Category: Technology

The CEO’s Guide to AI: How to Leverage Technology to Streamline Your Workday

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As a CEO, your ability to maximize your productivity during your day is essential to success. Good time management skills are crucial, but never at the cost of missing information that could have provided you with valuable insights needed to make strategic decisions. With AI and ChatGPT, you can get defined results, quick answers, leveraged power, and clear time-savings.  

“The adaptation to a world deeply integrated with AI tools is probably going to happen pretty quickly; the benefits have too much upside. These tools will help us be more productive, healthier, smarter, and more entertained.” – Sam Altman, CEO, Open AI

The Benefits of Leveraging AI 

Leveraging AI in your workday provides numerous benefits such as saving time, improving productivity, and making better decisions. Automating repetitive tasks frees up your time to focus on more pressing initiatives. AI helps you streamline your workflow by providing valuable insights and recommendations. AI-powered tools also offer improved accuracy by analyzing data and providing precise insights. Before starting, seek an AI consultation with your tech team member to help you set up effective tools such as Grammarly for continuous improvement of your writing. 

Use the Right Type of AI Tool 

To use AI effectively and streamline your workday, identify tasks that can be automated and delegate them to AI-powered tools. Choose a tool that handles multiple tasks and blends well with your existing systems. Integrating AI tools seamlessly into your workflow frees up time to focus on more important initiatives. Keep up with the latest AI trends and technologies to identify new opportunities and stay ahead of the competition. There are basic types of tools and categories:

  • Virtual Assistants
  • Project Management Software
  • Time Management
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Speech Recognition Software
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Talent Acquisition Software
  • Finance Management Software
  • Market Analysis Software

Top AI Tools for CEOs

There are numerous AI-powered tools available that can help CEOs streamline their workday. The list can be endless, but here are tools that consistently come up on top. You don’t need to use all of them but have your consultant help choose the ones most effective for you, your business and your systems.

    • Zoom.ai – an AI-powered personal assistant helps automate tasks such as scheduling meetings, sending follow-up emails, and ordering lunch.
    • Trello – a collaboration tool to help you manage your projects more efficiently. With Trello, you create boards for different projects and tasks, assign tasks, teams, and track progress in real-time.
    • Lindy – your AI personal assistant, a CEO’s job on autopilot. 
    • RescueTime – a time management tool that helps you improve your productivity. With RescueTime, you track how you spend your time on your computer and mobile devices and get insights on optimizing your time.
    • Writesonic – a platform many companies turn to for content. You can create content with source material links 10x faster. This AI-writing and image-generating platform creates SEO-optimized and plagiarism-free content.
    • Notion.so – an all-in-one workspace that uses AI to help you manage your tasks, notes, and projects. With Notion.so, you can collaborate with your team, track progress, and get insights on optimizing your workflow.
    • Grammarly – an AI-powered writing assistant that helps you improve your writing skills. With Grammarly, you can get suggestions on improving your grammar, spelling, and punctuation and even get feedback on the tone of your writing.
    • x.ai – an AI-powered scheduling tool that helps you schedule meetings more efficiently. With x.ai, you can cc Amy or Andrew (the AI assistants) in your emails, and they will schedule the appointment for you.
    • AIssistify – your AI marketing team in a tool. Get ready to create marketing Ads, campaigns, emails and more with AI. 
    • Hootsuite – an AI-powered social media management tool to help manage your social media accounts more efficiently. With Hootsuite, you can schedule posts, track metrics, and even automate specific tasks such as responding to comments.
    • Cleo – an AI financial assistant that helps manage your finances more efficiently. With Cleo, you track your expenses, set budgets, and even get insights on how to save money.
    • Google Assistant – an AI-powered personal assistant that can help you automate tasks such as setting reminders, sending messages, and even making phone calls. With Google Assistant, your time is valued, and any critical duties will have your much-needed focus.
    • Microsoft Copilot – If you’re continuing to write code, this coding assistant can help you write it more efficiently. With Microsoft Copilot, you can get suggestions on improving your code, generating code snippets, and even writing entire functions.
    • Slack – a collaboration tool that can help communicate with your team more efficiently. With Slack, you create channels for different projects and tasks, collaborate with your team in real time, and even automate specific tasks, such as sending notifications.
  • Bardeen – is an automation tool that can help you automate simple tasks without knowing any code.

Best Practices for Integrating AI into Your Workflow

Integrating AI into your workflow can be complex, but some best practices can help. Here are best practices for integrating AI into your workflow:

  • Start Small: Start by identifying a few tasks that can be automated and delegating them to AI-powered tools. You should get comfortable with using AI and build confidence in its capabilities.
  • Choose the Right Tools: Choose AI-powered tools that integrate well with your existing systems and processes and are easy for you and your team.
  • Train Yourself and Your Team: Take the time to train yourself and your team on how to use AI-powered tools effectively. Ensure everyone is getting the same training so you get the most of your investment in AI.
  • Measure Your Results: Track your progress and measure the results of your AI implementation. Identify areas to improve then make informed decisions about optimizing your workflow.

AI Implementation Services for Businesses

Where do you start? What processes can be handled by AI? AI implementation or automation services can help you better understand the potential for AI in your business. These services can help you identify opportunities for leveraging AI, choose the right tools, and integrate them seamlessly into your workflow. You can find automation specialists to help you walk through the steps of your business process to eliminate unnecessary steps and automate those that AI can manage. 

Fortune 500 Companies Show Successful AI Integration in the C-Suite

Numerous companies have successfully integrated AI into their C-suite workflows. For example, IBM has leveraged AI-powered tools to help its CEO make informed product development and marketing decisions. Similarly, Coca-Cola has used AI to improve its supply chain management and reduce costs.

AI-Powered Decision-Making Works

AI can play an essential role in decision-making for C-level executives. AI can help inform strategic decisions and identify new opportunities by analyzing data and providing insights. However, it’s important to remember that AI should be used to support decision-making, not replace it entirely.

