The largest job fair outside of Saudi Arabia for students will open in Washington DC on May 22.About 14,000 graduates from the Kingdom who have been studying in the United States are expected to attend with over 130 businesses being represented. The sixth annual job fair is being held by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission [SACM], which is based just outside of Washington DC, and overseas all aspects of student life in the United States.
Dr. Mody Khalaf is the assistant attaché for cultural and social affairs at SACM. She personally overseas every aspect of the job fair. This year it will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Dr Khalaf said: “This is the largest career fair for Saudi citizens outside of the Kingdom. There is just no kind of comparison like it anywhere else in the world. Last year we had over 4,000 jobs that needed to be filled in both the private and public sector, so the demands on both sides are huge.”
The job fair is designed to reward the thousands of graduates of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program with the chance to both celebrate their success with their colleagues, as well as search for jobs and meet top executives from leading Saudi and US companies doing business in the Kingdom. With over 80,000 students from Saudi Arabia studying in the United States, there is a lot of demand for employment opportunities.
Among the companies from Saudi Arabia who will be represented and sending high level executives are: National Commerce Bank [who are the main sponsor]; Aramco, the Human Development Resource Fund, and Saudi Arabian Airlines who are offering a lottery for 50 free round-trip tickets to any destination in the world for lucky graduates. US companies attending included Halliburton and Turner.
The diversity of businesses attending the job fair is a reflection of the need to have a wide array of opportunity for the graduates. In 2015, the most popular bachelor degree being awarded is in businesses and administration with over 3,000 graduating in this area. It's followed closely by degrees in engineering with nearly 2,500 graduates. Other bachelor degrees being awarded include the arts, social and behavioral sciences and medical services. The fair is open to students who have been awarded masters, doctorate and bachelors degrees. The total number of graduates in all these fields combined is over 16,000.
In her interview, Dr. Mody Khalaf said: “The goal of the whole Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission is to reap the fruits of labor of the students who have been studying in the United States. These students are all energized, and placing them in really good jobs will really help to continue to push the country forward.”
Jobs aren't the only things on offer at the job fair. SACM is also working with a US company called “Elite' which helps to recruit potential employees using invitation only career events and search and selection. Graduates attending the fair can meet with them to help identify companies in Saudi Arabia which could be a perfect fit for their new found expertise, following their studies in the United States.
One area which the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the United States would like to see improvement on, is more jobs for women.
Dr. Khalaf told the Saudi Gazette: “We want to see what I call the ‘Saudization' for women in the Kingdom. What I mean is that women too need to be represented in all sectors of business. There's a tremendous growth for jobs for women in the private sector, and we need to see those numbers continue to climb. But the fact is women's unemployment is still too high, and we really need to see more jobs for women in government too.”
Breaking the glass ceiling for women in business is still something the United States is working on too. Only 23 women hold CEO titles on the S&P Fortune 500 companies. They include Marry Barra of General Motors, who became the first woman to head a car company: Virginia Rometty of IBM; and Ursula Burns of Xerox.
With nearly 5,000 Saudi female students graduating in the United States in the next few weeks, it seems there is plenty of opportunity for them to become CEOs in the Kingdom too. Now we must wait and see which company in Saudi Arabia will be the first to make that appointment.
