Dubai Forums Dubai Classifieds Dubai Job Wanted

Hi Everybody,

I would like to work in the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or another emirate) from beginning of April 08.

I do have a MA-University degree in Culture Studies and I speak many languages including Arabic.

Now my question: I am looking for a job in the field of Tourism Marketing, Destination Management, Public Relations (for Hotels, Tours Operators and the like).
But I do not have work experience in Tourism and Marketing so far. I have been working as a teacher in the past!

What do you think? Is there a chance to start somewhere as a newcomer? I am willing to work hard and I want to learn as much as possible but I need to find a place to start somewhere.

Where and to what kind of job should I apply? And how about salary expectations?

ANy ideas? Recommendations? I would be very thankful for any advice

Best regards
Fernweh

hi there, i think your'e in with a good chance for employment.

i'd like to make one suggestion though, as you don't have a lot of experience look for a very large tour company, or even a position with a hotel chain. this will give you the oppertunerty to move up within the organisation once you have more experience. if you read some of the other postings you will see that you cannot simply change jobs within the uae as and when you feel like (or when you have gained experience). working with a large organisation will give you the oppertunerty to learn and move up within the same company.

make sure the company is large enough for this so that you can recieve promotions and increases over time as your experience grows.

Dear dbxsoul,

thanks a lot for your answer.
I will try to find a job at one of the bigger companies. I would like to work for a tour operator but I will probably rather find a good job within big hotel chains. As far as I know there are wider job options and hotels offer better salaries as well.

I am trying to find out what kind of job position will be suitable and I think about starting to work as Public Relations Officer/Representatvie or Guest Relations Officer. Or does someone else have better ideas and recommendations?

My second option would be to start working onboard a ship of an international Cruise Line (I already do have a job offer) to gain Hotel and Tourism experience. Then I could move to Dubai (about one year later) and get a better job hopefully (Guest Relations Manager e.g.)

I am not sure yet what to do and its hard to decide……

About changing jobs: I heard and read that the right to change a job in Dubai depends on your educational background. People having a Masters Degree can cange their jobs more easily than people without a university degree. Is that right? I know rules and regulations in Dubai change that frequently….

dbxsoul, you are living in Khartoum?
Wow!!!!!!! I love that place! Take a walk along the nile and on Tuti Island for me and say hi to the Sudanese People!

both of your choices are good.
my wife worked on cruise liners for a number of years, the hours i'm certain are much longer than what are required in dubai, and the amount of freedom you have much less - but the experience and money is just as good. possibly look at taking a contract for 6 months and then re-evaluate your position after that. in anycase it will give you some good working experience. after that if you want to come to dubai, you still could.

mmm .... the issue regarding the educational qualifications and labour bans is difficult, at the moment the ban applies to everyone equally, whether you have a phd or nothing at all. this does chance from time to time, so you may find when you finally get to dubai the regulations are old.

i'd go with a hotel group, you are correct in your assumption more scope for development. some of the local groups are even represented outside of the uae, which then again offers you the option to possibly re-locate after you have tiered with dubai.

yep, i get to see the blue nile every single day .. although its pretty much the "muddy brown nile" at the moment and has dropped about 7 metres in the last 6 weeks.

Dear dbxsoul,

thanks a lot for your reply. Interesting to know that your wife worked on a cruise ship. Did she like it? I am sure it's going to be a great experience working on a cruise ship. Well, about the salary.....it's not that great honestly. Especially now with the $US being so low! I get accomodation and food for free, but on the other side there is not social insurance or anything like that payed....But anyway... I am sure the experience is worth it.

About working in Dubai I am wondering about the salary. Do you have any idea about salaries in the hotel business (as it seems your wife is working in the hotel business as well, or what kind of job did she do on the cruise ship?)
I know salaries in the tourism sector are quite low anywhere in the world and I don't expect a huge amount of money.
Is 2000 Euros / month plus accomodation and car realistic? Or ist that too low or to high? I ask about this amount of money because that's the job offer I got a while ago for the job positon of PR Representative in a 5 star hotel. Or better: The offer was 1700 Euro, but in Fujairah, not Dubai (and I guess the salaries in Fujairah are less because living there is cheaper as well). I couldn't accept the job offer that time, unfortunately.

Khartoum: Oh yeah, it must be the rainy season now, right? I still remember the first rain drops while I was there in July. It happened in the middle of a wedding ceremony! And everyone was full of dark brown spots everywhere after a few seconds!

hi there, yes she worked Alaska and the Caribbean and seemed to have enjoyed it. she managed to save quiet a bit as there is nothing really to spend it on, and you spend most of your time on board either working or sleeping: lol: remember the easiest way to get fired from a cruise line is to ignore any of the safety rules - even the slightest infringement will have you put off at the first available stop!

