You know angel, your story with the interviews, the impression given to you during them, and the offer and the disbelief that accompanied all remind me of my first job-hunt experience in Qatar.
I remember it like it was yesterday… I dropped my resume with the tea-boy of that company and didn't really think it would get anywhere, but I thought what the heck I'll give it a try.
By the time I got home, before I even got out of the taxi cab, my cell phone was ringing and the C.E.O. of that company personally was on the phone conversing with me with such great excitement and enthusiasm. He was so happy to talk to me and so cheerful like you won't believe. He wanted me for interview right there and then. He told me to ask the cab to turn around and drop me back at the company.
When I arrived, he greeted me like I was his long-lost brother. He addressed me with such great respect and regard like I was a foreign dignitary from some super-power country. He was UNBELIEVABLY happy to meet me and honored to be in my presence… these are the words he actually used.. I am truly honored to be in your presence with your great and long work experience in the U.S. I never really had such respect paid to me in my entire life like that respect I was treated with during the interview… and he kept repeating, "I normally don't interview potential employees because it's not my job as a CEO to do that, and I normally don't write job offers or deliver them myself, but for you, I will do all of that."
Just imagine… the man during the first minute of this on-the-fly interview was already telling me I'm accepted for the job and that he'll have the job offer ready for me within a few hours. I really couldn't be happier with that treatment… it was REALLY unbelievable and truly promising.
I walked out of his office feeling like a million dollars… I was just happy to receive such great treatment and could only anticipate that the offer would be either equally respectful of my experience or at least pretty close to that level of respect. I mean, I have NEVER in my entire life in the U.S. been in a situation where I dropped my resume, got interviewed, got the written job offer all in the same day… this all happened within the span of no more than 2 hours.
So, about an hour and a half after the interview I went back to pick up the job offer like the C.E.O. asked me to… and he was all cheerful again and reminded me that he's never delivered a job offer to anyone before and that he made an exception in my case because he liked me so much.
Do you really wanna know what the job offer was?
First 3 months on the job: Total salary with all allowances possible is 1,500 QAR.
After 3 months and after I transfer my residency/sponsorship to the company: Total salary with all allowances possible is 3,500 QAR.
If I get married, I get a marriage allowance of 250 QAR. So, the maximum possible total is 3,750 QAR.
I swear I hard a hard time keeping a tear from dropping from my left eye. I felt so insulted like you won't believe. I really felt pain down my throat because of how insulting the offer was. I wished I never did apply, never did see his face, and never did get such an offer that insulted and degraded my professional experience. He didn't even respect my experience enough to get the offer up to 4,000…. 4,000 is still a joke, but at least it's a nice round number… well.. he thought even that joke of a nice round number is too big an offer for my experience.
To this day I still feel insulted and humiliated every time I remember that amazingly respectful treatment during the interview and that amazingly disrespectful offer.
You know angel, your story with the interviews, the impression given to you during them, and the offer and the disbelief that accompanied all remind me of my first job-hunt experience in Qatar.
I remember it like it was yesterday… I dropped my resume with the tea-boy of that company and didn't really think it would get anywhere, but I thought what the heck I'll give it a try.
By the time I got home, before I even got out of the taxi cab, my cell phone was ringing and the C.E.O. of that company personally was on the phone conversing with me with such great excitement and enthusiasm. He was so happy to talk to me and so cheerful like you won't believe. He wanted me for interview right there and then. He told me to ask the cab to turn around and drop me back at the company.
When I arrived, he greeted me like I was his long-lost brother. He addressed me with such great respect and regard like I was a foreign dignitary from some super-power country. He was UNBELIEVABLY happy to meet me and honored to be in my presence… these are the words he actually used.. I am truly honored to be in your presence with your great and long work experience in the U.S. I never really had such respect paid to me in my entire life like that respect I was treated with during the interview… and he kept repeating, "I normally don't interview potential employees because it's not my job as a CEO to do that, and I normally don't write job offers or deliver them myself, but for you, I will do all of that."
Just imagine… the man during the first minute of this on-the-fly interview was already telling me I'm accepted for the job and that he'll have the job offer ready for me within a few hours. I really couldn't be happier with that treatment… it was REALLY unbelievable and truly promising.
I walked out of his office feeling like a million dollars… I was just happy to receive such great treatment and could only anticipate that the offer would be either equally respectful of my experience or at least pretty close to that level of respect. I mean, I have NEVER in my entire life in the U.S. been in a situation where I dropped my resume, got interviewed, got the written job offer all in the same day… this all happened within the span of no more than 2 hours.
So, about an hour and a half after the interview I went back to pick up the job offer like the C.E.O. asked me to… and he was all cheerful again and reminded me that he's never delivered a job offer to anyone before and that he made an exception in my case because he liked me so much.
Do you really wanna know what the job offer was?
First 3 months on the job: Total salary with all allowances possible is 1,500 QAR.
After 3 months and after I transfer my residency/sponsorship to the company: Total salary with all allowances possible is 3,500 QAR.
If I get married, I get a marriage allowance of 250 QAR. So, the maximum possible total is 3,750 QAR.
I swear I hard a hard time keeping a tear from dropping from my left eye. I felt so insulted like you won't believe. I really felt pain down my throat because of how insulting the offer was. I wished I never did apply, never did see his face, and never did get such an offer that insulted and degraded my professional experience. He didn't even respect my experience enough to get the offer up to 4,000…. 4,000 is still a joke, but at least it's a nice round number… well.. he thought even that joke of a nice round number is too big an offer for my experience.
To this day I still feel insulted and humiliated every time I remember that amazingly respectful treatment during the interview and that amazingly disrespectful offer.
So.. I feel you :)