Any ideas how we can expand the sharing beyond this forum? Of course want to remain anon due to our continuing professional lives in and out of ARAMCO. But this black company deserves more negative press to prevent more western expats making the mistake. Just thinking out loud.
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Dont feel guilty realising you've made a mistake coming and need to resign.
When you know you need to leave - don't stay, it just doesn't get better. Just think those coming Imagine this if you with no family with you or a partner to help talk things through
SA will attract those who are desperate and available for a job. Thats a good bind in the short term but do take note of the many accurate truths you read on this forum.
There are the good folk holding out for some stability for things to get better before waiting for an opportunity to leave ASAP.
Any happiness you may hear is superficial. I still don't see r hear many happy people back and forth to work and SA was never the land of milk and honey anyway.
For some unemployed people Aramco will be a lifesaver, current market is depressed with some operators transitioning to "clean" energy portfolios and keeping services prices in lowside.
Those that join will found a toxic environment and a lot of them will resign within 3 months, that is the time to figure out reality.
Retiring before the pandemic was great timing. Different ball game now clearly with clearly less benefits.
Great story for 60 minutes.
You must be on the old package. I don’t blame you at all given your position. Those that have joined since COVID will never earn enough to get that kind of financial independence, that quid pro quo has disappeared.
Naaah, I am a Western expat, relatively happy, makes a bunch, saves a bunch, pretty laid back job, I create my own circles, i create my own happiness. I manage leeches my way and have them under control, it's a skill, mind you. I don't let them get to me. You failed to do that, it's on you. Try to develop some soft skills if you want to succeed. My bank account, assets, retirement accounts look very very happy. I secured retirement years ago, now it's all dessert to me, the more the better. I didn't come here to climb the ladder and develop skills, I came here so I never have to work again. Mission accomplished.
This forum is already the only essential and realistic resource for those investigating taking a role with the company. Posts are painfully accurate of the real life, work and personal experiences. Truth is very much stranger than fiction.
I'm sure there's journalist out there who would be willing to run with an exposé on the dark dealings how expat/migrant workers are treated. The timing now would come at an opportune time as the country's questionable investments snd plsns in soccer/football are rasing some eyebrows.
I would strongly discourage any woman to give up her independence in a free country to move with her husband offered employment by this company. It’s a goldfish bowl; a cage. Whatever you want to call it. It’s a prison really. Families are not valued.
For instance, housing - they only will speak to the employee. The home maker is invisible.
The whole 185 day policy to keep family status - someone please remove these handcuffs. Modern slavery at its finest. Why punish the wife when you can’t offer her employment opportunities in kingdom?
Wasn’t it enough that you sold us a lie?
And be even more vigilant if you are a BROWN person. The Aramcon family (wife + 3 teenage kids) ki-led by the radium fire were reported in the national papers as Canadians of PAKISTANI origin. To make a point that their lives were worth less to them. Brushed under the carpet. Let’s bury them in holy Makkah to soften the blow and hush the talk..
What about the tens of labourers who slept next to the electrical room where the fire started? Dead. Never mentioned. Yes, I know they were contractors - but still! They lost their lives servicing a corrupt wasta deal while a large number of houses sat empty in Dhahran. Ŵas anyone held accountable?
Single female employees are not respected. 1% will meet their now spouse. I have known woman who entered the kingdom 20-30 years ago single and retired single! A lot happens in between. Not good for her mental health and self-esteem.
You will not grow. Employee or not. Yes there is money (for the employee) but you soon realise that you lost a lot more opportunities because you were living in a cage your whole life. But not whilst your there. Stockholm syndrome.
I have been back to the camp since the 2020 layoffs and I can confirm that the place is a shell of its former self. Like the housewives of Dhahran.
Group together and get more facts to the FT and WSJ, just like last time. There’s some sympathetic journos there who know Aramco very well.
Aramco layoffs make the news even though the company itself never announces them. Those news stories are enough to bring the majority of Westerners who receive a job offer to this site. The problem is that many of those who come here seeking information are unemployed, and Aramco is the only offer that they have received. Under those circumstances, proceeding with the hiring process while continuing to look for work is a the best they can do. If they find something else before the plane tickets come, they take it, otherwise they get on the plane and hope for the best. I think most people here can sympathize. However, I would tell them to be sure to apply all over the Middle East, not just Aramco, and not to bring your family over until you have had the job for a least a year.
With that said, I'm sure that the information here has discouraged many from the West who currently have a job, no matter how bad, from resigning to take a chance on a Company that clearly has no long term plans for them. It is really those people who I want to speak to either on here or elsewhere.