Tamheer Program for Employers: How to Run HRDF Graduate Cohorts at Scale

The Tamheer program gives Saudi employers a structured way to develop fresh national talent through on-the-job training, while the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF, or Hadaf) provides eligible trainees with financial support.

For talent acquisition, early-careers, and Saudization teams, however, joining Tamheer is only the beginning. The operational challenge is building a graduate cohort that can handle hundreds or thousands of applications, give trainees meaningful experience, satisfy HRDF requirements, and identify strong candidates for future employment.

This guide covers both sides: what HRDF currently requires from establishments and how to turn those requirements into a scalable graduate recruitment and development process.

Last verified against HRDF information: September 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Tamheer is an on-the-job graduate training program, not simply a subsidized employment contract. Employers need to provide meaningful training, supervision, attendance processes, and development objectives.
• HRDF currently provides eligible trainees SAR 3,000 per month for a training period of three to six months.
• Plan cohort capacity before recruitment begins. HRDF’s current criteria limit Graduate Development trainees to 10% under its specified workforce calculation, with a maximum of 100 trainees in the same period.
• Screen fresh graduates for potential, not just experience. Structured assessments and competency-based interviews can provide stronger evidence when applicants have similar qualifications and limited work histories.
• Treat Tamheer as a talent pipeline. Consistent assessment, mentor feedback, attendance, and performance evidence can help employers identify trainees with potential for future employment.

What Is the Tamheer Program?

Tamheer, officially HRDF’s Graduate Development product, is an on-the-job training program for eligible Saudi diploma, bachelor’s, and higher-degree graduates. Participating establishments provide practical workplace training, while HRDF provides eligible trainees with a monthly SAR 3,000 stipend for a training period of three to six months.

Tamheer at a Glance

Item	Current HRDF requirement
Program	Graduate Development, Tamheer
Administrator	Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF/Hadaf)
Monthly stipend	SAR 3,000, paid by HRDF to eligible trainees
Training duration	3-6 months
Format	Full-time, on-site training
Employer trainee cap	Up to 10% of the establishment’s workforce calculation specified by HRDF, with a maximum of 100 trainees in the same period
Private/non-profit Nitaqat requirement	Green or above
Eligible qualifications	Qualifying diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, and higher degrees

HRDF’s establishment page, updated on August 13, 2026, is the current primary reference for the employer-side requirements above.

The distinction between training and employment matters. Tamheer is designed to give graduates practical field experience and improve employability; it is not simply a subsidized employment contract. Employers therefore need to design real training opportunities, supervision, attendance processes, and development objectives around each cohort.

Tamheer Eligibility for Employers

HRDF allows government, private-sector, and non-profit establishments to participate, subject to its eligibility and training-opportunity criteria. The current requirements include having an HRDF account, staying within the permitted trainee capacity, meeting applicable Nitaqat requirements, offering opportunities aligned with HRDF’s targeted activities and professions, and not appearing on the Fund’s prohibited list.

Nitaqat Band and HRDF Account Requirements

An establishment needs an account on the HRDF website. For private-sector establishments and non-profit organizations, HRDF’s current English establishment page specifies a Nitaqat category of green or above. Government entities can also participate, while the Nitaqat condition is stated specifically for private and non-profit establishments.

Tamheer eligibility should not be confused with the broader rules used to calculate an organization’s Saudization position. Employers planning a wider national-talent strategy should review their current Saudization compliance requirements for 2026 separately.

HRDF also requires the establishment’s activities and proposed training opportunities to align with the sectors, industries, and professions targeted by the Fund.

Trainee Caps: 10% of Staff, 100 per Period

Capacity planning needs to happen before recruitment starts.

HRDF’s current establishment criteria state that the number of Graduate Development trainees must not exceed 10% under the workforce calculation specified by HRDF, with an overall maximum of 100 trainees for the same period.

For a large employer, that makes cohort design a workforce-planning exercise rather than simply an application campaign. Decide how many departments can provide meaningful work, how many trainees each mentor can supervise, and how many seats you can realistically manage before publishing opportunities.

Who Qualifies as a Tamheer Trainee?

Current HRDF criteria require the individual to be a Saudi national, registered with HRDF, no older than 30, and not currently employed in the public or private sector. Eligible education includes qualifying diplomas of at least one academic year from accredited technical, health, or administrative institutes and colleges, as well as bachelor’s degrees or higher from recognized universities.

