Culture & Education | Tuesday 6 January, 2015 1:17 pm |

The 3rd Annual A Step Ahead Career Fair will be held in the three main cities of Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah during the month of April 2015. Kicking off in Riyadh the 3rd Annual leading event dedicated to female employment and empowerment in the workforce is expected to witness participation of no less than 50,000 women seeking jobs across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The event is organized by Glowork, the Kingdoms leading organization linking female job seekers with potential employers, and in cooperation with the Human Resource Development Fund.

The A Step Ahead Career Fair witnessed great success during its first two sessions with participation during last years career fair exceeding 17,000 participants in Riyadh city alone. During the career fair approximately 1,300 employment contracts were signed between female job seekers and participating companies.

This year the A Step Ahead Career Fair will be held in Riyadh at the Al Faisaliah Hotel form the 1st till the 3rd of April, followed by Dammam at the Sheraton Hotel from 12th till the 13th of April and in Jeddah from the 28th till the 29th of April at the Hilton Hotel.

The A Step Ahead Career Fair is a unique platform that has capture the interest of local and multinational companies across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with its dedicated offering of training and skills enhancement to help serve both the female job seekers and the companies interested in recruiting. During the career fair potential job seekers will be able to benefit from the distinctive workshops and training sessions available to help find the best possible career advice and placement at hand. Training sessions and workshops include personal interviews, one on one meetings with potential employers, skills training and CV preparation and presentation.

“Our goal is to help develop skills and the work capacity for female job seekers in elevating their capacity to enter the work force,” stated Khalid AlKhudair, Founder and CEO of Glowork. “Through A Step Ahead Career Fair we work hand in hand our key stakeholders the Ministry of Labor, HRDF, potential employers and our main target audience the female job seekers; to help identify the opportunities and provide the necessary skills development through a six step program we have developed.

“Through the six step program young professionals are taken through a series of training sessions, workshops and panel discussion to build their capacity and understanding of the job market and skills requirements to be ready to enter into the work force,” he added.

Companies showcasing jobs are for all levels from entry to top management and the role of Glowork is working with such companies to set the recruitment process and match job seekers with the position. As a platform A Step Ahead Career Fair is also a research provision vehicle and offers participating companies benefits that help them assess the market needs and job enhancement. A key factor in the program is companies taking in part in all three cities have the opportunity to be reimbursed part of the participation fees paid if when they submit their job hires report showcasing the new hires as a result of their participation.

“The goal here is to upgrade and enhance such initiatives in cooperation with the participating companies; and through our partnership with the HRDF, Ministry of Labor and the private sector to open avenues of cooperation and support that helps to achieve the ultimate goal in job nationalization, retention and employee skills enhancement.

With the need for a dedicated venue, that brings together the job seeker and potential employer, Glowork and the HRDF have assessed the success of the initiative during the past two years identifying further employment potential from part time jobs, home based jobs fields and female industry job alignment and training.
Key partners and supporters of the A Step Ahead Career Fair are leading local and multinational companies in their fields including: IBM, NASAir, Exxon Mobil, Saudi Investment Bank, SABB (Saudi British Bank), SHB (Saudi Hollandi Bank), Al Nahda Group, FAD International Group. Moving the fair across the three cities was a key factor to insure that companies and job seekers are able to benefit from the opportunities at hand.