Getting job for non-Qatari graduate engineers is impossible

It's damn retarded the way they run things here, everyone wants 5 years minimum exp. for a site engineering position which even a highschool grad can reasonably perform :))). If it stays this way, they all have the same range of time for retirement no one will be able to replace them :)))))

Hey

Just asking in case you can help me out...any chance of me getting some help obtaining a job in Qatar through you.

Thanks

Oil and Gas companies rarely hire beginners. Why would they invest in teaching you and run through the risk of you leaving after when they can get someone that knows things inside out through a contract?

Also, 1 month applying and you complain? Welcome to the real world. Patience, lots of it is needed in the start.

My advice, don't limit yourself to Qatar. You need experience for a few years before you even think of it here.

Good luck

Its pretty hard to get job here in Qatar for non Qatar as me also a fresh graduate Electrical engineer , looking for job. My born place is Doha Qatar still looking for job ,and always hope for best don't be disappointed guyz just chill, try for the best

i'm also a fresh grad, female, non-qatari. still hasn't received any calls. :(

dear friend.....

i understand you better than any one else....

i also went through same situation....

i am a mechanical engineer..

there are more than 50,000 engineers pass out from all college in india. and more from all over the world...

if you go through my cv, there are lots of things which makes me different from all those engineers...

i did so many things which other dont...

i was selected as young scientist when i was in +2...

my teachers still wounder when i say... i am jobless...

anyway......

situation in qatar is....

those who have money will start a company.

mostly trading and contracting. and they want weel experienced people to do the job for them. and make the company grow..

so where ever you go, they want experienced people who start working soon after employing. no one want freshers... no one have time to train a fresher and use his potential...

unless we get a job, we will never have experience.

after few years there will not be any one with experience..

friend, do you know something?

a fresher are more capable to perform than an experienced worker.

here, no one want innovative ideas...

no one want to invent things than following the things...

look man...

what ever jobs here is same...

if you are an electrical engineer.

then the electrical job is same now and for the next 30 years it will be the same....

my father is doing the electrical job for more than 30 years. its the same from that time to now...

every job is like that.

a fixed patters...

anywhere you go. there will be same job. they follow it. and if we join there, we have to follow the same.

come on....

we are not robots....

we are engineers...

only we can change the world...

a person who can read, write and understand can do any job here in qatar with one month training.....

what ever the job is...

for such jobs, no one need certificate from best university in the world. only thing we need is experience.

but we are different.

we are engineers.

who dont do routine jobs every day...

we invent things. we design things...

and make others do it...

all the inventions made in this world is not done by an experienced man...

its done by people like us.

who have different views and ideas...

than following the experienced people's experience.

you know what is my aim in my life....

(thats a secret..)

i want to show that world that i a not a useless person in this world.

i dont care if no one care to give me a job..

i will do things which makes every one offer me a job without asking my experience, certificate and other things...(but i will not accept any one's job at that time)

i will prove that i am different, i will show the world that i am unique..

come on man...

if you think that you are different like me...

if you have lots of creative ideas like me..

if you like to invent things than doing same thing ever day....

if you dont want a manager control you and stop you from your growth and lock your talents...

then join me...

i do what i love....

i love what i do....

Theory and actual are two different things. You'll understand that after you've got your experience. Sometimes you must forget everything you've learned to adapt and gain the knowledge required when you start to work then you'll realized that your still too young in terms of work age by that time I think your point of view will change. Everyone needs to start somewhere so don't be too high to start from the bottom it's not like your going to stay there for life.

hey knoxcollege , jus curious...

did u finally mak it?...it was interestin readin these posts and oh boy!..it sure did go some rounds

"ser blssssss tell me your opinion"

Bobcorn and bebsi!

