Fatima Muhammad
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) will soon implement new strategies to increase employment opportunities for fresh Saudi university graduates and women job seekers.
Mansour Al-Mansour, deputy manager of the fund, told a press conference here that a "distance employment program" would be introduced this year to hire people living in remote regions of the country, especially women.
He said the program would help job seekers to save transportation costs.
The press conference was held to announce the seventh human resources forum, which will take place in Jeddah at the end of November.
Al-Mansour said the fund would have a working team to ensure the implementation of the forum's recommendations. The team will review recommendations that require further discussions, he added.
Samir Husain, head of the human resources committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), said this year the forum would focus on improving the work environment to be able to better serve the new generation of job seekers. The forum will have experts who will talk about the best job market practices both locally and internationally, he added.
About 400,000 fresh graduates are expected to enter the Saudi job market this year.
Asked about the employment of graduates who were on the scholarship programs, Al-Mansour said scholarship students would be dealt with them the same way graduates from local universities were dealt with.
"All graduates will be enrolled in job training programs, which will give them the required skills and experience," Al-Mansour said.
He said the fund was able to find jobs for 720,000 people so far.
Speaking about the turnover rate among Saudi employees, he said some of them remain in the jobs only for the first three months. "Then they leave because either they find a government job or a better job in the private sector."
He, however, noted that 75 percent of Saudis remain in their jobs for longer periods.
