Today, lots of specialized educational institutions do not have the ability to directly contact future employers or respond flexibly and quickly to the ever changing needs of business. This creates a gap between theory and practice. Young specialists often have no idea how the production process works in reality, and companies are unable to get acquainted with future employees in advance and tailor them to suit the demands and specifics of their business.

During the V Global Fishery Forum, a roundtable was held on ways to recruit and nurture personnel in the fisheries industry for business. It was organized by the Forum’s general partner Rosselkhozbank. The event aimed to discuss the pros and cons of the market for future professionals, identify the specifics of the industry, and create a dialogue between candidates and current employers.

The roundtable featured speeches by Federal Agency for Fisheries Deputy Director Vasily Sokolov, Yuzhno-Kuril Fish Processing Plant CEO Konstantin Korobkov, For the Motherland State Corporation General Director Sergey Lyutarevich, Kaliningrad State Technical University Rector Vladimir Volkogon, and Managing Director of the Centre for the Development of Financial Technologies and Head of Rosselkhozbank’s Work and Training Ecosystem Project Eleonora Dobrovolskaya.

In his speech, Sokolov stressed that one of the pros of working in the fisheries industry is that it has some of the highest salaries in all sectors, and even though professions in the fisheries industry are arduous, young people are motivated to work the industry due to a certain kind of romance.

Other speakers added that one of the advantages of the fisheries industry is its broad scope because it has lots of options for any specialist to launch a career – from a navigator or ship mechanic to a fish farmer or production engineer.

Lyutarevich disputed the idea that the industry is dealing with a massive shortage of personnel. He said this shortage is no different from any other industry. However, the lack of personnel in the fisheries industry is currently due to the industry’s rapid development because Russia is currently building a modern fishing fleet that is being equipped with high-tech equipment, and new fish processing plants are opening all over the country.

Korobkov confirmed this opinion and emphasized that there is no major shortage of personnel in coastal professions, but said there are not enough highly qualified specialists among engineering and technological units, and there is a huge shortage of refrigerator mechanics.

Volkogon said the current education system is creating problems and stressed that specialized educational institutions need a special status that grants them rights with a certain flexibility in training programmes and frees up universities to promptly respond to market innovations. He noted that businesses need to invest in developing the physical infrastructure for education above all else.

During the roundtable, the speakers talked about wages for future specialists. According to information provided by operating companies, young workers in the fisheries industry initially earn RUB 50,000–70,000 for the first two to three years of their careers as production engineers, while company directors have an average salary of RUB 700,000 – 1 million per month and sailors in the fleet receive about RUB 200,000–250,000.

Commenting on the main problems facing the fisheries industry, the speakers noted working conditions and the high complexity of the work itself, as well as the fact that the profession is not properly promoted among the public. One key problem that all the speakers pointed out is the lack of any kind of hand-on training for students at existing enterprises. Both representatives of manufacturing companies and the rectors of fisheries industry universities agreed with this.

The roundtable featured a lively dialogue among students and graduates of fisheries educational institutions looking for work and employers. The young workers asked questions about wages, how to simplify working conditions, and whether or not there are opportunities for student trainees to find work at existing enterprises. The speakers said the industry is very interested in finding interns in order to provide them with jobs in the future, which was confirmed by representatives of educational institutions.