Worth going for £50k?

[MaximumJed]

Currently, the wife is out of work having been made redundant last year, she's a legal PA and there isn't a great deal of work available. We've been talking about a possible move to Dubai since an agent mentioned it to her and quite fancy the idea. However, she'd be earning about £50k over there, and it would take time for me to find a job (.Net Developer).

Having looked at apartment renting etc, it seems just about possible to live over there on that amount for a while, but the standard of living wouldn't be all that great. I'm also not sure how long it would take for me to get a job as there don't seem to be many appearing on the various sites I have looked at (bayt.com, monstergulf, jobhsindubai).

So what do you all think? Is it a realistic salary for a while, am I likely to find a job (or am I looking in the wrong places), or is it just not worth going there given the current climate and prospects?

[Mattt]

Is that £50k straight, or £50k plus allowances? If the former, I wouldn't bother.

If you are serious about the move, then get yourself a position first.

IMO that is.

[mgp1969]

Are you sure she would 50k as a legal PA? We don't pay ours anything like that much.

[Kinkyboots]

Hi, I am the wife and the position my agent has spoken to me about is a Co-ordinator positions (therefore paying more than a standard Legal PA) for £50k tax free.

Just out of interest what packages and pay do your company offer?

Edited by Kinkyboots on Friday 30th January 17:51

[mgp1969]

I don't know the exact figures, and obviously a coordinator/office manager will get more, but I know our legal PAs are not getting 50K

Without wishing to dampen your enthusiasm, getting paid in sterling (as i do) is not great at the moment due to the exchange rate. Equates to a shade under AED 275k on current exchange rates. You will probably pay (at least)half that on accommodation (may be less with the number of people leaving) and then you will need at least one car as there is no public transport.

I don't know who you are talking to but, eg, CCs are (allegedly) laying people off over here, the market is over-lawyered so there are a load of us all chasing a smaller pool of work and a lot of recent entrants will not survive, so you need to be careful who you join. Go for those with a long term commitment to the region rather than the johnny come latelys, a lot of whom will close shop in the next couple of years.

I don't wish to be negative but the Dubai market is st at the moment - Abu Dhabi is stronger (but rents are phenomenally expensive). The only places to make money in the region at the moment (as a general rule) are the places people don't want to live, eg - Saudi and, to a lesser extent, Qatar

Our office manager is crap and a load of us are trying to get rid of her but our COO is as tight as the proverbial (hence ending up with a cheap but st office manager ...). If you want to anonymously PM your CV I will see what is going at our place but I suspect our current office manager was very cheap (or at least she should have been) and we will have (yet another) battle against the COO persuading him to spend the money to get someone decent in.

Sorry to sound so negative, but there are a lot of people who have been burnt over the last couple of yearswho are leaving their cars at the airport on the way out ...