DHAHRAN: Some 1,500 university graduates, including over 400 who graduated this year from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), will be seeking employment opportunities during the 28th Annual KFUPM Career Day which starts today. The week-long event, which will be held at the university Building 123, will be opened by Dr. Khalid S. Al-Sultan, Rector of the university, according to Dr. Talal Kharobi, Assistant Dean of Students Affairs and Training. The event is held under the Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Governor of the Eastern Province. The goal of the event is to provide job opportunities for university graduates, provide training opportunities for university students in the cooperative program and summer training, provide an opportunity for employers to interview graduates, educate students for future careers in various disciplines, provide an opportunity for employers to familiarize students with their activities, establish a cooperative partnership based on closer ties between the university and work, and teach graduates effective ways of finding jobs, writing their CV, and conducting themselves during job interviews. “This annual event is the largest gathering of college graduates and representatives of leading national and international companies, and it allows them to meet and interface in seeking and providing jobs opportunities,” Kharobi told Saudi Gazette. He said graduates of other universities throughout the Kingdom are also attending the event. “The Annual Career Day, for years, has served as the platform for our young Saudi graduates to find jobs, while companies, both local and international, have found in the event the best venue for hiring local talent,” Kharobi said. He said students looking for employment will have the chance to look for the best jobs being offered which suit their education and training. “The range of companies offering jobs is wide; many of them are high-tech and global in operation.” The corporate sectors attending the event are the oil, gas, petrochemical industries, power and telecommunications, infrastructure firms, logistics, large industries, manufacturing, and services industries. Multinational companies will also be represented. “The companies we expect to be present during the event, as in the previous years, are Saudi Aramco, the SABIC group and affiliated companies, electric and energy firms, petrochemicals, banks and investment firms, petrochemical establishments, large industrial firms, diversified Saudi companies, and the booming service industries,” Kharobi said. Companies attending the event will also be conducting seminars on how to apply for jobs, evaluate companies, and conduct preliminary interviews. The university graduates can apply to the companies of their choice, according to Kharobi. “The yardsticks for most students in seeking jobs are salary, particularly the package of compensation, training and opportunities for advancement, health insurance, family incentives, and locations of the companies,” he said.
