Jobs in Saudi Arabia:Finding Saudi Employment: Expat work in KSA

Jobs in Saudi Arabia are becoming harder to find as fewer positions are now available for westerners due to the policy of defining jobs as being for Saudis only. But there are still many employment opportunities within companies available, finding Saudi employment is not yet impossible.

Using western agencies to search for Expat work in Saudi Arabia you can often find many positions advertised from jobs teaching in the various schools in the kingdom through to senior management positions in the oil and gas industries.

Construction is also another major area of growth and employment in the kingdom, Saudi Arabia is heavily investing in their infrastructure and in building industrial cities to attract foreign companies to invest here. They know that they need to have their eggs in more than just the oil basket, so they are trying to attract as many businesses as possible.

With zero tax to pay here the wages for working in Saudi Arabia are very attractive, especially as the cost of living is quite low and most employment covers the cost of your accommodation as well as return trips home each year. Because of this Saudi Employment is very attractive, in fact many people from third world countries are looking for jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Competition for jobs is not as great as people fear as many people are worried about working in countries such as Saudi Arabia, but personally I find working here just fine! Working in Saudi Arabia can be very good for your bank balance!

If you are looking to find employment in any part of the middle east start with the usual websites that you would use when searching for employment back home such as monster, many companies will advertise in these areas. Also use the regular newspapers such as the Telegraph in the UK which advertise many positions in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

If you want to better target your chances of finding work in KSA then there are a couple of other sites that I can recommend, the best being bayt.com, which is a specialist job search site for the middle east.There are many positions advertised here for almost every industry you can think of.

The second is aljazeerajobs.com, this website charges a fee to join and says that it will translate your CV into Arabic. I joined to find out how good the service was but at the end of 12 months I never received my Arabic translation.  Also the service has many jobs, but they are all taken from other websites such as monster and bayt.com. It is useful still however as you can find jobs that you would not otherwise find that are advertised on some of the smaller sites.

As you can imagine, for a company to hire a westerner from Saudi Arabia there is a lot of expense involved, especially if they want to interview you face to face. It is not uncommon to be interviewed by just the agent who will select the best candidate, or to go through a phone interview.

I do not like phone interviews, especially if they are international where you can often get very bad lines, coupled with language and accent difficulties they do not make for the most comfortable of interviews. Some people are hired based only an agent and/or phone interview.

I went through an interview process in the UK when I was first looking for a Saudi job, I was interviewed by an English guy who was working as an expat in Saudi Arabia, his boss (an Arab) sat in on the interview and made comments and interrupted at completely the wrong points for the guy trying to run the interview! Eventually the Arab took over the interview and offered me a different job to the one I was being interviewed for, obviously making the English guy very upset as he clearly wanted me for the position that he was interviewing for!

I was offered the job officially within a few days and was expected to fly within the week, which was one of the conditions of the employment in Saudi Arabia as they wanted someone urgently! This is often the case as people often just leave a job in the middle east if they can’t handle the change in working environment – it is not always what you expect.

The following are things that I would suggest that you check and agree thoroughly before you accept your Saudi Employment and travel to avoid problems later. If possible try to talk with another expat working with the same company before taking jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Visa status, what sort of visa are you getting?

If it is a “Business visa” try to get a six month multiple entry visa, I kept being issued a 3 month one despite requesting 6 months! If you are on a business visa you are not employed by the company, you are working with them not for them! You normally will need a letter from an employing company in the UK or to have your own “consultancy”. My experience with these visas is not good, see my hub regarding Saudi Arabia work visas for more information.

The residence visa or work visa will enable you to get your Iqama (your residence permit) and you will be formally employed by the company. Without an Iqama you will not have a formal contract with your employer, you will not be able to open bank accounts and various other problems.

If your first visa is not a residence visa, when will it be issued and does the company have problems getting them? My first company had major problems gaining visas and made my working life hell because of it!