Beanuts obtional!

oops

Sun, 27/05/2007 - 3:44pm Original post date. Two and a half years later, and the thread is still alive. :)

dear ser,

you mean that this fresh electrical graduate Engineer found ajob in Qatari town??

because I will be fresh graduated in 2010 in Egypt and I decided to come to Qatar and begin searching there for my Career, so blssssss tell me your opinion

Well said, experience is any lucky tattu can get, especially some people get job based on recommendation. But a good degree is always an asset. It is not like people were experienced when they were born, truth is they got it eventually, with the help and advice of lot of seniors. So experienced grumppies should feel there is a responsibility for them to pass on the knowledge they attained to youths. Alas some time people feel so insecure and inferior, they don't bother to pass their valuable job knowledge, leaving youths to pick up on their own. But I have some good news, youth generation is really compititive, if given a chance they can just kick out a generation of experience "i know everything, you know nothing" generation out to the garbage bin. So don't challenge any one or under estimate any one, eventually you will feel the heat and dust. And may end up as an old saying goes, if you cann't stand the heat (competition) get out of the kitchen.

The world would not make a racehorse of a donkey

i have just finished my masters but with little or no experience. I had my boss studying with me the same masters course!!!!!. He has worked for the a company for 15 years in operation. He was given the chance to do a masters. Looking at marks, he sometimes fails the modules, i always get good results. But it is not fair to compare it this way, as i am fresh and i have just finished my Beng. I still respect him for his experience. However, this masters is in engineering and not operation. and he will be given a job in engineering and in design. I was shocked by the decisions he makes and how easy he makes assumptions and follow his believes. Everybody told him he was doing the wrong thing, even his supervisor, but he never listened. He was a good operator but not am engineer in my opinion. Now tell me, if he goes to Qatar and tell them he has 15 years of experience but he failed his MSc. Will they employ him? or they will employ me with MSc only? I bet they will employ him and i wont be asking may questions. The only concern i have here, is the job for a designer or operator?

Although i believe in my masters degree, experience counts.

My thinking is:

When you have the time and resources to start with fresh engineers, it is better. When you are urgent need for a man to do the job, take an experienced person, even if his way of thinking is obsolete.

The original poster,

Get yourself 5 years of good experience with a good company, then come here. When you start by masters degree, in 25 years, you may be in a better situation than the one posting about his 25 years experience, and maybe not.

just keep on your job hunting and pray.God knows the desire of your heart and He'll grant it in His own time.BE PATIENT!

I don't mean the government I don't want job in gas or oil I want any job in my major,friends of mine got job in UAE and KSA and they where fresh with no experience why it is so hard in qatar.

It may not be fair but you know the rules if you have lived here that long. No chance of citizenship and Qataris with no experience have first priority. You're just an expat at the end of the day and the government here has never promised you anything.

I'm encountering the same but it is been only two weeks and for those who saying why should Qatar offer jobs for non-Qataris engineers; they should because many of us born and studied all classes from first grade to Thanwia in Qatar and if we able to study in Qatar universities we wouldn't have to study abroad and where we should work if our families are living in Qatar and for me even I'm from Jordan I still know Qatar better than Jordan I lived in Qatar for 18 years and only 5 in Jordan finally I wish the best for all.

=)

May Allah bless My Qatar and it's people

&feature=related

http://www.y

Why should Qatar offer jobs to non-Qatari graduates ??

In our place there is an old saying that when male hen gets into his youth he walks at the edges of the roof of house, thinking because of his power & weight the house will come down :).

So, what I understand from this guy's attitude is similar :) good education, good linguistic proficiency makes him think he'll fetch a job of 25k immediately after getting out of college / university but reality hurts when a person steps into a practical life :) Its the combination of both intelligence + good education & luck where a person gets a dream job immediately after finishing studies but 95% of ppl have to start from junior level in order to reach that position where a person's experience is equivalent to QAR 25K or more p.m :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CONFUSE ............ if you cannot convince!

You really think that anyone would hire this guy?

Maybe next time you are at Starbuck's you should ask the guy frothing your milk if he has an online Masters.

The thread is too old. Maybe he's into a job now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CONFUSE ............ if you cannot convince!

have you tried applying in Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation "KAHRAMAA" ????

it seemsi need a job as an autcad draftsman,any takers?