As a CEO, it’s vital to leverage AI-powered tools to inform your decision-making and rely on your expertise and experience to make informed decisions. 

Future Trends in AI and Its Impact on the CEO Role

As AI continues to advance, it will provide CEOs with valuable insights and enable them to focus on strategic initiatives. However, it’s important to remember that AI is not a substitute for human expertise and experience. CEOs must rely on their instincts and insights to make informed decisions, and workers should be taught to use AI as a tool to enhance their performance. Additionally, AI needs human judgment and expertise to continually improve its ability to connect with your target audience. Marrying AI with your human workforce is crucial to lead your business effectively into the future.

Takeaways for CEOs Looking to Leverage AI Technology

In conclusion, to effectively leverage the power of AI, CEOs should start by identifying the tasks best suited for automation. It involves carefully assessing the organization’s workflows and processes to determine which can be streamlined with AI tools. Once the appropriate functions have been identified, choosing the right tools and integrating them seamlessly into the workflow is essential. You will need to commit to staying current with the latest developments in the field, which requires a deep understanding of the capabilities and limitations of different AI technologies.

CEOs can gain a competitive edge in their industry by effectively utilizing AI as a tool to enhance their work. However, more is needed to adopt AI technology and hope for the best. CEOs must also be able to demonstrate the impact of AI throughout your organization, both in terms of improved efficiency and cost savings, as well as better decision-making and strategic planning. You must be willing to invest in your people. Investing in training and development programs that help employees understand how to use AI tools effectively to create a powerful workforce.

Ultimately, the key to success with AI lies in a willingness to embrace change and experiment with new ideas. By staying open-minded and constantly looking for ways to improve workflows and processes, CEOs can harness the full potential of AI and drive their organizations forward in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.

Sources:

AI for CEOs. (2023). Retrieved from All Things AI: https://allthingsai.com/ai-for-ceos

Altman, S. (2023, February 18). Sam Altman . Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/sama/status/1627110888321978368

How CEOs Can Tap AIs Full Potential. (2019). Retrieved from PwC: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/innovation/assets/how-ceos-can-tap-ai-full-potential.pdf

 

How To Implement AI To Hire Top Tech Talent and Improve Globalization

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AI offers opportunities to streamline your organization’s hiring processes. Today’s HR departments need help finding the right talent for their open positions. These challenges include sorting through thousands of resume responses to a single job post only to find that a GPT chatbot wrote and submitted most. HR managers are fighting through only to discover a need for more available laborers with the skills they need for certain IT positions. 

Many department heads are beginning to use AI in their HR department, and these tools can enhance the hiring process and be a natural stress relief for your HR staff. AI is still relatively new to HR departments. How can your HR team best implement AI in their departments? What tasks can be handled by AI? While you may have thought about using AI to scan resumes, how else can AI improve your company’s hiring and employment processes? 

 

Tasks AI Can Manage in HR

 

Here are a few of the possibilities for AI:

  • Recruitment
  • Records management
  • Payroll
  • Onboarding
  • Performance review
  • Employee assessments
  • Hiring

Overall, AI can improve your current HR methods by allowing HR professionals to leverage the power of machine learning algorithms to streamline tasks and enhance their ability to make better hiring decisions. 

How AI Enhances the Hiring Process

Your HR managers may need a background in IT, AI, machine learning, or other new technologies. Most HR departments are filled with individuals who know people, not tech. So, what tasks can be managed with AI in your HR department? Where do you begin? According to Helen Poitevin, a leading Gartner researcher, if your organization struggles to find a specialist while wading through a high volume of resumes, it will be more likely to incorporate AI technologies in its recruitment strategy. 

“Overall, AI applications can analyze and interpret candidates’ responses and predict candidates’ degree of fit and performance for current vacancies and other potential roles. AI applications should also be able to take over repetitive administrative tasks and enable recruiters to focus on strategic tasks.” -Helen Poitevin, Gartner.

The White House understands that HR departments are managing more job applicants per job. A recent study has shown that AI is helping resolve the demands on HR teams. AI can manage emails, read resumes, and collect information on your potential new hire’s background. HR management will gain needed insight from the data collected, which will help in any hiring decision.

Here are several AI tools recommended in the report and how they can be implemented into your hiring and recruitment strategies. 

  • Chatbots – Your Time Saver

ChatGPT can save time in the hiring process in several ways:

  • Screening candidates: ChatGPT can screen candidates by asking them a set of predefined questions to evaluate their skills, experience, and qualifications. The chatbot can help filter out unsuitable candidates to save time in the recruitment process.
  • Initial interviews: ChatGPT can also conduct initial interviews with candidates. This tool can save time for recruiters by allowing them to interview multiple candidates simultaneously. ChatGPT can also ask follow-up questions based on the candidate’s answers, which can help recruiters better understand the candidate’s skills and experience.
  • FAQ responses: ChatGPT can answer frequently asked questions about the company, the job, and the application process. Chatbots can save time for recruiters who would otherwise have to respond to these queries manually.
  • Schedule management: ChatGPT can also help manage the scheduling of interviews and follow-up meetings, which can be time-consuming for recruiters. ChatGPT can suggest times and dates based on the availability of both the recruiter and the candidate and can even send reminders to both parties to ensure they attend their scheduled meetings.

Overall, by automating various aspects of the hiring process, ChatGPT can help recruiters save time and increase efficiency.” – ChatGPT4.

Do you want to know how well ChatGPT will perform these critical tasks? Do you worry that it will make the hiring process impersonal? ChatGPT4 is extremely powerful and has excellent natural language processing features. ChatGPT works well communicating with potential talent and delivers it seamlessly. Want proof? The above item description of how chatbots can save you time was written entirely with ChatGPT4. Could you tell it was AI-written? 

  • Personalized Email Automation – Your Communicator

HR managers can use AI tools to personalize communication and ongoing engagement with candidates. It is possible to tailor communication to the individual applicant. AI can review resumes, social media profiles, and online activity to gain insight into the individual being hired by your company. You can know their interests, preferences, and even their communication styles. AI can use this information to send emails and other messaging to candidates, increasing engagement. Personal messaging also makes potential hires feel more valued. 

