Expert: Torski Dobson-Arnold - 7/28/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Sir,

Let me take an opportunity to introduce myself. I am a resident of India working as a Sr. IT Recruiter. I got a job offer from Saudia Arabia (Riyadh) as a Recruitment consultant but the salary they are offering looks very less. they are offering me $1200 per month which will be around 50000 indian rupees. I have no idea as to what is the market rate in saudia arabia. I dont want to be in a situation where i regret for accepting a job offer for a very low salary.

I would really appreciate if you can help me with what should be an average salary in US dollars or Saudi Riyals that a recruitment consultant should get.


Regards,
Mohammed

ANSWER: Mohammed:

The title "recruitment consultant" is a very loose term.  It can mean a number or things here in the United States.  Once this is defined, I would compare a job description to those listed in the US Dept of Labor standard position titles and then research salaries for that specific job title.

I am sorry I am not able to explore this question more but I don't have enough information about what a "recruitment consultant" is in your situation to give enough opinion on the topic.

-Torski

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sir,

It is referred as "Technical Recruiter" or "IT recruiter".

I hope this will help you..

Answer
Mohammed:

I am not sure of the cost of living index in Saudia Arabia and you'll want to look into this as well before making a decision and here's why.  I live in Virginia.  My first job in corporate America was an an IT recruiter in VA and I made $30K which is roughly $15/hr. and $2500 which is BEFORE taxes here in the US.  Now if you don't pay taxes in Saudia Arabia and IF the cost of living is LOW, then it's possible that $1200 month is suffice.  If living in SAudia Arabia is comparable to living in New York City, NY, then $1200 is way too low and not enough to make ends meet. In NY, an IT recruiter would make at least $79K which is roughly $6500/month and $37/hr.  But this is not a "catch all" payscale.  There are other factors such as experience, education, etc. that would need to be examined.

A helpful link is listed here:
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-IT+Recruiter/l-New+York,+NY

Again, it is my sincerest suggestion that you check out salary sites such as salary.com OR payscale.com to determine comparable US cities in regards to the their costs-of-living index to determine what will work for you and your particular situation.

I hope this information helps you in your salary negotiation process.