Career interest report

Student name: Ghazi Albalushi

Student ID: 201700481

Class: 06
Table of Contents
Interview Findings ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Industry research .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Job competencies: .................................................................................................................................... 4
Industry analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Future of Business industry: ..................................................................................................................... 5
Political, Economic and Technological factors analysis: ........................................................................... 5
References .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix: ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Interview question: ................................................................................................................................... 8
Interview Request email: .......................................................................................................................... 9
Thank you email ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Consent Letter: ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Interview Findings
The interview was with Mr.Jameel Ahmed, who is an Account executive in the ACE insurance Brokers
which is located in Seef district. This position helps the Insurance companies to place business with
Reinsurance Companies. It is a position where the title may remain same but the responsibilities may
vary according to one’s qualifications. Mostly such roles require a business graduate with insurance
knowledge preferably one who is pursuing professional insurance qualification.

When asked about the main roles and responsibilities, (Ahmed, 2019) explained that the basic purpose
of this role is to facilitate insurance companies (Cedants) anywhere in the world to acquire support for
their account which they cannot write on their own books and place such business to reinsurers across
the globe. Other duties include review insurance submission, providing recommendations to both
Cedants and Reinsurers. Preparing necessary documents such as Reinsurance Slip, Quotation Slips and
like.

Moreover, the main certificates and skills that may help an individual to be successful in this position
according to (Ahmed, 2019) is to have a Master degree in Commerce (insurance) and pursue Diploma
from institutes like Chartered Insurance Institute, UK. This position helps to develop good Reinsurance
skills which are taught in theory mostly. Reinsurance is very vast area and it helps to learn every day.

Furthermore, experience is very vital for such role. Previous experiences helps greatly. It helps to
understand the Insurance risk, policy wording, universal exclusions and like. It helps to review each
submission prior approaching any Reinsurance market and to be able to ask questions to cedant the
necessary requirements rather going back and forth with the reinsurers. It is important to have
experience because it adds value to the job, the need of training would be less and the role can be done
with more independence with less supervision.

As (Ahmed, 2019) states that the key to keep yourself above the competition is self-development and
keep up with the contemporary industrial changes. Moreover, company’s regional presence and having
Lloyd’s license to work in London Market has proven to give it an edge over competition.

However, the ACE insurance Brokers Company does not deal with individuals directly. It is a business to
business entity. When asked, how different it is to deal with businesses rather than individual, (Ahmed,
2019) explained that It is always different to deal with business rather than individuals as the business
representative are professionals who understand the norms and ways of business better than a layman.
The requirements also differ and in case of a business they get more complex.

In order to deal with such complicated procedures the company focuses on training and development.
Each employee must take training for self-development. Moreover, the company also keeps the
employees motivated by rewarding them for the achievements. A well trained motivated employee is
always a key to higher productivity.
Industry research
Job competencies:
According to university of Nebraska-Lincoln (The Definition of Competencies and Their Application at
NU, n.d.) Job competencies are a combination of knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes that a person
should possess to enhance an organizations performance and sustain a high level productivity that leads
to a significant success.

The ease of access to gain job competencies increased with the development of the technology.
Therefore, this access created a very competitive industry since more competencies gained means more
enhancement for an organization. That led acquisitiveness of the companies to recruit the best out of
the bests.

Moreover, Bahrain`s government introduced Tamkeen`s program to train students, unemployed

individual and employees to attain highest levels of competencies. However, according to (Ahmed,
2019) the lack of job creation in Bahrain created a complicated and a very competitive business industry.
Because there is a significant surplus in trained individuals comparing to the demand of employees from
the companies. In addition, quality of the university education increased in relation to job competencies
in order to develop students’ knowledge and skills and that also supported the surplus of the supply vs.
demand of individual and jobs offered.

Henceforth, according to (Barber, 2016), in order to be distinguished in this competitive industry an

individual has to possess specific competencies:

 Active listening and effective communication: ability to encode and decode verbal and non-
verbal massages from various sources. Also, presenting content in a coherent manner and
approaching different audiences.
 Critical thinking and problem solving: analyze, interpret and use knowledge to overcome
problems and make decisive decisions.
 Teamwork and collaboration: building associative collaborative relations with clients and
colleagues.
 Project management: develop, prioritize and organize strategies and plans to achieve common
goals
 Work ethics and professionalism: develop effective work habits. For example punctuality,
productive working, workload management, etc.

Based on the research, experience is the most wanted quality needed in the in industry most specifically
in the business and banking industry. That gives the advantages to the superiors on that aspect, since
experience is being able to determine what is beneficial for a company and what is not. Moreover, it
decreases the cost of training and facilities to make new employees settle in. Also, the period of
adaptation reduces to minimum and it is something beneficial for the company since it is a very fast
moving industry with immense changes.

Another job competency that is vital for graduates in the business industry is to have commercial
awareness. Being able to track economic, political and social trends and utilizing company’s abilities to
market itself through different platforms, mainly social media. Individuals with marketing methods of
thinking is a plus point for every organization looking for further success. According to (Commercial
awareness: it's how the industry fits together, n.d.) Website, commercially aware means that the
individual is:

 Ability to understand the marketplace and the targeted market.

 Analyzing trends and ability to have future predictions based on trends.
 Having a clear understanding of their business.
 Understanding major cooperation’s methods of running businesses and tracking main points to
benefit the company.

Industry analysis
Future of Business industry:
Bahrain`s attempt to attain a diversified economy assisted the business industry significantly. According
to (Business and Economy, n.d.) 18.7% of the GDP is coming from the business industry, which is the
highest percentage besides the finance and banking sector. Due to the fiscal deficit Bahrain may face
certain issues at the moment. But the purpose is to expand the expenses of the country and within
upcoming 2 to 3 years that will create a market with numerous opportunities for graduates and
unemployed individuals.

