Hundreds of Syrian engineers have been in administrative limbo since late 2024, caught between placement decisions issued under the previous system and a new recruitment process that ties appointments to government vacancies and staffing needs. They received placement decisions identifying the institutions where they were supposed to work, but have yet to take up their posts.

Although their placement lists were issued and their workplaces across various sectors were designated before the end of 2024, some public institutions and agencies did not allow engineers and agricultural engineers to begin work, or delayed their appointment procedures following management changes after the regime’s fall. Their employment status remains uncertain, raising questions about the new government recruitment process.

Starting Work Put on Hold

For decades, the Syrian government operated a “general placement” system for engineering graduates, under legislation and decisions allowing them to be employed directly in the public sector.

During 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Administrative Development announced selection processes and procedures to place thousands of engineers in available positions across ministries and government institutions.

However, the administrative and structural changes Syria witnessed in December 2024 following the regime’s fall halted procedures for some of these engineers to begin work at the institutions to which they had been assigned. This preceded a shift from automatic, direct placement to a system based on advertising vacancies according to actual staffing needs, coordinated between government agencies and the Ministry of Administrative Development.

A Different Recruitment Process

Raseen Ismat, secretary of the Syrian Engineers Syndicate, told Enab Baladi that the syndicate was following up on the cases of engineers who had received placements but had not begun work, through ongoing correspondence with the ministries of Public Works and Housing and Administrative Development.

Ismat explained that the recruitment process had changed from the system in place before the end of 2024. There is no longer a comprehensive general placement process. Instead, each public sector institution announces its actual need for specific specializations, and the syndicate publishes these announcements on its official platforms and social media accounts.

“As a syndicate, we are committed to contacting these institutions and urging them to take on graduates and provide them with job opportunities. But recruitment and starting work are not matters within the syndicate’s authority. They are entirely a government responsibility, handled by the Ministry of Administrative Development, which coordinates with ministries to announce vacancies,” Ismat added.

No Updates From Administrative Development Ministry

Responding to Enab Baladi’s questions about the status of engineers who had previously received placements, and whether the government was reviewing or studying their cases, the Government Communication Directorate at the Ministry of Administrative Development said: “There are no official updates on this matter. Any developments will be announced through official accounts and channels.”

Calls to Resolve Their Employment Status

Most complaints Enab Baladi received about the issue concerned agricultural engineers who had previously received placements but were unable to begin work because approvals had been delayed.

Mustafa al-Mustafa, head of the Agricultural Engineers Syndicate, told Enab Baladi that the syndicate was closely following the complaints it received. He emphasized that it was a professional body, rather than an executive authority with the power to make appointments or require ministries to create vacancies.

“We are fulfilling our role in defending the profession and demanding our colleagues’ rights. An agricultural engineer is more than an employee, serving as a fundamental pillar of food security, land reclamation, the development of crop and livestock resources, and environmental protection,” al-Mustafa said.

Al-Mustafa noted that the syndicate had sent official correspondence to the ministries of Agriculture, Administrative Development, Local Administration and Environment, and Health, as well as the General Secretariat, explaining the engineers’ demands and their right to employment and work amid difficult living conditions.

Alongside these efforts, al-Mustafa said the syndicate was organizing training and specialist courses for graduates to help them enter the labor market.

In an earlier statement to Enab Baladi in June, Agriculture Minister Basel al-Suwaidan said approximately 150 male and female engineers assigned to the ministry in 2024 had yet to begin work.

Al-Suwaidan added that their names had been submitted to the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Administrative Development and the General Secretariat of the Presidency, to resolve their employment status.

The minister emphasized that addressing employees’ various issues was not solely the Agriculture Ministry’s responsibility. Several government bodies were involved, including the Ministry of Administrative Development and the General Secretariat of the Presidency.

Between Placement Decisions and Available Vacancies

Hundreds of graduates remain caught between placement decisions issued in 2024 and new administrative procedures that tie recruitment to public institutions’ staffing needs and actual vacancies.

While the syndicates say they continue to follow up on the issue and correspond with the relevant authorities, engineers await definitive explanations from the Ministry of Administrative Development. They want clarity on the status of their pending placement decisions and how the ministry will address what they consider administrative rights arising from decisions issued before the government recruitment process changed.