Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Working in Dubai

Hi guys,

I have been reading on this forum for a while, and now it is my time to ask for your help.

I'm 24 years old (25 late this year), I'm from Europe and I have been offered a job in Dubai as a Project Manager in Information Security Management Systems and Trainer for Security Awareness Courses. The company has offered me 2000 USD, all inclusive. I must say that the company has 5 employees.
I have a job experience for almost 6 years in the Administrative field and the job mentioned above will be something new for me.
I know that what they have offered me is not very much, that's why I have asked them 10.000 - 12.000 AED + benefits (housing allowance, transport, medical insurance, yearly travel ticket back home and relocation costs). They didn't say no, they want to talk over the phone to decide this.

I want to know if 12.000 AED + the benefits mentioned above are enough for a decent living in Dubai. I know, you will say, "well, depends on what do you understand by decent". Let me tell you that in my home country I am being paid around 600 EUR/ month (and no raise for 2010), I pay for my car loan about 1/3 from my salary, I go out usually once a month (dining out at a pizza, movie, etc), I guess I didn't have bought clothes since 2 months ago, so this is pretty much my life. But, because I will do the effort of going in Dubai and living there all by myself I don't want to have the same lifestyle. The purpose of going there is, of course, for gaining work experience and for a better lifestyle. I'm not saying that i will want to eat out every night, I can cook at home from myself, but I want to save out some money.

I have read many topics on this forum about other packages, but those were outdated (from 2008 and 2007).

Please, please, tell me if I should ask for more or this will be enough for me.

Thanks a lot,
XTina

Okay let's see.

First of all 2000 USD all inclusive is not enough for you in Dubai. Do not accept this offer. Right now you might not be making enough money where you are but in Dubai it will not be a case of when or where you go out. It will be a case of how many people are you being forced to live with in the same room. So without discussion, don't come for 2000 USD.

If they do accept 12,000 AED + benefits then think about it in more detail. First of all, how much is the housing allowance? You can get a studio in international city for 28,000 (yearly) to 32,000 yearly. International city is not nice. Discovery gardens is decent and a studio is for about 35,000. So that is about 3000 dhs per month. So don't accept a housing allowance less than 2000 (you can chip in the extra 1000 from your pocket). You will also need a small car which is about 1500 dhs monthly. Then you have gas, electricity, furniture, food, internet, long distance phone calls which we can say will cost about 6000 more. So, 12,000 +2000 housing should be enough for you to save a decent amount of money while maintaining a better lifestyle than you have back home.

Please note though. Dubai is a very tempting place to spend money. Everything is constantly on sale, people go out every day, your friends might keep pushing you to dine at very expensive restaurants because that is where they want to go. Expensive cars are everywhere and people will constantly encourage you to get this car or that car. The trick is to maintain a balance. Treat yourself once in a while but don't overindulge because in the end you have a goal for yourself and that is to make some money here.

I am sorry if I sound patronizing, the above advice might seem a little childish to you but you will only fully understand what I mean when you arrive in Dubai and start to mingle. All in all good luck and I hope things work out well.

Hi Dee,
thanks a lot for your advice and good thoughts. I'll see what will happen with the offer..

no probs. good luck

From my experience, that position and experience should get you nothing less than AED 25k per month. This is assuming you have a PMP certification with a related recognised university degree while also considering the current economy.

Of course many companies here base your salary as per what you would earn back home with complete disregard of your work background. Unfortunately, this sort of job discrimination exists all across the UAE however there still are a few good respectful employers out there.

Good luck!

I don't have working experience in this field and I don't have a PMP certification. I have a BA in Accounting, I suppose this doesn't help much...I have to recieve a new offer from them next week, hopefully will be a good one this time.

My bad, I didn't read the 'new to me' part. In that case, this is quite a decent package.