This year, as in 2021, more than 1,300 apprentices and university students in workstudy programs will begin their work lives at Siemens locations across Germany. These traineeships include 800 positions at Siemens AG, 190 at Siemens Mobility, and 130 at Siemens Healthineers. In addition, 200 trainees from the company’s external partners are also beginning training programs offered by Siemens Professional Education. More than half of the overall number of traineeships are in work-study programs for university students. Siemens has one of the private sector’s largest and most innovative job training programs worldwide and invests €160 million a year in this area.

The digital transformation is accelerating developments in technology, business and society, and its impact is clearly visible in the constant changes to our working world. As its 2022 vocational training year starts, Siemens is focusing on personalized individual skill development and is placing even more emphasis on fostering this aspect than in the past. "At Siemens, we regularly adapt the content of our training programs to match new requirements and enable our trainees to obtain the necessary skills to be successful and committed in their professional lives over the long term," said Judith Wiese, Chief People and Sustainability Officer, member of the Managing Board and Labor Director at Siemens AG. "Being eager to experiment and staying open to new things are important prerequisites for driving one’s own learning throughout life," added Wiese.

Siemens’ training philosophy offers flexibility for learners to help shape their own educational experience: depending on learning progress, both the content and duration of a training course can be tailored to the specific needs of each group of trainees. Courses vary greatly in length, ranging from one week to a maximum of 27 weeks, depending on the topic area. For example, a course on wiring techniques normally lasts four weeks. If a group learns particularly quickly here, this course can be shortened to two weeks. Alternatively, it can be extended if the participants need more time.

The training focuses on digital media and professional skills; self-management; solution-oriented approaches; dealing with change; communication and team skills; documentation and presentation techniques; learning and working methods; and project management. Trainees self-assess their competencies at regular intervals and receive feedback in this regard from their instructors.

The focus of the apprenticeships and work-study positions on offer is on technical and IT professions, which account for around 90% of the positions. "Compared to last year, Siemens’ need for IT skills has become even stronger. For example, our program has now been updated to include training for the occupation of electronics technicians for IT and internet-of-things systems in building technology," said Barbara Ofstad, Head of Siemens Professional Education at Siemens AG in Germany.

The 2022 training-program cohort at Siemens was recruited primarily through virtual selection-process events – which received very positive feedback from applicants. Due to these positive experiences, a high degree of flexibility, and the opportunity to enable barrier-free selection based on digital tools, this format will also be used for the upcoming training year.

A further focus of the digital transformation is continuous training. With the SiTecSkills Academy, Siemens Professional Education is launching a new in-service program offering that will make the apprentices fit in relevant digital technologies – and keep them fit. "Individual learning modules within the training programs are also interesting for ongoing professional development within the company. For this reason, we decided to use the SiTecSkills Academy to provide targeted digital offerings for continuing education to all Siemens employees. We’ll gradually open this offering to external partners as well," said Ofstad.

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