Fembie

Saudi Aramco has approached me a few times to work but is it a good company to work for??

I'm female 44 years old no children I have an MBA and 4 different Degrees in Engineering have 28 years experience in the oil and gas industry working my way up from technician to technical authority! I'm also from the UK

All the reviews ive read are for people who are engineers or seniors that state great training etc.

The last thing I want is to go out to a junior position as it would grate on my nerves (if you know what I mean)

Any advice would be great

OriginalSunshine

If you believe you have nothing more to learn then you are mentally in a very difficult place to move overseas.

As a singleton you sound like you will get annoyed at the small accommodation you will get offered compared to those that bring families.

People enjoy Aramco for the money and lifestyle. The job is what you get paid to do.

EastWest

44 yrs old and 28yrs experience!! did you start working at the age of 16?
As for ARAMCO, I know some people working there and it is fair to say they are probably the highest payer in KSA. Many people dream to get there but I heard also over the last few months they cut many jobs as oil prices dropped.
In the end it is your decision and depending where in KSA you are staying. I have been to one of their compounds in the Eastern area. Inside the compound (or the camp as they call it) is a different life than outside and it is like another country than KSA.

DubInRiyadh

Its a good company to work for especially as a direct hire. How did they approach you, was it through an agent ? It all depends on weather you want to move or not and will it improve your overall situation. But generally if you want to move here, then its probably the best company in my opinion.

scot47

Aramco direct hire is good but watch out for the companies who let you think they are Aramco when they are actually sub-contracted to provide services to Aramco. Terms and conditions are invariably worse, and you will be the first to be sacked when the hard times come.

Working with Aramco like anywhere in the ME means that you have to be adaptable and flexible.

JonMc

Fembie

I have just started at Aramco (this week!) and so far they do seem to look after you well. They are short on housing so I am not i. One of theAramco camps but a smaller one nearby (las dunas it's called and so far seems really nice)

Families do get larger housing and as a single female you will almost certainly be housed I the main camp. Given women cannot drive here and you would need a man with you to go off camp I would suggest insisting you are in the main camp as condition of accepting the job. I did meet at dinner last night someone who joined 6 months ago in your position (friendly colleague invited me to dinner)!and she took time to adjust and finds not being able to leave camp (unescorted ) quite restrictive. Also as someone else said single housing is significantly smaller than family housing.

However, as long as you are okay with the. Restrictions and you are on main camp and pretty independent (given your bio guess a yes) you should be fine

Jon

scot47

Women can drive on ARAMCO "Camp". incidentally, it is the only place in Saudi Arabia which has a cemetery for non-Muslims.

reggae

ARAMCO will pay 2 to 3 times more than anywhere else on the planet. The benefits are hard to dispute. Free medical (not dental), reasonable flights and repatriation times, basically free housing…. You could easily survive on $US200/week But you don't get something for nothing right? For most people, the turn-off is the local culture, which I won't get into.
I can survive that. The problem for me is that the management, which like Saudi culture in general, is hierarchical, rigid, tribal and nepotistic. Arab people in general are fine. But asking ARAMCO for leave requires about 4 levels of approvals which clearly is a waste of everyone’s time. Getting training requires any number of hoops. I pay for business calls out of my own pocket, because the company is too cheap to provide the required Pin code. It all comes down to control and trust. Saudi managers want to control everything, lower level managers (usually fresh out of college) therefore have no initiative and/or backbone and nothing gets fixed.

For example. As a bachelor, you will be offered 50 days a year holiday. Sounds great, except that this is including weekends. I kid you not. So rather than '10 weeks' you were thinking (ha, ha, ha, ha) it is actually 7. OK, if you're American, but for a European, (where 6 weeks, no BS is the norm), you'd feel a bit cheated. Some will tell you that if you plan your leave, you can get all the days. That's true, except management will force you in almost all cases to take your leave as a block (to avoid paying you for those pesky days off).

Also, you are promised good medical. The fact is, there is only 1 hospital and it is overloaded. While the standard is good, it will be a 2-6 month wait for any specialist. I usually wait till I return home..
If you are non-Saudi, you can forget promotion and training is a crap shoot. Maybe a conference. Very often – particular in the recruitment phase - you’ll be told one thing, and then experience another. I didn’t have these problems, but be prepared. Also, ask for the housing location to be put into the contract, or risk living in the desert…

So to summarise, I am only here for the money. That's it. Management could change the rules to make it a little more bearable, but they are blind-sided.