RIYADH, 12 May 2005 — The Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp., took the top prize of the Institution of Public Administration (IPA), for having the highest number of Saudi graduates — 5,000 — working in a company.
Prince Salman, Riyadh governor presented the award to Abdullah Al-Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, executive president, on Saudi Graduate Day held during the graduation of students at the IPA last week.
Al-Rajhi expressing his appreciation and gratitude to Riyadh governor said that the number of Saudi employees in the company had increased from 3,500 at the end of year 2000 to 5,000 employees both male and female.
The company employs between 400-500 new job seekers every year. “The number, with the expansion of the company’s business and the opening of new branches, is increasing yearly” Al-Rajhi said.
The executive president expressed his thanks to the chairman of the board and the managing director of the IPA and congratulated the graduates. He said that the company is proud of this honor and delighted by these achievements. He saw it a crown for the company efforts of employing and training the new Saudis graduates. “We employ these new graduates without requiring experience and take them into work place as a national duty and investment in the future” Al-Rajhi said.
He noted that the company had long ago launched the initiative requiring no experience when employing Saudi national because by hands on experience and through seminars and training programs they gain experience.
He emphasized that this program qualified and prepared them to be highly competent banking employees.
Al-Rajhi mounted a special display in an exhibition organized during the occasion and received numbers of unemployed Saudi youth. It distributed job application forms prior to pre-screening to identify the suitable applicants.