115 candidates from five countries being interviewed for place on unique Program

Ajman: 29th June 2014 : The Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Leadership Program, a first-of-its-kind program that aims to empower talented young individuals with essential leadership qualities, has received a total of 496 applications during its registration period, which closed on 7th June.

The 2014/15 edition of the ALP has been the first to invite applications from all GCC nationals between 25 and 35 years of age.  389 applications came from the United Arab Emirates, 50 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 31 from Oman, 16 from Bahrain, and 10 from Kuwait. 

The next stage of the application procedure, the  interview process, commenced this month following the closure of the registration period, which had been extended for one week because of  high interest in the Program. 

Out of the 496 applicants, 115 have been selected to advance to the interview stage. Each interview lasts around 30 minutes per candidate, and is being personally conducted by all ALP committee members.

Commenting on this process, Faisal Al Nuaimi, Head of the Committee at the ALP, said: “It is no surprise that the quality of interviews from candidates aspiring to join the second cycle of the Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Leadership Program has been very high – but even so, we have seen our expectations surpassed. The young people I have met from the GCC countries have really shined through their creativity, innovation, determination and initiative to gain modern knowledge – particularly, effective leadership skills.”

Inas Abu Shashieh, a Committee Member and Program Director of the ALP, added: “I have been amazed by the capability and vision that the applicants had this year. We have attracted potential leaders of true promise. It will be extremely difficult to choose between them, and I hope that the program will be able to expand and grow to serve greater numbers of beneficiaries”.

Dr Waleed Hassan Al Naqbi, a Committee Member of the ALP, also emphasised the quality of interviewees, while looking forward to later stages of the application process to help distinguish between applicants. He said: “The interviews have gone very smoothly and a great number of potential candidates have applied. It is certainly very difficult to decide who is best of the best. Every day we see new potential candidates with impressive experience. I do believe the second stage of selection, the psychometric test, will give us more insight to be able to choose the most suitable candidates.

Following the interviews, the next stage in the application process will be filtration. These take into consideration the interview results – measuring candidate’s personal skills, potential leadership behaviour, commitment and determination levels, and communication skills and after all the required documents have been submitted for the process. It also takes into account how the ALP might help them make positive changes in their communities and their vision for the future.

Following filtration, 40  successful candidates will be invited to sit the final stage of the application process, a psychometric test – a three hour written examination in English. It includes a test – the RAPM – which evaluates the eductive level of the candidate: how they view the world and how they make their decisions. It also encompasses an assessment – the 15FQ+ document – that examines how candidates believe the world sees them, and how they react to that information. Taking both together, a very useful profile of each candidate can be built up.

Those candidates who proceed successfully through the psychometric test will be invited onto the six-month long ALP, beginning in September, with graduation set for March 2015.