The Qatar National Hotels (QNH) announced it plans to hire more than 40 Qataris to work in their hotels early next year as part of their Qatarisation programme. Nawaf Ali Abdullah Al Obaidli, operations officer of the QNH Company, said the Ministry of Labour has introduced around 50 candidates to the company to be trained to work in the hospitality sector. Al Obaidli said they have already interviewed around 10 candidates, who will be undergoing a six-month training period before they start working for the hotels. “The six-month training programme was developed by QNH to introduce them into the hospitality industry. The 10 candidates we have just interviewed will be taking this training programme… The others who were recommended by the Ministry of Labour will also be interviewed, and later, trained by the company,” Al Obaidli said. He said QNH developed the programme not only to encourage Qataris to join the hotel business but to actually inspire an interest to further their career goals in the hospitality sector. According to him, QNH is now focusing its vision on the Qatari youth by educating and facilitating the right means to introduce them to the industry. “We are creating programmes to help young Qataris understand the industry better.” “We want to add that touch of Qatari culture to the hotel business as this sector is booming here,” Al Obaidli said. He said QNH is looking for Qataris who are at least high school graduates, with good communication skills, pleasing personality, eagerness to learn and bilingual. “They have to speak fluent English and Arabic… the rest, we will train them for it.” The 50 candidates underwent some training already at the university and the Qatarisation training programme is QNH’s way to ensure the candidates may be able to hone their skills and to determine which department interests them, said Abdul Shukoor, QNH’s group director of Food and Beverage and the general manager of the Sealine Beach Resort. “Al Obaidli is aggressively looking into this programme.” QNH hotels include the Doha Ritz-Carlton, Doha Sheraton Hotel, Sharq Village and Spa, the Doha Marriott Hotel, Movenpick Hotel Doha, Doha Merweb Hotel Al Sadd, and the Sealine Beach Resort. The Merweb City Centre, which will also be under the QNH Company, will open in October. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local%5FNews&subsection=Qatar+News&month=August2009&file=Local_News2009080622647.xml

Follow us on our social media channels: @ILQlive @ILQlive @ILoveQtr ILoveQatar