Hello everyone, I'm Yaren. I'm a 3rd-year student at the Faculty of Business Administration. Last summer, like all students, I had a dream to go to America. However, the consulate didn't open due to the pandemic, and I couldn't go to America. I wanted to evaluate my summer vacation differently. I started researching different programs. Then I came across the Work&Study Dubai program. After researching, I compared it with Work&Travel, and I thought it suited me. I decided to go to Dubai, and signed up for the 8-week course. My Dubai adventure started with the issue of my visa.
Accommodation
My first 2 weeks were spent in dormitory accommodation. However, due to the dormitory location being far from the centre, at the end of 2 weeks, I went to a house in Dubai Marina. Most students go home in this location because it is within walking distance of the school. My stay here was a double room, and we were staying with a friend. We had our own bathroom and a shared kitchen. In my 3rd week, I got a job at Dubai Mall and started working. My distance from home and workplace was one hour, so after a month at Dubai Marina, I went home Downtown, 5 minutes away from work. The accommodation was also a room for 4 people, and I had a shared kitchen and bathroom.
Education
When we went to school, we first solved the placement test on the site to determine our level. Afterward, we took a speaking test at school by foreign instructors. As a result of these exams, we were placed in classes according to our level. And so our training began. My first level was pre-intermediate. At the end of the 4-week course, I upgraded my level to intermediate with the level skipping exam. All of our instructors were native English speakers. This is an essential factor for the quality of education. It was distributed to the classes as mixed students of different nationalities. This way, we could make friends from many different cultures.
Find a Job
I can say that finding a job in Dubai is definitely network-based. Therefore, meet as many people as possible because we can't predict what will come from it. If I were going to talk about how I was looking for a job, I would join Whatsapp groups first and sometimes get messages from employee seekers. I went to a few interviews like this, but I was not too fond of it.
So how did I find the actual workplace where I worked for two months? The process was as follows. One day, a friend of mine said he was going to a job interview and called me. Here we did an interview together. At the end of the interview, the employer said we would get back to you. However, they did not give us any answer. Later, this friend of mine went again, left his CV by hand, met with a different manager, and was invited to try it. Leave your resume again, Yaren said. So I went again and left my CV. I spoke to a different manager and was called in to give it a try. My test result was positive, and I worked for that company for two months.
Like me, you can't wait to make your dreams come true.
My blog posts about my Dubai adventure will continue. Stay tuned... ☺️