Offer package

I agree with evaluations from CPox, very well done. For rent expenses, if you can get 10k, you should be in a far better position to decide. Remember that rent and kids schooling are the main expenses here.

its a good package.

jjj75...sure I do, I mean way way way way too much time on my hands...it is weekend for me...:)

It's borderline as an offer. My thoughts:

1. 15,000 won't cover tuition at a decent school The fees can be seen online at the reputable international schools. Look at Compass, American School of Doha, Park House, and some of the others recommended in the education forums.

2. The car allowance won't pay for a car, but it will make it cheaper.

3. 6,000 will cover about 1/3-1/2 of "good" (but not excellent) accommodations for a family. What is the company housing like? Is it a good option?

If you have not already, I would strongly recommend visiting Doha, checking out the accommodation and schools for your children.

My sense is that you'd be able to make ends meet on this package, but you would not be saving anything. Whether or not that is worth the move to Qatar is up to you. Most Euro expats would say it is not.

Prism - you have way way way way too much time on your hands. The salary is low for Doha CONSIDERING the cost of living. The salary may seem high to someone from Timbuktu but guess what buddy, I bet the cost of living there is just a tad lower than here. The salary might be ok depending on skills and experience but too low if the benefits are not market rate, which they are not - please see full explanation on benefits as opposed to salary which you did not quote (sorry, did it not suit your argument, didums)

I do agree with some of the comments, if u from Italy then no the salary is actually pathetic, Housing if you have 2 children so a total of 4 ppl minimum 10K....tht is excluding ur amenities, and as was indicated school here is not abt the children it is abt the money so 15K p/a per child hell no will not work, as for the car, well u can't even rent a gud vehicle for that amount and if u gonna buy a vehicle I wud suggest u buy the smallest available cause tht is all tht amount will pay for.

Life is made out of choices gud or bad u decide....so decide

jjj75, lets see how your opinion progressed:

20/01/2012 7:39 am I hate to be the naysayer here but that is not enough, considering how expensive it is to live here and prices rising by the month  20/01/2012 8:57 amRaac - I would not say that, how does he know how much things cost here? It is not easy to find, hence asking the question. 20/01/2012 11:48 am Just to let you know that any good international school and you are looking at 30,000QAR per child per year minimum. Accommdation - 6,000QAR/month is a joke for a family and 14,000QAR salary is simply not enough, if you want to enjoy the same standard of living as you do back in Italy - EVERYTHING apart from fuel is way more expensive here. 21/01/2012 8:00 am Flor - I speak from professional experience, i used to work in recruitment so I know exactly what salary packages are usual here. I have NEVER seen either a Q company or a Govt organisation offer 6k for housing and the salary seems very low.  “..............and on that salary I would not think they will have any money left over at the end of the month.” 21/01/2012 12:15am “.....I won't get into salary, as this seems very low but not knowing fully what she does, it is hard to give am informed opinion”. My response was based on the above sequence. I rest my case.

Prism - please re-read what I wrote, right from the beginning. I acknowledge that I don't know here core skill. Saying she works in junior management in airports, means absolutely nothing, what is her core skill, how many years experience does she have, what companies has she worked for,what is her current salary vs expectations - there is more to recruitment and guessing someone's market worth than say guessing!!!

WHAT rarely changes here - and Prism, Flor, take note, because this is MY core skill and work experience are the benefits. 90% of all oganisations that I used to recruit for said these were absolutely non negotiable. (but salaries to a certain extent were) AND given that she has told us the core benefits and in my experience (4 years in the Gulf region - 10+ years in recruitment overall) is not market rate for most organisations.

What I will not do is give indepth salary (not benefits, there is a difference) guessing games in a public forum when I would need to see someone's CV in depth before giving some professional opinion on the matter, except to say it seems low.

AND,her husband may come and he may work but the authorities do not like what they call double dipping (each person gets full benefits) and would make one come under the others sponsorship to stop it - happens all the time - therefore I assume that the benefits she is getting is ALL the family will receive, otherwise, why mention it?

jjj75...I think you should have asked her what she does and what she would be doing before giving her so many advices as you now say that you are not completely aware of it...may be after she gives you all the information, all that you advised may not be relevant and you may have to start from the beginning. BTW she said the job on offer is a low management job and she has some 10 years of experience at airports. Point is she should not get false hope whereas her qualifications and experience may not be sufficient to ask for the kind of salary and perks you have suggested. Also she says she has children, what about her hubby...whether he is here, not here, etc. etc....that would make some relevance too.