10,800 AED for a first time job without much experience is pretty good - even in Fujairah. Don't bank on the car as part of the package, but they should at least provide accommodation and subsidised food. So if you are basically saving 9,000 odd a month (with some other living expenses), you should be able to afford and run a car. At the moment the Dirham is still fixed at 3.678 against the USD, they are talking about re-valuation of the "peg" in the GCC region, but this is merely rumour at the moment.

Rain finished about 6 weeks ago, starting to get colder at night and in the morning, wind is also starting to pickup. Looking forward to the first sandstorm like a hole in my head

Dear dbxsoul,

thanks for your reply. I am glad to hear that in your opinion 10 000 AED is a good salary for a newcomer to the Tourism business like me. That's what I think as well!!!
There is a German speaking Dubai Forum, and people there argue that you won't be able to survive in Dubai earning less than 20 000 AED. But in my opinion 20 000 AED ist a lot of money! Who in Europe earns that much after tax? None of my friends at least!
I don't understand such - in my opinion decadent - attitudes and ways of thinking!
As if the only way to be happy in Dubai (or anywhere else in the world) would be to have at least 3 memberships for the most expensive Beach and Wellness Clubs and go out to fancy restaurants every night! I prefer sitting aroung with friends, drinking tea and smoking a Shisha from time to time anyway! That's (almost) for free.
That's why I was happy staying in Khartoum. There are just very few cafes and restaurants - as you know!!! - but I was fine with it. I enjoyed meeting my Sudanese friends at their homes and eat Gurasa together!

The sandstorms! Yeah, I remember them. I woke up in the morning and was wondering why it was so dark and cloudy (no sun as usual) ...it took me a while to realize that it was not because of the clouds that everything was dark, but because of the sand in the air.....Everyone on the street tried to cover its eyes and nose with a peace of cloth or blanket - me included!

haha, nobody appreciates a good sandstorm as much as me, the ones in the uae are laughable by comparision - the things look exactly like the computer generated ones from "the mummy". i even have the odd bit of "foul" for breakfast with my staff, although my constitution is not really designed for it

i think you hit the nail on the head, you could be happy with 10k in your pocket as much as you would be with 20k. as you earn more your "lifestyle" (i hate that word) changes as do your needs/ requirements and you tend to spend more - but you could have just a good a time if you earned half as much.

granted the salaries are tax free, and if you are lucky enough to have your accomodation thrown in then your'e smiling. the uae nationals know where to get money out of expats, housing and schooling, as these are things that they would normally never compromise on - to this end if you are in the position where your accomodation is covered and you are single then you can earn quiet a bit without having to "give it back"

dbxsoul,
I have a great pic for you.
Can I post a picture here in the forum and if yes - how do I do that?[/img]

pictures are tricky, you have to post them on a 3rd party hosting site and then link them using the [img] control. you can't post pictures directly to the site[/list]

Damn. I have some gorgeous sandstorm pictures from Khartoum. I would have loved to show them to you.

And thousand thanks for your last mail. It's good to know that there are some more Europeans or Westerners in the Middle East who are not just materialistic and focused on money.
SOmetimes I start to doubt whether Dubai is the right place for me, but not because of the Gulf Arabs (I have many Gulf Arab friends) but because of the Westerners living there.
Talking about the most elegant restaurants, most luxurious hotels and the fanciest fitness clubs would make me crazy!!!!!!

yes, sadly that's one reason why i left, it was becoming a little to greedy and materialist for me - as well as needing a bit of family time.

although having said that, i'm quiet keen to get back, sudan is a little to laid back for me

Dear dbxsoul,

well, I know Sudan is a special place. I have just stayed there a few months so I can imagine living there for long can be hard.
I'd love to live and work there though, but no jobs unfortunately.
So I'd rather go to Dubai.
I am not completely focused on Dubai by the way. To the contrary, I'd prefer to work in Fujairah or Sharjah. I prefer culture and nature far more than fancy shopping malls and restaurants....so I don't need Dubai. It's just that in Dubai there are more job opportunities in the field of tourism. But I am still looking for jobs in one of the other 6 emirates as well.

Here I do have a practical question: Does it make sense to send applications (speculative applicationss) via mail to Dubai? Or is that for nothing? I know that especially in arab countries face to face contact is very important.....so better fly to Dubai and knock at the doors of hotel managers?
What do you think?????

mmm. don't waste your time and money with regular "surface mail", it will more than likily end up in the bin, email is faster, cheaper and you can forward more copies

what about looking at Al Maha, the Emirates resort out near Al Ain, Endurance Village is another place to try as well.

