TikTok partnership to help young Arabs land jobs of the future

A non-profit organisation championing young people in the region has teamed up with TikTok to use social media to open pathways to the hightech jobs of the future.

Injaz Al-Arab, which has been operating for 20 years across the Middle East and North Africa, will use the video-hosting service’s vast online presence to promote job opportunities with some of the world’s biggest companies in fast-emerging fields such as artificial intelligence.

The Are you Future Ready? campaign will publish 10 videos in which senior employees of companies including Microsoft, Metlife and HSBC will give insight into their jobs.

The initiative is aimed at young people across the Arab world but has a focus on those living in conflict areas.

Akef Aqrabawi, president of Injaz Al-Arab, said organisations should be more creative in their efforts to engage teenagers and young adults, many of whom use TikTok.

“Our young people are not exposed to what is available in the marketplace because there is not enough communication between different sectors,” he said.

“There needs to be proper communication to be able to engage the young people from different ages, schools and universities. They need to be able to understand what is available in the market and what skills are required to match that, so they can put a plan in place.”

He said his organisation aimed to adopt a digital approach to reach young people.

As of last year, TikTok had one billion global monthly active users, with more than 37.3 million from Generation Z, born between 1996 and 2012.

Mr Aqrabawi said it was the “best way” to reach youths in countries in which his organisation does not have offices.

“Since 2000, we’ve been able to take Injaz from Jordan to the rest of the Arab countries. It took us almost 15 years to establish these offices in the region,” he said.

“We kept a traditional model where we worked closely with educational institutions, but after Covid-19 we’ve been able to think outside of the box.

“We don’t have offices in Syria or Libya, so to reach these students we’ve formed new partnerships, like [the one] with TikTok, to reach these young people who badly need access to such information to create a better future.”

For the past two decades, Al-Arab has been connecting youths in the Mena region to industry leaders, helping them gain access to training and mentoring programmes.

The company said that securing meaningful employment remained one of the “toughest challenges” for these young people.

“Even as youth under the age of 25 make up 60 per cent of the population, a staggering 29 per cent of them are unemployed across the region,” it says on its website.

“That’s roughly 50 million individuals who are unable to access the labour market, lead fulfilling lives and drive economic prosperity in the region.”

Talal Al Fayez, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Mena region, said professionals employed in “future jobs” would speak about the use of new technology in sectors such as health insurance and banking.

“We have the videos scheduled to be released on a rolling basis until the end of June,” he said.

“The videos will show not only what the future jobs are, but also from the horse’s mouth what industry leaders within these future jobs are saying, how to prepare and upskill yourself, so you will be ready for these jobs.”

The initiative is aimed at young people across the Arab world but has a focus on those living in conflict areas