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Lebanon – Foreign firms avoid job fair over security concerns

23 April 2014

Foreign companies are showing increased interest in hiring Lebanese graduates, but the unstable political situation in the country is holding some of them back from recruiting locally, according to the recruitment director at the American University of Beirut (AUB), reports dailystar.com.lb.

“Many companies from Japan, China and India wanted to take part in this year’s job fair at AUB, but only some of them are taking the risk of coming to Lebanon,” said Maryam Ghandour, career and placement services director at AUB.

Ms Ghandour said many foreign firms told her that they needed assurances that the political and security situation was improving before they could participate after their experiences during AUB’s job fair in May 2008, which coincided with clashes between pro-government and opposition gunmen in Beirut.

“Some of the exhibitors got stuck at the airport back then, and they had to take back the plane to their home countries,” she said. “This is why some of them do not dare to take the risk of coming to Lebanon and they told me that explicitly. They said they want us to assure them that nothing will happen. But how can we do that?”

Lebanese firms are also hesitant when it comes to recruiting new people because of the unstable political situation, Ms Ghandour said: “Some people even have projects in mind, but they do not to start with the implementation because they are waiting for the election of the new president. However, regional firms tend to recruit immediately, and this is why many of our graduates tend to take job offers outside Lebanon.”