JEDDAH, 4 June 2008 — In order to help young Saudis get jobs and provide employers with innovative Saudization and manpower solutions, an organization was set up here last month.
Turad Al-Amri, president and founder of Bait Assawadah, said Saudi youths lack guidance and the organization aims to fill this void.
“Saudis are no less clever nor are they unable to work. Let’s say there is a deficiency in the way jobs are marketed. The government sector does market jobs well; the private sector needs to do more,” said Al-Amri.
Bait Assawadah is the result of two years of study with researchers traveling to Oman, South Africa, Germany and Malaysia to gain relevant experience. “We benefited from the Malaysian experience and cooperated with a management consulting firm in Malaysia,” said Al-Amri.
“Malaysians were in a similar situation as Saudis, but they managed to prove their abilities. They believe in the transfer of know-how,” he added.
According to Al-Amri, Bait Assawadah’s aim is to help not only people entering the labor market for the first time but also those looking to switch jobs.
“Bait Assawadah focuses on offering significant added services in two key human resource areas that are essential for the development of the Saudi economy,” he added.
Job seekers who approach Bait Assawadah are first registered and classified into one of three categories. Job seekers who have not been in employment or have been in employment for less than two years are considered starters, anyone in employment from two to five years is considered a professional and anyone employed longer is considered a master.
“Of course, there are fees. However, the fees are not for seeking jobs, rather they’re for the assessment tests and registration,” said Al-Amri.
“After the registration process, we search for jobs and input the job seeker’s details into our computer system, which looks for matches. We then call the seeker.”
The organization has its own assessment program, called the Mutanabbi Assessment Profile, which contains all relevant employer-requirements and based on leading performance research. The program was developed by Harrison Assessments International.
“After studying the Saudi market, we found that a lot of companies experience a high dropout rate. Companies often spend a lot of money on training. In the end, new employees do not stay and leave to look for employment elsewhere. We try to ensure that jobs suit the candidates, so they end up staying longer,” added Al-Amri.
“We provide sophisticated services during registration. We bear all expenses of the job seekers, regardless of which part of the country they are from. We pay 50 percent of the registration fees in case the job seeker does not stay on the job after one year,” he added.
Registration fees for starters is SR1,000, for professionals SR1,250 and for masters SR1,500.
Al-Amri said that Bait Assawadah has a long list of companies looking for workers. “We plan to approach more companies this month. We also have a long-term plan to launch 65 branches across the Kingdom. We want to reach all regions in the Kingdom,” he added.
“In the next three years, we plan to have 600 kiosks across the Kingdom’s shopping centers so that job seekers can easily register,” said Al-Amri.
Bait Assawadah also provides services for people with special needs, such as those with physical impairment, vision impairment and hearing impairment.
