Nasair held an Open Day in Riyadh, KSA to recruit Saudi Nationals looking to join the company as flight attendants. Candidates hoping to join the team were received and greeted by Nasair representatives, and were given the opportunity to discuss their career options and the benefits of working for Nasair.

Naiem Al Shabanah, Executive Director of Group HR & Administration, NAS Holding said, “Nasair – the first Saudi low fare carrier – is committed to giving back to the community, and we are continuing to employ Saudi youths following the Company’s strategy that supports the Government’s effort in employing the Saudi nationals.”

He continued to comment, “Today we see many young Saudi’s wishing to join the aviation, travel and tourism industry as it flourishes and grows in the Kingdom, and we are here to provide for this need by offering these individuals a career as accomplished cabin crew members with an international lifestyle, great benefits and an environment in which they can hone their skills and develop their talents. This is a truly local effort coming within a strategy to recruit 150 during the coming period. We are investing in our national youth strongly and we wish to continue to strive in this arena as we grow our award winning team.”

At the open day, Mohammed Saeed Al-Ghamdi, Specialist, Crew Recruitment for Nasair, presented details of the training, benefits, job descriptions, minimum requirements and opportunities to assist the attending candidates, aged 19-25.

Nasair hopes to recruit 30 new staff and identify additional future candidates from this successful event to expand its evolving team and commit to its internal vision of having the best team of people to serve its growing base of Customers domestically and abroad.

For more information Visit FlyNas.com

Alarmed by a predominantly expatriate workforce in Saudi Arabia sending large money transfers outside of the country, the Saudi Labor Ministry has said it will introduce a “salary protection” program to boost its domestic economy.
The new program will dictate the amount an expat working in Saudi Arabia can send back home, the Saudi labor minister, Adel Fakih, said. Expats must keep the bulk of their salaries within the country under the new program.

The first ever Women’s Recruitment Exhibition will take place this October under the sponsorship og Princess Fahda bint Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud . Looking for a job? Register for the event here!

Salaries in Saudi Arabia’s private sector are set to increase by five percent over the next 12 amid an increase in demand for Saudi nationals in the private sector, a new survey said on Tuesday.

A total of 30 percent of 250 companies surveyed in the kingdom said they had difficultly retaining their staff, up ten percent from last year, the Hay Group said in its annual report on Saudi employment.

“Hay Group is forecasting a continued steady increase in pay movements in the year ahead. The average increase is predicted to be five percent for the kingdom which will see pay movements converging with inflation rates,” Chance Wilson, general manager of the Hay Group, said in a statement.

The world’s top oil exporter in May introduced the Nitaqat system aimed a boosting employment opportunities for Saudi nationals. Under the new system, companies in the kingdom have until September 7 to achieve a prescribed quota of Saudi employees.

Demand for Saudi nationals has increased since the Nitaqat system was introduced, said the Hay Group. “Compared to five, or even three years ago, Saudi nationals are much more in demand and are now in the favourable position of being able to pick and choose between employers,” said Wilson.

“Because organisations are obliged to comply with legislation committed to building capability, it has become an attractive market for Saudi candidates. Saudi nationals can sell themselves a lot better and the competition for high quality Saudi talent has become more intense,” he added.

Average salaries in the kingdom increased 4.4 percent in last year while salaries including allowances increased 7.5 percent for Saudi nationals, the report noted.  “Saudi nationals are paid 13 percent higher than the general market average when we look at cash total,” said Wilson.

Saudi Arabia began its ‘Saudisation’ plan in 1994, setting quotas for the number of nationals private firms operating in the kingdom must hire. Despite that, expatriates account for more than 95 percent of the SME workforce.

Under the new Nitaqat system companies will be categorised green, yellow or red depending on the number Saudis working for them.

Companies in the “yellow” category will not be able to extend their foreign employees’ work visas beyond six years while “red” companies will not be able to renew their foreign workers’ visas at all.

“Green” companies will be entitled to a number of benefits, such as expedited services for foreign workers’ visas and the ability to change the job categories of foreign workers into job categories reserved for Saudis.

Banks will not be included, and for the construction sector, the proportion of Saudi nationals required will remain at five percent.

Saudi Arabia has announced plans to localise nursing jobs in medical facilities across the kingdom, a move that could cause foreign nurses to lose their jobs.

In a circular to its administrative units, Saudi’s Ministry of Health (MoH) indicated that contracts with foreign nurses who have completed 10 years of service will be terminated, Saudi Gazette reported on Tuesday.

However, specialists in the fields of hemodialysis, emergency and ICU medicine would be retained, it added.

The plan also does not apply to nurses working for primary healthcare centres in the country’s remote areas unless a capable Saudi replacement is found.

According to Saudi Gazette, the ministry will replace the foreign nurses gradually and localise around 300 senior nursing jobs over the next three years.

