One of the prominent forums to help women with finding employment opportunities in Qatar, How Women Work (HWW) recently organised a HWW FIND Work Jobseekers’ Conference & Recruitment Fair to bring together women seeking employment in Qatar with HR specialists, recruitment agencies and employers.
Now in its fifth year, the How Women Find Work conference is a highlight on Doha’s event calendar as many women, despite having excellent experience and a wealth of skills, still struggle to find suitable jobs.
This year to ensure that candidates’ expectations were met, HWW added a pre-screening application process which allowed candidates to know whether their profile matched the criteria that recruiters are currently looking for or not.
“We added the pre-screening, so that candidates could make a more informed decision on whether they wanted to buy a ticket. Everyone is still welcome but we didn’t want to raise false hopes, it wouldn’t be fair to our participants,” said Carolin Zeitler, the founder of HWW, in her statement.
Several women who had been hired from previous events were present as speakers and company representatives this time around. Others told their stories beforehand, so that hopeful candidates could feel inspired. “When we first moved to Qatar I was happy to spend a few months of being a stay-at-home mum. However, as time went by, I was starting to get rather bored and felt I was ready to start working again. That’s when I came across HWFW and decided to volunteer for the cause,” said Lisa Lindgren who had been hired at the fourth How Women FIND Work conference in November 2015.
“The day itself was very engaging. I met many interesting women and learned a lot about how to find work in Doha. During the conference I spoke to a GEMS representative, and two months later I started working with them! I’m so happy to have finally found a great job,” she told the audience.
Having recognised that this was an issue that affected many women of all ages and backgrounds, in 2012 the How Women Work (HWW) community decided that something needed to be done to help.
The HWW community partnered with a number of respected local recruitment agencies, who were willing to share insights into how to get hired in Doha, and the How Women FIND Work conference series was born. The conference has evolved into a popular event that not only allows women to learn more about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of getting hired in Doha, but also hosts a small fair that allows candidates to speak directly to recruitment agents and officers who are currently hiring.
The next event in the How Women FIND Work series is scheduled for November 2016. The HWW Community was founded in 2009 with the aim of empowering women to grow and succeed; reaching hearts and minds, breaking down barriers and promoting understanding across cultures and genders. It brings women with aspirations and ambitions together to share knowledge, ideas, and ambitions, enabling them to find sustainable ways to success.
HWW is presented by Tataowar Coaching & Consulting. In everything we do at Tataowar we believe that meaningful, sustainable growth fulfils the true needs of the individual and the greater good.
The HWW community includes leaders, employees, executives, business owners, entrepreneurs, graduates and students, as well as women who want to re-enter the workforce. The group welcomes any woman with aspirations and ambitions.
One of the group’s first initiatives was to set up an annual conference devoted to the development of professional women in Qatar. The inaugural conference, entitled A Conference on Women’s Leadership and Career Development, was held on April 22, 2010.
It saw an enthusiastic response, with over 100 delegates from more than 30 nationalities attending two keynote speeches and participating in 15 workshops and panel discussions. From there on the conference grew consistently.
While the annual conference remains the flagship event, How Women Work has now grown into a community that is active all year round with several event series, like ‘How Women FIND Work’ and ‘How Women Thrive Amongst Men’, as well as a monthly workshop series ‘Equipped To Succeed’, the Mastermind and Soul Sisters groups and the CSR book project ‘How Women Succeed’.
ONE PLATFORM: A number of past participants shared their experiences at the HWW conference this year.
