Being from Saudi Arabia, my mother tongue is Arabic. Thus, I first came to the U.S. not to pursue my undergraduate education but to learn English. After I returned home upon successfully completing English Language Program, my father suggested I work as a trainer at Dammam, Saudi Arabia-based Zamil Steel Company before returning to the U.S. to pursue my college education. My father was of the view that some work experience will give me valuable exposure to the real world and also help me develop skills that will be helpful in studies such as strong work ethics, time management, organization, and greater self-confidence. My father also believed having some business experience will greatly enhance my job prospects in the job market whether I seek opportunities in the U.S. or return to Saudi Arabia.
It may be surprising to some that I were going to work as a trainer despite having no prior experience but my job itself required two weeks training. One of the reasons I was suitable for the training position was my fluency in Arabic as well as reasonable English language skills because the trainees also include non-Arabic speakers. What I learnt during my own 2-weeks training was exactly what I was supposed to teach as a trainer for the next two months. In addition to training which took place about three days a week, I was also exposed to different aspects of business operations such as Marketing, Management, HR, and Accounting.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Two Months of Learning".
On training days, I would reach the workplace two hours prior to training during which I would set up equipment and also go through the training material. Some people would come early, thus, I would allocate 30 minutes prior to training to answering questions they may have from previous sessions. This was, of course, in addition to their ability to ask questions through email. The training would last about two hours. During two months of training, I trained about eight batches since each batch would go through weeklong training or three 2-hour sessions. Once the training would be over, I would go and meet my boss who had been a plant manager for over a decade. On each Friday morning, I would sit with my boss and talk about the potential tasks or projects I would be doing the following week in addition to conducting training.
I learned something in each department I worked at during two months work experience. As far as marketing is concerned, I learnt that it is not just about making sales but also about understanding customers and predicting the emerging trends. I also learnt that customer service continues to grow in importance because competition has been growing and it is important to retain customers. It is even more important for companies like Zamil Steel Company whose customers are mostly commercial developers that build shopping complex and factories in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.
In HR, I learnt that it is not only important to hire people but also to keep them for long time at the company. This is because qualified people are increasingly difficult to find and those with high qualifications are always in high demand. In addition, hiring people and training them is an expensive process and, thus, high turnover doesn”t only result in lost productivity but also increases average labor cost.
As a trainer and an intern, I showed significant promise and my manager, thus, introduced me to the upper management. I always used to think that company leaders are arrogant and too proud but after meeting the company CEO, I learnt not everyone has same personality. The CEO also liked me and was impressed by the fact that I would soon be leaving for the U.S. to pursue my college education. Thus, he decided to mentor me for two hours once a week for the remaining two weeks. The insights I heard from the CEO really surprised me and could not have been more unexpected.
The CEO asked me who do I think is the most capable person in the company and I replied that it is naturally him because he is the CEO. CEO looked at me and just said, “Wrong!” He added that he could name right away twenty employees in the company who are more capable than him. Then he explained to me that intelligence and skills are important but leadership is not about being the smartest person but about getting the best out of everyone. CEO explained he was never the brightest employee but he always got along well with everyone and had great people skills. He also added that he learnt early in his career to listen to people and to make them feel important. This is why he eventually became CEO because he was the only one who could unite everyone. CEO should be someone who can keep people united. He explained he seeks advice from everyone before making a major decision because there are many smarter people than him in the company.
I might have taken the job to acquire skills but the most valuable part of the whole experience was better understanding of the concept of leadership. Since my two months job as a trainer and intern at Zamil Steel Company, I have started paying more attention to developing social skills because I now know the secret to becoming a leader.
