OREANDA-NEWS. United Metallurgical Company (OMK CJSC, based in Moscow) and its affiliate, Vyska Steel Works (VSW OJSC, based in Nizhny Novgorod Region), held the third Industriya business game for 9th grade students from Vyksa's secondary schools.

The event took place at the Metallurg holiday center on April 18-20th. One hundred Vyska 9th graders, who were chosen following a special professional orientation test, took part in the game. The aim of the game is to help school students choose their future occupation by showing them real metallurgy processes in operation.

During the course of the game, the teenagers learned about technical professions which are in demand in their hometown and which educational facilities offer training in. They also visited VSW's pipe and wheel-rolling mill, the Heavy Plate Mill-5000, and the Casting and Rolling Complex (Vyksa-based affiliate of OMK-Steel OJSC, based in Nizhny Novgorod Region). The students were asked to build their own virtual factories following the excursions. They made up their production facilities, the supporting infrastructure, and worked on development strategy. They were aided by master classes from metallurgy experts and a range of team-building games from the organizer's partner, Zanyato.ru Moscow Educational Center.

“As a result of the previous two games, over 80% of the youngsters decided in favor of secondary technical education. Others went on to the 10th grade and opted for higher technical education later on. This is a good indicator for us,” said Rishat Valitov, HR Director at VSW. “Participating in the business game gives convincing evidence of how interesting it could be working at a modern metallurgical factory. It also helps combine the development of team-building skills and the implementation of personal ideas. As an employer, we are interested in attracting active and ambitious young specialists. That is why we strive to begin molding our future staff as early as the school years.”