In this modern world, internet is the great equalizer.

hello Knoxville,

I'm sure everyone appreciates your frustration in not getting a job. As rightly pointed out, education is not a meal ticket, merely a stepping stone. I faced the same challenges a long time ago. Companies want grads for many reasons including fresh blood, low wages and new ideas. The secret of success in a business is to combine new ideas and old wisdom. Please change your attitude because its coming across as very bitter and no doubt this will show up in all your commincations with prospective employers. Employers want the right attitude(thats how I got my current job), knowledge can be bought. BTW autocad is just a tool. Its what you do with the tool that counts NOT the tool itself. NOTE

Knowledge(fresh grad) is knowing that a tomato is a fruit

Wisdom(old experienced) is knowing not to put that same tomato into a fruit salad.

good luck with your job hunting

litto peter v

electrical engineer

ph:6983580

knoxx you are a tool i am a soon to be new graduate, and i don't think myself as being better than those with experience, cause i graduate in the 21st century seeing as how it's those people with 25 years experience that deelop the methods we use today show some respect and shut your mouth you never got a job cause you are an @$$

"only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun"

I thought they are already mad with their taxes, their rain and fog?

The Red Pope of Qatar Living

Abba, Abba, Padre!

Knoxx

You have already failed the first part of the recruitment exam for graduates.

Nobody ever advertises for grads in an expat situation, those who do get employed do so because they have been clever enough to seek out the actual people responsible for hiring and convince them the are worth the paper thier degrees are written on. Faxing and telephoning will not get your CV beyond the receptionist's B1N 1T file.

I guess your "Top Ten" university didn't include inititive or lateral thinking in its curriculum, preffering to concentrate on training you to be an AutoCad technician for the no doubt obscene amount of yankee dollars it fleeced you for.

Still, I hope you find a job sometime soon

"only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun"

Have been lurking for a while and saw this had come up again, so decided it was time to post!

Thanks for welcome.

you joined 15 minutes ago and you dug up my old post just to post on my thread.

LOLZ

never mind welcome to QL

for keeping this thread alive:))))

I wrote it on the 27th of May and it is still getting posts. Anyways I dont care if you are using an alias or not, just keep this thread alive..

Hi there all (esp knoxcollege),

I'm a graduate engineer and I've got a job in Qatar for an engineering firm. Very easy so am surprised that you found it so hard.

Actually, I WAS surprised that you found it so hard, but then I've been reading your posts and now I'm NOT surprised that you found it hard.

With an attitude like yours, it's not surprising at all, it certainly isn't doing wonders for your reputation!

Not sure why you are so obsessed about Autocad and whether people can use it. Firstly, in professional firms it is normally only the draughtsman that use it regularly and to a large extent, secondly you don't use autocad to do design...it is a design tool (the hint is in the name AUTOmatic Computer AIDED Design) in the same way that anything else is and it can't do the design for you and thirdly older people can learn it. My father now knows how to use it fairly proficiently and he is 55, in my company there are draughtsmen aged 50-60 that have learnt to use it.

Also, you talk about "young grads out to get older people" etc etc. That is not how successful business works...the sooner you learn it the better. All your "respect the graduate" talk and yet you don't *appear* to show any respect towards older professionals.

I would normally say who it is I work for...but seeing as you need a job, you might apply and be in my team, which I really don't want, so am going to keep quiet.

Hey there

Calm Down :-)

yes you are right, Experience is important to get a job. But i consider companies which hire fresh talented graduates are very wise ones, coz fresh graduates are able to learn more than old people, and they have the interest in working and producing more than the old ones :-)

My advice to you since I am working in the HR field, NEVER GIVE UP !!

and i know you will not, and also do not work for another field than the one you studied for just for money ! keep trying and i promise if i find any open position in any company that suites you, i will let you know !

Last Advice: do not reply to the msgs you think it is below your level of thinking ;)

Take care and good luck !

I'm not quite sure if you mean you have a Masters Degree but anyway I have excellent qualifications and it took me over a year to get into my job. I will PM you my e-mail please send your CV to my e-mail I will circulate it for you. This is not a promise you will receive anything but I will try.

Knoxcollege

First of all Congratulations in your educational accomplishments.

Keep the faith running on your search for a job, Don't lose your hopes!

