​​Zain Group hosts successful Talent Acquisition Summit in collaboration with LinkedIn

• A first of its kind in the region, talent management teams from Zain Group's operating companies congregate to learn latest recruitment trends
  
  Kuwait – 9 June, 2016
  
  Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announces the successful conclusion of its two-day Zain/LinkedIn 2016 Talent Acquisition Summit, which drew human resources professionals from across the Group to learn about the latest trends in recruitment.
  
  Held on 30 and 31 May, 2016 in Kuwait, the first of its kind Summit in the region undertaken by LinkedIn was attended by recruiters and talent management teams from Zain Group's operating companies and falls in line with the operator's Employer Value Proposition and its 'Together, we are Resourcing' and 'Together, we are Connecting' engagements.
  
  In November 2014, Zain entered into an agreement with LinkedIn to enhance its employer branding and talent acquisition strategy across the region, enabling Zain to identify and recruit the best talent from amongst LinkedIn's global professional members
  
  Zain is further reinforcing the One Zain Community program through a number of unified initiatives to support its talent acquisition teams across the Group, and its cooperation with LinkedIn to host the interactive summit is one such activity.
  
  Commenting on the successful conclusion of the summit, Maryam Saif, Zain Group's Director of Human Resources said, "With our focus on enhancing both our employer brand and our candidate experience, we are incredibly pleased that  LinkedIn choose Zain to host its first ever Talent Acquisition Summit in the region  to support us on our journey. Zain continues to place employees at the center of its activities and strategy, and recruiting top talent and being able to retain them is key to sustaining this vision."
  
  Arda Atalay, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solution, Private Sector, MENA, said on the occasion: "At LinkedIn and through our innovative Talent Solutions, we are committed to supporting our partners achieve their Employer Branding and Talent targets. Since our handshake in 2014, LinkedIn and Zain have built a successful partnership that allowed the group to implement the latest recruitment and employer branding initiatives."
  
  Atalay continued, "We are happy to be here today supporting Zain Group in realizing their talent vision and strategy through the execution of the first of its kind 2-day Talent Acquisition Summit in the region. The event highlighted further the importance of employee engagement as well as how employees can become successful brand ambassadors of their company's culture."
   
  During the course of 2015, for example, Zain recruited approximately 800 new staff members, and under the theme 'Together', provided a meaningful framework by which people could relate to the organization and make sense of the employment dynamics.
  
  Zain country operations have also been collaborating towards a unified goal, which is to increase response rates and engagement amongst staff. The 'Zainer' spirit came to the fore during the 2015 Engagement Survey, resulting in an overall response rate of over 90%, and an engagement score of 76% compared to the telecom industry average of 69%.
  
  As a group of operations, a communal communications plan was created to ensure the dissemination of consistent messages through various mediums such as Zain's intranet, blogs, instant messaging, town halls and videos. The campaign also fostered a unified 'champions' initiative, which saw the recruitment of Zainers with a passion to see a change, and recruitment techniques such as these were discussed during the summit.
  
  Other topics that were discussed during the training included the presentation of The Ultimate Hiring Toolkit for a unified experience and Onboarding in a Box toolkit for a 'One Zain' experience.
  
  During 2015 Zain Group also introduced a capability framework that identifies core and leadership competencies that support the company's strategic initiatives and provide a standard by which to measure present performance and identify the kind of activity required in the future. This strategy was reviewed during the LinkedIn summit.
  
  Mrs Saif concluded, "The evolving and competitive telecoms business is mainly driven by innovative people.  As Zain Group continues to grow, we are focusing on acquiring the best talent and to reinforce our reputation as the employer of choice. LinkedIn supports our strategy and provides an opportunity to engage with top talent all over the world at scale."
  
  Zain today has a talented workforce of 7,000 across all its operations and uses several online platforms to engage with potential candidates including its own corporate career page, a Twitter career page and LinkedIn.