Cheers!!!

Flor, no what I would recommend is that she goes to a reputable employment agency which specialises in her skill set - be it sales, marketing, finance etc and find out what the market rate is for her skill set. I won't get into salary, as this seems very low but not knowing fully what she does, it is hard to give am informed opinion - suffice to say that knowing the cost of living here and if she expects some her home comforts from Italy - these things are expensive, the she may fint it on the low side.

What I do know for a fact are the normal benefits for overseas personnel on married status with a family. In most organisations these are set and non negotiable (whereas salary is usually negotiable),they really are about half of what they should be and she will then have to pay a lot for schooling, transport etc, therefore I would advise her to seek a better package or look elsewhere, otherwise she will be on the breadline.

as per my standard. I am living comfortably with my wife and daughter.

I find my allowances acceptable to me and it's within the average as you mentioned but not "excessive" as you expect from average experienced individual.

Here, anything you offer, there will be more to expect, so if you give them false hope (on higher side). I remember so many instance that if someone inquired if 20K is ok, many will say, no 30k is ok. When someone says 30K, many will say 40K is ok. When someone say 40K, many will say ask for 50K. What is enough for A maybe not enough for B. What is acceptable to B may be not acceptable to A.

Now if Clodia will say, sorry, jjj from Qatar told me the offer is too low, then the employer will just say, "apply to jjj". Kalas, no more negotiation! Lol!

Let here decide based on the comments above. I think she will listen to your advise, jjj!

Good luck Clodia!

Flor, it is apparent that when you negotiated your contract that you negotiated down, not up. Just because you got a crummy deal, does not mean everyone else has to suffer alongside you. I am telling the OP what is NORMAL for alot of companies here and Govt organisations as I have seen their standard T+C's/benfits. Even private companies, for instance, 2000QAR is standard car allowance (for everyone, regardless of nationality).

forget the job! Better luck next time, when they can offer you the MOON!

i just wanna know what company is that.thnx

Flor - I speak from professional experience, i used to work in recruitment so I know exactly what salary packages are usual here. I have NEVER seen either a Q company or a Govt organisation offer 6k for housing and the salary seems very low.Also, that transport allowance is half of what is normal - QAR2000 is standard across most organisations, you need a reasonable sized car if you are going to be ferrying 4 people in it and I am not sure what sort of car you can get for QAR1000/month on hire (which is what you would have to do until RP was sorted). Friend tried to hire Nissan Tiida the other day and was quote QAR2600 a month.

The point is that every benefit that was mentioned here is half of what it should be and the person will find they have to dip into their own pockets just to survive and on that salary I would not think they will have any money left over at the end of the month.

sorry for double post so deleting one.

pl. ask them to double the offer that you are getting.

For European style of living i think it is low.

If you hold European ppt, you must be getting more. Ofcourse, u can save a lot . Getting any family visa done depends on your basic salary. So keep it high to get things done faster.

CPox is exactly correct.

wishing u good luck.

You must have lot of patience, and know the following rules.

1. Also you are aware of the rule about taking Exit visa through the company, everytime u want to travel out of the country, even to other middle east gcc coutries , You may be used to traveling to other countries on sudden week end plans.. that can never happen here. (family can travel anytime outside the country.)

2. NOC is required to change job, u cannot apply for other jobs locally without this.

3. If you leave the job and leave the country, resigning, you cannot re enter until 2 yrs.

Pl. think well. before shifting.

Medical though it is free, almost, with insurance from company, good hospitals are being built. so it is little difficult to find good service!

Ofcourse it is the best of middle east countries otherwise, climate wise , cold for 6 months, quiet, peaceful and you get a lot of time for family and sports activities.

Hi dear Clodia,

Honestly Mr.CPox esplained it very precisely. so you can think it over before taking that job.

Good Luck.

With the package you have been offered, I would foresee several issues:

1) Education: The schools I was looking for (and here I can say I was fortunate to work for a company which pays education in full), education can easily range from 20k/year/kid to 60k/year/kid.

