Kholoud AlKhaldi | Operations Internship Experience

The past 3 months with Sabbar have been the most amazing and challenging experience of my life. It was filled with so much laughter, joy, knowledge and a lot of late night work, but it was truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

My intentions when I applied for Sabbar were to gain experience and use my free time to build up my CV from a young age. When I started working with them, I was 18 years old and had no experience whatsoever, but I was eager to learn. I started off in the accounting team where I simply added invoices. They praised me along the way so much that it encouraged me to do and learn more. After 2 weeks, I moved to the best team out there, the operations team, and that was when the hard work and fun began.

When I started working with the operations team, I worked in demand fulfillment, which is when we make sure all the shifts or gigs are fulfilled, so the demand is the amount of shifts or roles the partner needs and the fulfillment is where gig workers, or as we call them, giggers, fulfill the shifts. At first, they gave me simple tasks to do, such as handling one partner in demand fulfillment. Then each week we stepped it up a notch until I was handling 10 partners all at once.

At one point it became a little overwhelming. But my team never shut me out when I told them how overwhelming it was and never criticized me when I made a mistake. In fact, they always complimented me for my work even if it was the tiniest thing, which only pushed me to work harder because when you compliment someone for their work, even if it was wrong, it builds their self esteem and the brain will automatically want to live up to that expectation or compliment you’re receiving.

My first overwhelming experience in Operations was during our trial for launching in another city; we had to recruit giggers over the weekend, then do the workshop and fulfill the shifts on Sunday night as their shifts start on Monday morning. The team did not let me do it on my own. In fact, during my tiny meltdown, my amazing teammate Joud started working with me while calming me down and that was when I started feeling so much loyalty towards Sabbar. This experience taught me to never be afraid to ask for help or questions. When I asked for help, the team supported me in every way possible without having to coddle me. I also learned to never be afraid to step out of my comfort zone, because if I didn’t then I wouldn’t have worked with my team and gained the experience and amazing friendships that I have.

Kholoud have set the bar incredibly high! she is an amazing problem-solver and team player. She’s a very supportive teammate to the point that she would never allow you to skip a meal or miss a task. Her efforts and high sense of responsibility have helped us tremendously in growing our operations. (ps:the best person to pull all nighters with)

Joud Almoutaz – Operations Officer

This experience also taught me to be a team player. It helped me understand the importance of having a team with you to support and have your back when needed. If we weren’t being team players, we would have never achieved our goals each week. Another skill I gained is multitasking, working in demand fulfillment requires being a multitasker big time. But the most important thing I gained was learning how to be a fast learner; working for a startup requires you to have background knowledge so you can be on track with them, so they gave me information and I always had to search and learn more about it on my own in order to catch up with them.

Another task I handled was the Gigger Experience & Happiness. Every week the Operations team & I would brainstorm ideas on activities to entertain the giggers and give them the same sense of family and community we have around the office. During one of those weeks, it was International Chocolate Day, so we decided to play a guessing game about known chocolate brand slogans, and the gigger with the most points gets a gift. Coincidentally, the gigger that won had his birthday on that same day! So we sent him a box of cookies with a Happy Birthday note on it. That experience made the gigger so loyal to Sabbar to the point that new giggers questioned whether he works with Sabbar team or not.

There are just countless things that I’ve learned during my time in Sabbar that cannot be put into writing, starting with excel; I went from not knowing a single thing in excel to acing my subject in university for advanced excel. I also never understood the world of investment and now I love it so much I’m pointing my life towards being an investor.

Sabbar has impacted my life personally because it helped me build my self esteem and be much more confident with myself, and it opened my eyes to the “independent” world by encouraging me to be proactive and taking on more responsibilities. It also impacted my professional life by encouraging me to always take a step forward and never be afraid of what might happen because there is just a whole world out there waiting for me and I have to take the first step towards it. It also helped me understand how the business world works and how I should communicate professionally with our partners, how to handle frustrated people when you’re frustrated and how to understand them.

When I first joined the operations team, my mentor, Ahmed Abuazza, told me that we are doing something that is bigger than ourselves by helping out so many people that need extra income. That was our reason to wake up every morning and work. I always kept it in my mind but never truly understood the concept of it until one time a gigger told us how thankful he was for working as a gigger for Sabbar because it helped him get out of debt.

That statement was an eye opener for me. Ahmed’s words came back to me, Sabbar is bigger than we all thought, and it helps so many people even if they didn’t come forward and say something about it. I’ve had so many moments where I was proud of myself for helping the company achieve certain goals or tasks, and that moment was one of them, knowing we helped someone is an indescribable feeling.

Every second with Sabbar was memorable because they truly appreciate what each person has to offer and are always open to ideas and thoughts. Sabbar has created a safe space and a community that feels like a family. If you ask anyone who worked/is working with Sabbar, they would tell you the same exact thing. On my last working day in Sabbar, it was my birthday as well, I hadn’t told anyone it was my birthday but they knew and got me a cake and celebrated my birthday and told me how grateful they were for my work and what I’ve devoted to Sabbar. That moment meant the world to me knowing I have a second family like them 🧡.

I am eternally grateful to the team that hired me since I was an 18 year old with no experience but still took the time to invest in me by guiding and supporting me through each and every step. As pressuring as it was, having an amazing mentor and an amazing teammate made everything worthwhile. Sabbar has given me a meaningful phase in my life to grow myself professionally and personally. This experience excites me for what’s to come!

Kholoud AlKhaldi
1st Year Finance Student
Prince Sultan University