No one said that you had a guarantee job with a Diploma, it just telling people that you are a professional and a well train worker willing to work.

Are you a graduate from an American Institution?

Take care and I wish you the best luck on your goals.

Remember, October is fiscal year and lots of employers close the windows of employment for budget reasons. Until the beginning of January.

The Red Pope of Qatar Living

come back after 10 years.

this is not your training ground.......

if you cannot take it, leave it !!

it is much much more difficult leaving/quitting a job than finding one. You come here on your own but you leave with their permission.

So Long *******

hahai.....thats all i can say...

when the going gets tough...i get going..

Even if you have the best degree in the world from the world's best university you will not get hired. Positions that require no work experience in O&G companies are for Qataris only. The logic being that if the position is a for a fresh graduate a Qatari can fill it and be trained up.

hey.... all

i have been a visitor for sometime, i(age 28) just registered so i can say this -

WE NEED OLD PEOPLE, OLD PEOPLE NEED US......

sl, i can understand where you are coming from.... there is nutin that can replace ur experience or YOU.... yet you have to one day pass ur experience onto others (younger ppl)....otherwise u have not left an eternal mark on this world....

all younger ppl, respect people like sl PERIOD.

i find myself in a similar situation... i uptil now held a very high position, yes, maybe even higher than urs SL, but i could not take this constant power struggle that brought about no good for anyone.... SO i would like to start a new topic, where all of us can talk in a civil manner, about how to understand where all of us our coming from....

comments?

p.s. SL give this dude a chance (maybe u can dismiss him on his face, give u more pleasure!!!!!! and knoxville here is ur chance, to show what u r made off, not just a grad from UC but as a MAN, concept u must know well being brought up in this society)

Dear Lisa,

Your advice is nice and good. Good suggestions are welcomed.

renjith

I am not joking. I am in a position to give a job for him

knoxcollege never be discouraged...

Even Margaret Mitchell the author of Gone with the Wind had to face rejection from about 30 publishers (as most felt it was too big for a Novel) & it was the 31 or so publisher who Published it & it became a Best-Seller.

Serendipity has given some very good ideas. Work on it.

You can also start working in a related / similar field while trying for the position you desire.

Remember if there is a hindrence on your path you dont try to go over it relentlesly but try going around it - say a different approach.

At least you are honest about not having a job.

Take heart. Nobody in the world remains unemployed forever. Not yet.

Ask him to send his c.v. I am sure I can find a job for him. May be he doesn't need a job at all. He is just crusing Doha sts. with his Land Cruiser

ya, all the autocad stuffs.

some member here seems to be so BOASTFUL!

and Have him do all the dirty work

Good Idea Sl

Manu

Shall I give him a job?

AutoCad is for begineers.

when u turn out to be professional, then U ll have lots of other stuffs to take care.

so young engineers enjoy your autocad till u learn other stuffs.

Little Kid who doesn't even have a paid job. Listen to this. I was just offered a new job that pays double what I am getting at the moment. Another 2 are in the waiting list for me to choose. That's how the job market value my skills. not your shitxy Autocad trash.

Hey SL

you again lost your temper

see this is what happens when you are old and under pressure you stop thinking. and you think of yourself as a genius. I don't remember asking you for you degrees or your memberships. so why are you telling me about your qualifications if you want to boast about your qualifications start another thread...

Dude I was right..

I told ya that when you are not treated with respect by your boss you will also not treat your subordinates with respect and dignity.

You were looked down upon by your boss and this is what you are doing when you are the boss (God save that company)

No wonder you called your juniors work Shi*ty

Your boss forced you to make tea for him. Why didn;t you say No.

Although it was between you and your boss but were you hired as a tea-boy?

or you thought that the easy way up is by making tea for your boss.

regarding American Association memberships?

I have got membership of IEEE, PEO, NACE, SPE, AFE. These associations just want money. you pay them and you get their membership (most of them)

Moreover I never said that experience is useless, (Did I) or is it that in your field of expertise there hasn't been any technological advancement? so only old people who worked with rulers and T-Squares can survive. Look out Autocad has arrived

And Saying that you are going to make sure that I don;t get a job in Qatar proves your mentality, thinking, arrogance, proudness and bossy nature.

