Laborers In Demand
Published: April 13, 2011 (Issue # 1651)
St. Petersburg manufacturing enterprises are in desperate need of workers, and new research conducted by Ancor recruitment agency has shown that employees in this category value professional growth and an official salary over bonus systems.
The number of vacancies in manufacturing has increased: According to the press service of Silovye Mashiny manufacturing company, core manufacturing plants are already constantly overworked, and there are plans this year to launch the first production line of Metallostroi’s new factory.
At the beginning of 2012, BSK Bytovye Pribory (Household Applicances) will announce 200 new job vacancies for laborers and engineers at its washing machine factory, Natalya Platonova, head of the staffing department, said via the company’s press service.
The local Nissan plant was actively looking for manufacturing staff for its third shift from December to March, according to Tatiana Natarova, communications director at Nissan Motor Rus.
Every second request for staff received by the Ancor is for blue-collar workers — many companies are planning to launch new manufacturing sites and many existing sites want to increase the number of shifts, said Svetlana Yakovleva, head of the Ancor’s northwest region.
There are now three times as many such vacancies compared with 2010, said Alina Belinskaya, staffing project manager for Kelly Services recruitment agency.
Requests for skilled laborers are the second most popular, exceeded only by requests for sales managers, said Alexei Zakharov, president of the recruitment portal Superjob.ru. According to figures from Adecco Group, automobile producers, consumer goods manufacturers and the retail industry are all currently recruiting.
In February and March this year, recruitment specialists at Ancor questioned 460 seniors at St. Petersburg technical colleges and 431 specialists with experience working in manufacturing. Two-thirds of those still studying had their sights set on a specific field. As they gain experience, job seekers expand their options — finding work in a specific field is only important to 29 percent of specialists, whereas 58 percent stated that being officially registered on the company’s books was a priority. Both seniors and specialists alike answered that the possibility of training and professional or career growth were important.
Many specialists clearly expressed their ambition, saying that if within the first year, they see that there is no room for career growth, then they start looking for new positions, said Vyacheslav Shaposhnikov, development director for Staffwell recruitment company.
Until very recently, of the various bonuses and incentives offered by companies, salary and other financial benefits were valued the most. Now, however, career progression is becoming more important to employees, said Yulia Pakhomova, head of recruitment, evaluation and adaptation at Baltika breweries.