It was 9:15 am, 2 days ago when I received my offer from Dawn of QF. The benefit package was very lucrative. Without giving up a dollar amount here is a list of benefits offered by QF:
- monthly salary
- no taxes
- free furnished accommodation
- paid utilities
- medical and life insurance for myself and my dependents
- 20% towards the purchase of a vehicle
- monthly transportation allowance
- shipping allowance
- relocation allowance
- paid tuition to a QF private school or an allowance toward another private school for my dependents
- visa sponsorship for myself and my family
- yearly flights home for myself and my family
However, there were two problems.
1) I was only given 2 days to sign
2) I wanted to compare the benefits of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait and I had not yet received offers from either ADEC or AUSK.
I called my Teach Away reps to find out the status of my other applications. Apparently, I was still being considered for both companies and awaiting offer letters.
Later that evening, I SKYPED with Dawn. She was open and willing to offer answers to all my questions. I would be teaching Kindergarten, which I indicated as my grade of preference, unless she hired a teacher who could only teach Kindergarten, then I would be bumped to first grade. Either is fine with me. I would be responsible for the subjects English Language Arts and Science.
My family and I put together a comparison chart for the three countries and taped it to the wall. We were going to use it to display the benefits to help with the decision making.
For the most part, I had some idea of the benefits ADEC and AUSK offered. ADEC did not pay utilities, transportation fees or schooling for the boys. The salary was a little more but once you factor in the transportation allowance and paid utilities it actually is a whole lot less. That doesn’t even include tuition for my kids and private schooling is expensive. Expat children cannot attend public school in Abu Dhabi. Another consideration was that I would not know where I would be placed until I got there and the contract would be for 3 years. The benefits package offered by AUSK is a lot more comparable to QF. AUSK has a beautiful facility, but the pay is less. Kuwait also lies very close to Iraq and Iran.
By Friday I still hadn’t heard from ADEC or AUSK and a decision had to be made. Should I wait for the other offers and possibly lose out on a great opportunity or take a chance and go with a country that I never considered previously?
Teaching Abroad- American Teacher Overseas 