Maersk Oil Qatar (MOQ), the country’s largest offshore oil producer, held its annual Qatarization awards ceremony this week, to recognize the people and initiatives that have supported the company’s efforts to hire and develop the nation’s future Qatari leaders.
In his opening address Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad Al-Thani, Deputy Managing Director of Maersk Oil Qatar said: "The recruitment, retention and development of Qatari nationals is of utmost importance to Maersk Oil. As the operator of Qatar’s largest offshore oilfield Al Shaheen, which contributes around 40% of the country’s oil production, we have a responsibility to ensure the sustainable development of this important national asset. We are firmly committed to providing the best career development opportunities for nationals, and to supporting this country’s future development under the National Vision 2030".
Maersk Oil has made significant progress towards these goals following the introduction of a new Qatarization Strategy in 2014, which has helped to boost Qatari employees in MOQ by 12% compared with the previous year. The strategy focuses not only on hiring nationals, but critically on developing leadership capacity via mentoring and bespoke training courses, plus the provision of further educational opportunities such as MBAs to employees. As a result of these efforts, MOQ had a headcount of 215 Qatari nationals at the end of 2014.
Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani, Maersk Oil Qatar’s Head of Qatarization, said: "We’ve applied several initiatives to support our recruitment, retention and employee development efforts. In particular we’ve introduced a two-year Qatari Development Programme, which was developed following an exhaustive 12-month study, encompassing best practice analysis and employee surveys. The results helped to create were a programme that is providing faster, more-structured career development that bridges the gap between the academic environment and the skills needed in the workplace".
During the event, Maersk Oil Qatar’s management team presented awards to over 50 Qatari employees for their hard work and efforts in 2014 as well as for long service and outstanding achievement. A number of employees that have played a significant role in advancing Qatarization, as either mentors or managers were also recognised at the event, which was also attended by representatives from Qatar Petroleum (QP), Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar University (QU), and the College of North Atlantic (CNA).
A key element of MOQ's recruitment activities is their 'Find Your Place' multimedia campaign, which has been running since 2014. The campaign features real employees sharing their experiences of working at Maersk Oil to help attract more Qatari talent and to encourage more applications for offshore roles in particular. Students and job-seeking professionals can learn more about the opportunities available and the company’s activities via the dedicated website, www.FindYourPlace.qa