Nursing profession is dominated by Filipinos, the report added, with approximately 133,000 Filipino nurses working in government and private hospitals across the country.

Monster Employment Index Gulf Rises 8% Month-over-Month

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job demand in Middle-east based on a real-time review of tens of thousands of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career Web sites and online job listings. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

“The latest increase in the Monster Employment Index Gulf was driven by rising demand for professionals in a variety of categories such as legal, customer service and banking/ finance,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director (India/Middle East/South East Asia), Monster.com. “Counterbalancing the rise in these sectors is the notable drop in tourism and hospitality, possibly caused by reduced tourism during the summer months.”

Industry Six-Month Trends: Seven of the 12 industry sectors monitored by the Monster Employment Index register positive six-month growth trend in June

• BFSI (up 44 percent) recorded the strongest growth in June, expanding a notable 33 percent from May 2011

• Advertising, Market Research, PR (up 17 percent) and Retail (up 9 percent) were amidst the fastest growth sectors over six months

• Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (up 5 percent) saw the first positive monthly growth in recruitment activity since March

• Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary (down 23 percent) tempered for the fourth consecutive month to reach the lowest point in the series

• Hospitality (down 46 percent) sector displayed further contraction in June

Occupation Six-Month Trends: Seven of the 11 groups monitored by the index registered positive six-month growth in June.

• Customer Service (up 63 percent) continued to be the leading occupation fuelled by an additional 8 percent month-over-month growth in online demand

• Health Care (up 9 percent) recorded improved six-month growth momentum rising from -3 percent in May to 9 percent in June

• Sales and BD (down 10 percent) displayed a much milder pace of six-month decline in June compared to May

 

 

 

Geographic Six-Month Trends: Online opportunities rose in four of seven countries monitored by the Index over six months.

• Bahrain (up 32 percent) led all seven countries in growth over six months.
• Egypt (down -13 percent) and Oman (down 17 percent) saw the largest 6-month drops

COUNTRY-WISE MONTH-OVER-MONTHTRENDS

KSA Highlight

• Opportunities expanded 15 percent from January 2011
• BFSI sector recorded the steepest month-over-month as well as six month growth
• Demand for Sales and BD; and Marketing & Communications/Arts/Creative professionals reduces in June

UAE Highlights

• Online opportunities in UAE exceeded January levels by a robust 14 percent
• BFSI led all industry sectors in monthly as well as six-month growth

Thousands of expats in Saudi Arabia are set to clear their bank accounts ahead of upcoming visa renewals amid fears new curbs on foreign labour will unleash a wave of job cuts.

Foreign workers, whose bank accounts are frozen during visa renewals, fear rules aimed at forcing private sector firms to increase their quota of Saudi employees will leave them unemployed, unable to access their cash, and struggling to find a new job.

On a small positive note, more and more citizens are looking into online accounting degrees, particularly in the field of accounting forensics, which is growing, to help keep companies clean and honest in the future. See forensicaccountingdegree.org
for more information.

“The feeling is of fear and uncertainty,” said a Filipino office administrator, who asked not to be named. “If my iqama [residency visa] expires and is not renewed, my bank account will be frozen.  Once your bank account is frozen, no money can be taken from it. Your driver’s license is also frozen, credit cards as well.

“If you get a new job without a valid iqama, you only expose yourself to further exploitation – you can get jailed if you are found.”

Companies in the world’s top oil exporter have until November 26 to achieve a set quota of Saudi employees, or face tough penalties including a ban on renewing visas for foreign workers.

Firms will be graded as red, yellow and green. Expat employees of ‘red’ companies will not have their visas renewed at all, while ‘green’ companies will net a host of benefits, including fast-track visas for foreign workers.

Expats within red firms whose visas are not renewed will need to secure a post within a green company in order to stay in the kingdom – but are likely to face fierce competition for the role.

Worse, their bank account will be frozen during the job seeking period.

“Expatriates in Saudi Arabia are worried,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi and author of a report on the new Nitaqat scheme.

“Their residency will not be renewed unless they find employment in another company in the green or ‘excellent’ category. It means now they have to make sure that either they find new jobs or they take their money out of the bank – because it will be frozen.”

Complicating the matter further are labour rules that insist foreign workers in Saudi must secure a release letter from their employer in order to move jobs. While the law is under review, many lawyers in the kingdom oppose moves to scrap it, said Donovan Rinker-Morris, associate at legal firm Abdulaziz A. Al-Bosaily.

“The possibility that a new employer could legitimately employ an expat without the consent of the old employer terrifies many of the Saudi managers,” he said. “It has never been possible to do that legitimately before. And there are an awful a lot of lawyers looking to challenge this, so it’s difficult to say whether it will actually happen.”

