•  20 young Omanis welcomed to one year internship programme

Following a rigorous screening and selection process with over 150 applicants, Bank Sohar recently received the successful candidates for its innovative internship programme entitled ‘Tomohi - Enhancing Omani Youth Skills’. Twenty young Omani graduates have now embarked upon one year placements at the bank where they will enhance their employability through the acquisition of knowledge and skills that remain in high demand across Oman’s labour market.

The successful candidates were invited mid of July to sign their one year contracts in the program, and they officially commenced training on 29th July. Mr. Mohammed Al Ardhi, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Bank Sohar, welcomed the aspiring interns during a special event held on Monday 30th July at the Bank’s Learning Centre in Qurum, where he gave an inspirational speech that highlighted the aspirations of a nation that rests on the youth of Oman, including the Tomohi interns.

Among the attendance from the Bank during the event were Mr. Ahmed Al Musalmi, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Abdulali Al Lawati, Sr. AGM and Acting Head of HR and Corporate Support.

During his speech, Mr. Mohamed Al Ardhi said: “Tomohi was launched to empower Omani youth whilst improving the employability of our workforce as we make skills more transferable and our work environment more accommodative in response to the national employment drive. At Bank Sohar we align our efforts with those of the national agenda when it comes to people development, and like many other in-house initiatives, Tomohi focuses on fostering a new generation of work-ready youth by helping them to acquire the proficiencies required to succeed in the banking and finance industry through experiential learning.”

The programme accepted the successful candidates upon their aptitude and academic performance, as well as other prominent points for personal and professional evaluation. The bank’s multi-faceted assessment further included written tests and interviews. Tomohi’s interns will be placed in rotation across various departments centered on their areas of study, covering Finance, HR Management, Finance Sciences, Accounting, Information Technology, and Marketing. A full induction programme is being delivering to ensure a smooth integration to their new work environment with plans in place for regular performance reviews, monitoring and feedback throughout the year.

The programme will see interns benefit from the bank’s Human Resource Strategy with a robust directive for raising the competencies of employees, featuring on-the-job training, technical and leadership programmes, coaching activities, and exposure to a variety of work streams to diversify their learning experience.

Bank Sohar’s market engagement strategy is focussed on identifying local talent and communicating with prospective employees, informing local youth on the prospects available to them as an employer of choice notable for its substantial commitment to enhancing the competencies of its workforce. ‘Tomohi’ furthers the bank’s engagement with human capital from across the nation, as observed at recent investments including participation in multiple career and training opportunity fairs.

Bank Sohar has demonstrated a strong investment in youth over the years, with recent initiatives including the organization of visits for school students to various branches across the Sultanate. The Bank has also launched its new Chairman’s Forum, ViewPoints, a thought-provoking series of talks from world-renowned leaders. The platform is envisaged to provide a unique opportunity to gain insight from engaging in dialogue with inspirational personalities on key issues. The first edition saw a wide spectrum in attendance, including high profile public officials, business leaders, academics, college students and entrepreneurs.

For more information on Bank Sohar visit www.soharinternational.com or call 24730000. You can also follow the Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sohar.intl, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/sohar_intl or join the conversation on Twitter @sohar_intl.