As a member of a hiring committee that considers the resumes of potential information technology staff, the past six months were horrific and coming months may be worse. Due to the Kingdom's efforts to force the rectification of status, many engineers tried to switch employers. These engineers had been working on a project basis at sites Kingdom wide, keeping their sponsorship with the holder of their “free visa” but taking jobs with any company that would pay. For half a year, resumes were received by the hundreds to every online job posting. Most were awful. “Looking for a professional job,” was one infamous subject line. Another person described himself as having “an analytically bent of mind & fitting academic credentials.” “Basketball” was highlighted as a skill by one engineer and another's English language ability was asserted to be “V good.” The formatting of most resumes was bizarre. Some candidates were rejected due to their photos - not because of the individual's appearance, but because the photo was squashed or poorly displayed in some way. A person who can't use basic software functionality shouldn't be entrusted with a network. One theme that kept coming up again and again in communication with these expats is what they hoped the company would do for them. “I am seeking a job that makes me improve myself in the technology field and to enhance my finances and experience,” wrote one Jordanian engineer from Riyadh. This man had a strong background in telecommunication engineering but nothing of real use in the position on offer. When it was suggested to the engineer that he come to work in the company for six months at a reduced salary until he was certified and could go out to do client implementations, he declined. To him it was essential that he improve his skills on the company's expense even though the certificates and knowledge gained would rest with him. He was unhappy to be advised that the company was hiring help not providing paid skill development. This was the trend among the applicants, except for those who had ever worked in North America. Disturbing too, was the listing of certifications. There was a view among job applicants that if the certificate had been earned once, then there was no need to keep it up-to-date. Many claimed to be surprised to know that their Cisco or Microsoft certifications were expired. It became very tedious to see engineers who had taken certifications five years previously but hadn't learned anything since that time. Information technology is not a field where you graduate with a degree and then work for 25 years. The technology changes rapidly and requires continuous study. And before anyone assumes that the Saudi candidates who apply for information technology jobs are superior to the expatriates, be advised that those resumes are terrifying. Mothers pass the resumes of their darling, about to graduate children, on to friends in an attempt to “network” them into jobs. A 27-year-old candidate's paper resume was submitted with the email address scratched out and a new address written in with a pencil. That technician had just graduated from a technical college in the Kingdom's south. As a test during the interview he was asked to go and diagnose the hardware problem of a malfunctioning PC and then repair it using the spare parts available. The computer had a blown power supply, one of the simplest repairs, but the fresh graduate struggled with the task. Resumes of IT graduates who have been educated abroad on the Kingdom's scholarship program, often come with references to various university degrees, but they have no industry certifications and their only work experience is the Internship that they performed to earn the degree. Their resumes show that they were active in the student union and other student groups. They have amazing hobbies - jet skiing, travel and debating - for instance, but during their years at the university they never attended a conference or ICT industry event. They don't belong to any international engineering or computer societies. It's depressing. The Saudi private sector wants to hire staff to help grow business, but potential employees seem to only be able to consider the question, “What's in it for me?” What happened to the other side of the equation? What does the employer gain? By the way, the inept Saudi technical school graduate mentioned previously was offered to become part of an internship program where he would be assigned to a senior network administrator and learn the industry skills required over a six month period. His initial SR3,000 salary would then be upgraded to SR6,000 with full benefits. He declined and instead went to work in a government job, where he immediately earned SR6,000, no skills required.
