SAUDI ARABIA

Tourism graduates unable to find jobs in public sector

July 23, 2019

By Khidir Al-Khairan

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JAZAN —
Several tourism and archeology graduates have complained that no ministry or any other government department would accept their certificates to give them jobs and said they have not been employed for more than six years since graduating from various universities.

Some of them said they opted to join private companies with their secondary school certificates while others said they lost all hope in their bachelor degrees and returned back to study diploma so as to find job opportunities with less pay using this lesser degree.

Nasser Hussain Al-Hazmi, who graduated from the college of tourism in Jazan University, said he was deeply frustrated because he could not find a job with his degree in any government department.

"Me and a number of my colleagues are now looking for vacancies which are far away from our specialties just to be employed even with less pay," he said.

He said his university teachers used to tell them this was a new specialty which would ensure suitable jobs for them after graduation.

Hazmi said encouraged by what his teachers claimed, he studied hard and obtained his BA degree only to be shocked that there were no job opportunities for him.

"I even approached the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage but to no avail," he said.

Hassan Al-Malki, another tourism graduate, said he studied for the diploma which enabled him to obtain a job at a hotel in Jeddah with a monthly salary of SR4,900 which is far less than what he expected.

Yahya Atif said after six years of onerous job-seeking, he finally accepted a job at a private company with his secondary school certificate.

He was surprised that tourism and archeology were still being taught at the university though they were not in demand in the labor market.

Adel Hassan Mubarki also echoed the sentiments and added that the government should take all steps to find suitable jobs for the Saudi youth and utilize their services for the country’s economic progress.

Nasser Al-Nashmi, director of the National Center for the Development of the Tourist Human Resources, said they were preparing tourism students not to be employees but investors in small and medium tourist projects.

He said there were more than 509,000 work opportunities in the sector of tourism which the young Saudi men and women could benefit from.

He also advised the graduates to seek employment in the private sector.


July 23, 2019
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