Fake Tan Queen

Hello everybody,

I am new to this Board and very excited about my impending move to Abu Dhabi. I had no idea there were so many British people there!

Does anybody have any information about recruitment consultants for office staff?

Thanks very much, and really looking forward to getting to know you all.

Sam x

ilmalti

hi...good luck on your impending move out here. prepare for a culture shock but do not let it get you too down especially in the first couple of weeks. on the road you dont see a lot of westerners.....they are usually in the pubs and clubs guzzling down booze...lol. anyway...regarding agencies try at outconsult.com. they helped me to get here. i am not in your line of work but think they will be able to help. regarding jobs try gulf news classified section. seen the paper today and there seems to be quite a number of secretarial jobs. i am still quite new out here but feel free to contact me if you need any answers...hopefully i will have answers..tell u what though... still got so many questions unanswered myself....

Madam Medusa

are you moving here without a job then...??

MM, xx

Fake Tan Queen

No, I want to get a job before I move over.

Madam Medusa

ahhh...sorry i thought you said you were moving soon...check out all the info about cost of living, on a pa salary you might struggle here...

MM, xx

Blue Cat

I agree with MM, I was a singley here but then met my husband, and I was also a Secretary. I could never have managed on my salary, total impossibility. Luckily I lived with Mummy and Daddy and managed to blow 1500 quid a month on living it up ( and that was a long time ago!)

Miss Eck

Why Abu Dhabi as opposed to Dubai?

I noticed someone advised you that you would be lucky to get 10k and no benefits. I am not familiar with rates in Abu Dhabi but if you consider Dubai and you are a top notch London PA you will easily get 18-20k (and above depending on industry experience) and perks (flight, medical and bonus in some cases).

Considering only a minority of the population earn in excess of 20,000 AED per month I am sure you would survive (renting a room in a villa would cost 5-6k a month).

IndieG

Just so you are aware - there were some noises being made last year about potentially "emiratising" all secretarial positions:

http://www.emiratisation.org/content/view/979/2/


Don't this has been very successful though as we have been hiring expat secretaries all along and have not got a single Emirati secretary, despite being a Government entity (!). Might be worth keeping this in mind though.

Grace O Malley

A top notch PA can get 18-20 in AD too, but this salary is not the norm. For that salary they will prob require languages and maybe office management exp. You are more likely to find a sec job paying around 10 and on husbands visa.

Most companies now prefer their secs to speak Arabic/English, this is another consideration

Confucius

Arabic/English speaking secs get double for having double tongues...I'm sure they can get 20 in easily...

MataHari

well...maybe FTQ can tell us if she is top notch multi talented...

Eva

This ''ad''- from another forum-is very recent.I know one person in ''AD'' who
expressed an interest- she moved over in Aug from a secretarial position in London.... and was immediately earning a lot more(all things being equal re tax) .Something about this company must have made her chuck her hat into the ring so to speak......even better money???? who knows.
Quote:
''I think I saw a thread about this before, but can't find it now so will post anew! If any of you ladies out there are legal secretaries and looking for some work, I understand that the law firm Shearman & Sterling are looking for extra staff. Contact Angela Cameron on 02 627 4477 if interested.''
end.

PS..If you don't have a legal background, just google Latin and offer 'something like the truth'- that's, imho what lawyers probably do anyway isn't it?

Fake Tan Queen

Well, I speak 5 languages (although none of them are Arabic), I have a degree in Business Studies and a conversion course in Law and my job has taken me all over the world. So I guess yes, you could call me a top-notch PA.

Certainly the salaries discussed here are a lot less than I would expect.

Eva

Well in that case FTQ, Look at the Aldar.com and Etihad Recruitment sites.
You can leave the wings at home if you go with the latter.


PS...None of them 'is' ..not are.

Madam Medusa

geez, with all that you should be running the company, non...!!!

MM, xx