All i can say is that "The chaos is inherent all across" , imagine if hiring is so chaotic and void of information - theres a whole lot of operational processes that are even more chaotic.
One has to have the stamina to live thru this chaos.. hiring is the foot in the door but doing the day job is to live thru the chaos day in and day out....

Quick question, if you don’t get picked for the position, do they ever come back and let you know that you have not been chosen? Or would they leave you hanging in there?

I feel exactly the same and it is where I am at now. Communication had been ok but now I am being ghosted and I'm not ok with that. Quite simply in any other operation you can't ignore an email and when you can't even receive a status update for a position that they headhunted you for it's time to put it to the back of your mind (but how many other potential amazing employees are they going to lose by this kind of behaviour!)

I think most of us on this forum understand that the process is long (and that is ok) but keep the communication lines flowing. If it's a 'No' tell people, disappointment will resonate but people can then move on. Ignoring or keeping people in the dark creates animosity and when/if the time comes that they are ready to recruit, you are going to find that those potential employees will say 'no thanks' and you are back to square one and wasted even more time. If there isn't any information at the time send out blanket emails to those waiting (it really isn't difficult to do).

Whilst all of the active jobs appear to have been readvertised on LinkedIn, has anyone heard anything about the positions they were offered recently?

To understand Saudi Arabia is to understand the process here; nobody is interested in you personally. As an expat you are an expensive and easily replaced resource. There is no time wasted on courtesy or making you feel better. Basic communication and timely decision making, as understood in the western world, are mostly absent in KSA. That is the rule rather than the exception. Now we are in an environment where cost is the main driver. Whatever skill or experience you have, someone out there can do it cheaper. That's all that matters. There is no interest in the best candidate for the job, nor for quality. It is a bums on seat numbers game, with the seats now being given to the cheapest bums.

Personally I would not waste my time applying for anything on any project here unless I have a point of contact on the inside that can push things forward for me. If you are on your own applying cold, then you have a snowballs chance in the desert. Good luck to those sticking it out and commiserations to those being ghosted. It's crap but that's how it is in KSA.

I do feel like I am about 2yrs too late on the Neom band wagon. But I stay quietly optmistic, and if it lands it lands. But find myself looking at other options.

Thanks for this. Fully aware of Saudia Arabia as worked there previously and the Middle East for over 10 years.

I guess maybe my expectations were/are too high. I thought that by being headhunted for an executive role, interviewed and position offered that it would have been a slightly improved process but here we are. HR managers have come and gone and the new one assigned hasn't replied to anything at all.

Also agree in good luck to those sticking this out and I am sure by the many above posts it'll be worth it 'if' you get there.

Spot on. 2 years ago things were still on the up, slowing sure, but still on an upward trajectory and hiring was slow but moving. Now it's all but ground to a halt. Jobs are still advertised but are pulled as soon as they are advertised with nothing to advise candidates that the role has been defunded, put on hold etc. If you look at the recent news stories you can see the trend here in KSA (not just NEOM) that budgets are being squeezed on all the projects and it's a race to the bottom vis-a-vis cost. I'd keep looking and applying but would also be looking and applying elsewhere as Saudi is a low to no probability option for securing employment unless you have someone on the inside.

Obviously the budget has been tweaked and this is now the subject of lots of reviews happening internally. I think it was inevitable when they are offering ++++ to potential employee packages that changes would be made but I still believe they are recruiting and want the projects to happen and open and for that to work you need qualified staff. Hopefully this means that things will move along and people might start to hear things. I just think they might be shocked at how many are walking away before even setting foot in the door.

That was last week! This week we have a whole new set of priorities and they don't include whatever was said/discussed/agreed last week!

Fingers crossed you get some news soon.

So do you believe the whole job advertising is cloak and daggers and not a true reflection of what is happening on the ground?

I have a few friends that have received 'rejection' emails for positions that they applied for directly with Neom so I do think they have something in process for this. They hadn't received any interviews or moved in the process (some of the jobs had been removed from the website whilst others are still advertised). It seems to me that those that are 'stuck' are those that were given offers and in the process chain ... this seems to have stalled.

I'll erase it all from my memory and start the whole process again , great advice for managing expectations

There are still vacancies. Whether there is any budget now for the vacancies as advertised is another story entirely.

What I do know is that the optics on this are paramount and NEOM cannot publicly fail. Instead projects will be scaled down, put on hold, quietly mothballed, over a protracted period and that is what appears to now be happening (that's not me saying this but Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC etc) with budgets for staffing hit, hiring freezes, roles cancelled/withdrawn and a change in labour priority (western expats no longer favoured over local hire).

An update guys, i received my NEOM offer after 90 days, the status on the portal changed from " under offer" to "in offer".

So yes things are moving but at a relatively slower pace then expected. Keep holding the rails of patience !

Dont know about the next steps but i have to confirm them within 7 working days.

Hi Kaygee,

any news with regards to your application? Did they more ahead or are you still waiting upon your assessment?

best,
JasonMah

That is great news Congratulations, thanks for updating the forum. Could you please let us know which sector or region is this (Tonomus, Line, Sindalah, Oxagon, ENOWA, Tourism)? That will help us understand that their budget has been released and started giving offers.