Omanisation: 27,000 Omanis secured jobs in private sector

The government is making all-out efforts to provide opportunities to eligible Omani job-seekers through its various directorates and departments, said a senior official at the Ministry of Manpower. “The future Omanisation policy will be more specific with emphasis on providing jobs to nationals based on their professions, instead of broader economic sectors as it has been the case now,” said Salim bin Nassir al Hadrami, Director-General of Planning and Development at the Ministry of Manpower. According to him, around 27,000 Omanis were appointed in 2019 in the private sector, especially in construction, sales, distribution and industry. These sectors accounted for 58 per cent.

In a statement to Oman News Agency, he said that the construction sector, despite the lack of projects, managed to recruit more than 8,000 citizens. He pointed out that travel and tourism sectors managed to employ 6 per cent this year, while the logistics sector appointed about 5 per cent. He affirmed that these figures will double in the coming period, especially that there are several measures taken by the Ministry of Manpower in this field to urge the private sector to achieve the Omanisation rates imposed according to the economic sectors. The private sector establishments and companies confirmed their support for the government’s efforts in the field of Omanisation and qualifying Omani youth to take leadership positions.

The Ministry of Manpower and Takatuf Oman launched the National Leadership Development Programme to enable the middle and upper Omani administrations in the private sector, which is one of the initiatives of Tanfeedh.

Mohammed bin Salem al Busaidy, Head of the Youth and Human Resources Development Committee at the Majlis Ash’shura, said that the national programme for leadership development to empower the middle and upper Omani administrations in the private sector reflects the government’s interest in national cadre.

“This is aimed at increasing the percentage of Omanis to 20 per cent in the middle and upper jobs in the private sector, through rehabilitation and training to assume leadership and supervisory positions,” he said.

On his turn, Shaikh Ibrahim bin Mohammed al Harthy, Executive Director of Takatuf Oman, said that he was pleased to sign the agreement to launch the national programme for leadership development, which is one of the initiatives of Tanfeedh.

He said that the programme aims to train middle and senior leaders. The programme consists of three main stages distributed throughout the year. He explained that the main objective of the programme is to prepare qualified national cadres capable of holding leadership positions in key sectors in the private sector.
Meanwhile, Simon Karam, Director of Sarooj Construction Company, stressed the need to replace expatriate workers with national workforce as the private sector was able to find 2 million jobs, including 1,800,000 jobs for expatriates, adding that Omanisation and employment continue as long as there are nationals graduating annually and there are near-term procedures and long-term procedures help in solving the issue of employment.

He pointed out that the number of employees in the company stands at 2,672, of which 530 are Omanis, comprising 19.8 per cent. The goal is to reach 20.5 per cent by the end of 2019.

A number of private sector companies have launched a series of programmes aimed at enhancing the potential of Omani youth and rehabilitating them in order to recruit them to other companies in the sector.

Khimji Programme to improve the administrative skills of Omani citizens aims at promoting skills of the national workforce as the programme is ratified by the world’s leading skills organisation in the UK. The trainees also obtain a qualification certificate accredited by the Ministry of Manpower, under the title “Principles of Business Administration”.

Pankaj Khimji said that the recruitment initiative is an important option for the group, as the group six months ago selected 42 of aspiring young people to discover their potential and contribute in building the Sultanate.

A six-month programme is designed for those job-seekers to develop their skills and abilities in addition to sending them in a three-week intensive education course to Malaysia.

He added that the group continues its efforts in the recruitment process by employing Omanis in various fields, offering training programmes for employees within the Sultanate and training programmes coupled with employment in partnership with the public and private sector.

He pointed out that Khimji Ramdas Group is exerting great efforts in recruiting and training Omanis, where the number of Omani employees in the group reached about 2,000.

He explained that the group hired 100 Omani male and female in 2018, in addition to 45 Omanis in the first quarter of this year.

This article originally appeared on: http://www.omanobserver.om/27000-omanis-secured-jobs-in-private-sector/