Job Discussion Forums

[Sleepwalker]

You should apply for one of the institutes (eg Polyglot, Hawthorne) and, if offered a job would find out if you are truly blacklisted.

You needn't take the job at the end but it would be a way to check your status.

A friend of mine was told informally that he was blacklisted because his former sponsor routinely stopped people re-entering the country to work for competitors. He was loath to apply for work in case this was true. When a job came up that he wanted, he decided to test the water and got the job with no problems.

Once he arrived back in Oman, he was asked to write a letter to the former sponsor confirming that he had a job offer and asking him to facilitate a visa. He did as requested and didn't ask - he always suspected that the former sponsor had 'wasta' and was indulging in a power trip but all's well that ends well.

[wanderlinguist]

Sleepwalker, Hawthorn (my former employer) is one of the first places I applied this year. I got no response. I didn't know if they'd already filled all positions (I didn't start looking for a job until mid/late summer) or if I was blacklisted. In light of everything that's happened since...well, having been blacklisted would make sense of a lot of it!

Incidentally CECN just contacted me about a possible offer this morning. I applied with them a few months ago. ...The saga continues!...

[Sleepwalker]

Curiouser and curiouser - will you pursue the vacancy?

[eha]

'Ministry of Manpower has started a blacklist of teachers they are told are "weak teachers", "trouble makers", etc. I have it on good authority that once your name gets on that list, you are SOL on getting a job in Oman, as MoM also do the clearance for all other jobs in Oman'

Is this true? It was always apparent that a culture of gossip existed in 'management' circles in the Gulf, but has it become official? Or semi-official? This would be a complete disaster, since there's no process that could pass for arbitration or even proper assessment of a situation in any of the Gulf countries I've worked in -- and I'm not even too confident of such processes in any other country either; it all smacks too much of managerialism, which seems to be founded on the assumption that people get into positions of authority because they have superior powers of rationality. They so often don't. But leaving aside the fraught area of labeling by gossip and personality clash--- could such a thing be implemented? Makes one shiver, doesn't it.

[slaqdog]

I understans that teachers are banding together and boycotting mickey louse institutions in the gulf; creating a blacklist of employers and agencies that do not deserve to be even considered fit for purpose....... top of the blacklist? M-----! =dont work for this waste of human skin it only encourages him

[jdl]

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Ministry of Manpower has started a blacklist of teachers they are told are "weak teachers", "trouble makers", etc. I have it on good authority that once your name gets on that list, you are SOL on getting a job in Oman, as MoM also do the clearance for all other jobs in Oman'

You must have been privy to some 'insider information' which is typically well guarded by the recruiters, Ministry and College ELC Directors/Deans. The Council of Recruiters and Unified Directors (CRUD) do meet semi-annually in Muscat ( usually in Ruwi) at recruiter expense to discuss and set guidelines for recruitment procedures, quotas, supply and demand dynamics (salary fixing), employee standards and of course black lists. The meetings are generally a matter of tracking the Council's progress along its five year , multi institutional, inter-ministry recruitment plan for ESL and College teachers. The black list is the one area in which there has been substantial interagency/interministerial cooperation and progress where we are now at the point of interfacing with the ROP in creating a shared 'Obsconder/whiner data base'. The most interesting operational feature of this data base initiative is the 'rectal recognition software' which will eventually be installed in discrete locations at the A Seeb and Salallah airports to identify and apprehend 'runners' and generally track and analyze employee 'movement'. Such sensitive and crucial work it is.

There is obviously a leak in CRUD. After 5 years of covert operation 'the CRUD' has come to light.....only the CID has a better record. No one can deny the fine work CRUD has accomplished in forwarding educational excellence in the Nation particularly in the area of Quality Assurance in Staffing. Hopefully this exposure will not hinder progress.

[Geronimo]

Could there be a mole in CRUD?
Sounds like a case for 007...where is he?
He should report to M_____ immediately!

By the way, I hope that this rectal recognition is conducted
discreetly in these new discrete locations.
Just because someone is
absconding doesn't mean that he or she should lose their Human Rights.

Personally, I'm a bit sceptical about rectal recognition...
I think that we're simply being given a bum steer.

Geronimo

P.S. As a self-appointed expert on matters relating to Human Resource Management myself,
I must point out that in these more enlightened times
the term "black list" or "blacklist" has to be regarded
as being politically incorrect.
How about using "peopleofcolourlist" instead?

[slaqdog]

Personally, I'm a bit sceptical about rectal recognition...
I think that we're simply being given a bum steer.

Geronimo

P.S. As a self-appointed expert on matters relating to Human Resource Management myself,
I must point out that in these more enlightened times
the term "black list" or "blacklist" has to be regarded
as being politically incorrect.
How about using "peopleofcolourlist" instead?[/quote]


How about using 'Fistlist"?

[Sirens of Cyprus]

Some employers bring you in on a tourist visa and process the work visa when you get there, and some process the work visa before you deploy, right?

[veiledsentiments]

Assuming that there really is a "blacklist" (created by CRUD or others), it will not be at the Ministry. This is not some official government list... it would be something that the various recruiters keep for their own use prior to offers.

If you get offered a job and arrive on whichever visa, apparently you're not on the "list."

VS

[Sleepwalker]

As far as I know, the official 'blacklist' is at Immigration - if you get through the airport, you're not on it.

It's a listing of people who are not allowed in because of (eg) previous convictions etc. I heard about it when someone who was recruited for a company my neighbour worked for was turned back at the airport because of a previous criminal conviction in the Gulf. The other reason can be debt (although they might let you in and then hand you over to the authorities).

[Geronimo]

Even if the CRUD's 'rectal recognition database' isn't all it is cracked up to be,
I expect that its software will be superior to that
used by the Hampshire Police for this recent e-fit photo...
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Green-Hair-E-Fit-Hampshire-Police-Defend-Picture-Of-Suspect-Blaming-Technical-Problems/Article/201009315738066?f=rss

[veiledsentiments]

[eha]

[quote="jdl"]Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject:

'The Council of Recruiters and Unified Directors (CRUD)'

Oh, c'mon! CRUD? You are extracting the *r*n*, aren't you? Although, having read some of the responses, I'm not too sure, after all......

[Sleepwalker]

I doubt there is an operational 'blacklist'.

The recruiter companies have little to do with each other as they are in competition for staff and don't want the others to know that they recruited someone deemed to be trouble.

I worked for one of the recruiter companies in their main centre and sometimes had to help sift through CVs - there was never a call made to another recruiter.