Moreover, according to (Ahmed, 2019) Insurance industry is a very promising especially the reinsurance
sector, as of now the market bit down but with growing economy that industry will turn out to be a
good venue for fresh talent.

Political, Economic and Technological factors analysis:

Political:

 Governmental support: Bahrain`s government provides various ways of support to university

graduates and unemployed local individuals. Which helps the country to achieve a low
unemployment rate and to create an industry with very productive personalities in the market.
For example, Bahrain`s government introduced Tamkeen program in 2006 (Tamkeen, n.d.). This
program helps individuals to start their own business by covering up to 70% of the costs. Also, it
provides training programs or higher education certificates for the employed and unemployed
individuals through different institutes like BIBF and others. Moreover, recently Bahrain
introduced a program to boost employment of locals in private and public sectors in association
with Tamkeen and National Employment Program (Hamdan, 2019).
 Foreign Trade Agreement: Bahrain signed several treaties with several countries in order to
enhance the foreign investment in Bahrain. That helps the country to be presented to investors
and implement outside businesses in Bahrain, which will help to discover locals with good
potentials and create more diversified platforms for the graduates in the upcoming years. For
instance, Bahrain signed a Free Trade agreement with US. That agreement opened up many
areas of investment such as higher education and financial services (FOREIGN TRADE
AGREEMENT, n.d.).
Economical:

 Fiscal deficit: as it is known Bahrain is going through a fiscal deficit and that according to
(Ahmed, 2019) does not show direct impact on the industry but its effect are nevertheless felt
throughout the business. The market has become very tough for new entrepreneurs to survive
and job creation has been its lowest. The market has also become very soft which resulted in
less profitability and mergers & acquisitions and eventually downsizing.
 The 2030 Economic Vision: Bahrain`s government launched this vision based on three main
principles; sustainability, fairness and competiveness (Bahrain 2030, n.d.). The purpose of the
program is to create a market which is fair, competitive and achieves a sustainable economy. It
introduced the ideology of expanding country`s expenses which created more sources of
revenue for the government and locals by providing more jobs.

Technological:

 Communication platforms: the internet established revolutionary communication platforms.

Businesses took advantage of the platforms and created their own websites, pages, etc. for
marketing purposes and also for hunting potential candidates. For example, LinkedIn is one of
the best platforms to market yourself as an individual but most importantly companies are
constantly looking for candidates through this platform. Same goes with other social media
platforms instagram, twitter and others
 Ease of access: Internet`s impact has been very positive as it has facilitated the world with
many advantages. One of the advantages is that it became very easy to have access into
important researches, studies and reports. So now, any person can peruse his higher education
with very easy access online. Many training programs are done online and that helps the
individuals to have more skills and certificate and those skills and certificates make the
individuals successful in their career and become very beneficial for most of the companies.
References
Ahmed, J. (2019, march 31). career interest. (G. Albalushi, Interviewer)

Bahrain 2030. (n.d.). Retrieved from egovernment website:

https://www.bahrain.bh/wps/portal/!ut/p/a1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOI9_A3MDI0s
jLwMQkLdDBz9g008fFw9jA2CzIEKIlEUGBu7AhWYmQeYh1kamVkYEKffwMjX2dDTBKjA19fAwNHC
KcgnxM3ZwMDdmEj9OIAjQfuDU_P0w_Wj0JRh-
gKsAJ8zIQpwu6MgNzQ0osIzEwCLTo6c/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh

Barber, J. (2016, august 29). Are You Career Competent? Retrieved from inside higher ed website:
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2016/08/29/importance-knowing-competencies-
employers-seek-essay

Business and Economy. (n.d.). Retrieved from ministry of information affairs website:
http://www.mia.gov.bh/kingdom-of-bahrain/business-and-economy/?lang=en

Commercial awareness: it's how the industry fits together. (n.d.). Retrieved from target jobs website:
https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/skills-and-competencies/300944-commercial-
awareness-its-how-the-industry-fits-together

FOREIGN TRADE AGREEMENT. (n.d.). Retrieved from ministry of foreign affairs website:
https://www.mofa.gov.bh/ForeignTradeAgreement/tabid/248/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Hamdan, L. (2019, february 26). Bahrain introduces new programme to boost employment of locals.
Retrieved from arabian business website: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/politics-
economics/414074-bahrain-introduces-new-programme-to-boost-employment-of-locals

Tamkeen. (n.d.). Retrieved from Tamkeen website: https://www.tamkeen.bh/about-tamkeen

The Definition of Competencies and Their Application at NU. (n.d.). Retrieved from university of
Nebraska-Lincoln website: https://hr.unl.edu/compensation/nuvalues/corecompetencies.shtml/
Appendix:
Interview question:
1. What is the title of your position? What does it mean?
2. What are the most important responsibilities/roles of this position?
3. What qualifications a person has to possess in order to be successful in such position?
4. What skills do you have that aligns with this position? And what are the skills/knowledge
developed after taking the position?
5. How important are the previous experiences to this position? Why it is important to have
previous experience?
6. How do you keep yourself or the company distinguished from others in this competitive
industry?
7. Does the company deals directly with consumers or through companies? If through companies,
how different it is than dealing directly with customers/consumers?
8. How does the company increases employees productivity?
9. How important technology is to this company? And is the impact positive or negative?
10. In the coming 2 to 3 years, where do see this company headed?
11. What are the opportunities for students that are going to graduate within 2 years in such
industry?
12. Did Bahrain`s fiscal deficit affected the company/industry? And how?
Interview Request email:

Thank you email:

Consent Letter: