The International Schools Review Forum

I am thinking of applying to the British or American Schools in Jeddah.

How is Jeddah to live in?

What are you looking for? Jeddah can be what you make it. It's not a terrible place, but it's definitely not the best ME city to live in. It's more "liberal" than other parts of Saudi, so that's nice. Cost of living in middle of the road. There can be excellent water activities since it's on the Red Sea, things like boat trips for diving/snorkeling, deep sea fishing, whale shark trips. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to know.

Lemonlily,

Thanks for the information.

I am thinking of applying to on of the schools - British or American - and want to stay 2 or 3 years and save 100k USD. I also don't want to curse everyday of my existence. I don't drink, am single, frugal now, and would like to travel at the long break - WHEN IS THAT IN SAUDI? - and maybe one other time. I would spend summer back in the U.S.

Is my plan, in your opinion, valid?

I dont see that as reasonable, not in Jeddah and not after only 2-3 years.

4 or 5 years yes. 3 or 4 years, no.

Depends on your frugality and situation.

@SJ

I could see 5 years being possible depending on lifestyle and frugality.

Then why would ANYONE go to Saudi?

From the posts here I got the impression that the ME, particularly Saudi, was a place to make money.

I saved about 35,000 a year in Asia.

5 years for 100k? Why put yourself through compound living for $20,000 a year - I have NEVER saved less than 24,000 per year, even in the U.S.

I don't know your experience level, so I don't know what your salary would be. But at the American School you would get somewhere between 42-50k per year. If you only travel for the 2 week winter break and live pretty frugally, you could probably save 25k, maybe even 30k, per year.

I think 3-4 years is a possibility. 4 years is definitely doable if you keep your travel spending low..It really depends. We are not very frugal and we have saved a little under 20k a year...

Compound living is really not that bad.

@yankee

I generally concur with @lemonlily, you cant save $100K in 2 years if your comp is $40K (assuming youd be at that level on the salary scale). If you were at the max cap on the comp scale and your extremely frugal you could potentially do it in 4 years, but then why are you taking a holiday/vacay if your not doing anything, and doing stuff generally costs coin. Even going back to the US for the summer if your living with family and friends is going to cost coin. The only way i see that level of frugality work is if you can do the hermit lifestyle for 365 days, which contradicts the idea of not cursing your existence.

There is serious coin 6 figures for an entering IT in the Kingdom, but you need to be at Aramco or BAE or closer to Riyadh, or working for a corporate IS. You can save $100K in coin after 2 years at those locations.

@lemonlily

Compound living isnt bad if you like living int he fish bowl, some ITs really do, many more dont. Its not the living, housing is nice, a lot of western amenities, its the everyone knows your business and its much harder to get away from it, that is the problem.

Thanks, Guys.

I am a math teacher with 15 years experience (8 overseas), IB Math, and a Master's Degree.

The British Int. School of Jeddah lists a salary of 60,000 at my level. Is Jeddah so expensive that, given housing and no taxes, I couldn't save 30-35-40 k?

Psyguy,

How do I find a job at a corporate IS - other than Aramco - in Saudi or anywhere?

Thanks again for all of your help.

@yankee

Your not going to get full step credit for your years of service, you will hit the max cap well before you get to USD60K. You might get at most 10 years step, 5 years is more common. Youre looking at closer to USD50K, can you live on zero, travel on zero? Youd have to save it all and you want to travel and not live a cursed existence while you do it. Could you save USD30K, maybe so much of it depends on you, but you want to travel (twice in the year) plus spend the summer in the US, sorry all that costs coin. In addition your probably going to want to get a car while your there, and thats on top of living expenses. Jeddah is boring, youre single, your going to eat out, etc. If you want to live like a hermit and you say all your going to do is go to your IS and return home then maybe in three years you could save USD100K, but that runs counter to you not cursing your existence.

You asked the forum their position, sorry its not the answer you were looking for, you are of course welcome to prove us wrong.

You generally dont, most corporate education divisions dont advertise on IS recruiting sites. They post vacancies on their internal HR databases, use actual recruiters, or only recruit locally. BAE had a project vacancy a few years ago for ITs that had a cap of USD102K.
DoDDS doesnt advertise anywhere (well USAjobs I suppose) but are among the highest comp appointments in IE. If you look at Tutors theres are current vacancies in HK thats USD120K and another in Malaysia thats USD117K.

Psyguy,

What is Tutors?

@yankee

Tutors International, www.tutors-international.net

Thanks, Psyguy.

Do they ever look for high school tutors?

@yankee

Yes, among others, there was a white boat vacancy in the spring for three girls in lower and upper secondary that was $188K, it was technically two positions one for Maths/Sci and one for Lit./Humanities but they would have considered one candidate with combined comp.