Some foreign workers told Arabian Business they would go to any lengths to stay in the country, including forfeiting their summer holidays and obtaining visas illegally.

“I have been employed at my company for a long time and I’m happy here. If I had to, I’d use a Saudi I know to buy a new visa. It isn’t cheap but I don’t want to leave Saudi,” an Indian expatriate said.

“At the moment my family is on vacation, but I’ve chosen to remain and work this summer. I want my company to see me working so that my job is not at risk.”

Unemployment among nationals in the kingdom, which sits on more than a fifth of global oil reserves, stands at around 10.5 percent, the minister of labour said in May.

Joblessness in the Gulf Arab state has risen as an outdated school system focused on religion and the Arabic language produces graduates who have difficulty finding jobs with private firms.

Companies favour workers from Asia, prepared to work long hours for low salaries, or well-paid foreign experts. (via arabianbusiness.com)

The new initiative supports Government’s ongoing focus on Saudization

June 19 2011, Riyadh: MonsterGulf, a leading online career and recruitment solutions provider in the Gulf region today announced the launch of its initiative ‘Return2Home’ targeting   Non-Resident Saudis  residing abroad looking at returning to their origins.

Created to reach out to the Saudi population living abroad who wish to explore opportunities within their homeland, the new initiative reflects  the KSA government’s  ongoing commitment to provide skilled employment opportunities for locals as part of a diversified and sustainable knowledge-based economy

According to MonsterGulf internal research, there has been a 41% increase in the traffic of people authorized to work in Gulf between January and December 2010. Leveraging its global footprint, Monster.com will target and connect with Saudi jobseekers from United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India and South East Asia and connect them with the opportunities that exist for them in their own country.

The initiative will also target the corporate/employers who are looking at hiring locals from across the globe. ‘Return2Home’initiative is poised to help employers attract the ‘right talent’ who have the relevant global experience, domain knowledge and are also culturally aligned.

Mr. Sanjay Modi, Managing Director

Commenting on Monster’s latest initiative, Mr. Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, (India, Middle East & South East Asia) Monster.com. said, “As an aftermath to one of worst global economic recessions, economic restructuring and downsizing was witnessed across the globe. Against such a dynamic environment, the strength of emerging economies was repeatedly tested, which not only demonstrated economic resilience but also an upturn in its growth trajectory. However, with government promoting Saudization, KSA presents a huge opportunity for corporates, which are looking at hiring locals in and outside of KSA.”

“Traditionally the KSA has suffered from a brain-drain effect, with talented individuals seeking employment and ultimately residing in their place of education due to a lack of meaningful opportunities in some specialist fields. However the economy is rapidly diversifying in the KSA, with a wealth of new positions existing in the public and private that quite simply did not exist in previous years when many Saudis left to study at world-class learning centres.

Against this background, Monster has launched one of its ambitious initiatives. Return2Home enables those graduates to easily stay in touch with opportunities at home.  Combining our superior technology, global network, customer equity and first mover advantage, with the launch of Return2Home we aim to strengthen our dominant position in the Gulf recruitment market,” he further added.

Riyadh Job Fair 2011, in its 1st edition, aims to provide an opportunity to Saudi citizens in all areas to meet directly the employers. It will offer a platform for debate, questions, answers, creativity and knowledge. It provides vital information that broadens knowledge about career development opportunities by offering lectures, panel discussions, and workshops on effective CV, successful interview and skills required.

For more information visit tawdeef.com

Ending speculation that it is about to limit the stay of expatriate workers to six years, Saudi Arabia has clarified that the decision applies to only those private sector firms that do not abide by the country’s job nationalisation quotas.

A government official was reacting to statements made by Saudi Labour Minister, Mr Adel Faqih who said a new incentive programme for the private sector to recruit more Saudis includes limiting the stay of foreign workers to six years.

The minister said the programme would be implemented in June and would give four classifications to companies, including “excellent and green” for those who abide by Saudization quotas and “red and yellow” for non-compliant firms.

“What the Labour Minister meant by his statement was that the measure would be applied on those foreigners who work for companies in the yellow (non-compliant) category,” Mr Hattab Al-Anazi, official spokesman of the Labour Ministry was quoted by the Arabic media as saying.

He said that companies in the yellow category that did not fulfil Saudization conditions should correct their status in order to get visas of their workers renewed.

Mr Al—Anazi also said visas for foreign workers in red category companies would not be renewed at all, irrespective of the years they have spent in the Kingdom.

“The new Nitaqat system allows renewal of iqamas (work visas) without any condition for expatriates who work in companies in the green and excellent category,” Mr Al—Anazi said.

He noted that the new measure would not apply on house servants as their visas would be renewed without considering how many years they stayed in the country. “They are not at all linked with the Nitaqat system,” he said.