UNICEF, Omantel organise for young people to shadow top executives to mark World Children’s Day
Here’s what Muntaha, Fatima, Said and Ali had to say about the experience
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To mark World Children’s Day on 20 November, UNICEF Oman partnered with telecoms company Omantel to organise a job shadowing exercise designed to give young Omanis an introduction to the world of work and provide them with an opportunity to learn workplace skills.
World Children’s Day is celebrated every year on 20 November to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. UNICEF offices around the world typically organize “Kids’ Takeovers” with children assuming roles normally occupied by adults.
In Oman, job shadowing was organised in cooperation with Omantel to link World Children’s Day activities to a new youth training programme launched by UNICEF, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, and private sector partners earlier this year.
Children shadowed four senior Omantel executives to learn about their various roles: Chief Executive Officer Shiekh Talal Al Mamari, Chief Operating Officer Samy Al Ghassany, Chief People Officer Ghalib Al Hosni and Chief Audit Executive Taghreed Al Lawati.
After the children completed their time shadowing the Omantel executives, UNICEF spoke to them about the experience. Here’s what they had to say.
Said Al Mahrouqi is in Grade 9 and shadowed Chief People Officer Ghalib Al Hosni in the Human Resources Unit
Q: What did you enjoy most about today?
A: I enjoyed learning about the teamwork between different units, and how to achieve the most out of your employees. I got the chance to sit with the CPO while he was meeting with the entire HR department and I saw how he tries to inspire them to work hard and achieve goals that benefit the company.
Q: What did you learn today?
A: How important strong management is and to be able to stay on top of things and make sure you get the best out of your team.
Q: How will today’s experience help you?
A: It opened my mind to different lines of work and helped me understand how I can aspire to work hard and achieve goals in any line of work I do.
Fatima Al Barwani is in Grade 11 and shadowed Chief Operating Officer Samy Al Ghassany
Q: What did you enjoy most about today?
A: I enjoyed visiting and observing the technologies they have at Omantel, how they operate, and how the operations unit works. I learned how effective they are in meetings and that they have a fast-paced work life.
Q: What did you learn today?
A: I learned how important technology is in this line of work. And how to fix problems as a team and come up with fast but effective solutions.
Q: How will today’s experience help you?
A: It encouraged me to work in the telecommunications field and be able to solve problems on my own. My dream is to be a maths teacher and sitting with the COO showed me that I can use maths and algorithms in different fields.
Ali Al Zaabi is in Grade 9 and shadowed Chief Audit Executive Taghreed Al Lawati
Q: What did you enjoy most about today?
It was a great experience. I loved that I learned new skills and sat in meetings with the chief audit executive and saw first-hand what it means to audit in big companies. There were a lot of technical phrases used but she was very helpful and explained everything to me. It was amazing to see how difficult and interesting it is at the same time.
Q: What did you learn today?
A: What audit means, and how to manage a huge team and an important department in the company.
Q: How will today’s experience help you?
A: My dream is to be a lawyer, and what the Chief of Audit told me is that I can be an auditing lawyer and work with them. So now I am aiming for this in the future.
Muntaha Al-Hasani is in Grade 11 shadowed Omantel CEO Shiekh Talal Al Mamari
Q: What did you enjoy most about today?
A: I enjoyed the opportunity of being close to the CEO of such an important company with many employees and observing how he treats his employees and his work. I sat with him during meetings and felt like he was down to earth and helpful with his staff, and runs things in a smooth and efficient way.
Q: What did you learn today?
A: To fight for my goals and what I want, and not to lose hope even if I don’t get what I want and to keep working hard to achieve what’s good for me and the company.
Q: How will today’s experience help you?
A: To be strong and make sure my thoughts and opinions are heard, and to surround myself with people who make me better and who I can teach and learn from. My dream is to be a cardiologist. And although this is different from what Shaikh Talal does sitting with him inspired me to be successful in whatever field of work I end up in.
