DAMMAM – Saudi Aramco has once again been voted the employer of choice for Saudi male graduates, followed by SABIC in second place, according to a survey of KFUPM graduates just released by online recruitment firm GulfTalent.
Over 200 final-year students and recent graduates of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals participated in GulfTalent’s survey.
Oil services company Schlumberger, coming in third place, was the most popular multinational employer. The company has had a consistently high ranking in GulfTalent’s surveys of KFUPM graduates since 2005.
Commenting on the survey findings, Hatem Soliman, Schlumberger’s President for Middle East & Asia, attributed his company’s success in attracting top Saudi graduates to its “commitment to the recruitment and career development of Saudi nationals”.
Also ranking in this year’s top 5 most popular employers were industrial conglomerate GE, and Saudi Electricity Company.
GulfTalent’s survey asked graduates about the factors that drove them to choose their preferred employer. The top three factors mentioned were the quality of the training and development program, the opportunity to do interesting and challenging work, and good salary and benefits. Job security and company brand and reputation were also cited as important factors.
Over half the graduates expressed interest in gaining experience working outside Saudi Arabia, with the most popular foreign destination being the USA, followed by the UAE and Qatar.
This was a key factor in making multinationals the favored group among 72% of graduates surveyed. Other factors were the interesting nature of the work and good training offered by multinationals firms.
Only 17% of graduate respondents favored joining government organizations.
Interestingly, many graduates who mentioned they would like to work for multinationals still named government-owned Aramco and SABIC among their choices. Some justified this by stating that the pair were not typical government firms and ‘behaved like multinationals’, particularly in terms of training and international exposure. — SG
