JEDDAH: With unemployment a widespread concern in the Kingdom, the first batch of 44 graduates of a new tourism management course at King Saud University in Riyadh is unable to find jobs. The students claim they were promised jobs by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).
"More than half of us were reluctant to study tourism. However, after we were told that the market needs us and that we would be guaranteed jobs, we completed our four-year-study only to then sit at home," said Al-Mutairi, a 23-year-old graduate who is from Tabuk.
"If I knew there weren't any jobs, I wouldn't have moved to Riyadh and instead stayed home after finishing high school," he said, adding that he still depends on his father and that not having a job means his chances of getting married or setting up a home are slim.
"I contacted the SCTA here in Tabuk and they told me that they don't have a job for me. That is nonsense. Tabuk is full of tourism sites," he added.
The students who registered with the course were forced into it as they graduated from high school with grades less than 88 percent, which left them restricted to a few options. A number of the graduates were unable to get jobs in the private sector because they do not have any English skills.
"The problem is that hotels want at least two foreign languages. We have not been introduced to any of them in our four years of study. We have not even received proper training. The companies which we used to go to for two weeks were not willing to waste their time to train us and did not even welcome us after we graduated," said Sultan, another unemployed graduate.
"We are willing to do any task for any government department at any salary that ranges between SR3,000 and SR5,000. It is our right to get jobs. If this is the case with the first batch of graduates, then what will be the case with those who graduate next," said Sultan, another graduate who now works for his father.
"Working with my father will not help me in the long run. I need a decent job," he said, adding that he contacted the department in charge of employment and was told that the course title is not even listed at the department. "Even the labor office was not able to get us jobs because it doesn't have our specialty listed in its files," said Sultan, adding that the graduates are not many and that finding them jobs will be easy. Al-Gahtani, a 24-year-old graduate, said: "I am still relying on my father who is retired and only gets SR1,700. I need a job to help my daughter and mother. We are a huge family that cannot rely on SR1,700. I'll be okay with a salary like SR2,700.
"I wanted to study physics and become a teacher, but I was convinced to study tourism after the college staff and the SCTA said there are jobs ready for us and that they are waiting for us to graduate." Al-Gahtani added that his friends are not ashamed to work in hotels or as cashiers.
The hotel committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced details of a study stating that 97.5 percent of Saudis do not work at hotels and restaurants because of the negative way members of the public view such people.
© Arab News 2011