  • Email Hiring Campaigns

HR departments can implement AI-powered email automation applications to deliver personalized email campaigns to keep candidates engaged. The same tool will also analyze personal information related to the candidate to create custom emails that speak to the individual. Follow-up and assessment emails can also be automated to inform your candidate about their place in the hiring process. 

  • Candidate Experience

It is increasingly important to focus on the candidate’s experience, similar to your organization’s focus on customer experience. AI can also learn more about the applicant’s sentiments about the hiring process. Your HR leaders can review this information, identify the pain points in their employee hiring process, and work towards improving. 

  • Interviews

Your HR management can develop AI-powered video interview tools to deliver an improved candidate experience. AI uses facial recognition and natural language processing to provide powerful insights to recruiters. AI can analyze speech patterns and body language to help recruiters better understand the individual they are choosing to hire. Job interviews can also be automated, saving your HR staff time screening candidates.

  • Resume Scanning

Today’s HR departments often find that after they post an opening, they canget bombarded with thousands of resumes. While many are looking for work, there are now programs using ChatGPT that automatically apply for thousands of jobs at once. AI has been used to scan resumes to choose which may be a better fit for the position. This tool is even more critical now when HR managers have to sort out those with a genuine interest in the job and those automating applications. 

  • Testing

Some positions may require an assessment of skills. Results from tests such as technical skills tests or personality tests can be delivered to both the candidate and HR, allowing both to gain helpful insights into the personality and skills of the applicant. Testing and scoring can be automated through email notices. 

When HR departments leverage AI, a more engaging and personalized experience can be created and delivered to potential new hires. The ease of applying, interviewing, and testing with personalized results can influence top talent by making your company appear more attractive. 

 

Creating an AI Action Plan

According to studies by Gartner, HR departments must proactively lead their organization in learning to use AI to automate many tasks effectively. It will be essential to develop a strategy that improves the jobs and task performance of current staff but also to deliver the capacity to attract top talent. HR departments will need to be involved in building the skill sets of their existing workforce. Gartner suggests improving employee engagement, compensation packages, and training opportunities to make this transition seamless. 

Humanizing Your Search for Automation and IT Specialists with MENA Alliances

 

Many HR leaders will find gaining the knowledge to use AI and add task automation effectively overwhelming. To overcome this, adding an AI or IT specialist to your HR department may help with the transition. You must include these strategies to create an effective hiring and recruitment program for your company, but do you need help with hiring issues? Where can you find top automation specialists, developers, and IT staff to help incorporate AI into your hiring and recruitment strategies? How can you enhance the hiring experience for your new hire?

Here, at MENA Alliances, we can help you source from a wealth of verified, skilled talent – ready to start immediately. Finding AI and automation specialists can be done quickly, getting you started on building your HR department’s future.  We help humanize the hiring and recruitment process for corporations worldwide. Our service can help you make impactful hiring decisions that can build a better global community. 

We thank you for your interest in our service, we’d like to be able to personally answer any questions you may have. Let’s schedule a call and talk more on your specific hiring needs and how we can help. You can conveniently schedule the call at your convenience. We look forward to hearing from you! 

 

References

Omale, G. (2019, June 19). Gartner Identifies Three Most Common AI Use Cases in HR and Recruiting. Retrieved from Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-06-19-gartner-identifies-three-most-common-ai-use-cases-in-

THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE FUTURE OF WORKFORCES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (2022, 12). Retrieved from White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TTC-EC-CEA-AI-Report-12052022-1.pdf

Wiles, J. (2018, October 29). Action Plan for HR as Artificial Intelligence Spreads. Retrieved from Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/action-plan-for-hr-as-artificial-intelligence-spreads

 

Palestine: An Untapped Opportunity to Access Rich Tech Talent Pool & Make An Impact

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Startups in the US and Western Europe are continually seeking to acquire new clients and accelerate the time to market, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Achieving these goals depends primarily on having highly-competitive products/ services and reducing software development costs, which requires having professional senior developers. However, having limited financial resources and the shortage of local experienced developers, who usually ask for sky-high rates, created a serious challenge for these startups.

Therefore, many companies now started considering establishing their own remote teams in the MENA region, attracted by the large numbers of highly-educated professional developers who are ready to adapt to different work cultures, the reasonable costs for high-quality services, the ability to scale their services faster, and the use of flexible collaboration models.

Among the MENA countries, Palestine is considered a perfect nearshoring destination because of many reasons. And here are some:

 

High-Quality IT Services at Reasonable Rates

 

Palestine has a rich pool of professional software developers who are ready to work according to your budget and deliver your project requirements with very convenient hourly rates in comparison to those of the same services in the US, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and other regions. This is directly related to the living costs in Palestine which are relatively lower than the living costs in other parts of the world. Therefore, IT services rates in Palestine would be more convenient for companies in countries like the US, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, etc as this would typically save these companies between 30% and 75% of their overall costs (development) without sacrificing the quality of code.

 
 

Wide Variety of Professionals and IT Services

 

Palestine owns a rich IT pool of software developers and engineers with a wide variety of highly-demanded IT services who can help create recruitment pipelines for companies in the US and Western Europe. Developers in Palestine are specialized in Full Stack Development, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, SQL, and many other languages. Since a large number of IT students graduate from IT universities, it is quite simple to find both junior and senior developers to work with.

 
 

Tech Vendors’ Active Recruitment Process

 

Tech vendors in Palestine are continuously on the verge of navigating the region’s IT pool to find talented people and professionals to match them with the clients’ needs. It takes 2-4 weeks to hire a software developer in Palestine and a month to let them go if further cooperation isn’t necessary. The majority of nearshoring tech vendors share risks with their clients and undertake taxes, payroll, and other essential services. In addition, to ensure meeting the clients’ requirements, the vendors usually involve the client in the interviews with the selected candidates.

