In July of this year, it was reported by qz.com that 23 percent of Saudi Arabia’s women are now part of the nation’s workforce, up from only 18 percent of women in 2010 who had jobs or were looking for one. This is because Saudi Arabia has been working on increasing women’s participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent by 2030, particularly through strategic goals laid out in its Vision 2030 that support the economic empowerment and self-reliance of Saudi women.
Amongst the key initiatives that have been launched both in the public sector and private sphere is Glowork, a recruitment agency that aims to empower Saudi Arabian women and integrate them into workforce. Glowork was established in 2011 by Khalid Alkhudair, who gave up his comfortable job as an auditor at KPMG (known as one of the world’s “Big Four” accounting organizations) at the time to create this now renowned recruitment company for Saudi women. Only 28 years of age when he decided to launch this company, Alkhudair was met with a lot of doubt and misgivings; not many people believed his idea to launch a company that focuses on solving female unemployment in Saudi Arabia was sound.
However, just a few years later, Glowork is a real success, having helped around 36,000 Saudi women find direct jobs across the country to date. Indeed, just two weeks ago, the agency once again launched “A Step Ahead,” reported as the Kingdom’s biggest ever job fair ever held for women. The three-day affair saw the participation of a number of government institutions, as well as international and local companies, all offering thousands of career opportunities for women across a wide range of sectors. Over the last six years, Gloworks’s job fair has had more than 190,000 women participating in events, and over 10,000 who got trained and attended free workshops.
