NIS has signed the “Youth Employment Initiative in the Adriatic Region” at the HR Business Arena 2014 international conference, held in Dubrovnik from 23 April to 25 April. On behalf of the company, Nataša Stamenković, HR Director, signed the charter. As a result, alongside 21 other leading companies from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, NIS has committed itself to working actively on including people aged 18 to 30 in the labour market. The companies Agrokor, Atlantik Grupa, Pliva, Nestle Adriatic, IBM, Gorenje, Novi Ljubljanska Banka, Commercial Bank Zagreb, Delta Holding, and MK Grupa are among the signatories of the Initiative to reduce the unemployment rate, which is quite high among the young people in the region. As part of the EU member state initiative to reduce the unemployment rate in their territories, with the assistance of privately-owned companies as state institutions are unable to solve this problem independently, the HR Business Arena 2014 conference organizer initiated the collaboration of the companies in the region. The aim of this initiative is to provide employment for the young people in the next three years. In line with this, the companies have undertaken to inform young people in the region about their employment and educational programme, as well as to engage key players in the area of education and the public sphere, who can improve the quality of education in the country, and contribute to ensuring that the young professionals are better-suited to labour market needs. NIS actively supports the education and employment of young people. Collaboration has been established with the two largest universities, in Belgrade and Novi Sad, which includes providing scholarship opportunities for students in the country and abroad, developing curricula in line with the company needs, knowledge exchange between NIS and university experts, equipping classrooms, and support for knowledge olympiads in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the Russian language. Through the First Chance and NIS Chance employment programmes for young people without professional experience , NIS has so far employed over 700 young people, and more than 90 percent of them are still with the company. The plan is to provide an opportunity for work at NIS for as many as 150 more young people with secondary school and university diplomas. “We are focusing on the young people who come to the Company, a lot is invested in the collaboration with the universities which educate the professionals that the company needs, because this is key for a long-term and sustainable development of NIS. It is not always possible to find in the market the professionals who can meet all the stringent requirements of modern business. That is why we seek to shape young people even before they come to our company, while they are still in education, as well as to familiarize them with the business rules of the world’s best companies while they are with our company. With such leadership, young people quickly gain experience and acquire skills for assuming positions of responsibility in the company, “ says Nataša Stamenković, Director of Human Resources at NIS.
