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Searched for a CV; Came Out with Pride

Shadi Hrout has become a champion of the Jordan Beehive (http://jordan.thebeehive.org) after seeing how useful the information portal could be to the people he works with in rural Jordan.

The e-Village at Libb, outside of Amman in Jordan, is the site of an exciting new project under the auspices of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The project aims to empower the local community in rural areas through the integration of Information and Communications Technology in their daily lives. Shadi is the 30 year old Guest Relations Administrator at the e-Village.

Shadi became involved with the e-Village project early on. A specialist in the restoration of historic buildings, he worked on restoring the old homes that would form the base of the e-Village. With much of the restoration complete, Shadi continues to oversee its development. “I began with the project and I couldn’t think about leaving it. I want to see what happens, I want to see it grow,” says Shadi.

Shadi’s first experience with the Jordan Beehive was at its launch in 2007. One Global Economy held the launch at the e-Village in Lib, and contracted the new e-Village cafeteria to provide refreshments. The money earned from that contract enabled the cafeteria to buy the equipment and supplies they needed to be fully operational. Since then, the cafeteria has also provided the catering for other events and feeds the e-Village's employees daily.

Shadi regularly browses the Jordan Beehive for new information on topics related to growing a business, health, and job training. He says “there is so much information on the site that will help many organizations to do their work.”
Shadi has also benefited personally. He applied for a job and was asked for his CV. “The first time I was asked for my CV was five years ago. I had no idea what it was, so I asked my cousin to write it for me. The second time I faced this same problem, I went to The Jordan Beehive.”

Reading the guidelines on how to write his CV, Shadi realized there was a lot of information he never knew to include. “After I emailed my CV, the organization’s executive director called me and she told me that there was so much good information on the CV it would take her two days to read through it. I told her about how I used the Jordan Beehive and followed its guidelines on writing a CV. Writing it gave me this pride in my accomplishments, in things I never thought would matter to anyone.”

Because of Shadi’s passion for his work at the e-Village, he has decided to remain in his position there. He continues to recommend the CV writing tips on the Beehive to many residents of the e-Village. Shadi has been so satisfied with the content on the Jordan Beehive that he is “hoping to include it in each training session conducted at the e-Village” so others can benefit just as he did.

The accessible and readable information is an important part of this project’s success. Yazan Majaj, Program Manager at UNIFEM, finds that “the display of the information is very well organized, updated, and Arabized. Browsing is easy, and the topics are of concern to the Jordanian population.”

In the six months since its launch, the Jordan Beehive has attracted more than 100,000 unique users from every country in the Arab world. While the site is customized to help Jordanian users like Shadi, it seems that Arabic-speakers everywhere have found the resources they need on the Jordan Beehive.