Job Discussion Forums

trapezius · Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:56 am Post subject:

Adha.

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

Stand corrected, sir! Gratitude.

snowsilver · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 34

I saw this posted a few months ago, and so I will paste it for you.

Hi all,

I came across the Ad for this place on joblist and so did some enquiries as i was interested in applying. The following info was given to me by a former employee who left recently (yes left not fired):

1. Nice building but still a work in progress. Only about 1/3 of the building is finished and hence it is still a construction site.

2. Badly run and poorly organised. Nothing is in place and being new the management don't even know how to do things. Iqama's, official documents, etc take forever to get done.

3. Students: Rich dropouts from governmental universities looking for an easy ride and not interested in studying. Constantly absent and ready to complain at an instant to the administration

4. It�s a business and so the customer (the paying student) is always right even when he�s blatantly wrong!!

5. Pay is between 12,000-16,000 Riyals. No one ever gets more than 14,000 riyals. Payment has been late sometimes but generally is on time. Deductions can be made without any checking.

6. Medical insurance is rubbish. The lowest class with no decent hospitals, not worth having

7. College seems to be in financial problems due to students not paying

8. English department is run by someone who is a consultant and doesn't actually work for the college. He is never there and just sends orders via email or by phone. Things change every minute and nothing is constant. Low morale because the consultant is a control freak. The guy who is actually running the department at the college seems like nice guy but hasn't got any control over anything. The Curriculum is way beyond the level of the students and it is far too much to get thru. Teachers are just cramming the students.

9. Housing: 30,000 max per year. Sounds ok but its paid monthly so in reality you are paying for the housing upfront.

10. Holidays: 30 days plus the two Eids and that�s it.

11. working hours: were 7.30-12pm first semester then moved to 7.30-1.30pm and possibly to 2pm. Next year they plan on 7.30-3.30.

12. No help with visa processing, medical tests, etc. No family packages being offered now or in the near future.

I think its best to see what happens next year before applying, i know i will.

I remember it because Al-Mareefa is only about a half mile from my house here in KSA, and our institute was considering a merger with them. We held a series of meeting with them, but we could not come to an agreement and so there was no merger. I can say that of the four wings only one was done, one was near completion and the other two had a ways to go. I saw a number of offices that looked alright, but I was told by another member of our faculty that the ESL teachers essentially share a classroom as an office, and that the majority of them, while "Western" were really western Muslims of the more matawa mindset. Hope this helps.

Citizenkane · Joined: 14 Jun 2009 Posts: 234 Location: Xanadu

Thanks for that. Seems Al Maarefa is similar to a lot of start-up places - not great.

30,000SR for housing is OK so long as they provide a loan at the start of the year to cover the minimum 6-months rent in advance required by most landlords.

Incidentally, it seems that there's a trend among Saudi employers not to provide housing but to give teachers an allowance and let them find it themselves. Other examples are (as far as I know) King Abdulaziz Uni in Jeddah, DAU, KSU and now Al Maarefa in Riyadh. Not a good development as far as I'm concerned. I prefer to have housing provided with the option of looking for my own place later.

saudimad · Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 19

Al-Maarefa is not hiring directly. It has two subcontractors working for them and still are short on teachers. The total package is 12-13000 SAR per month and thats it.

The college is in the mess and the new guy AD is not helping. Altogether not a good place to work at!

Linguist · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 202

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:21 pm Post subject:

NCTBA

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Fartist !

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

Not sure I see the connection there... do backpackers have bad eating habits or are there inherent digestive issues that I have never considered?

Or is there a relation to EFL teaching in Saudi?

VS

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:35 pm Post subject:

I wonder if there's any such thing as an employable farting backpacker?

Linguist · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 202

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:45 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject:

johnslat · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 7:51 pm Post subject:

Dear NCTBA,

Good thing I have TWO dogs.

Regards,
John