2) Accommodation: With 6k per month you might be able to find a good one bedroom apartment or a two/three bedroom apartments in areas that are not that nice. New contract on villas are above what you receive. Depending on your level of expectations and life background, I would dare to suggest you to accept a company accommodation.

3) Transportation: Petrol is cheap (1QR/liter) thus this will not be the issue. However, most of us consider in transportation allowance the purchasing of a new car over a period of 3 years. Assuming you will pay around 200QR/month on gas, you will be left with 900QR/month for installments and this will be low on most of the cars. A cheap car will start from 40-45k. Considering the alternative for a second hand car, you have to have the cash to buy it as no installments will be possible. Please add the annual insurance to this (300QR/year for the most basic one) and the regular inspections if you wish to follow them (from 200QR up for every 5000km).

4) Basic Salary: From my point of view, for 14k/month (I can assume you have a decently high education for this amount), the government can surely do better.

Personally, if no further negotiations will be possible, I would suggest you to evaluate carefully your situation. Prices are rising by the day (i.e. when I arrived in Qatar in 2005 with 500QR I filled a trolly in the supermarket - today for the same amount I hardly fill a basket - but that's me and it might be very different for you - hopefully you've got the ratio). Moreover, and none of the guys above have mentioned it, Qatar has an inflation rate rather high - over 14% and no salaries have been increase on the annual basis with that much, so expect to go bad and bad by the year.

PS. I've seen rather late your country of origin. Divide everything to 5 and you get a rough estimation in Euros. But prices are very different (especially accommodation) and thus, I would strongly suggest you to think twice if you want to do the move. For the european standards, you might want to look for something like 20k and above basic salary, 11-14k/month accommodation, a 35-40k installation payment and school paid in full or at least 35k/year per kid. And your spouse will have to search for a job paid at least the same as you.

Very many thanks to all of you!

if there is to disagree, I won't pretend just to please anyone. It's just like this, saying 6K is a joke is like saying all those earning below that level is a joke. What do you think?

Is it hard to say, not recommended or not enough. That offer is a regular offer by a government entity or average offer, you think it's a joke? You think that many are living in joke. Good for you may not be for others. Don't discourage people from coming here in a way like that, it's not healthy. Very few expat people are very FORTUNATE to leave in PALACES here and if you are one, don't brag about it!

Of course 6K is a joke, if you want to have a reasonable 2/3 bed Apt (not even Villa) in a reasonable area with reasonable facilities, i am not even talking top notch either. What sort of 3 bed accommodation can you get for that kind of money - NOT GOOD.

But I forget Flor - anything I say you are bound to disagree with it.

a palace. Even 50k is not enough, depends on the person. If she enjoys her standard of life in Italy, she won't even entertain this offer.

You are welcome to try it here, in the end, it will still be your choice.

Just to let you know that any good international school and you are looking at 30,000QAR per child per year minimum. Accommdation - 6,000QAR/month is a joke for a family and 14,000QAR salary is simply not enough, if you want to enjoy the same standard of living as you do back in Italy - EVERYTHING apart from fuel is way more expensive here.

anyway, that is also the probationary period. And school starts on September I think so give it a try alone first and check yourself. At least you have some ideas you can pick-up from the comments above. Now if you pass the first three months and you feel it's worth, then process your family visa for your love ones!

raac, i don't agree with you... is it better to asked the real situation of the destination that he's going to rather than regret after. take note "he's coming with whole family" so It's a big decision to make. SO there's NO ROOM for regrets after. Correct me if i'm wrong.

elias hamzo,,,kifak? sava? did u get married already? :D nice to see u here

Raac - I would not say that, how does he know how much things cost here? It is not easy to find, hence asking the question.

Hei..employer,

Think twice, before recruiting him..

because, he can't take his own deceision, on a matter like this..

how can he manage and take decisions on others..if he acts like this...

Sorry, if hurts, but, You should be able to evaluate and make your own decision.. right..?

I hate to be the naysayer here but that is not enough, considering how expensive it is to live here and prices rising by the month

Good offer... Grab it!

Thanks everyone for your answers. I am more worried that the money won't be enough for living but if you say that I will be saving, then I guess I should trust you since you 're already there...

Take it :) and good luck

not bad for a first contract. try and see, and accordingly modify ur next contract. that's if u have nothing to loose back in ur home country.