RIYADH, 28 December 2004 — Around 1,500 unemployed Saudi graduates have signed up for a nine-day training programs to be conducted by the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam from Jan. 1, 2005.
The programs come within the framework of the Labor Ministry’s plan to find jobs for unemployed Saudis. Spelling out the details of the program, Khalid A. Al-Mubarak, training consultant at HRDF, told Arab News that they are targeting Saudi graduates in the first phase to be followed by similar programs for undergraduates.
He pointed out that after Eid Al-Adha the training scheme will be extended to Makkah, Madinah and places like Qassim and Najran. “The focus in the first stage is on unemployed graduates. Next step will be to enroll high school students. Women will be covered by the training programs at a later stage.”
Under the program, which is free of charge, the trainees will be updated on the requirements and trends of the job market. “We shall teach them work ethics, and how to prepare for an interview by improving their communication skills.
“Al-Mubarak said the trainees would also go through an aptitude test to determine their placement in the training program. There would also be an orientation course in English in addition to one in computing. The trainees would have the benefit of vocational guidance to enable them to decide on the future course of action,” he said, adding that the total duration of the program is 45 hours spread over nine days.
The HRDF program runs parallel to that of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT). Under it, all unemployed Saudis will be first classified into two categories: Qualified and unqualified candidates. The qualified among them will be sent to the job market after providing them with necessary training and refresher courses.
Providing an update on the fund’s activities, the HRDF official said it has so far supported 188 firms in the industrial sector, which constitutes 17 percent of the industrial establishments. The number of jobs provided through the fund was 7,991.
These figures also tally more or less with the findings of a survey conducted by the Riyadh-based Gulf Management Services (GMS), according to which the percentage of Saudization in the industrial sector went up from 18 percent in 2000 to 23 percent this year. This works out to a growth rate of one percent annually as against five percent envisaged by the government.
Al-Mubarak referred to the agreement signed between HRDF and Microsoft that would enable 300 Saudis to develop their skills in the fields of system engineering, data base management and computer programming.
In other developments, the fund participated in 43 programs involving the public and private sectors. More recently, it organized the Technology Conference and Career Open Day exhibition that brought together 6,300 visitors in Riyadh.