I am really scared now...

your attitude doesn;t show you are a boss coz bosses don;t poke their noses in other people's business.

they don;t fire people for asking a raise.

One last thing the learning process never stops. I know when i go in the field i will learn more. probably more than what i have studied my entire life

But i am gonna respect my juniors coz they might know something i don;t and one day i might be asking them to teach me that.

Wake up SL, its not gonna do you any good if you are so damn proud.

Many people advised me on this thread on what to do I thank them all for their suggestions. But except one no one said that he is a boss of his company.

This is getting personal now so I am not gonna post anymore on this thread.

Journey of thousand miles begin with a single step.

Chills

Cheers

Pal. :)

[img_assist|nid=13339|title=.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=180]

I am OK man. Just don't that kind of arrogence. They think they must have direct and automatic entry to the corporate world mearly beacause they have a some kind of BSC. When I got my 1st Job after studies my 1st task was to make tea for the Bosss of my section. These people never understand the sacrifices we made to come this far.

cool down man no worries :D

[img_assist|nid=13339|title=.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=180]

Hey Knucklehead, get it right I am a post grad and a member of relevent American Professional body with 25 years experience behind me. Go and fly kites until u find your dream job. If I know you I will make sure that you won't get a job in Qatar easily.

hey SL you might have 25 years of experience behind you but looks like you didn;t take any manners or attitude classes coz you are not only arrogant but also ignorant.

you think that you junior staff is doing Shi*ty work so this shows how much experience you got..if you don;t respect your staff they will in return not respect you and think of your work as Shi*ty. A 25 year old grad is telling this to a guy who has 25 years of experience.

Although I don;t have years of experience behind me but I do know one thing that those who are highly qualified and experienced they treat their workers with respect. looks like 25 years of experience didn;t even teach you to respect your junior staff. "I just get my junior staff to do that kind of shitxy work."

looks like you were treated really bad when u started working and now u think of your junior staff in derogatory terms.

For your information everything now is done on computers..

Treat others with respect and they will treat you with respect.

Knoxy you say your qualified but you're not even capable of keeping me and SL apart while going off on another rant? Reread through the posts above cuz I know you're confused already.

I was alone and all was dark

Beneath me and above

My life was full of volts and amps

But not the spark of love

But now that your are here with me

My heart is overjoyed

You turn the square of my heart

Into a sinusoid

You load things from my memory

Onto my system's bus

My life was once assembly code

Now it's C

I love the way you solder things

My circuits you can fix

The voltage across your diode is

much more than just point six

With your amps and resistors

You have built my integrator

I cannot survive without you

You are my function generator

You have charged my life, increased my gain

And made my maths discreet

And now I'll end my poem here

Control, Alt, and Delete

it is just for enjoyment

That hurts

sorry old fellas I had to post this SL made me post it

(NO OFFENCE)

(NO OFFENCE)

Old accountants never die, they just lose their balance.

- Old actors never die, they just drop apart.

- Old archers never die, they just bow and quiver.

- Old architects never die, they just lose their structures.

- Old bankers never die, they just lose interest.

- Old basketball players never die, they just go on dribbling.

- Old beekeepers never die, they just buzz off.

- Old bookkeepers never die, they just lose their figures.

Old cashiers never die, they just check out.

- Old chauffeurs never die, they just lose their drive.

- Old chemists never die, they just fail to react.

- Old cleaning people never die, they just kick the bucket.

- Old cooks never die, they just get deranged.

- Old daredevils never die, they just get discouraged.

- Old deans never die, they just lose their faculties.

- Old doctors never die, they just lose their patience.

- Old electricians never die, they just lose contact.

- Old farmers never die, they just go to seed.

- Old garage men never die, they just retire.

- Old hackers never die, they just go to bits.

- Old hardware engineers never die, they just cache in their chips.

- Old hippies never die, they just smell that way.

- Old horticulturists never die, they just go to pot.

- Old hypochondriacs never die, they just lose their grippe.

