3 replies to this topic

[fatso]

Hi everyone, I am about to graduate and am looking for a job in the Middle East. Any advice? Does anyone know of good websites to browse for jobs? What should I have on my resume? Keep in mind I don't have much experience. Thanks

[ankur2061]

fatso,

There are some ground rules for hiring in the middle-east. I know them, because I work there and have been actively involved in hiring of chemical engineers.

Most middle-east countries today have an aggressive sons-of-the-soil policy. It means that a minimum quota of local people have to be hired by any company operating in the middle-east. It also means that openings for fresh engineers is now exclusively a privilege of the local fresh engineering graduates and rightly so. Why would a country bring a fresh engineer from outside when its own fresh engineers are looking for job opportunities?

Expatriate engineers are only considered with a minimum amount of experience which rougly translates to 4-5 years of relevant experience. The key word here is relevant. For example if an expatriate engineer has 4 to 5 years experience in engineering design related to oil & gas in an engineering consulting company then only he or she would be considered for a similar profile in the middle east. Even if you are a 60+ engineer with more than 35 years of experience, say in operations such as fertilizers, you would never be considered for an oil & gas job in today's scenario. Today the job market is in favor of employers rather than employees.

The situation was somewhat different in 2004-2005 when the oil & gas industry saw a boom and there weren't enough engineers with relevant experience to handle the boom. People from totally different backgrounds such as pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals jumped on to the oil & gas band wagon.

My suggestion to you would be try to get a job related to oil & gas in your home country, work there for a few years, gain valuable experience and then look for an opening in the middle-east.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ankur.

[fatso]

Ankur, thanks for your reply.

Do you know if the policy you are talking about also applies to European and American companies in the middle east? Also, what about engineering sales positions? Would a master's help? Also, what if I have citizenship (dual-citizenship) in the country I am applying to?

Edited by fatso, 28 April 2012 - 07:43 AM.

[ankur2061]

fatso,

In majority of the cases there is no exclusive European or American company in the middle-east. All companies require to have a local partner for them to be registered business establishments with the exception of Free Trade Zones (FTZ). Unfortunately, there are very few chemical process industries or engineeering design centres in FTZs. To my knowledge none of the well known upstream oil & gas companies or downstream processing units such as refineries and petrochemical complexes are there in the FTZs.

I am not aware that anybody could hold dual citizenship of America / EU and any of the GCC countries. If yes, then you definitely have a strong case to get a job in ME irrespective of your status as a fresh engineer.

A Master's might help but I wouldn't count on it. Currently finance and marketing related jobs are amongst the worst hit in the ME.

It is important to note that since the currencies of the GCC countries are pegged against the U.S. dollar, downtrends in the U.S. economy have direct impact on the economy of the GCC countries.

Hope I have given you proper guidance. I would love to take back my words and congratulate you, if you succeed in your mission. Good luck, and do keep trying.

Regards,
Ankur.