Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has announced its plans to induct fresh local talent as part of its Graduate Engineer Training (GET) programme for various operational and management functions for its projects in Saudi Arabia.

The initiative is driven by the Power Transmission and Distribution (PT&D) business vertical that resides within L&T Construction, the construction arm of L&T, the largest construction organisation in India and amongst the top 30 contractors globally.

In support of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, top officials of the company from the PT&D business first approached the Deans and management of the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Faisal University, University of Dammam, Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University and Jubail University College (Royal Commission) to explore the possibility of catching talent from these Centers of Learning, all which opened their  portals for L&T. Presentations were then made to the students and those interested were made to appear for an objective type test. After a final interview of those who had cleared the test, L&T recruited 16 students in Electrical and Civil Engineering disciplines.

“We can only become a multinational company if we have sufficient multinationals on our rolls and this programme to induct fresh young local talent for our projects in Saudi Arabia is a significant step in the right direction,” said S N Subrahmanyan, deputy managing director and president, L&T. “People are our prime assets and our HR policies have evolved to give our people ample opportunity to express themselves. I am confident that with this wonderful beginning, there will be more such initiatives in future,” he added.

These 16 selected students will undergo training for 12 months during which they will receive on-the-job as well as off-the-job training in planning, design, quality management, safety, operations, tendering & contracts management as well as soft and behavioral skill training. During the training period, the students will be placed in different substation and transmission line projects to get real-time operational exposure. An exclusive 40-day in house on-the-job training has  been planned for these  GETs in India from April 2017 which will be conducted across  major  L&T project sites and training institutes at Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Lonavala (Maharashtra, near Mumbai) and Mysore (Karnataka). On successful completion of training, the GETs will be placed as senior engineers in various PT&D project sites in KSA.

The PT&D business vertical was one of the earliest companies to operate in the Gulf and, over the years, has gained significant market presence in UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain for executing projects on EPC basis. PT&D encourages entrepreneurial skills thus, enabling and empowering employees to take appropriate and calculated risks. Employee participation is encouraged by inviting suggestions & opinions which coupled with competitive compensation and rewards and training through core development and behavioral development programmes, the employees are able to realize their full potential. - TradeArabia News Service