How to Find a Job in Saudi Arabia as an Expat: LinkedIn Profile & Recruiters

Many people often DM me saying, “We have applied for many jobs. We have the required skill set. Our qualifications match. We have the required certifications. But still, we are not getting job calls from the Saudi market.” So, brother, the problem is not your skill set, nor your qualifications. The problem is that you probably don’t know the trend – what is the hiring season in the Saudi market, and which season does hiring slow down?

You probably don’t know the smart application strategy. I will tell you which seasons you should apply in, which seasons you should slow down the application process and focus on your networking, what your application strategy should be, and most importantly, I will give you a six-step process because in Saudi Arabia, specialized profiles shine. Generalized profiles do not shine.

We are going to discuss what the peak hiring windows are. The first peak hiring window is from January until March, excluding Eid and Ramadan – I will tell you specifically about those later. Why is January to March the peak hiring window? First of all, because new budgets are allocated to projects, and to fulfill the resource needs within projects, recruiters actively put in efforts for the first two quarters. They need to meet their resource needs. Projects are kicking off. You need to mobilize teams, and at this time, you have a great need for resources. That is the first peak hiring window for the Saudi market.

The second peak hiring window is from September to November. Why? This hiring window is important because it is post-summer. We also call it the second wave of hiring. In this timeframe, most recruiters are returning from their vacations. Because just like in Pakistan or India, here too, summer holidays occur. Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, schools are off during the summer holidays. During this time, most people are planning their family trips. Likewise, recruiters are mostly not available. So your timeframe from July to August is a big slowdown period. During this time, you should not apply for jobs. If you want to apply for jobs, you should start from September because this is the post-summer second wave. These two seasons – January to March and September to November – are the ones where market demand is high. These are the two seasons in which recruiters are most actively hiring.

Second, let’s discuss what our slowdown periods are. First of all, during the tenure of Ramadan and Eid, hiring freezes in a way. The reason is that during Ramadan, most people focus on worship, and the workload here becomes comparatively very low. You also get at least one week of Eid holidays – almost 10 holidays easily. So, understand that the last week of Ramadan and the week after Ramadan are holidays. If you are applying during this time, it means your CV will be read at least 10 days later, and even then, recruiters may not start actively processing it. So you should absolutely not apply during or just before Ramadan and Eid.

During the Hajj season, there will be very limited roles – I will explain later which roles those are. Very limited roles during every season, which is mostly the June-July tenure. During this time, only those with specialized domains like hospitality or logistics should apply, because most of the demand during these days is for these roles. So if someone is an expert, they should apply during this time. Even those who are applying for Hajj season jobs – meaning job opportunities that will arise during Hajj – should apply at least two to three months in advance so that they can secure their job and come here in time.

The summer tenure from July to August, as I already told you, there are vacations and activity is very low. During these months, recruiters are not very productive, and that’s why you should not apply during this time.

So, brother, if we shouldn’t apply during this time, what should we do during this time? Your entire focus during this time should be on networking. What does networking mean? LinkedIn is your social media platform for professionals. You need to network on it. How to network? Let’s say you are from the IT domain. You need to interact with leaders in the IT domain or people who are connected with hiring managers or are very active. How to interact? Go to their posts and interact with them. Make comments. Comments don’t mean just going and saying “I am interested in a role” or something like that. You need to make meaningful comments so that you can show your value – how valuable you are. Because your words define you. So make comments on their posts. Share your thoughts, share some value with people, share some experiences. Connect with them. Follow them. Follow their events. If any job advertisement comes, follow up on it. The purpose is to network. Grow your social circle with your targeted market – meaning with the people of the Saudi Arabia market. During these days, you need to grow your LinkedIn social circle so that by the time the next peak hiring window arrives, you have done so much networking that people at least know your name. If you are applying somewhere, people see that “yes, that person is actively available on LinkedIn, continuously adding value, bringing something out of the box.”

So during the slowdown period, you need to apply your entire focus on networking, on growing your community. And as soon as the peak hiring season starts, you apply for jobs.