 
 

Culture Adaptability, Unyielding Motivation, and Continuous Education

 

The increasing numbers of graduates every year created a competitive atmosphere between developers made them follow a path of self-learning to enhance their skills on a regular basis in order to be able to get good work opportunities and engage in the global market. The West Bank and Gaza together have 14 universities, an open university for distance learning, 18 university colleges, and 20 community colleges. Over 4000 IT students graduate from these universities every year. These graduates are constantly on the verge of learning, as the majority is usually engaged in training programs, practice-based courses, and hackathons. In that respect, there are plenty of donors, NGOs supporting the educational and vocational training courses in Palestine to bridge the gap between the education and market and decrease the high unemployment rate in the region.

The fact that the local demand for software development and engineering in Palestine is quite stable motivated the majority of the software developers to look for work opportunities in other regions, such as the US and Western Europe, which helped them become familiar with the Western culture, values, and the work environment of many companies in those regions.

Another factor is having an easy-to-go culture, frequent contact with foreigners who visit the region, and the willingness to learn. Therefore, software engineers and developers are eager to interact with different cultures and build bridges with people in the US and Europe. Through nearshoring, they can explore and enhance their technical skills and capacities and find support and mentorship from people with experience in the tech sector.

 
 

Effective Communication

 

The majority of these developers have intermediate to high English language skills since most higher education institutions in Palestine, especially IT colleges, teach their Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in the English language. Therefore, the software developers who graduate from these institutions have sufficient English language skills that enable them to communicate with their clients effectively. The professionals or senior software developers would usually ask questions and apply critical thinking when taking your requirement in order to let you know that they do actually understand what they should do to give you the result you asked for.
Your team means your methods. Developers in Palestine are ready to adapt to the communication methods or communication channels of your choice, such as Slack, Discord, Skype, Zoom, and many other communication methods based on your company’s preference.

 
 

Convenient Time Zone

 

The MENA region’s time zone is convenient for the “follow-the-sun” working model. For example, the time difference between Palestine and Chicago is 8 hours. This means that the software engineers in Palestine work while the working day is over in the US, which saves time and boosts performance’s pace. Palestine is also one hour ahead of Western European countries, which allows seamless communication and allows a fully-matching working schedule.

 
 

A Great Destination For Business

 

Many international companies, like AXSOS, Freightos, ITG, Harri, and NVIDIA, now have branches in Palestine to keep up with their multinational teams and to benefit from the MENA market which is currently on the verge of becoming among the leading IT markets in the world.

Since there are many MNCs (Multinational companies), such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft, and small to medium companies that have offices in Israeli and the GCC, hiring Palestinian professionals as extended teams to support their R&D centers in Israel and the GCC areas would add value and competitive advantage to them in scaling their projects and ensuring effective communication. The extended teams would be working nearby with the possibility to arrange face-to-face meetings between the team members and the R&D centers.

In addition, the business ecosystem in Palestine is founded on international levels to help compete with other business markets around the globe. According to the World Bank analysis of the Palestinian ecosystem, the existence of talented people and founders and the connection with international knowledge resources such as international universities and accelerator programs are the key strength of the ecosystem in Palestine.

 
 

Diversity of Cooperation Models to Suit Your Company

 

Nearshoring companies in Palestine are ready to offer whichever model you choose after checking that this model goes in line with your project outcome, duration, management, communication, etc. They offer flexible models for different kinds of projects to boost performance pace, quality, and scalability. Some of them offer a pilot period prior to long-term commitment to help you ensure high-quality, test your team, and scale faster.

 
 

An Opportunity to Make a Difference

 

By hiring professionals from Palestine, your company would be impacting the lives of many talented, hardworking, young people and women who suffer from the limitation of opportunity in this region. For example, hiring teams of Palestinian developers would contribute to the growth of Palestine’s economy. Youth unemployment in Palestine is one of the highest global rates of youth unemployment: over 58% of college students are unemployed. In Gaza, for example, about two-thirds of those in the labor force are unemployed. About 1,000,000 new jobs are needed to reduce unemployment to 10% by 2030.
Moreover, Palestinian women, who suffer from movement restrictions and social boundaries, are among the most educated in the Middle East. The ecosystem in the West Bank and Gaza has one of the highest participation rates of female entrepreneurs of the ecosystems analyzed by the World Bank. Even though 52% of computer science students are women, 83% are unemployed due to local challenges. These women would love to work for global tech companies to prove their worth and discover their true potential.


 

About MENA Alliances

MENA Alliances is a nearshoring company – for-profit with a social mission- that aims to provide a high-quality remote workforce on-demand. It desires to solve the problem of a local talent shortage for automation while creating economic opportunities for women and young people in the MENA region. Our teams have the ability to scale in a short time and handle small to large projects.

We are on a mission to alleviate poverty and injustice in the MENA region by creating jobs for women and young people in this region. So far, we have trained more than 3000 women and young people and created 700+ job opportunities for disadvantaged people by connecting them with jobs from Europe, the USA (such as Silicon Valley), and the Gulf region.

 
 

Hire vetted developers from Palestine Now!!
Contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +97 059-938-8102
Whatsapp: +44 7380 980791

MENA Coding School

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About MENA Coding School

 

Throughout our long years of experience in the nearshoring and freelancing field and our direct interaction with both global tech companies and Palestinian talents, we realized the chronic shortage of technical learning opportunities in Palestine and the growing demand for tech talents worldwide. Thus we launched a coding program in cooperation between MENA Alliances and CodeYourFuture. It’s an intensive & inclusive programming course for graduates, women, and unemployed youth in Palestine who want to become professional software developers in the tech industry.  It aims at reducing the unemployment rate in Palestine by equipping many students with the knowledge and skills necessary to become professional developers, creating global learning communities, connecting them with international and local tech companies to increase their chances of finding job opportunities in the tech industry.

