Saudi Charge d’affaires in Washington Ambassador Sami Al-Sadhan and Cultural Attaché Dr. Mohammed Al-Eissa visited SAUDIA’s pavilion at the event. Dr. Omar bin Abdullah Jefri, EVP Systems, Eng. Bandar Al-Qahtani, VP Shared Services, and Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Fahad, VP Public Relations received the guests.
Both Mr. Al-Sadhan and Mr. Al-Eissa were briefed on the offers and products displayed at the airline’s pavilion for the benefit of scholarship students and other passengers. They thanked SAUDIA for its active participation in the career day by displaying its services, offering jobs to graduates and giving away free tickets.
Dr. Jefri expressed his thanks and appreciation for the Education Ministry, the Saudi Embassy and the Cultural Attaché in Washington for their positive and fruitful cooperation with SAUDIA in training the national cadre and finding suitable jobs for them. “What SAUDIA is doing in this respect is its national duty,” he added.
Dr. Jefri referred to the recent agreement signed by Education Minister Dr. Azzam Al-Dakhil and SAUDIA Director General Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser to send 5,000 Saudi graduates to the US, under the Foreign Scholarship Program of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to specialize in aviation and aircraft maintenance.
These Saudi students, after completing their studies in American institutes and universities, will undergo further training at Prince Sultan Aviation Academy in Jeddah before employed at Saudi Arabian Airlines and Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries.
“This joint program will open new horizons of cooperation between the Education Ministry and Saudi Arabian Airlines in providing education and training to Saudis in specializations required by the Kingdom’s job market,” the EVP said.
Apart from sponsoring the career day, SAUDIA uses the event to recruit graduates to fill vacant positions as well as to provide them with intensive training through the Future Pioneers program and other courses, especially for bachelor’s and master’s degree holders in engineering, management, finance and computer science.
“We have a foreign scholarship program for bachelor’s degree holders to specialize in aviation science. We also offer a number of jobs for women graduates in finance and IT sectors,” he said.
During the event SAUDIA gave away 50 free tickets through the lucky draw, including 10 first class tickets for doctoral degree holders, 15 business class tickets to master’s degree holders and 25 guest class tickets to graduates holding bachelor’s degrees.