Firms attending JCCI career fair shortlist over 700 Saudi women

Abdulrahman Al-Misbahi JEDDAH — More than 700 women applicants were qualified for positions proposed by 39 companies attending the career fair at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday. Lana Qattan, representing Rudhwa Company, said the career fair has been running for two days and many women with high qualifications have submitted their CVs. “The chamber celebrated the graduation of women from its academy by holding a career fair. The chamber’s academy offers training programs for seven fields including textile, tailoring, hair styling, makeup, culinary arts and others,” said Qattan. She also said national and international companies are attending the fair. “We have had over 40 applicants during the past few days. Companies usually take from a week to a month to go through these different applications. The fair presented 588 positions available,” said Qattan. Care International Company representative Wafaa Yahya said the total of qualified applicants they had reached 150. “We need beauticians, hair stylists, perfumery and makeup artists, receptionists and gift wrappers. We have a two-week training program that all accepted applicants will go through. We are in need for a large number of workers in our new branch in the Kingdom. We will accept more than one applicant for each available position,” said Yahya. Rotana Hotel Human Resources Manager Mujahid Al-Sufiani said the hotel aims to have 40 percent of its employees as Saudis. “The career fair was a golden opportunity for us to look for Saudi women ready to work in hotel kitchens and reception areas. We will be reviewing all the applications soon and will start the hiring process a week from now,” said Al-Sufiani. He said he was impressed by the number of qualified applicants who are willing to join the hotel industry.