Middle Eastern JOB Journal, One Woman's Journey of 2009

THE MIDDLE Eastern JOB JOURNAL of Sally S*

My name is Sally and I live in Kuwait with my husband who was born near by. I am an American and plan to stay here as my husband builds his career. I would like to build mine too.

Over the next few posts, I'll tell you more of my story.

It has been an exciting journey and I am eager to apply my accounting skills in a highly productive business environment. This is a week which I have enthusiasm for my chances.

Now that I have been here in Kuwait for a year I feel like I am beginning to know the lay of the land. As an accountant, I know that my skills are in demand and that my chances of getting hired are better than a local single woman.

This sure isn't KANSAS! There are some big differences here and the first thing I see is that women really are in a different class than men here. I rarely see executive women. (like never!!)

All resumes require photos and disclosure of Marital Status.

There is a big line drawn for opportunities for Women.


From what I have heard about working in the Gulf Region from Americans who are in UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Gulf countries is that the corporate culture in Gulf countries is more productive than allot of offices in America.

Many companies in the Middle East and Gulf Region would hire a married female, especially American, before they will a single female as the region has a divided line between male and female. In Saudi Arabia, many of the high level positions in a company are for males, not females. Some jobs that are advertised in newspapers and websites such as http://www.bayt.com/, are gender specific.

The protocol for sending a resume here in the Middle East is that you must affix your picture along with details such as your nationality and marital status. This is not the norm in the USA.

More of Sally's JOB Journal inthe coming weeks.



*Sally S. is a real person however this is not her real name. In order to protect her identity and
Enable her to share her true thoughts we have changed her name.

Kuwait

(thank you Wikipedia)

Located in the north-east corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Kuwait is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of land area. The flat, sandy Arabian Desert covers most of Kuwait. Kuwait is the only country in the world which has no natural lake or water reservoir.[30] There is little difference in the country's altitude with the highest point in the country being 306 m above sea-level.[7] It has nine islands, all of which with the exception of Failaka Island are uninhabited.[31] With an area of 860 km², the Bubiyan is the largest island in Kuwait and is connected to the rest of the country by a 2,380 m long bridge.[32] Sparse vegetation is found along its 499 km long coastline.[7] Kuwait City is located on Kuwait Bay, a natural deep-water harbor.
The land area is considered arable.[7] Kuwait has some of the world's richest oil fields with the Burgan field having a total capacity of approximately 70 billion barrels (1.1×1010 m3) of proven oil reserves. During the 1991 Kuwait oil fires, more than 500 oil lakes were created covering a combined surface area of about 35.7 km².[33] The resulting soil contamination due to oil and soot accumulation had made eastern and south-eastern parts of Kuwait uninhabitable. Sand and oil residue had reduced large parts of the Kuwaiti desert to semi-asphalt surfaces.[20] The oil spills during the Gulf war also had drastically affected Kuwait's marine resources.