The approaches to job search among jobseekers and to recruitment of employees from employers are currently changing, states the company "August". As a result of the pandemic, more and more candidates are guided primarily by the stability and reliability of the employer, rather than the possibility of rapid career growth. At the same time, through the joint efforts of business and universities, the shortage of trained personnel in the field of agriculture in general and plant protection in particular is gradually being overcome, and a real struggle is unfolding between employers for the best graduates. Today, the company "August" employs about 4000 people, however, due to the expansion of its own agricultural direction by the end of 2021, the number of employees may grow to 4500 employees.
At the moment, according to the data of the personnel management directorate of JSC Firm "August", the number of employees of all enterprises of the company is about 4000 people. At the same time, about a third of them work at plants for the production of plant protection products in the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Republic of Belarus. The same number of employees work at the enterprises of "Agroproject" - the dynamically developing agricultural direction of "August". Another important area - marketing, sales and technological support for the use of plant protection products - employs about 20% of the company's staff. Average work experience at the enterprises of "August" is 10 years.
“We are a diversified company. Our work is connected with research activities - with the development of drugs, we are also engaged in production, logistics, marketing and sales, subsequent technological support, - says HR Director of Firm "August" JSC Roza Sukhorukova. “In addition, in connection with the intensive development of Agroproject, we will have a growing need for agricultural specialists. We passed the period of the pandemic without losses or reductions in personnel, continuing to recruit employees and conducting remote interviews. Today, in the eyes of applicants, reliability and financial stability have become the most important characteristics of an employing company: the possibility of rapid career growth as a priority is still fading into the background. "
For a company like August, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of quality agronomic education. Agronomists are required not only in Agroproject: appropriate training is needed for technologists who help farmers in the fields, and is also highly desirable for sales managers. Clients in this industry need a specialist, like a pharmacist, who can correctly recommend a “medicine” for a plant and give advice on its characteristics, dosage and crop protection schemes. Individual rare specialists - for example, in the development and promotion of the company's product line - practically do not exist in the finished form on the labor market. In order to be able to analyze the requests of farmers and at the same time to understand which drugs are in need, such an employee must also be a plant protection specialist, while additionally possessing marketing knowledge.
As part of the digitalization of business processes, "August" implemented a project to transfer its own information systems to the SAP platform and implemented the SAP ERP system in the main divisions, which required the formation of an additional team of IT specialists who could assess the company's needs and customize the system for its tasks. As noted in "August", some time ago SAP consultants were rare specialists, since they are not trained in universities, but with the transition of large and medium-sized businesses to this platform, people gradually came to this area, realizing its prospects.
“Ten years ago, the labor market was in short supply for highly qualified personnel, it was difficult to recruit personnel, especially with regard to narrow specializations. Now, in general, we do not feel such a pronounced shortage of competent specialists, - summarizes Roza Sukhorukova. - As for the graduates of agricultural universities, their level of training has disappointed us a little until recently. However, in the last two or three years, we have seen a trend towards positive changes. And judging by the agro-olympiad, which was recently held at the Russian State Agrarian University-Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev and in which we invited all students to participate, the situation is really getting better. "
As Roza Sukhorukova notes, today there is a struggle among companies for the best graduates - they have almost no chance of being unemployed. Business actively cooperates with universities: joint programs are developed, practical lectures are given, and internships are offered. True, there is a specific problem in Moscow: agricultural students often do not want to return to the regions, constantly asking companies that cooperate with universities if they have vacancies in the capital.
"August" has a lot of examples of mutually beneficial partnerships with regional universities: for example, in the Kuzbass State Agricultural Academy, as well as in Altai, Omsk, Bashkir and Kazan State Agrarian Universities, the company has designed and equipped modern classrooms and laboratories for training specialists in the field of plant protection. Lecture courses are being developed for universities, students undergo industrial practice and internships on the basis of the company's divisions.
Cooperation is developing especially widely in the Republic of Tatarstan, where a significant share of farms of the agricultural direction that is promising for the company "August" is concentrated. Students of Kazan State Agrarian University have already been invited to a paid internship at Agroproject's farms on the territory of the republic - the August-Agro management company and the university have signed a corresponding agreement. As part of the development of such a direction as dairy farming, students of the Kazan State Academy of Veterinary Medicine are also invited to undergo practical training.
"August" joined another educational initiative in the Republic of Tatarstan: the company plans to support a pilot project of Kazan State Agrarian University to open specialized agrarian classes on the basis of secondary schools. Classes in such classes should contribute to early vocational guidance of schoolchildren in the field of agronomy, the operation of agricultural machinery, and economics. "August" will help equip a profile class in the educational center of the Muslyumovsky district of the republic. One of the largest farms "Agroproject" is based in this area, so the issue of providing the enterprise with motivated and well-trained local specialists will be fundamentally solved here. And if the educational project is successful, then its experience will be extended to other educational institutions.
It should also be noted that in 2018 the management of the company "August" made a decision to build a research center (SIC) in the science city of Chernogolovka, Moscow region. In addition to the large administrative part, the SIC will have two clusters: chemical and biological. The first is intended for the synthesis and development of the technology for obtaining active substances, the development of new preparative forms, the scaling up of synthesis processes and formulations, and modern analytical research. In the biocluster, the primary screening of active substances and preparations for biological activity will be carried out. But completely covering the need for specialists for SIC will not be an easy task.
“The quality of personnel training for science and industry has dropped significantly in recent decades,” says Lilia Nesterova, R&D Director of Firm “August” JSC. - To correct this situation, it is necessary to improve the functioning of the entire chain of training specialists: secondary school - university (bachelor's, master's, specialty) - postgraduate studies. It is important to improve educational standards, which have undergone mind-blowing changes, and far from in favor of students gaining specific knowledge. Our company - the leader in the production and sales of plant protection chemicals in Russia - constantly requires highly qualified specialists: chemists, analysts, biologists of various profiles, and now they are all the more necessary to solve the problems of the SIC ”.
As a result, in 2019, a series of lectures "Chemistry of Pesticides" was developed for fifth-sixth year students of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University. With the approval of the dean of the faculty, he entered the educational and methodological plan, and from February 2020, the leading employees of the R&D Directorate of the August company began giving lectures. At the end of June, the students passed the corresponding test, three graduates of the course are now working in "August", having successfully joined the team.
“Next, we have plans to improve our lectures, publish a small textbook so far (students really missed it), and if we consider that the last manuals on the chemistry of pesticides were published in the 60s and 70s of the last century, then the appearance of such material is quite actual, - notes Lilia Nesterova. - In addition, we are reviewing a cycle of lectures "Chemistry of Herbicides" by V.V. Zakharchenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Organic Synthesis DI. Mendeleev, which will be a significant addition to our lectures. I think that we will cope with the recruitment of specialists in the chemical profile for the SIC. And then - a cycle of lectures for biologists! "