Accommodation;

Most companies offer accomodation as part of your Saudi Salary Package, but does the company pay for it directly for you, what are you entitled to? Do they have accommodation already arranged? Many of the Saudi compounds are already full and you will need to get on a waiting list for somewhere to live if the company does not have something available.

If you are getting a housing allowance what can you afford, a simple three bedroom place on a small “cheap” compound will cost you from 100,000 SAR per annum, utilities and so on are cheap so don’t worry too much about these. You also need to consider furnishing, not everywhere is furnished although most compounds are.

If you are a westerner and it is your first time do not consider living off compound until you are fully aware of what there is available and where.

How will you be paid?

When will you be paid? What currency are you being paid in? (You can check average salaries in Saudi using Bayt.com)

Do holidays include weekends?

Most holiday entitlements include the weekends as holiday days, and they expect you to take the whole entitlement in one long holiday, not two weeks here and a few days there.

What is the working week?

The weekdays here are Saturday to Wednesday, most companies work a half day on Thursday although there are some that work a full day, check as you may be signing up to a six day week!

Check out family type payments such as the additional housing costs, the need for a driver as your wife will not be allowed to drive, schooling costs and so on!

Here are some useful links that may come in handy if you are within Saudi Arabia or looking to visit Saudi Arabia for work or any other reason;

Saudi Arabian Airlines Saudi Airlines (Saudia) is the national airline within KSA and most of your internal flights and even incoming or departing flights are likely to be with this airline. If you would like to read a review of Saudi Airlines then follow the link. If you work for Saudi Airlines then you will be housed on one of their compounds, it is worth noting that you can rent a villa in Saudia City even if you are not working for them. So if you find a job in Saudi Arabia and want to live with the stewardesses then you know where to go.

Saudi Arabia Embassy in the UK, lots of links and details to help you with getting your Visa for Saudi Arabia, use this website to find all of the entry and documentary requirements for your visas.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs KSA (MOFA), links here will enable you to monitor the progress of your Saudi work visa or any other variation of Saudi Visa by using the reference number you will be given for your application..

Saudi Government Links is a Saudi Government website, it has many links to other government sites which will help you with finding other information that you may require for your visit to Saudi Arabia..

Saudi Arabian Embassy Washington is the main Saudi Embassy in the US, here you will find all the information required for your Saudi Visa.

British Embassy in Riyadh is the UK Embassy in Riyadh, very useful if you have questions about Saudi Arabia or need any help. I have found them very helpful when I have needed advice, plus they hold events for us Brits in the country at which they serve BEER!

US Embassy in Riyadh is a helpful link for those of you from the US should you be visiting the country. As with the UK embassy they have events and lots of advice for entering KSA.

Philippine Embassy in Riyadh just to help those of you coming from the philippines to work on a visa in Saudi Arabia.

Indian Embassy in Riyadh Indian Embassy in Riyadh

Embassies in Saudi Arabia has Contact Details for All the various Embassies in KSA should your individual embassy not be listed above.

Saudi Arabia Travel Advice is US Travel advice for Saudi Arabia which is equally applicable to any other nationality who may be considering gaining a visa to visit Saudi Arabia.

Arab News Arab Newspaper

Muslim Sacred Sites in KSA to visit when you have your Saudi Visas.

Entertainment in Saudi Arabia Things to do in Saudi Arabia, places to go when you have finished work in Saudi Arabia for the weekend or evening..

Learn to Speak Arabic Learn to speak Arabic online so that you can chat up those beautiful Saudi girls and understand what everyone else is discussing in the Saudi workplace.

Arabic words and phrases Some Handy words and Phrases to help you impress your girl when you date in Saudi Arabia or so that you can better understand what is being said when working in KSA.

Muslim Date Conversion Saudi Arabian Muslim Date Conversion as many documents involved in your Saudi Employment will be dated through their calendar!

The above links may come in handy if you are visiting or an Expat working and living in Saudi Arabia, I hope you enjoy Finding Saudi employment and you search for jobs in Saudi Arabia is successful.