- Old investors never die, they just roll over.

- Old journalists never die, they just get de-pressed.

- Old knights in chain mail never die, they just shuffle off their metal coils.

- Old laser physicists never die, they just become incoherent.

- Old lawyers never die, they just lose their appeal.

- Old limbo dancers never die, they just go under.

- Old mathematicians never die, they just disintegrate.

- Old milkmaids never die, they just lose their whey.

- Old musicians never die, they just get played out.

- Old number theorists never die, they just get past their prime.

- Old numerical analysts never die, they just get disarrayed.

- Old owls never die, they just don't give a hoot.

- Old pacifists never die, they just go to peaces.

- Old photographers never die, they just stop developing.

- Old pilots never die, they just go to a higher plane.

- Old policemen never die, they just cop out.

- Old printers never die, they're just not the type.

- Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address.

- Old programming wizards never die, they just recurse.

- Old quarterbacks never die, they just pass away.

- Old schools never die, they just lose their principals.

- Old sculptors never die, they just lose their marbles.

- Old seers never die, they just lose their vision.

- Old sewage workers never die, they just waste away.

- Old skate boarders never die, they just lose their bearings.

- Old sailors never die, they just get a little dingy.

- Old Soldiers never die. Young ones do.

- Old steel makers never die, they just lose their temper.

- Old students never die, they just get degraded.

- Old tanners never die, they just go into hiding.

- Old teachers never die, they just lose their class.

- Old typists never die, they just lose their justification.

- Walt Disney didn't die. He's in suspended animation.

- Old white water rafters never die, they just get disgorged.

- Old wrestlers never die, they just lose their grip.

There is no conclusive evidence about what happens to old skeptics, but their future is doubtful.

TAKEN FROM http://cmgm.stanford.edu/~lkozar/old.html

read and enjoy

Hey Knuklehead I do know how to respect them when they are doing good work and fire them when they are doing shixxy work. I definatly know and have the power to make life misrieable to idixts like you who think they know everything in the world with a mare paper qualification.

They might not want to waste their time or money advertising in local papers because they'd get very very few responses because of the "sponsorship/no release" situation in Qatar.

They usually advertise in local newspapers of foreign countries.

I do not need the computer to do my line of work. I need the computer to surf internet only. my trade is very specialized and more experience gained is more advantages to perform the skill. you never even can think about my line of work in your dreams. Why should I bother about Aotocad. I just get my junior staff to do that kind of shitxy work.

Ya, but do you know AutoCAD? Be careful next time you go on leave, you just may come back and Knoxville is in your seat. Apparently the more years of experience you have, the less qualified you are. With 25 years experience behind you, you must need a fresh grad to help you with even turning your computer on and logging in.

ha Ha Ha I have 25 years experience behind me. You will never be able match my skills in your life time.

Your attitude sucks, you think a fresh degree and an online Masters makes you more qualified than real world experience???:

"There is one more thing I would like to add when you are a fresh graduate you are more capable then the experienced people. you still have the potential to learn. you take a person who has 20 years of experience behind him (e.g. an architect who has been drawing on paper) and tell him to work on Autocad (the new way of designing) he would probably never learn or take ages to learn Autocad.

So who is better???

I hope that made you feel better fresh grad if that didn't this defintely would

Fresh graduates there is one more thing the problem is that the experienced people dont want to hire us becuase they know that we might. no we will out-do them..

But Remember all you experienced Management people and experienced Engineers:

it is time for a change and sooner or later we will get you... your days are over.. so start counting"

I guess the first lesson you need to teach a fresh graduate is don't look in the GulfTimes for an engineering job, because school doesn't teach you common sense.

I can't resist having a bit of a dig Knox, but if you're such a bright spark, why are you looking in the Gulf Times for oil & gas sector/chemical engineering jobs?

Shouldn't you be looking in publications like the weekly oil & gas newspaper:

http://www.upstreamonline.com

http://www.upstreamonline.com/careers/

Or perhaps TCE (The Chemical Engineer), which a Chinese journalist friend of mine wrote articles for, which I edited:

http://www.tcetoday.com

There are a few jobs listed in the jobs section, but you need to subscribe to the magazine to access all job ads. Although you should be aware that it's a UK based magazine and some of the jobs *may* therefore be UK-centric, although oil & gas is a global industry and I'm guessing that should be reflected in the job ads.

