Zain Group and LinkedIn jointly host 2016 Talent Acquisition Summit

Kuwait: Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announced the successful conclusion of its two-day Zain/LinkedIn 2016 Talent Acquisition Summit, which drew human resources professionals from across the Group to learn about the latest trends in recruitment.

Held on May 30 and 31 in Kuwait, the first of its kind summit in the region undertaken by LinkedIn was attended by recruiters and talent management teams from Zain Group’s operating companies and falls in line with the operator’s Employer Value Proposition and its ‘Together, we are Resourcing’ and ‘Together, we are Connecting’ engagements. 

In November 2014, Zain entered into an agreement with LinkedIn to enhance its employer branding and talent acquisition strategy across the region, enabling Zain to identify and recruit the best talent from amongst LinkedIn’s global professional members

Zain is further reinforcing the One Zain Community programme through a number of unified initiatives to support its talent acquisition teams across the Group, and its cooperation with LinkedIn to host the interactive summit is one such activity.

Commenting on the successful conclusion of the summit, Maryam Saif, Zain Group’s Director of Human Resources said, “With our focus on enhancing both our employer brand and our candidate experience, we are incredibly pleased that  LinkedIn choose Zain to host its first ever Talent Acquisition Summit in the region  to support us on our journey.”

Arda Atalay, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solution, Private Sector, MENA, said: “At LinkedIn and through our innovative Talent Solutions, we are committed to supporting our partners achieve their Employer Branding and Talent targets. Since our handshake in 2014, LinkedIn and Zain have built a successful partnership that allowed the group to implement the latest recruitment and employer branding initiatives.”

 During the course of 2015, for example, Zain recruited about 800 new staff members, and under the theme ‘Together’, provided a meaningful framework by which people could relate to the organization and make sense of the employment dynamics.

Zain country operations have also been collaborating towards a unified goal, which is to increase response rates and engagement amongst staff. The ‘Zainer’ spirit came to the fore during the 2015 Engagement Survey, resulting in an overall response rate of over 90pc, and an engagement score of 76pc compared to the telecom industry average of 69pc. 

As a group of operations, a communal communications plan was created to ensure the dissemination of consistent messages through various mediums such as Zain’s intranet, blogs, instant messaging, town halls and videos. 

The campaign also fostered a unified ‘champions’ initiative, which saw the recruitment of Zainers with a passion to see a change.