July 30, 2008

Recently while in Indonesia I was offered a position with Specialist Training Australia in Riyadh on the condition that I immediately returned to the United States and receive the necessary clearances and that I was issued a Saudi visa.

Since I had an initial good impression of the representative of STA and even though time was short, due to later being told that two other candidates had pulled out at the last minute, I had already returned to the States and had already gone through expenses to receive the necessary paperwork. I was then sent a "false" contract which I was assured was not valid nor would be used, but which only needed to be signed in order to receive the Saudi visa.

After requesting and receiving a signed letter stating this, and even though I was skeptical, because the letter was not signed by the person who had signed this contract, but by the representative I had been in continual contact with,I still decided to give the benefit of the doubt, and went ahead and signed the contract. However, after questioning this practice, the relationship seemed to change. Due to several repeated issues concerning shared housing, and general working conditions which continued to not be clarified in emails, I decided that I could not trust the situation, and decided to decline the position.

The reason I considered the position in Saudi in the first place was primarily the pay, even though Saudi Arabia can be an interesting and eye opening experience, Saudi is very different than any other country in the world and with its restrictive and closed system, can be a difficult place for anyone to live. Therefore, one really needs to have all contractual issues in place, be able to contact future colleagues to get their viewpoints and perspectives, and to be able to trust that issues will be addressed and put in writing, and more importantly that there will be no hidden agendas, and trust that the situation and working conditions will be what is expected after arrival.

I spent a great deal of my time and money on this venture, and since there is very little information on the Net regarding STA, I decided to post this information.

If you are considering working for this company or any company, make sure that everything is clear and in writing, and that you are aware and can accept the working and living conditions and how business is done, before proceeding and making the move to Saudi Arabia.

Kai Lamborn
kailan76@yahoo.com