What is the best way to apply for jobs in the middle east while you are in North America? What is the job outlook out there for desis who are American citizens? Any one heard of ppl who have moved there and found work successfully? Should the resume be American style?
Any insight, tips, suggestions are welcome. FYI, i grew up in the middle east and have been in the US for the past 6 years or so. Hence kinda out of touch with how things work there anymore. Help a sister out, will ya? 
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Ira, I don't know much but i did a bit of reserach . The best way to apply for a job in the middleast is through a recruitment agency, You can find many online.
You stand a better chance of bagging a good/job if you have a uk/usa university degree. Depending on your field you can also approach some companies like Acer computers etc direct to see what sort of vacancies they have. But my advise is to go for a recruitment agency. Though if some one has a better suggestion I would like to know too :)
Re: Jobs in the middle east
MYWish thanks a lot for your response. I have thought about the recruitment agencies as well but would like to apply on my own first. As far as i know recrutiers take a big bunch of your salary 
I was asking my mamoo who works in Abu Dhabi and he tells me to look in the classifieds section in the Gulf News paper. He also says that US/UK educated are in high demand and with the proper experience and skills you have pretty good chances of bagging a job there as well.
I was also thinking of applying directly to companies in the area. Just sending the resume out to companies, both who have vacancies listed online on their websites and also the ones who dont. Thats how i landed my job here, by calling and sending out resumes to any company i could find that i was interested in and would have liked to work for.
I am hoping for some more responses and tips so keep 'em coming
Re: Jobs in the middle east
^One of my ex colleagues is working for an Oil company there, he's a mechanical engineer and I dont know how he bagged the job.
Anyway, all the major comapnies in the middleast have websites and you can apply for jobs there. Ypour mamoon is right. If you don't get a reply bu applying directly then you can resort to the recuitment companies. I would aslo suggest that you PM Dubai guppies and see if they can offer any helpful tips.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Most jobs in the middle east require atleast 3 years experience.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
MYWish, are you interested in jobs in the middle east as well? Good idea about PMing dubai guppies btw. Thanks for the suggestion.
cool munda: Why is it three years exp? What happens to folks right out of college? Or who have some exp less than 3 years?
BTw, does any one know what kind of resumes do they accept in the middle east? Do they use CVs or american style resumes? Should i use UK english rather than Americanised english while writing out the resume?
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Ira: It would be great if you could fo and live in emirates for a month and search for job by staying there. Go for walk-in interviews, phone companies bla bla. However, going and staying in any other country apart from emirates is kinda tricky so you are stuck with either good contacts who can help you out or online applications. Try numerous websites, they are good and I know people who got through websites like bayt etc. I am pming you a link. This website has jobs listed voluntarity gathered from english newspapers all over middle east (even from the newspapers who dont have online editions) It is a very nice effort and you might appreciate it.
I myself plan to start looking for jobs in middle east by end of this year.
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Yes Ira. my family would prefer me to be based in Dubai. And I am interested in going there too.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
@saby why not post the link so others can also use it
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The place I am now herre in Dubai have alot of Americans and Brits. You can try recruitment agency but its good to contact the companies directly as it can be more effective.
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Shoaib are you actually working there? or just visiting?
Re: Jobs in the middle east
I was looking at some older threads about this and found a lot of links. let me go back and put up the links sometime today.
Saby, JazakaAllahu kahiran for the PM. I really appreciate it. Havent had a chance to look into it yet but will do so today.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Ira,
check out this thread by Mal1K… it has quite a few links to good websites, and a good discussion about moving to the middle east for prospective job seekers… including myself.
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well its fifty fifty. I am here to do some work on acerage of company where they plan to drill a well. So I am here working for them, also this is luckily my final dissertation so aik ticket main do mazay.
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Umar, thanks a bunch for the link!!! That helped a lot. Although malk_1 didnt have any companies listed for my field but it was still extremely helpful, esp the cost of living part. I still need time to put up the link of the old thread where someone had a whole bunch of website links on where to look for job-ads. Its been crazy busy but thats the norm now! :hinna:
Ok back to my question for the third time: when appplying for jobs in the ME, should the resume be american style or the UK style/CV? Any comments will be extremely helpful!
Re: Jobs in the middle east
It can be both. I worked the whole 2005 in Saudia, and most of the resumes we used to receive were American style.
The best way to get a job in ME (Middle East) is to find a US/UK based contracting company, that provides services to companies in ME. Thats how I got my job. I went thru a US based company, they kept my H1 and I was being paid in US $. I could have stayed there for 3 years, but I came back to US as there were some visa issues.
The second best way is; contacts. Send your resume to friends and relatives working in ME, and ask them to forward it to the managers directly. ME doesn't work like US/UK, I applied directly to the websites of ME companies, never got a response. Even bayt.com didn't help me. You need to be either in the country so that you can go directly to the companies and talk to them (as some1 suggested before) or you need to have strong contacts in the ME companies, so that you can send your resume from US.
If you are US citizen, you can go to UAE and get visa on the arrival. You can try your luck in a month or so. But it is almost impossible to get Saudi visit visa, someone inside the country needs to arrange that for you and even then, it is extremely difficult. I'm not sure about other countries in ME (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt etc.).
With US citizenship, you'll be able to get atleast 3 times more salary. Even me with Pak passport and US qualification, got a good deal, Alhamdolillah. But you won't be treated same as a gora American.
Since, you are female, you may find it challenging to get a job in ME, depends on your profession actually. Some1 can help you more if you can tell what field are you looking in.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Al Farooq, wow that was awesome of you to reply in so much detail. To be honest i didnt even think of how my gender could affect my job prospects. So far i am planning on applying to foreign based companies first and then will move onto the local ones. I am not sure of the outcome and thats why i am keeping my options open here. Baqi Allah malik hai.
Just FYI about the visas, from what i have heard abt other countries not including SA though is that its a piece of cake to get visa. Last year my mother wasnt a US citizen and they refused her visa for Bahrain. She had to get one at the airport. FYI she has been born and brought up there. THis year, on a US passport, my family was issues visas on the same day the consulate recieved their passports :)
Not sure how long this favorable treatment is going to go on for with the way politics go, but i suppose we shall enjoy it while we can.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Forgot to state my profession : I am in the marketing research industryand currently work in the Account Group as a Research Analyst.
Re: Jobs in the middle east
Ira, add 25% inflation rate to that link as well...:D
Read my entire thread,there are links to ur field too .
Posting American or UK CVs are both good, as long as they have quality not quantity.
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Sure thing risc.
Its actually a yahoo group but EXTREMELY beneficial.