Saudi Aramco Via Training Pros

In March 2014, I applied for a design position with the recruitment agency Training Pros. They sent me a listing for a different job, asking if I’d be interested. This job was located in Saudi Arabia, paid a very good salary and offered free everything from housing to transportation to food allowance. It took a little bit of time for me to get used to the idea of going to a crazy place like Saudi Arabia, but, as I was facing zero prospects in America, I decided to go for it. However, as I have three cats (not to mention my condo) I could not do this without the help and support of my mother (she had recently sold our old house in Pittsburgh and moved to RI to be near me). Well, she reacted just as I expected, freaking out like a mother would about her daughter moving to Saudi Arabia for a year (if not more). 

Over the next few days, she spoke to her relatives in Australia who worked for the very same company (Saudi Aramco) in the same location, and they reassured her, “you don’t even know you’re there! It feels just like America!” So, she agreed to support me in this endeavor and take care of my cats and look after my place while I’m gone. I then contacted the recruiter to tell her I was on board with this job. She forwarded my contact information to her colleague who was responsible for this role, and we had a long detailed phone call/interview. I sent him loads of samples, which he said he was going to pass along to the company.

And I never heard from him again.

I emailed him one or two weeks later asking for an update. No response. A second email again went completely ignored. I finally emailed the woman who initially set this whole thing up who said “it looks like the project has been put on hold.”

I am still amazed and shocked at just how rotten some people can be in this new economy. That both my mother and I were put through the proverbial “emotional ringer” for nothing and then were left hanging…I remain at a loss for words.