One more thing: when the peak hiring season arrives, you need to adopt a smart application strategy. Now, what is this smart application strategy? First of all, try to apply from Sunday to Tuesday. Why? Because this is the start of the week. When recruiters come to meet their KPIs, early in the week, at the very start of the week. In Saudi Arabia, the first working day is Sunday. So on Sunday, most of the time recruiters are active to achieve their targets. And as human nature goes, as the weekend approaches, our energy goes down. So the best time to apply is from Sunday to Tuesday.

Again, as I told you, before the peak season arrives, during the slowdown phase, you need to network. Plus, you need to prepare your CVs. Make your CV ATS-friendly. Use the downtime. The slowdown time I told you about is for networking and for learning the skill sets required in the Saudi market. During the slowdown period, when recruiters are not very active, learn the skill sets that this market demands. Focus on targeted applications. It’s not like you wake up in the morning, apply a filter, see 50 jobs, and apply to all 50. No. Not every job needs to be applied for. What you need to do is pick, let’s say, 5 jobs out of those 50 and tailor your CV according to those 5 jobs. And then add keywords accordingly in your resume so that it passes through the ATS and reaches the recruiter. So this means that with the right strategy and right timing, you will get a quicker response from the recruiter.

Now I will tell you six steps – or six points – that definitely work in the Saudi market.

First of all, you need to select your sector and select a specific role.

Secondly, let’s say, for example, I am a developer, I am a software engineer. Maybe I know .NET development, maybe I also know Python development. So I need to decide my path. I need to see which role I want to go for. What is my target market? So first of all, you need to pick one sector and one role and put all your effort into that.

Second, and most important thing is that, you need to understand the local work culture. How will you understand it? Again, when you network, when you follow people on LinkedIn, you will ultimately understand how the Saudi market works. So understanding the local culture, understanding the local work environment – that’s most important for you.

The third and very important thing is to build a strong LinkedIn profile. More than 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn for hiring. And if your LinkedIn profile is average or below average, trust me, no matter how good your skill set is, it will not help you secure a job. So, during the slowdown period, along with networking and skill sets, you also need to work on your profile.

The fourth one is to apply only through trusted platforms. You will see on LinkedIn, on multiple online social media platforms, “We are hiring for something.” You should only apply through trusted platforms – such as LinkedIn. Go through those trusted partners so that you can avoid any kind of job scam. One very important thing to remember here is that when you apply for a job in the Saudi market, they will bear all your expenses – your visa, your ticket, your processing. In fact, they bear all the costs of the entire process. So if someone is asking you for money to process your application, trust me, that is a scam for you. Do not get involved with them. That’s why I’m saying apply only and only on trusted platforms. Do not go to untrusted platforms. Do your networking.

The fifth point is that you need to network with people – not just with HR. Let’s say you are in the IT industry or the project management industry. Your networking or your connections should not only be with recruiters and HR people who are hiring for that role. You need to connect with specialized people in the local market so that you can share your value with them, share your experience, and they can know that you have the right skill set. Often, the department that has the need refers people to HR. So, only connecting with HR or networking with HR is not the right solution for you. So you need to connect with people from your overall domain rather than just with HR.

Last and most important is that you have to show that you are ready. How will you show that? Share your certifications, your achievements, your networking, and your challenges on your LinkedIn profile. Share the things you have learned. Teach others what you have learned so that people know that you are the right person who has the right skill set and who can work as a team, go along with our team, and add value.

Again, I will repeat the same line: In the Saudi market, generalized profiles do not work. The ones that shine are specialized profiles.

Just to wrap up: The best moments to apply are from January to March or September to November. You should avoid applying during Ramadan, during Eid, during Hajj, and during the summer. Except for those specialized jobs – as I mentioned, during Hajj, demand for hospitality jobs increases. Apart from those domains, you should not apply during the Hajj, Ramadan, or summer seasons because this will not work for you.

So if your strategy and the market’s timeline match, then job hunting in Saudi Arabia is not a big deal.