The two day event offers students the opportunity to hear first-hand what employers are looking for in their hiring and HR strategies and enables them to learn first-hand about recruitment practices and expectations of new staff in a highly interactive format. The event was made possible through the presenting sponsorship and support of leading regional media company The Choueiri Group, together with Emirates Group, Edith Cowan University and the American University in Dubai, Gulf News and AGA/ADK advertising and marketing.
“We are constantly hearing how our industry needs to attract the best young talent available, but without many opportunities to address this growing challenge. So the IAA added this exciting new IAA Apprentices program to its global education portfolio – bringing together over a two-day interactive program – marketing communications students from the region’s universities and an amazing cross section of industry leaders. It represents our commitment to move the needle from talking about talent, to actually finding it, and enabling a productive interactive career insights program to really make a difference. We are thrilled with the response to this first initiative from students as well as the executives and educators in our programme,” Faris Abouhamad, IAA Chairman and World President, said.
IAA Apprentices is being held at the Emirates Aviation College Campus and will host over 100 students from universities including the American University in Dubai, UAE; Effat University, Saudi Arabia; Edith Cowan University, Australia; Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE; Lebanese American University, Lebanon; Notre Dame University, Lebanon and Zayed University, UAE.
Speakers include Faris Abouhamad, IAA Chairman and World President; Michael Lee, IAA; Marc Aubry, Western Union; Ashish Banerjee, DU Telecom; Nassib Boueri, Wunderman; Pierre Choueiri, The Choueiri Group; Kamal Dimachkie, Leo Burnett; Oliver Eills, Publicitas; Saad El Zein, THE NETWORK Communication Group; James Hewes, Gulf News; Scott Hicks, Facebook MENA; Gina Johnson, Motivate Publishing; Raj Kapoor, the American University in Dubai; Rayan Karaky, Starcom MediaVest; Dimitri Metaxas, Omnicom Media Group; Mike Readman, ID Cmms Media Auditing; Ricarda Ruecker, MCN; Diane Slade, Edith Cowan University, David Smith, Edith Cowan University; Cath Sutherland, Brand Energy & Conscious Business; Jacob Thomas, LinkedIn; Yousef Tuqan, Flip Media.
The IAA has pioneered a global dialogue between the classroom and the workplace, through its accreditation membership, case-history competitions and focus on young professionals. So we responded to a need in the industry that the IAA is uniquely qualified to deliver through our global and regional chapter network – and commitment to the importance of education. “It’s our plan to schedule additional IAA Apprentices in 2014 with the next event to be scheduled in the Asia-Pacific region,” Diane Slade, IAA Vice President Learning, said.
Topics being covered includes are you LinkedIn or LockedOut? Soft Skills; You are the future!; Marcom in the digital area; Igniting Brand Energy;
Media trends and the media business worldwide; Marketing in a social world; “It’s the brand, stupid!”; Advertising Dynamics; Building a successful career in an ever-changing media world; Why Do Companies Rebrand?; Requirements to Succeed
The challenge for magazines in a multi-platform world; DU: Building an enduring brand and Presentation & Public Speaking Skills.