 

Our Approach

 

The program includes a vocational blended (online & face to face) training that requires 30 hours a week of self-learning, group studies, practical training, and remote working. The students are going to learn two courses; a self-paced Intro to Coding course and an 8-month Full-Stack Development course. The program is flexible and inclusive, and it does not require the previous technical experience. It also offers support to cover any expenses needed to lower barriers for students to join the program. The program also involves events and workshops with local and international industry experts and business owners to promote Palestinian tech talents to the international market. 

 

The code training program stands on three pillars: 


Led by women

 

Provide a space for talented professional women to lead and thrive in tech. Based on our strong belief that women only need equal opportunities to shine and reveal their capabilities especially in the tech industry, we placed our training program in the hands of female leaders who showed potential for success and they never let us down!

 

Making Connections

 

In Palestine, youths and women are isolated and disconnected from the whole world due to political and social restrictions, which deprives them of having good opportunities to gain more experience and widen their horizons. Therefore, we launched “Ya3ni Talk”,  to provide a safe space for women and young generations to connect with the world while learning how to improve themselves both personally and professionally!
The program offers mentoring, soft-skills coaching, and a global and diverse learning community for our students. Throughout the previous months, we have delivered many Ya3ni Talk sessions on various topics, such as time management, learning new languages, building a professional online brand, setting Goals, etc. Through these sessions, we connect our students with local, regional, and international like-minded experts (writers, entrepreneurs, and tech recruiters, etc.) to help them build their diverse network and improve their hard and soft skills.


Learn & Earn

 

The program goes the extra mile by offering the students a unique opportunity to learn to code and earn money at the same time. As they work on micro-job projects, they will learn how to work on a team, respect deadlines, communicate professionally, manage their time, and improve their remote skills. As a result, they will have the opportunity to promote their self-sufficiency and sense of responsibility.

 

MENA Coding School Updates:



 

Technical and Personal Coaches  

 

Throughout this program, we aim not only at training our students on programming, but we are rather working on creating a diverse tech community in which students, mentors, technical and personal development coaches, and ambassadors all collaborate and support each other to reach their ultimate career goals. So far our program is led & supported by 11 ambassadors, 19 technical mentors, and 17 personal development coaches from the UK, USA, Tunisia, Jordan, UAE, and Palestine who are willing to support our mission in helping Palestinian women and youth pursue their dreams and land jobs in the tech industry. 

Awareness Workshops 

 

We conducted more than 10 awareness workshops (remote) to introduce the program to the women and young people in Gaza and the West bank and we collaborated with universities in the West Bank and Gaza. The workshops resulted in receiving more than 730 applicants. 

 








Students 

 

Over the past three months, more than 300 students from both Gaza and Hebron have joined the program; 241 from Gaza and 98 from Hebron. At the end of December 2020, 70 of them have finished the first phase (Intro To Coding), and they became eligible for the interview that separates them from the next phase. Finally, we ended up with 34 passionate students, who have the desire to master both technical and soft skills and complete this journey to become web developers.

 

Next Steps

 

We have started the program with the “Intro To Coding” phase that was available for anyone who has the desire to enter the tech field. It’s a self-paced stage where the students have a free online course supported by a community of tech professionals to help them get started. Students had to learn the basics of coding, build web projects and get an introduction to the five key employability skills needed for any professional job.





In the next phase (Fundamentals Course), 34 students will learn the fundamentals of coding and the key skills that will prepare them to enter the Full Stack course which will be the last and the most specialized and intensive vocational phase. They will build a core understanding of programming and computational thinking, learn advanced tools that are used by global tech companies, and practice interpersonal skills that all employers want; such as problem-solving, critical thinking adaptability, and teamwork which will get them an interview at tech companies. 


 
We’ll keep you up to date with our news, so keep tuned!! 

 

MENA Coding School | 2020-2021

"فرصة عمل" للموظفين التقليديين، "تجربة مؤثرة " لأصحاب الشغف

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قد تبدو فرصة العمل هذه في شركة مينا أليانسز للناس مجرّد مهمة يتقاضون أجرها نهاية كلّ شهر، لكنّها لم تكن كذلك فحسب، لقد صنعت فارقًا كبيرًا منذ اليوم الأول من أيام التدريب قبل الشروع بالعمل، كان التدريب قائمًا على توضيح الأدوات التي سنقوم من خلالها بتعريب محتوى فيديوهات موقع اليوتيوب وتحويلها من مادة سماعية إلى نصٍ مكتوبٍ بلهجته الأصلية التي نستطيع الإستماع إليها عند تشغيل الفيديو مباشرة.

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فمن خلال الإجتماعات عبر الإنترنت واللقاءات المرئية التي كانت تجمعنا مع المسؤولين في الضفة الغربية تمت عملية التدريب خطوةً بخطوة حتى أتقنّا كل خطوات العمل واحدة واحدة، ثمّ خضعنا لإختبار القبول، وما زلتُ أذكر يوم تقديمي لذاك الإختبار الذي كان يتحدث محتوى الفيديو فيه عن طريقة صنع أحد أنواع الحلويات، فحينما قُبلت، وجدتُ نفسي أطبقه فعلًا على أرض الواقع!

إنّ أحبّ الأعمال إلى الأشخاص تلك التي يعملون بها بكلّ شغف وحب، بل تلك التي تضيف لهم كمًا هائلًا من المعلومات حول الثقافات المختلفة، والموضوعات الكثيرة التي تشغل بال العالم سواء أكانت دينية، ثقافية، إنسانية، سياسية، طبيّة وغيرها الكثير والكثير من التصنيفات، وهذا الأمر تحديدًا ساعدني على وجود حافزٍ أكبر إذ أنّي كنت أتعمّد إختيار الفيديوهات القصيرة لأستطيع أخذ الكثير من المعلومات التي لا يمكن أخذها من فيديو واحد يصل إلى ساعتين مثلًا.

