I received an offer from Aramco to work as an expat in KSA. GC is 14 and the net annual salary is close to $200k. The issue is that I have a PhD in Chemical Engineering and almost 20 years experience in oil and gas working in Oklahoma. Is this a low balling? I would appreciate your feedback guys. Thanks
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I would negotiate for GC 15. Depending on your experience area, I’ve seen someone with 11 years experience in Upstream, after PhD, come in at GC 16. PhDs with downstream experience I’ve seen come in at GC 15. Raises are low going forward so better to start at higher level up front.
I have similar experience and expecting to negotiate at 20k base plus free housing plus transport allowance plus schooling plus tickets plus visa plus medicals. Would it be ok?
Also, you will be playing Russian Roulette with your health. Breathe air that’s typically 20X above WHO safe limits. Daily.
Also. 38 days vacation is a misnomer. You have to ‘earn’ weekends by working at least a day of the preceding week, to avoid the weekend being counted as leave. Gone then, the simple taking a week off between 2 weekends. And you cannot avoid losing weekend days when on multi week holidays. Another lie among many.
Let’s play spot the Aramco HR post.
Repat is 15k ish. Bonus is 25k ish.
It’s peanuts compared to the salary element, get real.
Aside from base pay and C&S, you will also receive yearly bonus, repat allowance, 38 vacation days, number of holidays, opportunity to send your kids to boarding, etc. Consider the whole package and don’t focus on the base number.
But on the low side. You seem well qualified. You should seek your current gross base as a minimum.
If you have nearly 20 years exp, you are probably around 40. That would give you up to 20 years of the RIP and the Savings Plan. By the way the Aramco savings plan is ranked third among US companies so it’s really good. These two benefits will add a lot. Getting a SC 15 as others have mentioned would be nice. Despite the many negative comments on this site, Aramco is still a great place to work. I wish you all the best.
They base your salary and GC on you western salary before tax. Thats a ridiculous offer considering the work conditions and hardship, and your background. A joke. The good days are gone.at Aramco.
Just to make sure that you are comfortable with this salary in next 5 or 10 years as there is virtually no increment in western payroll salary. If you have a good job right now even earning bit less, you can easily surpass this figure in few more years of working at your current position.
That’s very poor indeed. I would be looking for a base of $20k a month minimum. Given your experience you should be GC15 at the very least.
You must be hugely underpaid or unemployed to be even considering what they have offered you.
What department is the offer with and what is the job title?
$18k per month total? I'm surprised that is a step up for a US O&G PhD. Not sure why you are even considering a number like that unless you are currently jobless.
The base salary is $14k and expat premium is $3k. the total monthly salary is closed to $18k.
If the 200K includes the expat bonus and C&S payment, you are getting low-balled big time. I would never take this offer.
If you will get 200K base, then the salary is toward the low end of the range for others I know with your background, but those guys are GC 15+. GC 14 gets a lower bonus percentage and flies coach. This offer might be worth accepting if you are unemployed or age 50+ and its a nice increase over what you are making now, but otherwise I would pass.
I was waiting for this.
Okay, what is the monthly base salary you were offered?