A couple of weeks back from the week in Saudi, and I'm sat in the airport on the way to Kuwait to run some eRecruitment strategy workshops with a couple of banks. I spent much of this week with an HR leader who has worked with Saudi Aramco (60,000 employee oil major based in the Eastern Province of Saudi). He has spent the last 20 years in human resources with Aramco so knows a thing or two. It was a little suprising to hear just how difficult even this company find it to hire the right experienced hires and to attract national graduates. Aramco is a company that 5 years ago or more, forced all their suppliers to be 'Internet ready' and where possible to make orders, provide documentation and respond to tenders all via the Net. Alarming then that Job Descriptions were not common practice until very recently.
So, what happened at the HR Conference we ran in Riyadh then..? I promised to write about the event so here we go..The attendance and response was pleasing, with around 50 HR Directors gathered in the Sheraton conferecne centre to listen to a great speaker who flew in from Abu Dhabi. Omar is an HR Veteran and shared thoughts and experiences on 360 degree reviews, and tapped his experience of having done this in a company in Abu Dhabi that controls 10% of the worlds oil reserves. It was a 3 year project but the results were impressive and 10 years on it is still clear to see how it continues to improve the business performance and attitudes of employees.
Speaker aside, the rest of the event was about networking and discussing today's hot recruiting topics in Saudi Arabia with dozens of the guys responsible for their companies people management issues. I spoke with a CEO of a mining company who employ over 5,000 people; and after 4 years in the job he was explaining how they still can't get recruitment right. For skilled workforce it takes them an average 18 weeks to recruit, and even then they have to compromise on quality. We discussed the need for his company to have a complete recruiting 'make over' and to create an attractive employment brand. They've played with the hiring process already, but haven't tried anything radically different to attract people differently, or to interact with them in a different way once they've applied. Employer branding is key for them as they are a really interesting career choice and have so much to offer, but nobody knows about it and just thinks of them as a heavy industry minerals producer. True enough, but they're massively profitable, invest heavily in staff, have a massive supply chain and can offer a diversity of experience few companies can match. Here's some of the specifics the CEO liked the sound of and decided to try out at his firm:
Uni Reach out campaign - also known as a 'milk-round', they'll basically go to UNiversities in target locations and schools related to their industry, and have an Exceutive talk to the student body about the company and the kinds of career paths they offer. Success here would be measured by an increase in graduate applications and by the company hiring a better quality of graduate than before.
Interview skills - They're going to reduce the number of people who hold interviews, and train them in how to communicate the company values properly to jobseekers. The company has a high turnover rate, and there's a likelihood that the wrong people are being hired in the first place and that they don't really understand the company before they join - therefore it isn't that shocking that a portion of new hires leave within 6 months.
Induction/Orientation - Linked to the above, we discussed introducing some simple things such as assigning a work colleague to each new hire to help them settle into the company and tackle their concerns. They're also planning to introduce better induction materials to people along with offer letters, so that they can know what to expect. The CEO then suggested that they could create a 1 page "First 30 days" fact sheet which will be given to all new hires once they've signed their offer letters. These files are all going to be made available over the Internet so that overseas candidates can get access to the materials very quickly.
Image Gallery - To let potential hires 'feel' the work environment we discussed that it'd be a great idea to have some web pages describing the work culture, and images to show their offices and manufacturing locations. I can see how a diamond field, a lab technician at work, or a picture of an engineer placing explosives into a hole to blow open a pit wall; could really show jobseekers the opoortunities.
Another interesting topic that sticks in my mind was that of creating work opportunities for females in Saudi Arabia. Jeddah (Western Province of Saudi) has taken the lead in this regard but there is still a long way to go. I still find it strange hosting a conference or presentation in Saudi; where the attendance is great but there is not a single female in the audience. Don't forget this was in the Sheraton hotel, and all the staff helping run the conference, receive guests, run the restaurant - everybody, every conference delegate or hotel employee was male.
I discussed this with an HR Director from a Government authority involved in developing the national labour force for employment. He explained that efforts are being made, and many businesswomen are frustrated with the obstacles they face regarding investments or jobs. Transportation is an obvious problem as women aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia - so getting to work is often prohibitive to applying for a job even if the job was open to female applicants. The Human Resource Development Fund and the National System for Joint Training Program are working hard to remove the barriers, and I'll write about equal opportunities and any major ground made on this topic as and when I hear about significant progress.
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