Cadres decide: the future of Russian energy on the sidelines of the CASE-IN Championship

The results of the next final of the Student League of the International Engineering Championship were summed up in Moscow CASE-IN. For the third year now, employees and managers of JSC STC UES (Moscow Branch) have been participating in expert commissions evaluating the cases of young specialists in the field of Electric Power engineering. According to them, holding such events is important not only for future engineers, but also for employers, who always prioritize personnel issues. 

According to the CASE-IN press service, more than 50 leading Russian technical universities take part in the championship every year, 30 of which were included in the ranking of the "100 best universities in Russia" for 2018. The competition is being implemented in accordance with the action plan aimed at popularizing the working and engineering professions, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation. The event allows young professionals to take part in solving the most pressing problems of the development of the electric power industry and develop personal competencies.

"The strategies and objectives of the CASE-IN are quite extensive. " He's telling me Petr Antonov, Chief Engineer of JSC NTC UES (Moscow Branch), who held the chair of the expert commission of the qualifying round this year, – The cases are formulated based on the trending trends in the electric power industry. Today it is, of course, digitalization. The transition to a deeper implementation of information technology in the industry. The fact that students, including undergraduates, are involved in this is very good. Young professionals are laying the foundation for which industry they work in and what all this is being done for. When I graduated from university, I really missed the practical application of theory. Today, current students have such an opportunity."

This year, 540 young specialists from 60 regions of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan entered the final part of the competition. The future engineers presented their ideas to the expert community within the framework of this season's unified theme "Digital Transformation" in seven industry areas: geological exploration, mining, metallurgy, petrochemistry, oil and gas, digital atom and, of course, the electric power industry. It is worth noting that this year, students who are studying in specialized training programs at partner universities reached the finals of the championship as part of their teams. JSC "SO UES". According to the decision of the expert commission of the Electric Power Industry direction, the winner of the championship was the Systems and Networks team representing Samara State Technical University. All its participants, undergraduate students, are enrolled in a specialized training program for a System operator.

In addition to competing in solving cases, the finalists get the opportunity to present themselves to representatives of relevant companies during the Career Day of the Championship. 

"It is interesting for us to observe the personnel reserve. We have employees whom we noticed at one time as part of student activity, some of them came to work for us after a CASE-IN.", – shared Peter Antonov.

Among them Pavel Subbotin, a leading specialist in the Electric Power Systems Development Department of JSC STC UES (Moscow Branch). In 2016, the young engineer was the captain of the team that reached the final of the competition.  He proved himself well, and a few months later he was invited to work for the company.

"At the beginning of the spring semester of my second year of graduate school, I was offered to assemble and lead a team to participate in the CASE-IN championship. As a result, the AVR team appeared – "Absolutely the right decision." Power engineers also know this abbreviation as automatic reserve activation. – he remembers Pavel, – Me and three masters, having taken the first place and passed the university level, reached the finals."

According to him, the preparation for the decisive part of the championship coincided with the certification and the session. "The conditions were extreme. We spent all our free time studying in the dormitory. There was real excitement, the guys took the initiative," adds he.

The power engineers failed to win, but the experience of participating in such an event and, as it turns out later, the opportunity for a career start turned out to be much more important.

"Being able to structure the material in your head and clearly convey key information to the audience is important in any profession. At that time, I already knew that I would be interested in working at the UES Scientific and Technical Center. During the CASE-IN, I talked to his representatives and gave them my resume. And a few months later, I was invited for an interview.", – told Pavel Subbotin.

The winners of the CASE-IN traditionally receive the Champions Cup and the title of the best student engineering team, and also win the honorary right for their university to open the competition next season. Nevertheless, just as for Pavel Subbotin, who is currently continuing to work on his PhD thesis, first of all, the championship is a kind of job fair where young professionals can demonstrate their skills to a potential employer.

"The electric power industry is a knowledge-intensive and complex industry, so the bar for new personnel is always quite high", – I'm sure Petr Antonov, Chief Engineer of JSC NTC UES (Moscow Branch).

As for completing the technological unit at the UES Scientific and Technical Center (MO), the company is always looking for talent, he emphasizes. So, the NTC has formed a personnel reserve, where the resumes of young specialists who have been monitored since their student days are considered. Some of them joined the company's staff after successful internships.

"There is no need to skip classes at the last courses for the sake of short-term earnings. We never push guys to switch to full–time work - they successfully combine training and practice with us. – explains Head of the Electric Power Systems Development Department of NTC UES JSC (Moscow Branch) Maxim Volkov Moreover, we try to select work projects for them that would be useful for their activities at the university. It turns out to be a mutually beneficial cooperation."

"We analyze how well a person can work with a large amount of information, how they analyze it, and how they make decisions.. – summarizes Chief Engineer of NTC UES JSC (Moscow Branch) Peter Antonov, – In addition to the traditional job interview in our company, people take an IQ test and a psychological test. All these factors are taken into account. If a person is educated, wants to grow and develop, and is ready to invest personal resources in this, this is a step towards success."

Source: STC UES