Ithraa, Oman’s inward investment and export promotion agency, will organise a series of four evening seminars highlighting methods of work, the workplace, talent, skills, vocational training and careers, to be held next month in Oman.

The Oman at Work seminars will be supported by GUTech, Bank Muscat, Al Wisal and Merge 104.8FM, said a statement from Ithraa.

The seminars will take place on September 7, 8, 14 and 16 at Bank Muscat’s head office.

The four seminars crafted by Ithraa are designed to help Oman’s public and private sector better understand the challenges and opportunities of the future of work and the fundamental impact this will have on how Oman nurtures, motivates and attracts a talented workforce that can compete in the twenty-first century, it added.

Sayyid Faisal Al Said, Ithraa’s director general for marketing and media, and organiser of Oman at Work: “In the 1980s, companies and government were hiring typists and switchboard operators.

“Today, they are recruiting webmasters and desktop publishers. We are living in a world few could have imagined even 20 years ago – a world powered by technology, fueled by information and driven by knowledge,” he said.

He added the objective of the initiative is to bring together public and private sector representatives to discuss how the sultanate’s work and skills environment may change over the coming years and what those changes would mean for inward investment, non-oil exports, employers, education and training providers, individuals, particularly the youth and Government, said the statement.

Shatha Al Maskiry, Oman at Work panelist, and managing director at Protiviti Oman, said: “A number of local and global trends are impacting business, skills and jobs, ranging from emerging economies, demographic change, migration, technological developments to changing organizational structures.”

“These rapid, complex shifts are affecting labour markets and education and training policies around the world,” he added.

In response to these complex shifts, Oman has invested heavily in education and training to create the next generation of business and public sector leaders.

The Millennial generation, born between 1980 and 2000 and making up 75 per cent of the global workforce by 2025, is better educated and more diverse than any other generation in Oman’s history. And their working lives will be very different to previous generations, research suggests a typical Millennial will have had 10 jobs by the age of 38.

“In the future, people will have shorter careers and more of them and the idea of a single education, followed by a single career, finishing with a single pension is over. As a result, workers will constantly need to gain new skills throughout their working life,” added Al Said. – TradeArabia News Service