scrubbedexpat141

So, changed some cash before I came. Could only get 2,000 rupee notes.

At the airport no exchange house could give me smaller.
Just been to a bank below the office here. Was practically laughed out of the joint, obviously they don't have the 500 or 1000 notes but they didn't even have 100 notes.

How on earth is anything actually happening? Surely the 100 notes are now gold dust?

Millhouse

Did your accept the 2k notes?

scrubbedexpat141

Naturally, I needed some currency for cabs etc.

Fortunately first two car rides are just signed for on the company.

weasel decentral

Use Uber or Ola for the cabs, plus it will be cheaper.

scrubbedexpat141

Yeah, that's the plan for any times the company driver isn't around.

weasel decentral

The atms will give you 2500 rupees per day, so if you are in a hotel there is a chance that it is stocked. Take 1900 or something that might give you smaller notes.
I find I don't usually use cash here at all, what city are you in?

scrubbedexpat141

I did last time I was here but this time nothing so far. Not a bad idea with cash machine - same tricks as in Dubai to avoid the 500 /1000 dizzer notes!

I'm in Gurgaon, just outside Delhi.

weasel decentral

Well it might work, half of them are empty also but if you go to somewhere like standard chartered you might be lucky. The locals avoid it as it has a higher withdrawal fee.
Are you getting much expat interest in roles in your projects? From what I have heard of your salary/package rates, (though I may be misinformed) they seem to be on the lower side.

scrubbedexpat141

We've done a lot of adjusting with how we structure packages for expats. Now we just talk nett, which makes life easier but no, they're not grade A packages but they are grade A packages - depends who's looking and what they're all about.

Someone in Dubai won't move for the money, unless they need to or want to.
UK folk will, it's bigger tax free cash, but the culture shock? The lack of international experience for client approval? Issues.
Generally we'll be looking at the north of 50 market as kids have gone and wives may or may not want / need to come.

I find guys in Asia (Macau, Vietnam etc) are more readily interested as it's close to where they may have set up home and cheap.

It's all relative, I can argue that 10,000 USD in India is the same as 14,000 USD in Dubai because of cost of living etc. But I can also argue that it's a 'harder' location to be based therefore you should expect more.

It's not easy to recruit for, but that's because of the location and where being based in MENA for a while, a lot of the guys I know are there and won't consider it.

The money works for people and what we're doing now with our big client is being semi open book rather than working to fixed rates, so we can now pay a bit more.

All in all, it's hard work but we get guys to come. Might not always be for the best cash but we're picking up more work so it keeps me busy!

Where are you based in India?

mission

SCAMP you relocated to India?

DXBtoDOH

Is there a premium among the GCC countries? For example, if it cost X amount to bring someone to Dubai, does it cost X+Y or X-Y to bring an equivalent person to Qatar or Saudi?

I'm still new to Doha but I'm already noticing a difference among the expats here and am testing out a few theories. While there's some highly talented people running big projects, it seems on the whole the expat crowd is a bit more second-rate compared to the UAE. It seems the talented ones leave Qatar pretty quickly, either for Dubai or back home / elsewhere (as I will do, har har har) unless they're being paid insane sums (and I'm not ) so those who linger for more than a year or two are those who couldn't make the cut for the UAE.

weasel decentral

I'm in Mumbai, but our crowd have an office in Gurgaon also, though that seems to be getting a lot quieter now.
I'd argue the costs in Mumbai are generally higher than Dubai, though Delhi is a lot lower. (You'll struggle in Mumbai to get somewhere to an expat standard for less than USD 4k per month in my experience)

You are having the opposite experience to me in terms of hiring. Excluding UAE anyone from the more, let's call it, 'authentic' parts of the ME are fitting into the life/work shenanigans of India than the guys from HK or Macau. It's all a bit too shambolic after the cleanliness of those locations.

DXBtoDOH

Not surprising. In Doha, outside the Pearl/West Bay most of the rest of the city feels more similar to Indian cities than it does to Dubai / Abu Dhabi. A lot of similarities. Dusty, shambolic, chaotic, crappy. Kuwait is similar too.

weasel decentral

That's the same in all countries in my experience, 50% of the expats are woeful and don't cut it anywhere not surrounded by locals of even worse ability.
I haven't yet met anyone admitting to be in that group, though we are all capable of pointing them out

scrubbedexpat141

No, just here for a couple of days working. It's only my second trip and to the same place, which is a shame but I enjoy it nonetheless. The place is batshit mental but I kind of like the chaos, it's fun.

Right.

Ask a recruiter who has jobs which pay more - yes, there's a bit of a premium to go to KSA. Qatar, not really.
Ask a recruiter who's jobs pay no differently - no, there's no premium unless it's Yemen.
Ask any candidate considering leaving UAE for Qatar / KSA - yes, there's a huge ****ing premium and I want it all.
Ask any candidate who wants to return to the UAE - no, I never got a premium coming here so why should I take the same or less for Dubai.

It all depends on who you are and which way you're going.

It's like 5 or 6 day weeks. It's really easy for me to take your 6 day salary and convert to a 5 day and offer you less, but technically more. Similarly, I can't argue too hard with people who want 20%+ for going to 6 days a week instead of 5.

Personally - I think salaries in Qatar are very similar to DXB. KSA should be and are higher for the right people.

Mumbai - not sure to be honest, we have two projects there but I've not been to either and haven't worked on roles for them in a hell of a long time. Would love to go.

Here in Gurgaon it's $1000-1500 for a decent 3-4bed apartment I think. Which makes it very reasonable. New guy joined is taking a place for $700 - no idea what it's like but he seemed happy with it.

Funny - I've started digging into the Macau types because a few have come from there / client likes their experience. Also dig into Vietnam etc as those guys seem more 'capable' and willing to travel to different places. Guys out the GCC - like you say, it's a bit of a lottery because there's loads of shit.

Lots of our stuff is internals as well, which is hard because my attitude is; no, there aren't any jobs in Dubai. We have this in India, take it or leave it....but apparently you have to be softer than that. Then wait for the them to get into the last few weeks of notice, then someone else presents the ultimatum, then they spend a week considering it, then they say they'll go, by which time I've almost filled the role anyway.....

Anyway, if I get to Mumbai, I'll get in touch for a beer.