The Saudi British Bank (SABB) has launched its 2011 graduate development programme whereby 20 young Saudi graduates have been selected to join the programme.

The selected graduates will undergo a tailored development programme which is aimed to offer the trainees with direct exposure to several banking functionalities including managerial and leadership tasks leading to a management career in SABB.

The development programme demands a lot of hard work and dedication, as well as the ability to handle a diverse workload in a demanding financial services environment.

SABB commenced this initiative by carrying out a global search for high potential Saudi graduates whereby over 800 applicants with Bachelor’s and / or Master’s degrees from the top local and foreign universities went through the initial screening process.

SABB successfully conducted the selection processes in Riyadh, London and Washington which consisted of best in class selection tools, including on-line ability assessment tests, psychometric assessments, several interviews and an assessment centre in order to select the final 20 graduates.

The candidates who experienced the recruitment journey with SABB had very positive impressions and experiences at the assessment methodology and interviews.

The successful candidates attended a welcome gathering hosted by David Dew, managing director of SABB and Ahmed Al Tuwaijri, general manager Human Resources.

“SABB is well known for commitment in building and grooming young graduates to take up future leadership roles within the bank,” said Dew.

“We have several success stories where many Senior Executives in the bank who joined SABB from similar programmes are now leading our strategic businesses. I encourage you to challenge yourselves in driving your career progression by maximizing all the development opportunities offered through SABB and to leverage best practices from our global partner, HSBC,” he added.

The trainees will undergo classroom and on-the-job training during their development period followed with a five weeks residential management development programme conducted by HSBC at its Business School in London.

This will give the Saudi graduates the opportunity to network with similar management trainees selected from over 80 countries where the HSBC Group has its operations. – TradeArabia News Service