Automobile retailer witnesses 60 per cent increase in Bahraini workforce

John Murray, general manager, MJS said that the uptake of Bahrainis into a variety of positions from sales through to the division's world-class service centre, has taken a particular upturn in the past six months, where an increase of 35 per cent over last year has been recorded.

"We have long-since had a good workforce balance in terms of the number of Bahrainis taking up positions with MJS. However, we placed a particular emphasis on spotlighting the career opportunities within the automotive sector in 2000.

"This has been highly successful and earlier this year we boosted our appeal to job seekers by forming a training alliance with The Bahrain Training Institute (BTI)."

Mr. Murray said that the joint venture project is focused on the development of Bahrainis in the automotive sector. He is convinced that the sharp rise in job uptake by Bahrainis this year is a direct reflection on the introduction of the purpose-designed training modules.

"This new approach is proving its worth, with positive feedback from team members, which we view as very encouraging.

"In many ways, we see this as pioneering and would encourage other Bahraini companies to consider a similar route in our corporate support of the Government's drive to ensure more jobs and career opportunities for Bahrainis."

The automotive division of Mohammed Jalal and Sons was established in 1964 and holds the franchise for Jaguar, Peugeot, Suzuki and Subaru. The company has a full service department and body shop for all brands of vehicles and a comprehensive spare parts division located in Al Khamis.