Nizhnekamskneftekhim's personnel policy: how the company trains professionals from school

Talent pool in new conditions

The leaderships of the country and the republic in recent years have repeatedly focused attention on the topic of personnel. They are the key element for sustainable economic growth and modernisation of production facilities. Nizhnekamskneftekhim, as one of the largest petrochemical companies in Russia and Europe, pays special attention to this issue.

To satisfy the personnel hunger, the company adopted the special personnel policy — they rely on attracting their own, Tatarstan specialists.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim managed to create the single training chain “school-secondary college/university-enterprise”. This made it possible to solve several tasks at once: to have a permanent personnel reserve of young professionals and to prevent a “brain drain” from the republic. The work is carried out in close cooperation with local educational institutions — the Nizhnekamsk Institute of Chemical Technology (branch of the Kazan National Research Technological University), as well as the N.V. Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining .

“The cooperation with the basic educational institutions of the city allows the company to annually provide departments with all the necessary categories of employees, to receive trained personnel from educational institutions, primarily technological profile, ready to solve complex innovative tasks, able to work in conditions of intensive, developing production. Educational institutions train and the company annually employs about 350 graduates," said Rodion Bulashov, the deputy director general for personnel and social affairs of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

According to the requests of the company's structural divisions, there is always a planned reception under key technological professions: apparatchik, compressor and pump unit operator, repairman, instrumentation fitter, and electrician. They are distributed among the main plants and workshops, depending on the need.

Within the framework of cooperation with educational institutions, the company conducts multi-component work with young people. They try to interest future specialists with the help of interesting internships in production, allocation of targeted quotas for higher education, holding scientific conferences in the field of petrochemistry, as well as regular professional skills competitions.

“For a stable and efficient operation of the enterprise consisting of large-capacity production facilities, it is necessary to have a stable composition of experienced highly qualified employees and ensure a constant influx of young specialists," Rodion Bulashov, the deputy director general for personnel and social affairs of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, explained the company's personnel goals.

Regular internships at enterprises and dual training system

The main emphasis when working with educational institutions of Nizhnekamskneftekhim is on the organisation of annual industrial internship for students. This gives them the opportunity to quickly and effectively apply their theoretical knowledge to solving specific production tasks. This practice creates a seamless environment for young professionals, giving them the opportunity to adapt in advance to the conditions of real production.

Within the framework of agreements with educational organisations, 869 students received practical training in the company's divisions in 2020.

An important role in improving the level of professional education of future personnel for the petrochemical enterprise was played by the introduction of the so-called dual education system. The essence of the dual system is simple: students study the theory at the educational institution, and practice their knowledge immediately at production facilities.

Thus, graduates of the College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining are given the opportunity to complete an industrial internship at the workplace with awarding an employment contract. Last year, 112 students took advantage of this opportunity in the specialties of an apparatchik, turner, processing unit operator, electrician, and others.

It should be noted that Nizhnekamskneftekhim is a high-tech enterprise, and very high requirements are imposed on employees of educational institutions here. In order for teachers and masters of industrial training to have up-to-date data of modern production, Nizhnekamskneftekhim conducts the training of teaching staff in the structural divisions of the enterprise. In 2020, 18 employees of educational institutions of Nizhnekamsk updated their knowledge under this programme.

Experimental platform in action

Over the past 20 years, the Federal experimental platform has been operating on the basis of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, which gives students of the Nizhnekamsk Institute of Chemical Technology the opportunity to find a job in the company's divisions at the training stage.

The essence of the programme is that the final year students become employees of Nizhnekamskneftekhim for the entire academic year, thereby serving an internship and getting the necessary work experience and salary.

The federal experimental platform is held in several stages: the first two are employment and industrial training. After that, the trainees pass a qualification exam, by the results of which they are assigned the appropriate category and issued a certificate of assignment of working qualifications.

Besides, the company provides interns with study leave, chooses the topics of diploma projects together with the teachers of the institute. After defending the projects, graduates return to their jobs, having the opportunity for career growth. In 2020, 25 students took part in the experiment.

The company pays no less attention to targeted training, such places are allocated annually for promising employees. The cost of training in this case is borne by the budget. Last year, 12 employees of the enterprise became such “target workers”, with whom contracts were signed that provide for work at the enterprise after completing training for 5 years. Since 2016, more than 60 employees of the company have taken advantage of this opportunity.

I will become a petrochemist, let them teach me

Attracting and retaining the personnel at the city-forming enterprise has been built into a whole system, which begins to operate from school. Personal acquaintance with Nizhnekamskneftekhim facilitates career choice and creating your own idea of what it is like to work at a large petrochemical enterprise.

As they say, it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. By the way, the parents of most Nizhnekamsk schoolchildren are somehow connected with production and probably told them about how the large enterprise operates.

Seeing with your own eyes how the magic of chemical reactions is created inside giant units, and then elastic rectangles of rubber or shiny polystyrene granules come out of the conveyor — no stories can replace this. Therefore, excursions to Nizhnekamskneftekhim for schoolchildren have long been a good tradition.

Last year, five excursions were held for schoolchildren of Nizhnekamsk. In total, 186 schoolchildren have visited the production sites of the enterprise as part of this work.

Most often, production managers act as guides. They certainly know how to interest schoolchildren with fascinating stories about the world of petrochemistry. It is quite common for future graduates who have been on an excursion trip to reappear on the territory of the enterprise, but already as its full-fledged employee.

“The excursion combines the visibility and accessibility of perception with the ability to analyse, compare, make a choice. During the excursions, we reveal the content of professions specific to petrochemistry. Students learn to independently analyse professions, get acquainted not only with the content and nature of work, but also with the means and working conditions, with the requirements imposed by the profession to the personal qualities of a person," Rodion Bulashov explained.

Similar excursions are also held for first-year students of the N.V. Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining. Last year, 220 students visited the technological workshops.

WorldSkills: contribution of Nizhnekamsk petrochemists

Competitive excitement and a healthy desire to be the best in your business are an integral part of not only sports, but also of any profession. Regular professional skills competitions held both on the basis of the enterprise and on the basis of the college help future specialists of Nizhnekamskneftekhim to learn about their potential and professional opportunities.

One of such events took place this year — students of the petrochemical college, along with employees of the company, became participants of the republican professional skills competition. The organisers of the professional competitions were Nizhnekamskneftekhim together with Roskhimprofsoyuz.

It is not the first year that Tatarstan has been an active region-participant in the WorldSkills movement. There are dozens of educational institutions on the territory of the republic that prepare children for specialised competitions according to WorldSkills standards. The N.V.Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining was no exception, which is a specialised competence centre in the field of laboratory chemical analysis and manufacturing of products made of polymer materials.

On the basis of the college, regular trainings are held to prepare employees of the enterprise for Worldskills championships

Besides, employees of Nizhnekamskneftekhim participate as experts in regional championships according to Worldskills standards. In parallel, since 2019, the company's specialists have been participating in the assessment of students of the N.V. Lemaev Petrochemical College within the demonstration exam conducted according to Worldskills standards, Rodion Bulashov, the deputy director general for personnel and social affairs of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, explained.

Another effective tool for attracting young people, which is practiced by Nizhnekamskneftekhim, is personal scholarships, which the company has awarded since 2019. The most active students of basic educational institutions of Nizhnekamsk can receive payments.

In conclusion, we note that the main resource of any enterprise is human capital. But it is important to remember that no matter how successful a company is, it is necessary to constantly train personnel, develop and improve them. Only under this condition the enterprise has a future in the modern world. The personnel policy of Nizhnekamskneftekhim proves this once again.

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