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لقد اكتسبت مهارة الإستماع، كنتُ قليلًا ما أتحدث بسبب حاجتي للتركيز الكبير مع ما يقولون لإختلاف لهجاتهم التي يتحدثون بها وسرعان ما تعلمتها من التكرار المستمر، وهذا الأمر تحديدًا كان له الأثر الكبير في حياتي الإجتماعية، مهارة الإستماع وحدها كانت تكفي لأن أحسن فهم الأشياء، تعلمتُ كيف يمكنني أن أكتب بسرعةٍ تنافس سرعة الحديث حتى أصبحتُ حقًا أشعر بيداي تكتبان لوحدهما دون حاجة مني لأن أنظر إلى لوحة المفاتيح، وهذا الأمر أدى حقًا لوجود قدرة لدي لإنجاز عملٍ أكبر بوقتٍ أقل.

أثناء تجوّلي بين الفيديوهات والتعلم منها، أذكر كثيرًا أني كنتُ أجد نفسي في تساؤلاتٍ عن كلماتٍ معينة في لهجة ما، أو قضية ما، وهذا الأمر أدى لوجود حبّ إستطلاع كبيرٍ يثري معلوماتي بشكلٍ رائع جدًا، ولربما بعض المصطلحات التي لا نفهمها إلا بعد الشرح، الكثير من الشخصيات الهامة التي لم نكن نعرفها، الكثير من الأحداثالتي جهلناها ربّما أثناء انشغالنا بحياتنا، كلها كانت حاضرة أمامي وفي متناول يدي، وكما يقول من قال، إن لم تُحب ما تفعل، وتنقله لحياتك الخاصة، فأنت لا تفعل شيئًا إطلاقًا.

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إنّ كل ما ذكرته بالأعلى لم يكن إلا جانبًا شخصيًا واحدًا، أما على الصعيد العملي والمهني، فالحق يقال، كان كلّ شيءٍ يسيرُ بشكلٍ رائع، حتى الفريق كان متكاملًا ما بين مسؤولين ومدققين وموظفو العمل الحر، لقد اكتسبنا جميعًا مهارة فوق كلّ هذه المهارات وهي العمل بروح الفريق وإقتسام الأدوار فيما بيننا حتى يكون نجاحنا مشتركًا لا نجاحًا منفردًا، أذكر أنّي كنتُ كثيرًا ما أطوّر قدرتي على العمل بشكلٍ صحيح في كلّ مرة أسهو عن شيء ما ويُرجعُ لي أحد المدققين هذا الملف ليخبرني عن مكان الخطأ الذي وقعت به، فأعمل جاهدة على عدم تكرره أبدًا وأعاهد نفسي أن أتقن العمل للمرحلة التي لا يعود لي بها أيّ ملفٍ آخر.

لا شكّ أنها لحظة صعبة حين تعمل على فيديو ما ولربما قد يطول إلى ساعة أو نصفها ثم يعود لك ما عملت عليه لتقوم بالتعديل على جزئية ما، لكنّ الذي يريد التعلم من أخطائه سيقبلُ كلّ ذلك بصدرٍ رحب، الخطأ ليس عيبًا، العيبُ أن نمرّ عليه ونكرره دون محاولة واحدةٍ حتى لتصحيحه، وهذه أهم خطوة من خطوات إتقان الأعمال.

 تبادلنا الحديث كثيرًا بيننا حول كيفية العمل مع المسؤولين وتواصلنا بشكلٍ دائم مع المدققين والذين جميعًا لم يقصّروا في تواجدهم أبدًا على مدار الساعة حتى نكون يدًا واحدًا في تجاوز هذه المرحلة الأولى،تشاركنا كثيرًا طرقًا اكتشفناها للعمل حتى نسهل على بعضنا البعض ولا يقتصر الواحد منّا على نفسه أبدًأ حلًا لمشكلة ما.

 

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من الخليل، نابلس، الأردن وقطاع غزة، تلاقينا هُنا دون أن يكون هذا اللقاء وجهًا لوجه، لقد حاربنا المسافات الجغرافية هذه بحبّ العمل والشغف، بالتعاون وروح الفريق الواحد الذي يتقاسم الأدوار ويتشارك النجاح، نعملُ سويًا في عالمٍ افتراضي عبر التطبيقات، لكن ذلك لم يكن معيقًا ابدًا، ونجحنا في تجاوزه.
 

The 2025 Workforce: Will Your Organization Be Relevant?

Posted on by Abeer Abu Ghaith

The global economy and its workforce is in the midst of a seismic shift. The internet and its far-reaching implications for changing how the world does business is still in its early stages. Leaders and organizations that are looking to the future know that the workforce skills and ways of doing work are not going to be what they have been in the past. Digitization and women play a major role in the relevancy (and existence!) or future organizations.

According to a study five years ago, the internet created 2.4 jobs for every job it destroyed. (McKinsey’s report). Five years ago (in internet terms) is a very long time when only 28.8 percent of the world population had access to internet – now approximately 50.1% has access. 
 

What does that mean for your business and organizations that are trying to look into the future not only for survival but for relevance and continued growth?

 
It means that more than four billion people, or over half of the world’s population is still offline. The value of connecting these people is significant, and as they enter the global digital economy, the world of work will transform in fundamental ways and at an unprecedented pace. Savvy leaders and organizations will need to understand and know how to benefit from this unprecedented pace of transformation in the workplace.

 

There is massive potential in terms of economic value for countries and entities that are willing and able to adopt and adapt to rapid technology. But along with that adoption comes the need of major redeployment and retraining of the labor force. For example, in India, innovations that are derived from new digital technologies could have an economic impact between $550 billion and $1 trillion per year in less than 8 year’s time. That economic value will only be realized however if more people and businesses have access to it. (McKinsey’s report)
 
There are major differences and a considerable amount of unevenness in the access available between sectors, companies and countries at this early stage in the progress of digital technology. It is not enough to merely have access to the technology. There are limits to the benefits of digitalization in sectors/countries where literacy and skills are lacking or limited.
 
For example, emerging economies, in countries like Brazil or countries in the Middle East are currently estimated at capturing less than 10 percent of their potential with digital technology. Europe is a bit ahead of that with only 12 percent. The U.S., although ahead of other countries, has only tapped into an estimated 18 percent of its potential for digital technology! (McKinsey’s report)
 
A major opportunity that the U.S. has to increase its digitization in three areas include:mckinsey-global-institute-report-a-labor-market-that-works-connecting-talent-and-opportunity-in-the-digital-age-24-638

1) the Internet of Things, 2) big data analytics and 3) online talent platforms.

