As part of the company’s ongoing support of the government’s skills revolution initiative, Siemens Southern Africa has committed to recruit and train an additional 100 people in a number of disciplines ranging from technical and commercial through to career orientation and work preparation.
Sigi Proebstl, CEO of Siemens Southern Africa, says given the necessity for a trained and skilled network of engineers, artisans and commercial graduates to drive the economic growth necessary for sustainable regional development, the organisation understands and subscribes to the need for rapid skills development.
“This initiative identifies a number of priority areas where intervention can be extremely beneficial, including unemployed graduates, students who need practical experience, artisan training, the provision of international experience in engineering and project management, as well as the issue of mid-career black women professionals who require international exposure and experience,” says Proebstl.
Proebstl says the training program focuses on practical and on-the-job training for technicians, engineers and commerce students to enable them to qualify; basic and intermediate financial and business administration training with an appropriate certification; and general training on safety, quality management, project management and business processes.
“In designing and implementing the program, we have tried to find a balance between the technical and commercial professions while simultaneously ensuring the number of active trainees is evenly distributed over the program’s duration,” he says. “Also, we have taken the liberty to propose a work preparation workshop and a careers workshop in order to prepare those students looking for employment.”
Kevin Pillay, divisional managing director, Transportation Systems, at Siemens Southern Africa, says Siemens has embarked on several programmes aimed at meeting the country’s need for trained engineers and artisans.
“As part of our commitment to the government and to the country, we have increased the number of trainees on some of our existing internal training programs that run for a minimum of one year, during which time we cover all training costs, provide all tools required, pay the necessary registration costs and remunerate trainees with a salary as per SETA guidelines,” says Pillay. “Besides the annual training programmes initiated by our company, as at the end of January 2008, we had recruited 10 technician trainees, 18 commercial trainees and 14 artisans, all of whom are currently in training.”
Pillay says candidates were selected from a variety of sources, including applications received via the Siemens Internet, various schools and tertiary institutions, as well as selected databases and via the Siemens University Liaison Programme.
“The selection of candidates was conducted in line with our internal recruitment process and based on minimum criteria needed to fulfil the needs in our industry,” he says, adding that the company has also finalised the international training program component, which is expected to start in 2008.
“We will very shortly begin recruiting a further 10 candidates based on our internal selection criteria for the international training program,” he says. “Predominantly female and drawn from designated previously disadvantaged groups, the candidates will receive training in Germany at Erlangen or Uerdingen, which will consist of theoretical courses at our Siemens Academy as well as on-the-job training in various departments and projects according to their respective skills. All costs for travel, accommodation and training will be covered by Siemens.”
The training program will be coordinated jointly with other Siemens corporate training through the offices of Siemens South Africa, and will be rolled out continuously over a 3-year period.
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