The heads of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, presidential platform ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’, and 33 companies from the fuel and energy industry got together for Youth Day at the Russian Energy Week International Forum. They discussed cooperation within the framework of the fuel and energy industry’s youth policy in 2022.

During the roundtable ‘Fuel and Energy Industry for Young People’, major employers in the fuel and energy industry presented plans for the implementation of youth policy and projects in 2022 and also came up with formats for support, coordination, and cooperation in 2022 jointly with representatives of the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Energy, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, and ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’.

The meeting was attended by 33 companies from the fuel and energy and mineral resources industries: System Operator of the Unified Energy System (SO UES), RusHydro, SIBUR Holding, Rosseti, NIPIGAZ, Tatneft, ROSATOM State Corporation, T Plus, Quadra, Gazprom, Gazprom VNIIGAZ, Mosenergo, Gazprom Energoholding, and LUKOIL, among others.

Opening the meeting, Russian State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Energy Anastasia Bondarenko noted that numerous corporate projects have become the hallmark of the youth policy in the fuel and energy industry and have created opportunities for young people to prove themselves in the profession. “The face of any company is its specialists, and particularly young people who will undoubtedly set the agenda for tomorrow. The largest employers pursue their own policy of forming a talent pool, but we urge them to [ensure] general integration and [engage in] closer interaction with the authorities. Work with young people at the state level should be synchronized with the activities of companies. This will enable us to train promising human resources who will contribute to the achievement of the goals that have been set,” Bondarenko said.

‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’ General Director Alexei Komissarov spoke about supporting the CASE-IN championship as one of the activities of the ‘Fuel and Energy Industry for Young People’ plan. “The CASE-IN International Engineering Championship has been part of our platform since 2019. It enables high school students to receive additional [Unified State Exam] points for admission to 42 universities. Students can enrol in master’s and postgraduate studies on preferential terms as well as receive invitations for training or an internship from a constantly growing pool of employers. For young professionals, the championship serves as an engine for professional and career growth. All our projects and competitions are now available to participants in the CASE-IN championship. Each high school student, [university] student, or young professional can find an interesting project, in addition to the championship, that will help them to learn something new and realize their potential. We already have numerous examples when CASE-IN participants have been successful in our other projects, Olympiads, and competitions. We expect that the initiatives of the ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’ platform will be in demand and be beneficial for the young people of the fuel and energy industry,” Komissarov said.

Federal Agency for Youth Affairs Deputy Director Pavel Abramov said that there are 40 million young people in Russia, and issues concerning support for them is broadly discussed at the government level. “The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, in cooperation with partners, places great emphasis on this work. In particular, we are holding the All-Russian Grant Competition for Young People from 14 to 35 years old, where children can try their hand in various areas: volunteering, mass media, healthy lifestyles, the institution of family, and much more. Our winners have the opportunity to receive grants of up to RUB 3 million. In implementing such projects, we motivate young people to make new great discoveries and help them to reveal their talents at the federal level and climb the career ladder,” Abramov said.

For his part, Nadezhnaya Smena Foundation Director Artem Korolev shared the results of a youth policy study that was conducted among 44 companies in the fuel and energy industry: “Ninety-three percent of companies have youth councils that focus on health and fitness, tourism and cultural events, social volunteering, career guidance, and youth development. Sixty-four percent of companies engage in the targeted recruitment of students, while the most common formats for working with universities are partnerships without separate funding: targeted programmes, the recruitment of trainees, and joint events (52%); support for projects and contests of the ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’ presidential platform, in particular the CASE-IN engineering championship, and the ‘Leaders of Russia’ managers’ competition, the ‘Student of the Year’ competition, and others (25%); and 19% implement scholarship programmes in universities, purchase equipment, etc,” Korolev said.

The study showed that companies most often work with high school students via specialized groups and classes (23%) or conduct school Olympiads (21%).

In addition, the study revealed that 95% of companies continue to work with young specialists via adaptation, mentoring, and incentivization programmes. Employers believe these programmes help to adapt young specialists to manufacturing, fill highly specialized positions, prevent staff outflow, and bolster the talent pool.

The most effective practices of working with young people were presented to the roundtable participants by senior representatives of industry companies: SO UES HR Director Bayrta Perveyeva, SIBUR Managing Director for Production Efficiency Rustam Galiakhmetov, Acting Rosseti FGC UES Deputy General Director for HR Management Yulia Kuznetsova, LUKOIL Multifunctional Business Support Centre Head of the Human Resources Assessment and Development Department Oleg Romanovsky, and RusHydro Director of the Department for Human Resources Management and Organizational Development Alexei Tkachev.

The meeting will result in the next All-Russian Plan of Youth Activities, which aims to promote the fuel and energy industry, energy conservation, and engineering and technical education (‘Fuel and Energy Industry for Young People’). Since 2019, the plan has been jointly implemented by the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Enlightenment, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’ presidential platform.

The REW Youth Day 2021 was organized by the Russian Ministry of Energy, the Roscongress Foundation, the Moscow Government, the Russian Society Znaniye, and the Nadezhnaya Smena Foundation.