Sociologists have studied the attitude of young people towards a working career

The Center for the Development of Humanitarian Technologies “New Era” tested the readiness of young people from “traditionally industrial regions of Russia” to work in production and master the relevant specialties. As it turned out, Russians aged 18–35 do not mind going to a factory if the salary is high and the working conditions are comfortable. At the same time, more than half of the respondents noted that they lack the activity of enterprises – potential employers. Experts interviewed by Kommersant agree that competitive salaries, informal communication and modern approaches to practical training will help attract young people to production.

“New Era” is an all-Russian community of students and graduates of social sciences and humanities faculties of leading universities (MSU, St. Petersburg State University, MGIMO, HSE, RANEPA, Financial University, Russian State University for the Humanities and others). Community experts are engaged in sociological research of Russian youth. In November-December 2023 the center spent online survey, which involved 1,461 people aged 18 to 35 living in the Urals (Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg regions, Perm Territory and the Republic of Bashkortostan) and in Siberia (Omsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk regions, Altai and Krasnoyarsk the edges). Most of them are students of local universities (94.7%).

Half of the respondents are ready to learn a blue-collar profession (52.1%). A fifth of respondents answered that they were not interested (19.8%), another 28.1% were undecided. 56.4% of respondents confirmed their readiness to work in production and industry, and 10.4% already have such experience. The most popular factor for choosing a working profession, as expected, was the promise of a high salary (indicated by 93.4%). In second place are comfortable working conditions (85.3%), in third place is “stability and reliability” of work (77.9%). At the same time, only 6.1% of respondents believe that workers have comfortable working conditions; 17.1% are sure that working conditions are bad, and 40.9% know nothing about it at all. In addition, 41.7% of respondents believe that workers have low wages.

More than half of the respondents (58.5%) noted that they lack activity from potential employers. The respondents named paid internships (85.1%), various internship options (61.1%) and field trips (53.8%) as the most effective activities. “We were pleased that more than half of those surveyed are ready to master a blue-collar profession,” said New Era CEO Alexander Shabaltin. “But the number of those who found it difficult to answer tells us that manufacturing corporations need to actively work with young people and motivate the guys.”

“The university should provide relevant knowledge, but attracting students to production is the task of the employers themselves,” says Gleb Kuznetsov, head of the expert council of the Expert Institute of Social Research. “The creation of partner departments in universities, career guidance events, targeted recruitment – these are the tools that are needed for this use”. At the same time, the expert points out that the “main, if not the only” motivation for choosing “work in a workshop rather than in an office or store” will be the level of remuneration. “Romanticization of working professions and beautiful slogans, as in Soviet times, will not work now,” Mr. Kuznetsov is sure. “Young people need career prospects. We need to understand that in a few years there will be stable and high salaries in this area, as well as social guarantees.”

“There is a demand among young people for deep and informal interaction between the company and students,” confirms SIBUR HR Director Danil Rasskazov. The company is implementing an ambassador program for this, he says: “Ambassadors are selected among students and teachers of target universities in the regions where the company operates. They will communicate with students of their universities on a horizontal level, represent us at events in and outside the university, and provide the company with feedback on the requests and needs of students.”

According to a SIBUR representative, it is systematic work that helps to effectively attract graduates to enterprises. Her other areas are working with potential employees from school, as well as urban development and social investments, thanks to which young people will remain in the region. “Today, on average, production teams contain from 10% to 15% young specialists, the goal for the coming years is 15–20%. Every year we plan to recruit 1 thousand young employees,” concludes Mr. Rasskazov.

Chairman of the All-Russian Student Union Oleg Tsapko points out that only large corporations actively work with young people, and they will not provide jobs for all graduates. “Many will go to work in small and medium-sized businesses, but interaction with young people there is poorly developed,” says Mr. Tsapko. He adds that it is time for many internship formats, especially university ones, to be seriously updated. “Practice can be absolutely useless. Students often say that they are sent to file documents instead of actually getting to know the profession and production. As a result, there is no point in understanding a career path and developing skills,” the expert complains. He believes that during practice it is necessary to show students real work and trust them with real tasks. This will help to interest “those guys who entered technical specialties solely because it was easy to get into them – that is, help them decide on their vocation already in the process.”

Polina Yachmennikova