Desperately seeking advice!!
 

Hello all! Firstly id like to wish you all a Happy New Year! Secondly id like to ask for some advice! I am now at the point where i am seriously considering a move to Dubai. The reason for this is obviously due to the current climate here (UK) at the moment, I am an interior designer and worked for many of the big builders that have recently gone belly up the later part of 2008. This unfortunately means that i may well be out of a job soon (and my husband) and have looked at many vacancies for interior designer in Dubai! This would also mean packing up my Husband (if he is good) and my daughter (3 in February). The advice i need is how do i start? Where do i look for information? and how long should i expect all this to happen (i know, how long is a piece of string!!)
I have read a few posts on this forum and i am worried that i may be stepping out of the frying pan into the fire, but i am being attracted by the possible 100% pay increase, which seeing as though i have had a 8K decrease since may, looks quiet good thank you very much! :)

Thank you so very much for any advice given, or even experiences. You will be helping a very desperate and worried wife, mother & interior designer to sort out her life!

Happy 2009, from a very cold Birmingham!!

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

Welcome to BE :)

Though why do you think you'll get 100% pay rise? Cost of housing, schooling, and healthcare is way more than you'd find back in blighty for the most part.

Also the bubble has shat the good one out there as well, so it's not all rosey.

Read the wiki though, it's got a lot of good info on what to expect and also search a few posts as there's been a few threads on the subject in the past.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

You would probably have received a more sympathetic response if you had omitted the reference to a 100% pay rise. Firstly because it ain't gonna happen and secondly because it makes you look like a materialistic gold-digger.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

It's not a good time to come to Dubai. The construction industry has slowed to a near no-growth scenario, and most current activity is completing existing projects, not starting new ones.

Loads of people are being laid off across all construction-related industries. Even if you do find a job offer, there's still a good risk that you'll be let go within a few months, as has happened to quite a few people hired in early 2008 and let go in late 2008. Given the high cost of living in Dubai and the expense of setting up housekeeping in a new country, a lot of these people are now suddenly in precarious financial footing.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

I'm sure we all came here for the money fella.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

ouch! lionheart, a bit brutual, don't you think?

the 100% pay rise perception is certainly not a new one, lots of people have it about the middle east, but you don't have to scratch the surface much to find that it's a rarity (at best) and an absolute fallacy in most cases. so, what do you do when you're trying to clear up this kind of question? you come onto a board like this and ask. i'm sure the OP didn't expect to be so harshly responded to for such a simple thing.

jellymelly - there's been quite a bit of discussion of late about the construction industry and the precarious nature of it at the moment. just drop the word dubai into the search box and you'll get plenty of insider insight.

best o' luck!

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

how can you state that...

My salary increased 100% when i came here and was tax free

and i agree with spugsy, who the **** comes here for any reason apart from money?

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

kettle pot

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

How long you been here again?

the point is companies just arent paying out the money they used to - why? because they now have the pick of who they want because other than the ones who have been laid off, you have the ones who are wanting to escape their home country for a better life and the thoughts of 100% pay rises.

Nothing against interior design but commander your role was slight different.... just slightly :p

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

yup mine went up 150% as well once you count the tax free-ness,

as someone said to me a while back as i was getting stressed and pissed off - 'why are you here?', me - 'erm, for the money and sun', them - 'and are you getting it?', me - 'yes'.

And thats all you need to know, living here can be great but also a right pain, but as long as you have the sun on your back and money to spend on nice things that you wouldn't do back home, new jeeps, big long massages, loads of new clothes, £60 bottles of whisky, trips to nice places then you'll be doing fine.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

and jelly old bean, I'd hang fire if I was you, there's people getting fired left right and centre here.

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

it is kind of ironic that you are the first to question why anyone would choose to live here if they were not here to work and earn (no I'm not going to dig through 12 months of posts to justify the statement), but then you come up with this.

Its likely that 98% + of expats are here because they can earn a better income here, although yes, many of them show their materialistic gold-digging mentality once they are here..

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

a while back when i was first thinking about working in the middle east, a veteran expat had pointed out to me that if you're ever asked in an interview about why you wanted to come out here and work, "just reply 'the money' - no other answer is believable." :blink:

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

hehe, love it!

Let's face it, anyone would think you're a complete loon or lying if you came out with something like "for the love of the job" if you are a construction professional.

The salaries always look fab on paper, the carrot-on-a-stick projects look amazing and the glitzy ego-architecture and promised luxury lifestyle can't be neglected either. You come over and reality hits home: rents are the equivalent of what you'd pay in tax, you'd be mad to buy a car, job security is non-existant and the cost of living is on a par with the UK... apart from no-one's doing the massive sales we're currently seeing!

But yes, it's sunny. :thumbup:

Re: Desperately seeking advice!!
 

I have been living in Dubai for just over 4 months now and I can confidently say that I got a 100% pay rise when working it out by what I received after tax in the UK per month and what I earn here per month. HOWEVER... once I deduct the ludicrous rent, bills and car finance I have a little over what I used to have in the UK.

I would definately think hard about coming to Dubai at the moment as in the past four months at least 5 of my friends have been laid off - 4 of those in the construction industry. One of my friends was replaced by lower-salaried asian workers as the company decided that employing western expats was too expensive. I can see that this may become more common as the economy slowly goes into recline.

Good luck with what ever decision you make!

Cat