Workers wanted: Tatarstan looking for hands and brains all over the country

A city for a dream job

The problem of staff shortage is very relevant for Tatarstan as a whole and its capital separately. And this is despite that several tens of thousands of people from all regions of the country annually move to Kazan for permanent residence.

“This year Kazan has taken the third place in the ranking of the best cities for a career, passing ahead only Moscow and St. Petersburg. About 40% of the country's residents called the capital of Tatarstan the best city for career growth… We are leaders among Russian cities for doing business. For a number of years, we have remained one of the most attractive cities to move to. More than 30 thousand people move here every year, consciously choosing Kazan for living and professional self-realisation. Among them, there are more than 15 thousand students who are attracted by the image of Kazan universities as one of the best educational centres in Russia," said Ilsur Metshin, the mayor of the city, adding that IT specialists and representatives of the creative class are moving to Kazan more and more often.

According to him, each such move is the creation of new opportunities for Kazan itself.

“It would seem that we should rejoice at the record low unemployment rate of 0,38%, but this figure causes us not joy, but excitement and anxiety. According to various estimates, up to 30 thousand vacancies are open in our city. According to HeadHunter, there are less than four resumes per vacancy," Metshin noted.

Personnel diet does not suit Kazan

The city really needs engineers in various industries, drivers, cooks, seamstresses, nurses, installers, doctors, teachers, educators.

“Due to the demographic boom and the dynamic growth of schoolchildren in Kazan, more than 400 new teachers need to be approved for Kazan education annually. They need to be found, adapted to modern requirements, kept in the education system, despite the complexity of pedagogical work," said the mayor of the Tatarstan capital, adding that an even more difficult task is to train managers for the education system, because “a good teacher does not necessarily become a good school principal”.

According to Metshin, 1,300 teachers have moved to Kazan from other regions for permanent residence in 5 years. This is slightly more than half of the city's needs for teachers. To solve the problem of personnel shortage, the Department of Education is launching its own recruitment centre.

“This is the right approach that will solve this problem at the system level," Metshin approved the initiative.

In addition, specialised classes have been created in urban educational institutions: 60 pedagogical and 25 medical classes. They have 2,234 high school students. There are 10 more architectural ones on the way.

“We have every opportunity to organise such classes at the request of enterprises of engineering, technical orientation, and other professions. With your help, we can introduce the guys to modern production, machine tools, thus making young people interested in working specialties," the mayor of Kazan suggested.

“All professions are needed, all professions are important...”

According to the director general of Kazanorgsintez PJSC, Ayrat Safin, the latter is another serious problem.

“Young people do not want to become apparatchiks, locksmiths, machinists. They prefer to get an IT position immediately after receiving higher education, even if not in the directions. Many do not use their knowledge in the directions, go to delivery, marketplaces," Safin complained.

The director general noted that the situation is aggravated by the same demographic situation.

“The demographic situation leads to a reduction of workers younger than 35 by 1,3 million. The tendency to reduce the volume of the market for young employees will continue for another 5-8 years. The number of graduates of higher educational institutions is decreasing, already in 2024 the number of graduates of special education will exceed higher education," Safin said.

At the same time, according to his estimates, the shortage of workers in the manufacturing sector in the period is 660 thousand people, including middle managers and line specialists.

“The industrial sector is growing: manufacturing, mechanical engineering (+24,8%) and metallurgy (+45,8%), production of electronic equipment (+71%), etc. This means that a greater demand for labour is being formed. There has already been a 50% increase in demand for engineers of various specialties, logisticians, sales specialists of technically complex products and solutions," said the head of Kazanorgsintez.

According to him, the company is committed to attracting young employees and is ready to offer them the most comfortable conditions, on-site training and good pay.

“This year, 85 such specialists have joined the Kazanorgsintez team. Plans for the next year at Kazanorgsintez— about 200 people. In general, SIBUR plans to attract about 1,000 young specialists per year over the next two or three years," Safin announced plans.

At the same time, the company is also interested in employees who already have work experience in production.

“In October 2021, Kazanorgsintez became part of a large SIBUR team. Therefore, our team has been in the process of transformation and changes for the last two years. Over the past year, we have managed to do a lot to improve the working conditions of our employees. Firstly, social and household factors led to a single high level: new comfortable and eco-friendly buses have been purchased. Many of those who used to drive to work in their cars have now switched to corporate buses. So, we are also improving the road situation. The canteens have been renovated and refitted. We have introduced discounts on healthy food. We bought new comfortable workwear, organised holidays for employees and family members at the corporate recreation centre in Anapa. Besides, we revised the approach to remuneration, making a focus on results, and switched to a collective agreement," Safin listed.

According to him, the average salary has increased by 30% compared to last year, and the level of pay to the median of the market in the region is by 25% higher than average.

Kazanorgsintez plans for 2024-2025 to create new workspaces, unloading rooms for employees (support of emotional background, reduction of emotional stress and improvement of employee well-being) and an R&D center for the introduction and development of new technologies under technological constraints.

“Do you want checkers or go?"

HeadHunter Product Director Maxim Evdokimov, in turn, noted that the existing shortage of personnel is actually not at all as catastrophic as employers believe. Many of them, when searching for employees and posting vacancies on relevant professional platforms and resources on the Internet, put sticks in their own wheels.

“Yes, there are not enough people physically. And this is a given. And it won't be better... But 40% of employers use filters when selecting employees by gender, age, and education. I understand that everyone wants young and beautiful, but it's like in an old joke: “Do you want checkers or go?" When we look at how vacancies are structured now, 47% of them have age restrictions, 13% — by gender," the recruiter said.

According to him, the most popular age of job search is up to 40 years. The second most popular is up to 45.

“This means that if you are 40, then perhaps, this is your last job. 15% of applicants, in principle, do not indicate their age... Often because they know about discrimination on this parameter. This means that when you make restrictions in vacancies “from and to”, then such resumes will be the last in your issue. You just won't see them, because our search engine will think that they don't suit you, you have clearly specified the criteria," Evdokimov explained the principle of the recruiting platform.

He added that 30% of vacancies are over 40 years old. And this is a huge army of potential employees with experience and the necessary knowledge.