EastWest

Hello everybody,

This is my first thread in this forum but I have been reading topics here for a while. I recently got a job offer in KSA, Riyad, and as I have no previous knowledge of the Gulf countries I appreciate any advice.

I have a Phd degree and 10+ years of experience (civil Engineering). The offer is a basic salary of US$51k + accomodation + medical insurance + annual flight. Now the questions are:

1) is this offer good or low given my qualification and experience
2) is the package good or low compared to living standards in KSA
3)Is it enough for a family, knowing that I have 3 kids in a primary school. I have no idea about the school fees in KSA (and quality too)
3) Once there, is it easy to look for a different job?

Thanks

Mogs

If $51 means $51,000 per year then my answers are:

1) low
2) low
3) no - you need to have schooling covered in addition to higher basic and housing, etc
4) don't knw

EastWest

Thanks Mogs. Yes I mean $US 51 k per annum.

northbadawi

1) 15900 sar /month - low
2) there are no any standards in KSA including living How you live depends on how much you get.
3) Unless you are rice addicted - no.
10000 sar only to survive for 5, well let it be min 8000 - food, clothers, household, car run costs.
2000 sar for entertainment (not sure if it exist in Riyadh)
+ car purchase/lease
+ schooling - very min 15000 year/each in international school with UK/US curriculum (if not ind/pak/phil).
if you get ACCOMODATION IN COMPOUND then ok, if you get ACCOMODATION ALLOWANCE three basic salaries ~ 47000 then you will need to add at least the same amount for compound.
4) first two years - almost no way.

EastWest

Thanks heaps, Northbadawi. This makes the picture clear. As such, what salary should I ask for? I do not want to over-sell my self, but at the same time not to get a shity salary.
Regards,

northbadawi

How much to ask depends on company, position, and how white you are.
On how much agree depends on how desperate you are.
Ask for 25000-30000sar/month, agree on 20000
Ask for 3-bed villa in western compound, agree on apt in mixed compound
Ask for full shooling coverage for three in British school (~150000sar/year), agree on 60000sar/year.
Be realistic - a lot of single european guys nowadays would accept this offer as is. Living on 3000sar/month +15000sar/year for shared apt, really saving ~10000sar~2500$/month.

weasel decentral

your visa is sponsored by your employer, and is not transferrable to another company unless the first company give you a NOC (no objection certificate) which is very unlikely usually. especially as they first recruited you.

the salary is low but also you have low experience, the phd doesnt mean that much to be honest. if you were chartered it would mean more.
working for a consultant or contractor?

EastWest

Hello Weasel

I said I have 10+ yrs of experience, and to be precise, I have 12 years of experience excluding all study time. If this is low experience, I would love to know what good experience is?. The offer is with a consultant

EastWest

Thanks again
To be more clear, I am not in panic. I have a good job but got bored and like to change. I would not go for anything, and I guess my question is for a person with my qualification and experience, what the average salary would be?
I know theoretically I would love to have as much salary and benifit as possible, but realisticly I need the market value.

Regards

hoofie2002

That's a VERY low salary for a qualified civil engineer with 10yrs experience. Can I ask what nationality you are as that kind of offer would tend to indicate you are not European/American/Ozzie etc. [In Saudi Arabia there is a massive difference between what an expat would be paid and someone from the sub-continent - it's wrong but that's the way it works there].

Fahd

it depends on which country you come from and average salary more than "how white you are?" for example the korean eng get higher salary in his country more than Filipino eng , so if employer want to have the korean guy he should pay him as much as he get in his country ,basically more than Filipino .

in my company we have two computer eng , korean and australian . and they pay the korean 40% more . by the way they are in the same grade .

in my opinion the salary should depend on the qualification and experience not the salary average .

EastWest

Well, I hate this racisim but it seems this is the way how it works in those country. I hold two nationalities, one of them is European. I am not white though.

EastWest

This is un-usual. My understanding is that in Oil countries they classify people (non-citizens) as follows:
1-First class: European, US, Aus, and NZ pass holders.
2-Second class: Korea, China, Japan pass holders.
3-Third class: Pakistan, India, phlippine, Sri Lanka and other non-oil Arab countries citizens.

hoofie2002

The latter could be the reason why the package offered is low - that's what happens there. Saudi is not, and never will be, colour-blind. If you are western/european trained/educated they should be offering the appropriate cash - period.

$51K ? I wasn't a million miles away from that 20 yrs ago in Saudi. If the headline salary is poor the rest of the benefits will be accordingly poor also. Housing is the killer - its very expensive and hard to get onto a compound.

EastWest

I had my MSc and PhD from Western European countries, and from world-renowned universities.