HR officials struggle to convince Qatari job candidates to appear for interviews

HR officials struggle to convince Qatari job candidates to appear for interviews

Doha Socialite
By Doha Socialite

A number of companies in Qatar, including many banks, have complained that they are tired of calling job applicants to convince them to attend job interviews. 

Urged to come for job interviews, a number of applicants asked for rescheduling and even after they were given fresh dates, they failed to turn up.

Some of the applicants have even been given job offers but many of them have asked for time to think and reply, The Peninsula newspaper reported.

The participating banks received about 700 job applications from Qataris, some of whom had applied for jobs in several banks, local Arabic daily Al Watan reported yesterday.

Some banks received 50 applications each, including many from women, on average but were able to get in touch with barely 10 of those candidates.

The head of human resource at Ahli Bank, Saad Al Kaabi, said his bank received 50 job applications from Qataris during a recent career festival. 

"Many of the applicants are not responding. They are just not taking our phone," said Al Kaabi. 

He said Ahli Bank has a job nationalization ratio of 22 percent and actively coordinates with the National Manpower Development Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. 

"We are keen to raise this percentage," said Al Kaabi. 

The Department of the labour ministry is responsible for pushing citizens into both, public and private jobs. 

Al Kaabi said there are occasions when a citizen who has applied for a job and is not found suitable is given repeated opportunities for interviews with the aim that he is eventually absorbed.

A senior official of Doha Bank, Mariam Akbar, said her bank received some 70 job applications from Qataris, and nine of them have been approved. 

Seventeen of them have been selected for scholarship. Mariam pointed out that some applicants are given tests. 

When we made job offers to some of the applicants, they asked us to allow them time to think."

The Ministry of Labour’s National Manpower Development Department has asked banks to submit reports detailing the outcome of the fortnight-long Career festival. 

"How do we respond? The problem is that many of the applicants are not responding to our phone calls." 

"Some applicants were given time for interview and they asked for rescheduling. We obliged them and gave them fresh dates but even then they failed to turn up," said Mariam. Read more: The Peninsula newspaper

By Qatar5797• 25 May 2014 23:33
Qatar5797

before anyone talks about Qataris they should have lived and known Qataris so well before they judge. Im so surprised with some comments, like seriously are you for real? are you really asking the country to ignore the local people and hire people from different countries? In your country you have the right to work and to have better and bigger chances then others in jobs and such. Its your problem if you dont like the country's policy. In fact most of the things that are written on this article are full of lies. show some respect people!! you're living in a country that gave you everything gave you a LIFE that you couldnt find in your country. you should be thankful. im so disappointed. this is for the people who should disrespect to the country that welcomed them, not for all. We respect everybody and everyone is welcomed in our country so we expect you guys to show respect back as well.

By santanarose316• 12 May 2014 07:56
santanarose316

you expats all, thank God you found an opportunity to work with high salaries, you never dream of such good conditions even in your own country,, stop being envious. this is our country, whether we're lazy or not, it never gives you right to open your mouth.

By solong• 11 May 2014 18:09
solong

Of the day will follow the forum threads and talk about the people of Qatar will be to submit a communication in the police department and this warning to the owner of the site and other

By Mohammed-moe• 11 May 2014 18:01
Mohammed-moe

let me just mention this , i work in a big company in Doha and one day the HR decided to check and authenticate engineers certificates wither its masters or BSc or any other ...

guess what 20% of the expats had their certificates forged !!! their certificates was FAKE !!!

By Mohammed-moe• 11 May 2014 17:56
Mohammed-moe

Dear All

i am surprised to see this much of nonsense, did any one ask why the Qatari government initiated the Qatarization scheme and forced all sectors to implement it ... simply because Qataris started to find it difficult to find jobs in their own country ... some recruitment managers in big companies started to employ people from his/her country or even city ... unfortunately some big managers would give bad performance appraisals to qataris thinking that its the only way to stop a qatary from getting promoted and hence this manger would be protecting his job !!!!

as its the case in all the countries you will see active professional staff, and you will see lazy un professional staff ..

the number of Qataris with PHD and Masters degree is increasing more than many countries , many famous publications on security , telecoms , IT topics and oli & gas fields has Qataris authors .

so please stop making false accusations and if you think your not qualified stop picking on Qataris to hide your weakness ,go back to your country get educated then come back .

By Qatare• 11 May 2014 11:54
Qatare

lyla ali: You make an interesting assumption and according to you "Qatari's are not welling to learn and that expatriates have knowledge, experience and skills" I can provide with hundreds of examples of good and bad expatriates in Qatar (i.e. from people whom have falsified their credentials to expatriates that helped build Qatar). I suggest you reconsider (think) prior to making such generalized remarks.

By Qatare• 11 May 2014 11:48
Qatare

Qtr_love: I am very disappointed in your racism against Qatari's! Furthermore, there is no need to use such a language in describing Qatari's! Matter of fact, I think you should consider changing your screen name!

By Qatare• 11 May 2014 10:44
Qatare

Haris7: My comments are as follows:

1. You should look at your qualifications (education and experience) prior to accusing and making Qatarization responsible for your failure to secure a job in Qatar!

