DXB and Emirates in General
I think baob2oba has highlighted something, there seems to be a pereception that DXB is some sort of 'eldorado', to quote from his post, Yes, DXB in the past has been a fertile feeding ground ground for expats, relatively high salaries, augmented by a tax free regime, low cost of living and generally free or subsidised accommodation with maybe a car or car allowance thrown in. I myself have experienced this there but it is a far cry from the current reality.
An ever depreciating Dirham, thanks to the americans and their clueless, live for today approach to economics. The 'washington peso' has dragged the dirham plus all other pegged currencies to new lows, meanwhile eating into savings and driving up inflation, approximately 10% at the moment in UAE and 14% in Qatar.
No proper or enforced rent controls in UAE, so you are at the mercy of the landlord.
Inflation, as mentioned, is raising the price of basic food items.
Socialising in DXB is not cheap, and neither is shopping...for all those whose prime motivation is the above.
The bottom line is that as an inexperienced dispatcher you will barely earn enough to live on, let alone have a life, in DXB. Don't believe all this nonsense from the dispatch school about top jobs available, it's all camel crap and any posts you see about this guy and that girl getting a great salary as their first job is just propaganda spread by the school. It doesn't happen that way. I don't hire newbies on high salaries,( although I offer a hell of alot more than 5000doodaas) I can afford to but I dont, it upsets the other staff, diminishes moral and gives the new guy nothing to aspire to salary-wise.
Dreams of graduating with your new dispatch licence and walking into EK or EY or even the mob in SHJ need to be tweaked somewhat to be in line with the reality that they generally want to see several years of proven experience on your record before they will even look at you. They work in high volume, high pressure environments that cannot be recreated in the dispatch school, it's impossible to mimick that kind of environment artificially, so why should they take a chance on you?
Your best bet, if you want to stick around the gulf area is to apply to as many operators as possible and take the best offer that comes along, bearing in mind that you are competing with the ones who are willing to work for pittance and a kick in the arse and for whom 5000dirhams is alot of money, living 15 to a squat!
It's a hustle!