JEDDAH — The 16th annual career day at Effat University was held on March 22-23 under the patronage of Princess Lulwa Al-Faisal. The aim was to help students achieve their goals and find opportunities for employment and training. The event also focused on women empowerment and women's participation in the workforce with the theme "Inspire to change, yes she can". More than 25 companies took part in the event with some 200 jobs on offer. Lily Al-Barakati, CEO and HR consultant at EXSO, was one of the keynote speakers. Answering a question from Saudi Gazette about manipulation of career days by some companies, Al-Barakati said, "We do not deny that some companies tend to participate only to market themselves. However, there are other companies that participate genuinely looking for qualified candidates. These events in general are of useful to students who can get introduced to the job market and benefit from workshops." She said companies should not reap commercial rewards from the dreams of young graduates who seek to find real opportunities at these career fairs. In addition, she said companies needed to fulfill a national obligation by hiring Saudis side by ide with expatriates who have better experience and to train them to replace expatriates. Al-Barakati added that universities were now more aware of the job market needs and therefore were diversifying specializations. "This will reduce the percentage of unemployment in the long run because the duplication of specializations resulted in large numbers of unemployed graduates in the past," she added. She said the first graduates from any new specialization would demand high salaries but with time more graduates would become available and the cost of hiring Saudis and expatriates would be the same in terms of salaries and benefits. Malak Abunar, dean of student affairs, said Effat University hoped to provide a platform for its students and introduce them as ambitious and successful individuals. He said they organized this year career day in order to meet the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which targets to raise women participation in the workplace to 30 percent. He added that they expected 5,000 students to benefit from the event. During previous years, career days gave participants a chance to land coveted jobs, he said. Abunar said the university forged partnerships with different companies to train their students and those who prove their capabilities during training get confirmed in their posts.
