Siemens supports KSA growth by developing local talent

For more than 80 years Siemens, with local partner E.A. Juffali & Brothers, has been a key player in the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The company has contributed significantly to some of the country’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, and today Siemens employs more than 2,000 people in Saudi Arabia in the energy, infrastructure and cities, industry and health care sectors.
The last few decades have seen extraordinary industrial growth in Saudi Arabia, fueled by significant infrastructure investment from a booming oil and gas sector.
However, along with many other GCC nations, the Kingdom has begun to diversify its economy away from a traditional reliance on oil and gas, toward a broader suite of disciplines.
The rapid year-on-year growth of the country’s non-oil sector is proof that these efforts are beginning to make an impact.
With this, the importance of building a knowledge-based economy in the Middle East has been underlined by significant government investment in education, especially in Saudi Arabia.
In 2013, for example, Saudi Arabia set aside 25 percent of its annual budget for education; some SR204 billion or 10 percent of the Kingdom’s GDP.
As an engineering company, the contribution of Siemens to the education and training of local talent is based upon technical training.
The company is currently sponsoring an electrical and mechanical postsecondary training scheme at Saudi Petroleum Services Polytechnic in Dammam, which will see 36 Saudi Arabian nationals completing a two-year course.
This will be followed by one year’s on-the-job training within the company.
The program is designed to prepare graduates for technical positions at Siemens, at facilities such as the new Siemens Energy Hub Dammam which is currently under construction.
Recent figures show that more than half of Saudi Arabia’s population is under the age of 25. This presents challenges for the Kingdom, but also great opportunities.
In the coming years, a significant proportion of these young Saudis will complete their education and enter the local job market.
It is, however, a market which must undergo change if Saudi Arabia’s long-term strategy 2025 — which aims to develop a prosperous, more diversified private-sector economy that provides rewarding job opportunities for Saudi nationals — is to be realized.
“Siemens Saudi Arabia has a proven track record of training and developing local talent by continuously expanding its technological footprint,” says Shadi Aldaoud, head of Legal Council, Siemens Saudi Arabia.
“At Siemens Saudi Arabia, we take pride in initiatives that cultivate the development of local Saudi talent and expertise.”
The company also looks beyond its own people. Customer initiatives have seen Siemens partner with the likes of Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), training Saudi Arabian engineers from the energy industry at its facilities in Germany and the US. The firm is also looking to expand this concept to other areas of its business, including rail.
Graduate schemes remain a popular method of introducing fresh talent into private sector companies. Siemens runs its own; the international Siemens Graduate Program, which encourages Saudi Arabian men and women to develop with the company locally.
The two-year rotational program offers masters graduates the opportunity to spend time working in different functions across the four sectors of Siemens, with students assigned an individual mentor. One assignment will be completed abroad, with graduates also joining interdisciplinary project teams to encourage the establishment of a global network.
Nada Alsheaiby was the first female candidate to join the program in Saudi Arabia.
“The two-year program gave me the opportunity to work on different international assignments in various roles, giving me the chance to experience a challenging yet interesting workplace with different cultural backgrounds. This gave me ample international exposure, networking opportunities, professional development and collaboration. I am proud to be part of the Siemens family.”
Another increasingly relevant topic is the employment of women in Saudi Arabia.
Siemens has been employing women in Saudi Arabia since 2004 and has doubled the number of women working at the company in the Kingdom in the last two years.
One of the first women to join the company in Saudi Arabia, Walaa Shaheen started in 2004 in IT department and is now Head of Finance.
“I had always wanted to work for an international company, and Siemens is one of the best employers out there,” she said.

“The prospect of exchanging ideas and knowledge with colleagues from around the world fascinated me, and I applied immediately after finding out Siemens was hiring women.”
The next few years will be exciting for Saudi Arabia. As a fresh generation of graduates embarks on careers that will ultimately shape the future of the country, for companies such as Siemens this represents a great opportunity to support the Kingdom’s investment in the development of its local talent.
“Siemens in Saudi Arabia is fully committed to the country and its people, and will continue to differentiate itself through employment, training and development opportunities for local talent,” says Arja Talakar, CEO of Siemens Saudi Arabia.
“We will continue to be a proactive contributor and advocate, fully-aligned with the strategic agenda of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”