Friday 31 May 2013

With Nitaqat set to take hold, Saudis will be filling jobs that they may have the qualification for, but little in practical experience. To meet this prerequisite many national and foreign companies have embarked on investing in Saudi nationals and provide intensive training for them to meet the high expectations of both the firms' executives and their clients. In the hospitality sector at least, some five-star hotels have already placed advertisements in newspapers to attract more Saudis with attractive offers and intensive training indoors and outdoors.

This is in addition to an interim and on-the-job training given to Saudi students in the US and Canada after their graduation or during their studies that end up with their joining these companies. Foreign firms operating in Saudi Arabia have also been conducting serious training programs for Saudis at their state-of-the-art facilities. President and CEO of Alsalam Aircraft Company (AAC) Mohammed Fallatah told Arab News that AAC has developed training programs that require technical skills for aircraft maintenance. "Our company has trained over 240 Saudis to become aircraft technicians," he noted. "We started our own training program to meet our needs and to provide opportunities for Saudis in keeping with our charter of technology transfer in the field of aviation maintenance," Fallatah added. He said: "Aircraft maintenance and aviation safety are critical skills that Alsalam teaches new employees that are hired to support our maintenance business.

Alsalam also recruits new college graduates for engineering, human resources and financial positions. New college graduates gain experience through on-the-job training and career development courses that are taught by outside trainers and company personnel." He continued: As AAC specializes in maintenance, modification and upgrades of military and civil aircraft and has recently started aircraft structural component assembly, it has extensive experience with Saudi and foreign experts qualified as technicians and advisers." The company, he said, has a training program for fresh Saudi graduates for technical positions, which include theoretical and academic training as well as practical training.

After completion of the classroom training program (OJT), a student will then be enrolled in an on-the-job training program where he can gain practical experience working under the supervision of qualified technicians. According to Fallatah, the initial training from classroom through OJT can take 36 months after which the employee can qualify for an airframe repair license. It requires dedication and commitment from the employee. "So far, we have had a very good success rate in developing our local talent," said the Alsalam president & CEO. He observed that their employees are always training either on the new systems or undergoing recurrent training as required by safety agencies like GACA.

"That is one the exciting things about aviation maintenance," said Mohammed Fallatah. "We are always learning about new airplanes. It is a constant process," he added. Speaking on behalf of his hotel, Bandar Al Muhawies, assistant director of human resources, Al Faisaliah Hotel and Hotel Al Khozama, said: "We give our Saudi employees personal development plans. We enroll them in Harvard and get management mentor program, following up on current employees, conducting in-house training courses in addition to on-the-job training sessions, besides outsourcing training institutes." He said being in the hotel industry "we have used one of the special institutes for hotel management to train and develop Saudi staff in hotel division for all kinds of jobs (especially in food production & service).

After completing their training, they start working. As for the direct hires, we enroll them in the English classes and prepare a training schedule plus a personal development plan to identify an employee's potential." Spelling out the features of their training program, Waleed Mirza, HR manager of Cisco (Saudi) System International, said: "Cisco is committed to collaborate with indigenous organizations and government in Saudi Arabia to help support plans for further accelerated development through transferring the global networking expertise and knowledge to the Kingdom and qualifying the Saudi youth to address the growing demand for the networking experts in the local market." He said Cisco Saudi offers many programs to train new recruits, such as Cooperative Program (COOP) Cisco Sales Associates Program (CSAP) and Associated Network Consultant Engineer Program (aNCE).

He added: "The company offers on-the-job training through its COOP program. The program offers a unique set of training and opportunities for recent university students and graduates who are looking to gain valuable, real-world experience as an intern or co-op while attending school; we provide all facilities and logistics required for trainees, including: laptops, desk and lab facilities and other top-notch equipment." Cisco also offers fresh graduate programs such as CSAP and aNCE. CSAP gives graduates every year the opportunity to join Cisco and spend a year at Cisco's hub in Amsterdam training as a Systems Engineer or Account Managers. Once training is complete, graduates are hired by Cisco. Currently, they have five Saudis who will complete the program by end of July 2013.

Cisco offers another Fresh Graduate program called the Associate Network Consulting Engineer (aNCE), which is a unique opportunity to be part of a highly collaborative, fast paced, global environment combining technical expertise, professional excellence and consulting skills to become a fully qualified Network Consulting Engineer (NCE). The selected students undertake off-site training in Portugal (3 weeks) and Belgium (2 weeks) plus in-country virtual learning. This year it has two Saudis in this program (1 male/ 1 female). Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, announced recently in the capital its work force in Saudi Arabia has grown by 33 percent bringing the total headcount to around 1,000. Nearly 30 percent of the new recruits are Saudi nationals.

According to Huawei Saudi Arabia, it has more than 900 employees, of which over 70 percent have been recruited locally, said James Wu, CEO of Huawei KSA, in an exclusive interview with Arab News recently. Today Huawei has three main offices in Saudi Arabia with our operations headquartered out of Riyadh. This is in addition to 20 technical assistance centers they have throughout the country. As of the start of this year, Huawei Saudi Arabia employed more than 900 staff--of which over 70 percent are recruited locally. In terms of knowledge transfer, Huawei Training Center in Saudi Arabia supports local talent by offering a broad range of management and technical programs coordinated through the global Huawei University. Its dedicated KT Program even includes courses designed for professionals in KSA already working in the ICT field and who wish to further advance their skills.

© Arab News 2013