As part of Shell‘s commitment and various initiatives to develop Omani talent, Shell Development Oman recently enrolled three young Omanis in its world-class graduate programme.
Shell’s graduate programme is an intensive development framework that focuses on personal and professional development. It provides a consistent and global standard for early career development and assessment of graduates. The programme is designed to provide the right mix of on-the- job learning and formal, structured learning with the eventual aim of creating highly competent and professional employees.
The effectiveness of the programme is evident in the example of one of our last year’s recruits, Amir Al Maharbi, who joined the programme last year and is now working in Brunei Shell Petroleum as a Mechanical Static Engineer working with a multi-national team. Speaking about his experience with the programme so far, Amir said: “Shell’s graduate programme presented me with a unique opportunity to stretch and challenge myself. I was able to experience working on projects outside my field of expertise, interact regularly with senior management, as well as getting the opportunity to work abroad and broaden my knowledge even further. Overall, it has been a rich experience that helped me get a flavor of the challenges that leaders face, and allowed me to better understand my strengths and areas for further development.”
Chris Breeze, Shell’s Country Chairman in Oman, highlighting Shell’s committed approach at the induction week of the three new recruits, said that  “we at Shell are committed to developing Omani talent. External benchmarking shows that Shell’s graduate development programme is industry leading, providing challenging experiences to sharpen leadership skills and accelerate development, making graduates independent, mature professionals as fast as possible”. He also added that “the Omanis currently on the Shell graduate programme have variously worked in Shell and its associated ventures in Oman, Brunei, Qatar and the Netherlands. The aim of the programme is to develop a cadre of Omanis who will lead the delivery and operation of Shell’s current and future projects in Oman and abroad. ”
The new recruits
Hawraa Al Lawati graduated recently from Waikato University in New Zealand with a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering and has joined Shell Development Oman as a Production Technologist. Hawraa mentioned that she heard about Shell’s Graduate Development Programme through the Consulate General of the Sultanate of Oman – Australia and New Zealand.
Ahmad Al Alawi graduated from Higher College of Technology in Muscat with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Ahmad stated: “Taking part in this programme is going to provide me with a great experience. I am looking forward to learning more about the industry, meeting people from different cultures and professional backgrounds and learning from them along the way. I heard about this opportunity from a friend and I’m so glad I managed to enroll in it successfully.”
Atif Al Harthy graduated from Pennsylvania State University in the United States with a degree in Civil Engineering. Atif said: “I expect this programme to be a great stepping stone into my Engineering career. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn new things and gain new skills, especially under the guidance of well experienced staff. I thought of applying to Shell when I saw an advertisement about Shell’s Eco-marathon competition at my university. I immediately browsed Shell’s website and found the job openings.”
Both Ahmed and Atif have joined Shell Development Oman as Reliability Engineers.