2. It is really shameful that you serpent most of your life in Qatar, according you, and still view nationals this way!

By Mashael232• 11 May 2014 09:05
Mashael232

HI ,

as a qatari im so happy to find a site that explain more about qatar,

but was so sad for some comment ,

qatar has open many diffrent field and recruit for many people from out side Qatar ,

and dont forget that some employe has an a amazing offer because we want them to assist us in building our country ,

to who said that Qatari is laziest ppl , Im sorry if you work in a field with this type of ppl change your field and you will found ana amazing talented local to work with ..

please visit many goverment place for example me i work more that 9 hours i come first before many ppl non qatari at work and i leave after them so we are not the same , and small comment i move a lot not abit :)

you are all welcome in Qatar and thanks alot for all who is in Qatar and help us in the Amazing progress in diffrent field that we notice in the country ..

Regards,

Qatar Daughter ..

By Qtr_love• 10 Feb 2014 10:00
Qtr_love

Qataries are the laziest people i have ever met in Qatar. They got key positions in all the big institutions so whenever you going with a complaint involving another qatari, he/she wont bother much helping you. What a respectful bank or big company would call a canditate and beg to come for an interview?! They have all the rights in the world, without moving their asses a bit. All they know is speeding, swearing, BBM and chasing women.

By lyla ali• 9 Feb 2014 11:09
lyla ali

In my opinion they are not ready to take advantages of the expatriate knowledge, skills and experience...

So what to do next is to change the hiring ratio from all qatari candidate to expatriate e.g 2:5 or 3:10 mean for every 10 candidate required 3 expatriate and 7 qatari might solve the problem.

By Saad Al Naqeeb• 8 Feb 2014 11:45
Saad Al Naqeeb

That is not true at all..no one of my friends who applied for job vacancies had call from inside Qatar to attend interview... If you want to get job in Qatar you need a good connections and relations...

By Saad Al Naqeeb• 8 Feb 2014 11:45
Saad Al Naqeeb

That is not true at all..no one of my friends who applied for job vacancies had call from inside Qatar to attend interview... If you want to get job in Qatar you need a good connections and relations...

By nivram• 8 Feb 2014 10:57
nivram

If they are not responding on all those offers & want to think about it, obviously they dont want in field, they dont want to work at all. They want to taste the fortune they had. they are rich & even they are in field of work, they just sitting & someone will do the work for them.

By Skc111• 8 Feb 2014 07:46
Skc111

If the Qataris are not takeing intrest in jobs..there are many other needful ppl here ..but the problem is NOC system if they end up this NOC system like UAE they can esily hire skilled ppl..

By Francescamaritan• 5 Feb 2014 23:02
Francescamaritan

I agree with Mr. Hew. Why don't you call expats or not Qataris that really need/want a job?. Francesca

By rinilmathew• 5 Feb 2014 22:21
rinilmathew

If the Qataris are not turning up for the interview leave them, inspite we applying so many times we are never called for any interview. pls. contact me @ 70384245

By zackm• 5 Feb 2014 20:26
zackm

@TripoliAli, I don't completely agree with your statement about generaliing Qataris not willing to work hard, I have seen and worked with many Qataris who actually turn up for work on time and gets all the work done as well. I guess it depends on where you work and whom you work with.

By AlWakRa• 5 Feb 2014 20:11
AlWakRa

Why they don't say that they don't tell all the truth about the job offered, they hide most of the details and try to attract you by saying you will be assistant manager in 6 months, you will become manager in 2 years. After more than a year of great performance, no signs of a small promotion!!!!! So don't blame Qataris for not accepting, in my department we have employees started before 5 months and they don't have desks until now to be productive.

Harris, hope you find a good job, I met many residents who have a huge experience and I wished to work with them, sayingbthat to not reflect the idea of myself hating expats :)

By TripoliAli• 5 Feb 2014 19:54
TripoliAli

It is just a taste of things to come. Do you think that these lazy people will actually show up at work, even if they do pass through recruitment successfully.

It is much easier to lie at home, 'open the mouth' and accept whatever is poured in.

By zackm• 5 Feb 2014 18:30
zackm

Hope something works out for you soon Haris7, but try to have a back up plan if things might not work out for you here in Qatar

By zackm• 5 Feb 2014 18:22
zackm

Maybe HR in these banks are not effectively communicating with the potential candidates to muster their interest and long term career development. They should try to sell the job to the candidate and also discuss about the long term career development plans. Candidate also need to feel comfortable with the interviewers, HR should discuss with the direct managers about the candidate profiles at the beginning and get them interested about meeting the candidate. So when both of parties meet they both have expectations from each side, if this goes well....then success. Of course not all meetings are good, then people move to the next job or next candidate.

By Haris7• 5 Feb 2014 18:15
Haris7

In-spite of spending all my childhood and adulthood in Qatar and having Masters Engineering degree from well-know university in London, I'm unsuccessful to secure a single job in Qatar due to Qatarization. Even the most funny part is, the university i used to study most of the Arab guys were on Scholarships by the well reputed companies of Qatar and KSA unlike me who sucked my fathers lifetime income... Pathetic .....They don't bother to study and with the help of pounds they get thier ready-made assignments and projects implemented from intelligent students of the University. Is'it awesome. Yes it is..Although I'm not Qatari but i love Qatar.............

By Tanzeeb Zaman• 5 Feb 2014 17:55
Tanzeeb Zaman

and yet we struggle for good jobs in spite of having the qualities

By britexpat• 5 Feb 2014 17:53
britexpat

So the real aim is to 'raise percentages' and not recruit high calibre resources

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