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I am sorry to read about all those complaints of Bahraini graduates who do not find jobs immediately. I can feel for them, as they are, just as I did when I was young, dreaming of swapping their classrooms for posh offices, preferably with a company car and expense account ... unfortunately it is not that easy and never was, not here and not in any other country.

To blame expat workers for this is rather short-sighted. The working environment is as global as the economy: Indians in Germany, Russians in France, Australians in Saudi, Americans in China, Bahrainis in England, and so on.
 
Our son, German, graduated with two bachelor degrees and could not find an adequate job. He worked for two years on an hourly basis to save some money in order to contribute a bit to a further year of postgraduate study in Europe. Then, about 80 job applications and several interviews later, he found a trainee position here in the Gulf, earning him some BD70 a month with free accommodation in the smallest room with a shared bathroom in a run-down three-bed apartment. It was a bit of a wake-up call to take this offer, earning about as much as an unskilled labourer. 

After almost a year of hard work, the company offered him a junior management position, about BD250 per month for a six days / 54 hour week and a move to a better room in the same apartment. In six months his salary will rise to BD300 and considerably higher after that.

He loves his job and is so far putting in 60 hours a week, often weekends, with no overtime pay. With a bit of luck he might end up one day as a senior manager. Then he will have to face those who complain ‘why him, why not me?’

I am sure that if some graduates here would be prepared to start at a similar level, even without having to leave their family and friends and move to another country, but learning and growing their experience for several years, they will one day be able to say: “that’s why me and not him.” Guaranteed!
 
A proud father,
 Name and address supplied.

I read Stan Szecowka’s article in last week’s GulfWeekly about the new Bahrain Science Centre. As a teacher in our interactive multimedia department, I would be very interested in visiting this new facility with some of my graduating students who are currently working on designing on interactive display projects.Would you have a contact I could reach to follow up on this matter?

Robert O’Meara, University College of Bahrain.

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