3 Guidelines on how to get Employment in Saudi Arabia as an Expatriate female

I see expat ladies asking about office jobs in Riyadh (not including teaching) almost every day or so.

I am writing this post to help all those amazingly talented females who lack direction and guidance to get a job here in Riyadh. I hope I can help in some way. Sorry about the long post but I really pray and hope that you ladies benefit out of this.

First about me: I am working as a Senior Creative Copywriter in an Ad Agency named Art Garage here in Riyadh. I have done my MBA and prior to this job, I had 2 years’ experience in the similar context i.e. Marketing Content Writing.

See my LinkedIn for my professional profile: sa.linkedin.com/in/lailaessa

I managed to get 10 interview calls in Riyadh in 4 months and got job offer from 5 of them. So you can trust what I am going to tell you because I know what I am saying. All this is my personal experience and have written it myself.

Here are the things you need to keep in mind in order to get the job in Riyadh:

1. First and most importantly: MAKE YOURSELF THE MOST PERFECT CV. Seriously, employers here don’t care what nationality you are. They just want the work done, mostly because the expatriates are more hard working and sincere with their work as compared to locals (no offense but I can provide latest Arab News and Saudi Gazette articles to back this fact). So if your CV is carefully crafted, if it’s clean, crisp and simple and it shows that you have the potential, you will get the interview call for sure. I should mention that prior experience REALLY counts. So make sure you put your experience and the work you have done and achieved on top of the page. Get an updated and detailed LinkedIn profile as well. Again, I request you that don’t undermine yourself and value your skills. InshALLAH you will be noticed.
2. This might be different from what everyone’s saying but: LANGUAGE IS NOT A BARRIER IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT. There are many companies here which communicate internally in English language. You’ve GOT to master the conversational and written English (People here don’t usually have good English skills so it’s really valued). If you are good at presenting yourself and know what you can do, they will respect you and employ you. I work in an environment where people talk in Arabic and English both. I have made them clear that I don’t know Arabic so they don’t mind speaking in English with/around me. It doesn’t mean that I don’t learn; I learn few words of Arabic from them every day and in return I teach them few words of Urdu. They love it and so do I.
3. Next comes on HOW AND WHERE TO APPLY? I divided my job hunt into 3 phases for my convenience.
   1. ONLINE JOB PORTALS – Like bayt.com, www.linkedin.com, www.mehnati.com. Create an impressive profile on it (if you don’t mind putting your profile picture, then do so, it does help). Keep it updated. Google about creating awesome CVs on these websites, give your time and make it. It’s a lot of hard work, yes, but worth it. Then apply on the job vacancies. Check for vacancies in your city twice every day. Target is to apply as soon as the job is posted; it really increases the chance of your CV being viewed. Keep in mind that if for example, you apply for 100 jobs, you will get response from only 2. So keep applying. Bayt.com and LinkedIn.com really work, personal experience.
   2. WEBSITES OF COMPANIES – Okay, this takes A LOT of time. So be patient. Google the companies of your targeted industry or simply the list of top companies in Saudi Arabia. Go to their website. If there is a ‘CAREER’ page, apply through that in available vacancies OR apply generally. If not, then go to their ‘CONTACT US’ page and send your CV with a short and to-the-point covering email to their general email address. Make sure to give a very interesting subject so they do open your email e.g. “Experienced Copywriter with 2 years of experience in Marketing – Immediately available”. This has much improved chances of being noticed than just “CV” and will get you interview calls, InshALLAH.
   3. PERSONAL VISIT – If the above 2 methods fail, then it’s time to declare emergency! Take about 50 print outs of your CV (make sure it’s perfect before printing, especially spellings), then visit companies and drop your CV personally. Places you could visit can be Faisaliah Tower or the business hub on the Airport Road. People generally are very cooperative and would InshALLAH provide you with good opportunity.

That’s it. Please do ask question if I have missed anything. I have tried my best to make the job hunting process easier for you as much as I can. Unfortunately, I don’t know any job vacancies as of now but I wish everyone all the best. May ALLAH provide you with what’s best for you. In return, I ask for nothing but prayers.

Happy Hunting!