 
 
Online talent platforms (like MENA Alliances) help find the right people for the right jobs, which benefits both the employer and the talent while also increasing job satisfaction and, ultimately, productivity. There are job matching sites (like Monster and LinkedIn) that are changing the ways companies find and recruit talent and also expanding the way people look for work. Digital platforms such as Upwork, Uber, and Etsy are changing the way we have previously looked at how and where work is done.
 
 

The Future of work and women in the MENA region

 

The Middle East and North African countries have the most to gain over the next few decades because of the estimated 50 million who will be coming of age to work in the MENA region. 
 

If MENA women’s participation would reach that of men’s participation, the estimated figures could reach as high as $600 billion annually ($2.7 trillion by 2025).  (3)

 
 

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In recent decades, gender equality in education has been making strides with regional advancements. But even with these educational advancements, only one out of three women in MENA is in the labor force. The global average of women in the workforce is almost at 50%. However, Arab women’s participation is only half of that average. The World Bank predicts that at that current rate, It will take 150 years for MENA countries to reach the current world average of 50%.
 

The rewards of including more MENA women in the workplace will be substantial. This is now the time that we must get serious and find ways to make strides toward this important endeavor of opening opportunities in digital technology to MENA women.

Remote work opens a massive job market for women at the global level regardless of where they may live — as long as they have access and the ‘know how’.  

 

This remote workforce will benefit employers and ensure that they stay relevant and thrive in the new global market.

 

Savvy regional and international leaders and organizations will invest in and embrace these new digitized technologies by opening to this new talent pool.  By hiring remote workers in your business, you can hire the best of the best. At the same time you are not limiting your organization by geographical restrictions. Your organization will increase productivity and save money.
 

 Resources: 

  1. McKinsey’s report
  2. World Bank (2014, 2015)
  3. “First Jobs for Young Women in the Middle East & North Africa: Expectations and Reality“ is a research initiative from Education For Employment (EFE), Bayt.com and YouGov. You can learn more about the initiative and read the white paper here.

Bridge Between US and MENA

Posted on by admin

Bridges connect. Bridges connect the two banks of a river and, metaphorically, two minds, two communities of people, creating connecting bonds.

MENA Alliances, based in the UK and MENA region and ServiceAlliances, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA are joining forces to connect and offer their joint services to organizations in need of training, business process optimization (thru several services), localization services (in English and Arabic) and IT solutions.

The remote services resourcing that is offered through this union is a step above outsourcing and freelancing. In fact, it is a new breed of service. Top designers, translators, and IT professionals are inspired and recruited from a large pool of applicants throughout the MENA region. The ‘best of the best’ are chosen to join the team. Oversight and quality control oversight is an ongoing process so that the finished product/service is beyond customer expectations.

This is an opportunity to support positive endeavors between business professionals that are ascending above the political differences and cultural divides. We have come together in alliance….to change the world, one business project at a time.

Call or email us now so we can tell you how we can help your business….large, medium or small. We promise satisfaction!

Transform Your Business and Drive Strategic Value

Posted on by admin

A New Model to Transform  Your Business and Drive Strategic Value – An Alternative to Outsourcing & Freelancing

Recruiting and Hiring best talent and managing people, along with the dynamic forces of technology and globalization are bringing increasing challenges to small and medium size businesses (SME). What if there was a Change Management model that could drive major, enterprise-level transformation? Read on—there is such a tool.  www.menaalliances.com

Forget what you know about Outsourcing & freelancing. The market has been saturated with online workers and freelancers. These workers have provided businesses with more choices and diversity. And outsourcing has proven cost effective in many situations by taking away high expense of overhead costs involved with hiring employees, providing benefits, needing space and other resources for those employees. Outsourcing has alleviated many of the costs and hassles involved with hiring and managing employees. Virtual assistance on a variety of projects from website & mobile development, graphic design to business processes is available from these independent workers.

The challenge with outsourcing is finding the best talent, oversight (management of projects and people), concern for security of information, and quality assurance. SME leadership still has to take the time to manage and do quality assurance on these projects.

MENA Alliances offers a new alternative—an alternative that drives strategic value and includes oversight (management of projects and people), security of information and quality assurance. MENA Alliances is a new breed of organization that offers Remote Services Resourcing.

MENA Alliances’ carefully design oversight process works like this: (see above).

CLICK HERE FOR OUR OVERSIGHT PROCESS

For more information and pricing, please contact us at sales@menaalliances.com

What is Freelancing ?

Posted on by admin

 A freelancer is someone who performs tasks, usually for multiple employers over the course of a year for a fee without being an official company employee. . This allows the freelance freedom to do tasks on their own. This process of doing job is called freelancing. For example, a magazine or website will have a core team of editors who hire freelance writers to write articles, or a TV production crew might hire freelance cameramen to work on one series of programmes.

Freelancers may work part-time or full-time. Because they are not considered employers, freelancers are allowed to work for other employers and are usually permitted to perform tasks in their own way, as long as the work gets done to the client’s specifications.

Freelancing can be tons of fun. You create your own hours, accept the jobs you want. Plus, many freelance and contract jobs come with the enormous perk of working from the comfort of your own desired environment.

Payment for freelance work also varies greatly. Freelancers may charge by the day or hour, or on a per-job basis. However, large clients such as businesses may have internal policies regarding freelance pay, so a freelancer accustomed to charging by the hour may be asked to accept a lump sum payment for a particular job. Although, if a client’s conditions are undesirable, the freelancer often does not hesitate to attempt negotiation before accepting or rejecting the job.

What are the advantages of freelancing?

Choose your work. Being a freelancer means you don’t have a boss telling you what to do so you can say ‘no’ to jobs you don’t want. You might also get to work at home for specific projects. As long as your work is delivered to the deadline most clients won’t mind how and when you do it – making freelancing a good option for people who don’t want to work normal office hours.

