Step into the future: students get a job at Nizhnekamskneftekhim

''The work here is the unique opportunity to learn all the basics''

Students of the Nizhnekamsk Institute for Chemical Technology, a branch of the Kazan National Research Technological University (KNRTU), have the unique opportunity to combine study and work in their degree field. The university has cooperated with Nizhnekamskneftekhim since 2001, with which it implements the Federal Experimental Platform project. Due to this, graduating students can find a job in the company and begin to master their profession in practice.

Alfira Salyamova, a four-year student of the university, is one of the participants of the programme. With the beginning of the academic year, she began working as a design technician in the design centre.

''From the first minutes it became clear that there work professionals who bear high responsibility for the quality of the issued working documentation. The work here is the unique opportunity to learn all the basics, to develop the necessary qualities to become a design technician. Here I want to get a lot of experience, improve skills, as well as to improve professional and personal qualities,'' Alfira Salyamova shared her plans.

In September, 30 graduating students of the Nizhnekamsk Institute for Chemical Technology were employed by the company. Photo: Artem Ryabov

Pinpoint selection of personnel for work at the enterprise

Only graduating students can get a job at Nizhnekamskneftekhim under this programme. There are a lot of people who want to work for to the city-forming enterprise, but they hire only 30-40 people a year — they are students who are trained as technologists, electricians, mechanics and automation specialists, the academic grade average of whom is higher than four over three years of study.

''Every year we make an order to the university for the number of specialists. This year we needed 30 employees, and we have wrote how many people we need and of what specialties. On the basis of this, the team of students is selected in the university. That is, we know that it will be professionals who will come to work for us, so for them we have ready jobs,'' explained Gulnaz Gizyatova, an engineer of the training centre of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

''We talk to each student and find out what they want and what they are interested in. After we determine the area of interest, we communicate with representatives of plants and services of the enterprise for each student. As a result, the students are assigned to different positions, it is a pinpoint selection,'' explained at the university.

Many graduates have taken leading positions since the beginning of the programme

Students begin to study at the evening studies department to combine the work with study. Internship in Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC is ten months, so students are taken on to the staff: they take the exam for the category, depending on the level of which they receive a salary. To defend the diploma, they are given student leave, after which they can return to the company, as the employment contract is indefinite.

560 out of 826 students have decided to tie their lives with the enterprise over 17 years of the cooperation. Photo: Oleg Tikhonov

''They have already gained skills and know whether they want to continue to work in this direction. There are those who leave, but many remain. If you look at the time from 2001, when we began to implement the programme, many take leading positions today. This programme helps graduates to solve the issue of employment — of course, after the university they will be in demand, but the question is where and what work, and this is of great importance,'' they explained at the institute.

If the Federal Experimental Platform helps the graduates to gain experience and remove the problem of employment, for the enterprise it is the opportunity to train valuable personnel. This not only removes the issue of personnel search, but also allows to grow specialists at the enterprise ''by order''. Judging by the results, the project is successful for both sides: 560 out of 826 students have decided to tie their lives with the enterprise over 17 years of the cooperation.

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