Those are two publications that I'm aware of, as a non-oil & gas person, and non-chemical engineer. The former I noticed a journalism job ad for a while ago, which I mentioned to a South African journalist friend of mine who had been doing some reporting about the SA oil industry. The latter, like I said, I edited some articles for a Chinese journalist friend of mine who had some articles published in that magazine.

If I can find two publications with oil & gas/chemical engineering jobs in them...

Remember, experience is the only thing in life money can't buy. Experience is not only about running fancy softwares and drawing up colour histograms... it is about generating ideas, proposing simple solutions to complicated problems, it is about crisis management and risk management. You become a pilote only if you accumulate enough flying hours.

I think the people on this thread have given you valuable advice. It is your turn now to shift gear and make good use of the positive advice given to you. Good luck, you can do it!

I can't speak for other companies but I know ExxonMobil usually recruits heavily at the college level. Of course they want people with experience too, but I know Shell Oil and ExxonMobil are both hiring right now. The biggest problem they have is finding young engineers who are willing to work overseas. Sounds to me like you would be a perfect candidate. If I am not mistaken I believe their Chemical division is looking to start a big project in Qatar. I hope you find something. I know when my husband graduated (many, many moons ago) there were no engineering jobs available. He ended up working for a Engineering Service company and basically worked as a mechanic. Really hard work, but he does not regret it, the experince he gained was invaluable. He is a mechanical engineer.

As to your previous post. My husband prefers to work with younger engineers. He knows that they are much more enthusiastic and eager to learn. He is a very hands on type of guy (rare find in the engineering world). He is not the typical management type at all. I guess it's because of the way that he started out.

Just stay positive and hang in there. Something will come your way. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Lisa

I just checked the 2006 world university rankings published by the Times and as per them the University of California, Berkeley is ranked 8th in the world.

if anyone wants to check the university rankings you can check it at

http://www.riseu.unam.mx/v1/worldrankings2006.pdf

Moreover I recently met the Director of Human Resources of Qatar Petroleum and I told him that I am a graduate from the University of California and guess what he said.

He just asked me one thing that how much experience do I have.

There is one more thing I would like to add when you are a fresh graduate you are more capable then the experienced people. you still have the potential to learn. you take a person who has 20 years of experience behind him (e.g. an architect who has been drawing on paper) and tell him to work on Autocad (the new way of designing) he would probably never learn or take ages to learn Autocad.

So who is better???

I hope that made you feel better fresh grad if that didn't this defintely would

Fresh graduates there is one more thing the problem is that the experienced people dont want to hire us becuase they know that we might. no we will out-do them..

But Remember all you experienced Management people and experienced Engineers:

it is time for a change and sooner or later we will get you... your days are over.. so start counting

Engineering consultants and design houses are always on the lookout for fresh engineers, especially process, piping and structural engineers and designers. You'll get paid peanuts but gain good exposure and valuable experience. Call WorleyParsons, Technip, Bemco, ACE etc.

Don't expect to get into Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Maersk, OXY etc. unless you are a western grad and you applied while overseas for their graduate programs. But they will want you once you have 3-5 years experience.

Don't get into QP or any other Q companies (unless you want to spend the rest of your life in the middle east). You may get payed well and have great work timings, but your resume will be worth zilch in the global market.

A lot of the larger multinational companies recruit through international recruitment agencies.

If you're looking in the Gulf Times, you're looking in the wrong place.

Where does Qatar recruit most of its oil and gas workers from? Doha? No. It recruits them from overseas. So they wouldn't generally place an ad for a chemical engineer here, because the ones who are here are already employed and tied to their sponsors and not easily able to move jobs, they need 'fresh blood' so they won't be doing their main recruiting through the Gulf Times.

You say: "Even after having a master's degree from one of the world's top ten universities doesn;t help bcoz the so called highly qualified recruiters in Qatar don't even know about that university."