Better pay. Freelancers can negotiate your own rates with the companies who hire you. Companies are often prepared to pay freelancers a better rate than their own staff because they don’t have to pay for things like sick leave as part of the contract. The more experience you have then the more money you can ask for.

What are the disadvantages of freelancing?
  • Getting work 

    There are a lot of freelancers out there and getting your first few jobs can be hard. Just being good at what you do isn’t enough – you need to network, market yourself and make contacts because no-one will hire you if they don’t know you’re there! The workload can be unpredictable – sometimes you might be working all night to meet three deadlines in one week, while even the most successful freelancers have months where they get no work at all.

  • Managing your money

    You will not receive a regular pay cheque per month and you’ll also need to remember to keep some money aside for times when you’re ill or there’s no work – and while it might be great to have a holiday any time you want, remember that no-one will pay you for it!

There are both pros and cons to being a freelancer. Consider what is important to you. More work is being given to freelancers each year, so if you have special talents, it could be the best career option for you. But remember, you have to market yourself and sell your services. Once you get a good reputation and portfolio of work, it gets to be much easier.

One of the benefits of signing on as a freelancer with MENA Alliances is that we do the selling for you! Once your name and credentials are in our system, you will have the opportunity to do the work you love without the difficulty of trying to sell it!

How to Be Professional on MENA Alliances platform

Posted on by admin

How To Set Up An Account on MENA Alliances Platform

Registering and applying for MENA Alliances is an easy process! Below we will clarify simple steps for successful application to MENA Alliances’ freelancer program. To open the CONTRACTOR FORM follow these steps:

  1. Go to menaalliances.com

  1. Click on “Work”

OR
Go to the quick access menu at the bottom of the main page, and click “Become a Contractor”
OR
Type the following URL into your browser:   http://menaalliances.com/freelancer/ .

  1. After you have successfully reached the CONTRACTOR FORM, complete the required fields. *Required fields are marked by a red star. Please fill in all fields, otherwise your application will not be submitted successfully. After filling in all data, you can upload your CV in the upload section. There is a space to write comments or information that you think is important to be known about you.

  2. You are almost there! By clicking the button “Submit” at the bottom of the page, your application will be automatically sent to the recruitment office.

  3. You are done! You will receive an automatic email stating that your application was received and will be processed soon. The email will be sent directly to the email address provided earlier in the email address field.

Our Recruitment Process

 

Where does you application go once it is submitted? It will go through a systematic procedure that is briefly explained in this section.
The recruitment process at MENA Alliances consists of two major stages including: (1) Talent Review and Sourcing and (2) Attraction and Acquisition.

 

Stage 1: Talent Review and Sourcing

The main goal of this stage is to review and target potential talent/contractors that have unique skills in one or more of MENA Alliances’ service/product fields. This process will take place for each field of work.

Stage 2: Attraction and Acquisition

This stage includes four main processes as follows:

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Screening

At this point, each candidate must have completed and submitted the CONTRACTOR FORM offered on the MENA Alliances official website. The screening process begins with viewing and analyzing of these applications to identify the potential contractors based on skills, experience, background and samples of previous work (portfolios).

Assessing

The applications will be assessed and filtered according to the pre-mentioned factors. After that, the shortlisted candidates will pass to the next step.

Interviewing

After short listed candidates are identified, first-round interviews will be conducted for each candidate by the Talent Acquisition Specialist to obtain in-depth information about each candidate regarding his/her specialty. Another list (the Final List) will be prepared including only the candidates that show a certain level of seriousness, commitment and proficiency to go through a second-round interview – conducted by the business department.

Selection & Categorization

The contractors who pass the final round of interviews will be selected and contacted to verify availability, span/time of work and contact information to be ready for future offers.

MENA ALLIANCES provides a key differentiator in the MENA talent marketplace by providing businesses with hand-picked Freelancers through a creative selection process.As well as end-to-end Service Offerings utilizing a mix of the Talent Network and in-house experts.

MENA ALLIANCES’s Talent Network is classified into three different groups as the following:

Talent Levels

 

Additionally, the MENA ALLIANCES Talent Network is built to ensure that each level of talent is given opportunities that leverage their skills while ensuring that the rigorous selection process and quality of our talent reflect MENA ALLIANCES’s quality standards.

GroupPayment RateQuality Assurance OversightScope of Work
SilverLowHighSimple jobs
GoldMiddleMiddleMid-complexity
ExpertsHighLowComplex Jobs/need high skills

 

Talent Network Resourcing Model enhance the capacity of freelancers at Silver level, as they will receive direct feedbacks and comments on their work from freelancers at experts level which will give them the experience that they will need.

 

How to Become a Professional Freelancer at MENA Alliances

 

Tip 1: Show your Work/Create an Online Profile

 

When you are new to freelancing, getting your business off the ground is all about hustle: creating a solid and complete online profile and web-presence; finding ways to prove your skills; and being persistent in your pursuit of new clients. This is how most freelance work is offered: remotely and online!

Tip 2: Care about Your Clients

 

Often as a freelancer, you will be working as part of a larger project (e.g., you may be writing content for a website while others are designing it, coding it, promoting it, etc.). So take an interest! If you feel it is appropriate, do not be afraid to ask your client conversationally “How is it going?”. This is particularly true when you are working for smaller companies.

Tip 3: Stay Cool!

Freelancing can be stressful.
Deadline looming? Forget your weekend off!

 

When you are snowed under with work to do, it can be difficult to stay positive and appreciate the world around you. At times like this, it is crucially important to maintain a sense of humor and keep things in perspective. Staying cool under pressure is much more attractive to a client than tearing your hair out.

Tip 4: Be Totally Reliable

You are a professional selling a service. If you say you will finish the work by Friday, get it done by Friday. Stay up all night, hire other freelancers to help you, do whatever it takes. The best way to lose clients is to let them down—so don’t! Ever!