How do people from developing countries negotiate salary in the ME? for example I am earning 30,000 usd per year in India and in discussion with employer in the UAE for a corporate strategy role. They ask for my current salary and expected salary. How much should I expect given salary is not transparent in the region.

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Or state your current salary in INR and use UAE PPP to convert into a USD equivalent number.

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You lie

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I gave the expected salary based of general market rate for such roles. The Glassdoor data is not always accurate as salaries tend to vary based of total experience, total local experience and sometimes nationality.

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It's just a formality. They're gonna try and shortchange youregardless of what you tell them as they know even their lower end offer would be more than what you'd have in your country. Id suggest just saying your actual salary in local currency & expected salary as whatever Glassdoor is saying. If it's a form explicitly in USD just write current salary in local currency and claim it was a mistake later. These are just tactics

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Got it. Thank you! Cost of living in Dubai is much higher than India, direct salary comparison doesn’t make any sense.

smart

220,000 AED

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Be honest as in the end they will ask for your pay slip. But state the UAE salary that you expect based on market data with 2/3 strong reasons why - higher overall cost of living, shifting life to a new location, etc. Everything in USD for ease of discussion - feel free to generously round up or down and using “favorable” 5-yr average currency conversion rates.

Separately do your math as to what is acceptable to you. When they interview from developing countries the company either doesn’t have the budget to hire from the local market or is explicitly seeking to get someone at the lower end of it.

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Couple of options:
1- Try to get yourself into a consulting role as a first step into the region. They have fixed pay per level, so they don’t care how much you made before. Then you can go to industry with good comp
2- Alternatively, if your skills are in demand, try to get other offers and bid them against each other

Your negotiation power is directly tied to your best alternative option - if you have none, you have no power.

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