And the job search goes on
A meeting to highlight career opportunities at the World Bank shed light on problems facing youth employment in Egypt
A World Bank team was in Egypt earlier this week to speak to different institutions and universities about job and training opportunities offered by the bank. The qualifications required by applicants are strong academic credentials including a Masters degree, a broad understanding of development issues, excellent interpersonal and communication skills and proficiency in two languages.
"We are a highly competitive international organisation, we have extremely high standards for hiring but we know that the labour market in Cairo can provide us with such people," said Rajesh Vidyasagar, human resource manager for the Middle East and North Africa as well as the Southeast Asia region of the World Bank. He said the bank was keen to make contact with different organisations and "potential employees" working in the areas of "economic development, infrastructure and urbanisation".
The team gave a presentation on different recruitment opportunities, stressing the different programmes for young staff. It seemed very competitive. Of the 8,000 applications submitted to the Young Professionals Programme (YPP) -- a job scheme targeting applicants under 32 years of age -- only 34 were recruited. However, the audience, who largely consisted of students and young people in their early 20s, seemed inspired by the fact that two out of three Egyptian vice-presidents at the World Bank entered the institution through this programme.
While the audience seemed very interested in the application procedure, they were more subdued when members of the team asked them to talk about the challenges facing the job market in Egypt. "I feel sorry for the graduates that enter the market every year ... they don't find any job opportunities and thus they tend to enroll in postgraduate studies. The number of postgraduate students is increasing year after year," said Aliaa El-Mahdy, professor of economics at Cairo University.
But is this doing them any good? It seems not, judging by the number of participants who expressed their deep frustration. "I finished my Bachelors degree and did my Masters to improve my opportunities in the job market, then I did another Masters abroad and returned back still unable to find a job," said one young woman. "It is not a matter of qualifications that hinders employment in Egypt, it is a cultural thing. The youth are always discouraged. If you are young, no matter what skills you have, you will be regarded with scepticism," she said.
An American University in Cairo (AUC) graduate said she now wants to work abroad despite earning a handsome salary in Egypt because her job prospects are limited. "I have lost my social life. I am working 12 hours a day, in addition to working on my MBA, in order to get a promotion. The jobs here are just frustrating."
The number of working hours and the lack of social life are not the primary problems for most Egyptians, though. "Maybe these are the problems of AUCians or those who can afford to study abroad," said a student in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science who asked not to be named. "The problems for the majority of the 600,000 new graduates entering the job market every year are the low salaries, the corruption which denies you a job if you're not well-connected and above all labour exploitation because of the lack of protective laws," the student told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The World Bank team visited Kuwait and Saudi Arabia before Egypt and will head next to Lebanon. According to Vidyasagar, the problems which were highlighted in Egypt are unfortunate but not unusual. "In many parts of the world there are shortages of employment opportunities and that is what economic development helps to solve," he said.
By Sherine Abdel-Razek
