Really need help

Hi

I know a friend hired by A_ _ _ _ , and was staying at a hotel S_ _ _ _ _ in riyadh, that group was asked to leave for HAIL, a remote city, but she refused and they have sent her to Khobar the place she dreamed of.. so It will be nice of they send you to Khobar, Jeddah or you stay in Riyadh. Al Qassim is a remote area.
All the best....

P. Envy wrote:

I am now waiting in my hotel room trying to find as much info on Al Qassim as possible. It is slim pickings after hours of scouring the internet, the stuff I have found on wiki doesn't really reassure me as an American female teacher.

I'm only aware that Al Qassim is one of the most conservative provinces in KSA.  As a woman, you'll likely be pressured to wear a face veil when out and about.

Companies do this all the time. They don't sort out locations or places of work until you turn up at the office. The recruiter may say Riyadh or Dammam but later on you could end up on the border with Jordan or in the mountains down south..

Al Qaseem is extremely conservative,  I highly recommend asking you're company to relocate you either to Jeddah or Khobar, or at least Riyadh. They are less conservative,  I would say Khobar is your best choice as you could make trips to Kuwait, Bahrain,  Qatar and Dubai very easily.  Wish you the best

Pay it forward
Moe

They're probably trying to ship the 'new person' off to Al Qassim because they think you'll be more compliant.

What I know about the area is that it's extremely conservative (as others have said).  The main 'industry' is date farming.  There's not much to do and not much of an expat community.

BTW, it doesn't matter what they said. Re-read your contract.  There could be a line (small print at the very end lol) that reads they have the right to do this (ie. place you 'where needed').

Best of luck.

Usually they will play a game and if you get stuck in their game plan, good for them, else they will try to trap the second available Expat candidate. This is usually done to maintain the head count ! (Has happened to me itself, but fortunately it wasn't that bad as I thought)

BTW, Does your contract document specify the location categorically where you will be placed in KSA ?? If yes, you can put down your foot and the chances are very well that they will agree, cuz they have already invested money to get you here !!

Good luck

Ditto what the others have said. Plus, I suspect you're with one of the typical sketchy contracting companies.  Anyway, be aware you're on a 90-day probationary period which gives you an "out" if you're dissatisfied with your work situation.  You might use that as leverage to dissuade the company from shipping you off to an undesirable location.

Thank you everyone! This has been very helpful and in alot of ways confirms what I feel in my gut. I have some tough choices.