Thanks for your fast reply again.
Yeah, I know Al Maha (haven't been there yet but swa many pictures), it's wonderful out there in the desert.
Endurance Village - don't know that hotel yet. Where is it?
You are right, sending applications via email is much cheaper. The only thing I don't like about emails is that I can't control who is going to receive and read my mail and application! As I don't have a typical tourism and hotel background I am worried that "I" will be thrown into the dustbin immediatley! On the contrary I am very good convincing people in a face to face conversation.
Hmmmm.....Well, I can try and just send 100 applications to all 4-5 Star hotels in the Emirates, there might be 1 or 2 being interested!
The good thing though is that I do like places most people don't like (like Khartoum ) and the other way round. SO I will try to apply outside Dubai in Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah (hoping that there hotels receive less applications and because I'd really prefer to work there!)

1 or 2% is normaly what you would expect from a mail drop

will also help you cut down on all the bruised knuckes from the doors you have to bang on.

Thanks for the hotel link. I already checked the career side. But there are no suitable vacancies at the moment.
I checked different job options and I think
- Public Relations Representative and
- Guest Relations Manager
are the two most interesting job positions for me at the moment.

What do you think ist better: Sending seperate applicatons (some for PR Rep and some for Guest R.) or sending applications for both job positions together?

send them seperatly as they be handled/ processed by two different people within the organisation i.e. one handling staff placements that are guest related and one handling placements that are PR related. in a small company this won't be the case, but larger hotel chains do have much larger HR deparments.
in anycase if there are two sperate "pending files" the staff are normally not enthusiastic enough to make another copy, which means that you would only end up with one application pending.

Thanks for your advice. It sounds logic! So I'll better send too different applicaton letters.
The most difficult job will be to find out the right email address and name of the Human Resources Manager of each hotel. Most hotels have those automatic application forms where you have to fill in a form. But I don't like those ones, I prefer to send my own application (CV and cover letter) !
Another question is: I would like to start working in April 08. Is it too early to start sending applications now? I have the impression that in the Hotel business and especially in the Gulf States things go very fast, even finding (or losing!) a job. Should I still wait or not? What do you think?

Its a good time to start looking now, the whole negotiation process takes some time and you may have a couple of false starts as well!

here's an idea. if the email address you find for the hotel is for example:
hrdepartment@bighotel.ae

then use google and enter the search string "@bighotel.ae" this will normally result in any other indexed pages with other emails for the same hotel coming up. e.g. manager@bighotel.ae kitchen@bighotel.ae etc.

you then just need to select the ones which sound as if they will get you somewhere. be careful about the heading for your email and number of mails you send at once; some places have anti-spam software and if you send a dozen emails you'll just get marked as spam and your application never delivered.

Thanks again for your great help! I am so glad to have found such a helpful person like you! With such practical help advices!
So I will try to Google.
To be sure that I got you right - I will take your example now - if I find hrdepartment@bighotel.ae in the internet then I shall Google for @bighotel.ae, right? So I just write @bighotel.ae in the break and leave hrdepartment@bighotel.ae ? Or do I write both?

Or here are practical example: I have found the Jumairah Bab Al Shams Hotel. http://www.jumeirahbabalshams.com/
And then I found the general email address info@jumeirah.com
But if I click "Careers" they just have those automatic application sides (like most hotels I found so far ( ) So what can I do there? How do I find any useful emailaddress? I tried to Google for @jumairah. com but there was nothing

Sorry for all those stupid questions

Fernweh wrote:Thanks again for your great help! I am so glad to have found such a helpful person like you! With such practical help advices!
So I will try to Google.
To be sure that I got you right - I will take your example now - if I find hrdepartment@bighotel.ae in the internet then I shall Google for @bighotel.ae, right? So I just write @bighotel.ae in the break and leave hrdepartment@bighotel.ae? Or do I write both?

no, just the "@bighotel.ae" that searches for everything that contains that string. if you search for "hrdepartmen@bighotel.ae" it will only give you results for where the full email address is found.


Or here are practical example: I have found the Jumairah Bab Al Shams Hotel. http://www.jumeirahbabalshams.com/
And then I found the general email address info@jumeirah.com
But if I click "Careers" they just have those automatic application sides (like most hotels I found so far ( ) So what can I do there? How do I find any useful emailaddress? I tried to Google for @jumairah. com but there was nothing

jumeirah is spelt incorrectly above, when i searched for "@jumeirah.com" i get 21,200 search results! including hotels, and hotel departments



Sorry for all those stupid questions

no questions are stupid!

I just spelled jumeirah incorrectly here. When I searched for @jumeirah.com I got 21.300 results! What I meant with "nothing" was "nothing useful". But well, that's not completely correct. The best information I found was this one:

Jumeirah Group Corporate Communications
Anne Bleeker – Director of Public Relations & Communications
E-mail: pr@jumeirah.com

I might send her an application for PR Representative.

Have a nice day!