Final session: ‘Energy of Youth Initiatives 2022’

KEY CONCLUSIONS

We must continue to attract young professionals to work at companies in the energy sector

“Not only does the energy sector drive the economy but it produces the most intelligent, passionate and talented people in our country,” Anastasiya Bondarenko, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

“Power engineers often say, ‘our job is to do the impossible’. And they’re not just saying that. They really make the impossible possible in their day job, often working in challenging conditions as well as in all weather conditions and climatic zones,” Arkadiy Zamoskovny, General Director at the Association of Electric Energy Employers.

“Russia – the Land of Opportunity recently conducted a survey of university students, school pupils and participants in the Russian Leaders adult competitions. 92% of respondents believed that they could fulfil their potential, put their skills to use and succeed in life while living in Russia,” Artem Korolev, Director at Nadezhnaya Smena Charity Foundation.

“For those of us here today, for employers looking ahead and for all sectors, today marks an important milestone because everyone here will create the sector of tomorrow, highlight and discuss new opportunities and investments, and set the pace for the future. I’m sure that many are already doing so, despite being at an early stage in their careers.” Anton Serikov, Deputy General Director of Russia – the Land of Opportunity.

PROBLEMS

Careers in the energy sector are poorly advertised

“Do you remember Gianni Rodari’s The Smell of Crafts? When [you’re a child or teenager and] you associate these [professions] with certain smells and sensations, with their uniform, how they look, their overalls and so on. You can fall in love with a helmet at that age and want to go into a certain profession because you liked the fact that you’d get to wear a helmet. It’s as if it lures you in. The emotive allure of the energy sector is just as strong as its practical appeal,” Anton Serikov, Deputy General Director of Russia – the Land of Opportunity.

“To ensure that we have more people promoting the energy sector, we need more information about the energy sector itself across every possible platform, be it on social media, the internet, television… We need to make this information available wherever possible,” Anastasiya Bondarenko, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

SOLUTIONS

Support talented young professionals, set up youth councils and hold competitions

“Shortly before the forum, we did a survey of 44 companies in the sector. The results showed that over 90% of companies nowadays have some kind of youth council within their organization,” Artem Korolev, Director at Nadezhnaya Smena Charity Foundation

“It’s actually young people, talented young people, who have participated and triumphed in the competitions and are brimming full of ambition. This provides a solid foundation for developing our energy sector and ultimately training the next generation of energy leaders,” Nikolay Shulginov, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

“To sum up today, there have been lots of events. We’ve been presented with predictions for how the power generation industry might develop. We’ve listened carefully to these predictions, deliberated and even provided our comments and thoughts on these during the presentation. There were lots of enthusiastic people with their own projects who came up in the break and shared their thoughts,” Anastasiya Bondarenko, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Use corporate volunteering and mentorship schemes to attract young people to the energy sector

“The volunteer movement has grown. It says a lot that there are huge volunteer forums attended by thousands of volunteers and there are still tens or hundreds of thousands of volunteers in the rest of the country, in every single region. And, of course, volunteering doesn’t just attract students and young people but adults, too, who work at corporations and are involved in so-called corporate volunteering. I think it’s high time that corporate volunteering became a stepping stone for adults wanting to get involved in volunteering,” Anton Serikov, Deputy General Director of Russia – the Land of Opportunity.

“We established a young professionals group at Mosenergosbyt in 2015. We have several core areas of focus, and events that promote social welfare are particularly important. This year we held several educational events and programmes for kindergarten and primary school children,” Elena Budanova, Head of Internal Communications at Mosenergosbyt.

For more information, go to the Roscongress Information and Analytical System at www.roscongress.org.