Marriott tackles Arab youth unemployment

Marriott International has received more than 1400 applications to date following the announcement of the “Expand Your Horizon” campaign.

The partnership with Injaz Al-Arab, the MENA regional office of Junior Achievement Worldwide, launched the organisation’s youth empowerment programme, focused on showcasing internship and employment opportunities from the region’s key growth industries.

“This initiative allows Marriott the opportunity to create a paradigm shift in the perception of hospitality among MENA nationals, and showcase careers in hospitality to the next generation of hoteliers, benefiting both the Arab youth as well as our industry,” said Marriott International chief human resources officer Middle East and Africa David Leman.

‘Expand Your Horizon’ is providing information about key sectors that will equip the youth to make more informed decisions about their future career paths, and steering them towards viable work experience opportunities.

As a result of the programme, Marriott International is looking to appoint 55 young interns across eight markets, namely Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, KSA and Bahrain.

Students will be fully immersed into all aspects of the business throughout the internship to help them explore potential career opportunities available within the hospitality sector, from sales and marketing to engineering, finance, human resources and guest relations, to name a few.

“‘Expand Your Horizon’ will increase the understanding of the rapid growth the hospitality sector is forecast to sustain and will attempt to increase the demand among youth for employment in the sector, and we are thrilled to see so much interest from the Arab youth already. Through our close collaboration with INJAZ Al-Arab we aim to help nurture the dreams and aspirations of young Arab nationals, but also to potentially see some of the interns return to pursue a career with Marriott International, either within the Middle East and Africa region, or perhaps even globally,” Leman added.

Marriott International was one of five campaign partners, including Boeing, Aramex, MBC Group and WAMDA, all of which represent a sector that is becoming more appealing and attractive to Arab youth.