Recruitment in Middle East

I have long desired to write this so that people who are looking to relocate to ME can have an idea as to what they are up against. Its not perfect mostly due to my poor writing skills, may be I could improve the next time.

Sourcing:

Recruitment here is highly unregulated, which means anyone can do it any where and how ever he pleases. An agent / agency/ recruiter can find your profile from blog, some career site or even face book and submit this to a company without your knowledge and then later he would call you if you are selected. Ranging from this to questions at the time of interview about your nationality, religion etc are quite common and practiced here. Apart from all of this I do agree that this place is where the money is to be made in terms of recruitment business and perhaps this is the reason why recruitment companies are popping up all over like mushrooms. Selecting a source to search for job is very important since you need to meet up with the right people who knows people - this is the only way things work. There are companies that are specialized in several fields and if you look up a search over Google you will find several agencies;

I will give links to some good agencies in the market,

www.snsconsultancy.com

www.indigoict.com

www.manpower-me.com

http://www.pathwayresourcing.ae

http://www.me.antal.com/

www.rpint.com

http://www.kornferry.com

www.mcarthurmurray.com

www.middleeastopportunities.com



And some prominent recruitment web sites like

www.monstergulf.com

www.bayt.com

www.naukrigulf.com

www.mihanti.com

www.gulfcareer.com

All of the above will give you hordes of vacancies to choose from. Now depending upon your location, nationality, skills you will be called upon perhaps over the phone and then face to face for an interview.

Visa Regulations:

The visa requirements differ with different countries and I don't want to go into details here since you can find more info on the corresponding countries embassy websites regarding the visa regulations. But in general if you are planning to take up employment then I would advise you to check well in advance about the visa requirements since most countries would require the below:
- medical check up
- attestation of your bachelors / masters certificates from the respective embassy
- valid passport of at least 6 months or more
- employment contract from the employer
- employment visa / visit visa (in some cases)

Its always important to get in writing anything your employer promises you and also do not make a move unless you have the employment contract. Make sure that the title in the employment contract and the job offer given to you is matching. Also make sure you read a copy of the labor law pertaining to that country before hand, just in case you need to know your rights as an employee.