The female recruitment division of Bab Rizq Jameel (BRJ), under the umbrella of the Abdul Latif Jameel's Community Initiatives (ALJCI), raised the number of job opportunities by 50 percent to 25,393 last year compared to 2013.

The working remotely program created a large number of these jobs, nearly 23 percent of the total number of the job opportunities for women. This program opens up a variety of positions within companies and organizations, all of which require the expertise Saudi women can provide working from home or remote offices, hence they can avoid the daily commute and it suits social and cultural norms.

Close to 7,500 job opportunities were created in five regions of the Kingdom alone, with the largest number generated in the Western Region.

“We generated over 2,000 positions in the Western Region in covering a variety of occupations. The 26 most important occupations of those covered included those in technical support for websites, electronic marketing, debt collection, translation, graphic design, sewing and embroidery,” said Afrah Mousa, manager of BRJ Female Recruitment-Western Region.

“Our aim is to spread a work culture that is in sync with Shariah, maintaining our religious values and at the same time help as many Saudi women as possible to get an opportunity to work,” said Rola Basamad, senior GM of BRJ-Female Recruitment.

BRJ’s female recruitment services spans five geographical locations in Saudi Arabia, providing its services to over 40 cities and regions, collaborating with government entities, such as the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Social Affairs, the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), and the chambers of commerce and industry in the Kingdom's various regions.

“We invested a lot of energy in helping job candidates to find the best work opportunities, including 3,400 retail positions, since 2014,” said Rabab Yahya, manager of BRJ Female Recruitment-Southern region.

In the Eastern Region, 2,556 women were employed by factories in 2014, according to Hayfa Al-Bar, the region’s manager of BRJ Female Recruitment.

“The jobs ranged from working on production lines, or as factory supervisors and quality managers, to lab technicians. Nearly 50 factories throughout the Kingdom supported women to find work,” she said.

Mahasin Al-Qarqiri, manager of BRJ Female Recruitment-Northern Region, said: “The part time program, which has been newly established, did equally well. Part time work requires a contract clearly specifying the number of working hours,” she said.

Al-Qarqiri highlighted another new program, which opened up seasonal jobs during holidays, the pilgrimage and other festive seasons, as having done extraordinarily well, contributing around 1,600 jobs, about 6 percent of the total number of female positions generated.

The Express Meetings, organized by Hafez Program, generated a number of job opportunities. Around 12 meetings took place last year in various cities such as Abha, Jazan, Jeddah, Qasim, Alkhobar and Madinah. About 2,457 out of 7,989 women candidates attending the meetings were employed with one of the 80 local companies that participated in the meetings, according to Huda Al-Harby, manager of Hafez Program, BRJ Female Recruitment.