HRDF currently allows previous work experience provided it does not exceed one calendar year. It also limits full use of the Graduate Development training balance to no more than two opportunities totaling six months.

That makes skills-based screening especially useful. Many applicants will have limited conventional employment history, so filtering primarily by previous job titles or years of experience can tell you very little about their actual potential.

How to Launch a Tamheer Program in Five Steps

A scalable Tamheer cohort needs two connected workflows: HRDF administration and your internal recruitment-and-training process.

1. Register and Publish Opportunities Through HRDF

Start with your establishment’s HRDF account and confirm that you meet the current eligibility requirements.

HRDF provides an electronic service for creating Graduate Development training opportunities. The authorized user logs into the system, selects the on-the-job training area, creates a new training opportunity, selects Graduate Development, and enters the opportunity details. HRDF can then notify the establishment about the advertisement’s status and alert it when applicants are available.

Treat the opportunity description like a serious early-career role. Specify the department, learning objectives, expected tasks, competencies, location, and what successful completion should look like.

2. Plan Seats by Department and Mentor

Do not start with “How many trainees can HRDF allow us?” Start with “How many people can we train properly?”

Map each seat to a department, manager or mentor, training plan, and measurable learning outcomes. A cohort of 50 trainees with five overstretched supervisors can create more administrative work than a smaller, deliberately designed intake.

This is also the point to establish ownership for attendance, evaluations, HRDF administration, trainee communication, and escalation.

3. Screen Applicants at Volume

Fresh-graduate screening needs different signals from experienced-hire screening.

Create minimum eligibility checks first, then assess role-relevant competencies consistently. Depending on the opportunity, that might include problem-solving, communication, numerical reasoning, language ability, technical knowledge, or situational judgment.

Structured assessments and competency-based interviews in Saudi Arabia can help hiring teams compare candidates against the same criteria instead of relying on CV pedigree or unstructured impressions.

For large cohorts, use technology to organize and surface evidence for recruiters and selection panels. AI can assist with filtration and structured assessment, but final progression and hiring decisions should remain with the employer’s authorized team.

4. Run the Training Period and Track Attendance

Once training begins, administration becomes part of compliance.

HRDF states that Tamheer training is full-time and conducted on-site. Its current guidance sets a maximum of 48 hours per week or eight hours per day, reduced during Ramadan to no more than 36 hours per week or six hours per day.

HRDF’s Manage Training service also enables the establishment to assign a trainer and manage the training relationship. The system sends reminders to the trainer or establishment representative to record attendance during the designated monthly period.

Make attendance, mentor feedback, learning milestones, and issues visible in one operating rhythm rather than reconstructing records at the end of the cohort.

5. Evaluate, Certify and Close the Cohort

A graduate program should end with evidence, not just an end date.

Use a consistent final evaluation covering attendance, demonstrated competencies, manager feedback, completed assignments, development areas, and suitability for future opportunities.

HRDF provides certificates through the trainee’s program dashboard. Its current certificate service states that a training certificate becomes available after at least one month of training, with a training-completion certificate available after the program is completed.

If your organization moves successful trainees into employment, manage the transition formally and communicate the next step clearly. A consistent internship offer email process can also help standardize candidate communications.

Screening Thousands of Graduates Fairly

High application volume is one of the biggest differences between running a graduate cohort and filling a conventional vacancy. When hundreds of candidates have similar degrees and limited experience, manual CV screening becomes both slow and a weak differentiator.

A better process moves progressively from broad eligibility to deeper evidence: verify the basic requirements, assess relevant skills and competencies, use structured video or interview stages where appropriate, and give the selection panel comparable information for finalists.

Elevatus, the Agentic AI Hiring Operating System, provides agentic AI video interview software that can support high-volume assessment workflows. The goal is not to hand the decision to AI. It is to help recruitment teams organize evidence, apply consistent criteria, and spend human review time where it matters most.

That is the operating lesson for Tamheer employers: when applicant volume grows, redesign the funnel rather than adding more manual screening. See how Omantel assessed 5,500 graduates in five days.

