms aren't cat boxes and are fairly spacious - so there is a place to disconnect from 'them out there' if you want.

A few areas for improvement as I remember them are as follows. Most of the problems stem from the Riyadh office's diktats. These ranged from prior approval of photocopy requests, use of materials, procurement of materials and replacing old class gear with better stuff. It's always been a penchant of the Saudi owner to have a value added saving on every part of the EC's operations. I know that the managers in Jubail used to gripe about this privately ad infinitum. One is the issue of unpaid leave. If a teacher has either been moved from a class owing to a complaint by the customer or his course has finished, efforts are made to find that teacher work to do. In other words an evening group is started and he may supervise the computer lab or do interviews during the day. In my experience this was a cause of niggles among staff who weren't happy about a split shift. I remember that you could be on a split shift but stick around downloading stuff onto a laptop for the whole day or those with bikes made a break for home for the afternoon. If there was no work to be found, then an unpaid leave situation came about which personally I never really understood as staff still accrued holiday pay which then sort of rendered it 'not unpaid leave at all' in some people's minds. Nevertheless, a flight allowance was given as a cost saving measure as opposed to paying more for a staff member on full teaching load pay scale. The few times where there was too short a gap to justify paying someone the full whack or a flight allowance, I think either people went away on their own expense or stayed at home. There's no question it rubs people up the wrong way sometimes but that is what Riyadh HQ wants and what it gets. The source of a lot of discontent has come from the Saudi Director General's manic cost saving policies that have had negatively impacted staff, resource management, time management and teaching. I know this to be fact because the man in charge of running EC's operations is also subject to these authoritarian and often nonsensical decrees. On balance however, as far as the average teacher is concerned, the ''threat'' of unpaid leave is not ever present and most people are not hit by this.

I left EC five months ago when a better job came my way and my advice to those reading posts and hearing stories is to be wise consumers. There's no doubt that EC is not up there with BAE and ARAMCO and if you can get a job with those companies, you should do it. It's hard to resist the urge to make personal digs at people but what I will say is that the ''such a horrendous experience'' and ''don't insult my intelligence with these apologist pieces'' variety were not suited to work at EC. I'd rate it a 6/10 overall.

For an operation that is run on a small budget it ambles along well enough but doesn't satisfy everyone or at least those looking to make it in the big time. The points for improvement are real and there is a new 40-something DOS in charge now, who from what I have heard is taking the quality thing seriously. So, it would be good to hear from people who finish between now and the next 6 months.

[happyroofus]

[gibon]

[happyroofus]

Your experience there certainly did not accord with a dozen or so other instructors there.

And yes, I did work there. How else do I know about the place ?? In fact I'm working with an ex-EC employee currently and he's of exactly the same mind as I and others like us who were treated like trash.

Go defend "Le Englishman" and EC all you want my dear poster, but it doesn't change a thing. The place is a half-way house for the desperate.

[scot47]

I can see the attraction of the short contracts. I have several friends who are semi-retired but sometimes require the capital to put on a horse that is a sure favourite at Ayr. A short contract in Jubail could be tickety-boo for that !

God forfend that I should encourage them in their sinful ways now that I lead a righteous life, but on the other hand...........................

[Bebsi]

[scot47]

Wodehouse was a master.

[Kipling]

[Bebsi]

[posh]