Are you sure that's the right way round? You say you have a masters from one of the top ten universities but the 'so called' highly qualified recruiters aren't aware of it. Are you sure you don't have a masters from a 'so called' top ten university that the highly qualified recruiters haven't heard of?

I don't mean that in any kind of derogatory way, but I'm aware that in the UK lots of the less prestigious universities tell overseas students all kinds of b*ll*cks to get them to enrol and pay their overseas student fees. Lots of the not so good universities pretend that they have a very good reputation, but they don't. I've met someone in my field who has been an overseas student and they've paid a lot of money to a university they think is the bees knees when I know it doesn't have a very good reputation. It's possible to manipulate statistics to tell you anything is 'top ten'. I felt sorry and angry on behalf of my colleague who had been duped in that way.

Also, bear in mind that there are cultural differences in the way different nationalities recruit. You emphasise your qualification. It's a cultural thing. Lots of, e.g. asians will emphasise their academics, their ability to pass exams and the fact they have the right qualifications, whereas europeans and north americans will place greater store on work experience and 'soft skills' like team working, problem solving, working on initiative, time management, and so on.

It's something to bear in mind when approaching a recruiter. If you're speaking with or being interviewed by someone who values paper certificates, the academic qualifications, you need to appreciate their priorities and to reassure them that you meet their criteria, that you have the requisite certificates and qualifications.

On the other hand, if you're being interviewed by someone who values the work experience and 'soft skills', you wouldn't help your chances if they asked you, tell me why you think you can do this job, and you tell them "I have a masters from a top ten university". An answer like that doesn't reassure them you can do the job. It reassures them that you can study and write a dissertation, but it doesn't reassure them that you perform in a real-life work environment.

If you're speaking to a recruiter who prioritises the soft skills, your masters qualification gets you the phone call or interview, it isn't what makes you suitable to do the job. If someone like that asks: "Tell me why you think you can do this job?", you need to tell them about work experience, how you've solved problems (during your university lab sessions and in writing up your dissertation if you don't have actual work experience), explain how you've worked in teams before to achieve goals and so on. You need to reassure them not that you have certificates but that you have 'transferable skills'.

Bear in mind the kind of cultural attitudes of the recruiters you speak to and provide the kind of culturally appropriate answers they need.

There are all kinds of 'cultural sensitivity' training sessions that companies send people on when they're starting a new posting in a foreign country, to explain such differences and promote understanding. But it's a bit of a chicken:egg situation. You have to have some level of awareness of cultural differences to make it through the application and selection process.

Good luck!

...fresh graduate Engineers start their careers in a consultancy, where you would be coached and trained by your senior peers. I have also seen oil companies hire fresh graduates in the West, but not in GCC, which seems to the territory for people (expats) who have 8 to 10+ years experience. You are correct to assume that if you were Qatari, you wouldn't have this problem. You would have been sent abroad to study, full expenses paid by the governement, then come home to a waiting job for you.

I understand you might have problems obtaining work visas and so on in foreign countries, but do not dispair, i know at least of one case of a fresh electrical graduate Engineer who found a job in Azerbaidjan! Try the old USSR oil-belt countries, like Kazakhstan also; their economies are booming, and they could be more "user friendly". Best of luck!

Try this one if you have not tried earlier. Go to each company's website. Search for recruitment section. and then search for the vacancies suitable for your profile. These companies usually dont announce their vacancies in newspaper. Also look out for the placement agencies for these companies.

And just dont get disppointed as these biiiig companies usually take a lot of time for routine procedures.

Best of luck!!!

There is a saying: You never fail until you stop trying.

Keep applying and try to do anything that could help put some working expereinfe in your CV. Good luck

I know that ExxonMobil is always looking for engineer. Try this website

http://www.exxonmobil.com/USA-English/HR/HR_Homepage.asp

Hope it helps.

Lisa

knoxcollege, I understand your disappoitment. Perhaps companies are looking for experience.

Just keep trying, don't give up. Things come in their right time. Do you have faith in yourself and abilities? You seem pretty sure. And I'm sure you'll land a job.

Good luck.