Converting Tamheer Trainees Into Permanent Saudi Hires

Tamheer becomes more valuable when employers treat the cohort as a talent pipeline rather than an isolated training exercise.

Before training begins, define the competencies that would make a trainee a strong candidate for future roles. During the program, collect structured evidence against those competencies through projects, manager observations, assessments, attendance, and feedback.

Then identify potential hires early enough to plan the transition.

There is an important compliance point: HRDF states that a Tamheer beneficiary must not currently be employed, and joining a government or private-sector job during training is listed among the reasons for exclusion from the program. Employers that want to hire a trainee should therefore coordinate the end of the training relationship and the start of employment correctly rather than running the two statuses concurrently.

A centralized agentic AI recruitment software by Elevatus workflow can keep applications, evaluations, recruiter feedback, offers, and future talent pools connected instead of losing the cohort’s data when Tamheer ends.

Other HRDF Programs Employers Should Know

Tamheer is only one part of HRDF’s employer ecosystem.

Professional Experience is designed to help learners gain scientific and professional experience before entering the labor market. Doroob for E-learning allows establishments to create accounts, invite employees, assign courses or custom training content, organize learners into groups and departments, and monitor training performance.

HRDF also currently offers Employment Support for qualifying private-sector hires. Under that separate product, the Fund contributes toward eligible employees’ wages subject to the program’s employee and establishment criteria.

These products serve different stages of workforce development. Employers should choose based on whether the immediate need is graduate training, employee development, pre-graduation experience, or employment support rather than treating every Hadaf program as interchangeable.

What to Check Before You Commit to a Cohort

Before publishing dozens of Tamheer opportunities, confirm three things: compliance, operational capacity, and data readiness.

Compliance means checking the latest HRDF eligibility rules rather than relying on an older employer page or previous cohort. Operational capacity means having enough real work, mentors, and administrative ownership for the number of trainees you plan to accept. Data readiness means knowing how applications, assessments, attendance, feedback, exclusions, and conversion decisions will be recorded.

HRDF’s current FAQ also states that Tamheer trainees do not receive medical insurance through the product. Employers should therefore review the applicable requirements and their own policies before communicating benefits to candidates.

For the wider regulatory picture, review GCC HR compliance across Nitaqat and Qiwa independently of Tamheer eligibility.

Turning Tamheer Into a Graduate Talent Pipeline

A strong Tamheer program can turn graduate training into a repeatable talent pipeline. By connecting structured assessment, mentorship, and training records, employers can identify potential more effectively while keeping final hiring decisions in human hands.

Ready to Run Your Next Graduate Cohort at Scale?

High-volume graduate recruitment can quickly become difficult to manage when applications, assessments, recruiter feedback, and candidate records sit across disconnected processes.

Elevatus, the Agentic AI Hiring Operating System, helps enterprise teams centralize the journey from high-volume screening and structured assessments to recruiter collaboration, offers, and future talent pools, while keeping hiring decisions in the hands of your team.

✓ Screen high-volume graduate applications more efficiently
✓ Apply structured assessment criteria across the cohort
✓ Keep candidate evidence, feedback, and future talent pools connected

See the Agentic AI Hiring Operating System in action. Request your free demo

FAQs

How much does HRDF pay Tamheer trainees?

HRDF currently provides eligible Tamheer trainees with a monthly stipend of SAR 3,000. The amount applies to qualifying diploma graduates as well as bachelor’s-degree holders and above.

How long does the Tamheer program last?

A Tamheer training opportunity lasts at least three months and no more than six months. HRDF states that the precise duration within that range depends on the establishment’s assessment.

Can a company hire a Tamheer trainee before the program ends?

A trainee cannot remain actively employed and continue Tamheer as though nothing changed. HRDF lists joining a public- or private-sector job during training as a reason for exclusion, so the transition to employment should be formally coordinated.

What happens if a trainee is excluded from Tamheer?

HRDF lists multiple grounds for exclusion, including false information, serious misconduct, failure to perform training tasks, attendance problems, joining employment during training, and other breaches of program conditions. The exact consequence depends on the circumstances and HRDF’s rules.

Can government entities join the Tamheer program?

Yes. HRDF’s establishment criteria cover government entities alongside private-sector and non-profit establishments. Participating entities still need to satisfy the applicable Graduate Development eligibility and training-opportunity requirements.

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