Young people are becoming increasingly open to careers in heavy industry. A survey conducted by Vostok Coal Company (VGK) found that 33% of respondents aged 17 to 22 are already willing to work in the industrial sector, while another 26% say they would consider it. The key, employers believe, is presenting modern mining not as an old-fashioned underground workplace but as a high-tech environment filled with robotics and digital technologies.
Concerns remain, however. Nearly two-thirds of respondents worry about physically demanding work, while 61% cite hazardous working conditions as a major concern. Employers are responding by changing the way they communicate with prospective employees and emphasizing innovation over manual labor.
One of the most notable examples is VGK’s “Mars Division” recruitment campaign. Instead of portraying coal mining on Sakhalin as work in a dusty open pit, the campaign presents it as an expedition to another planet. Applicants are invited to join a “terraforming mission” rather than simply apply for a job. The strategy appears to resonate with its audience: according to the survey, 80% of young people are interested in careers involving automation, data analysis, robotics, and quality control rather than physically intensive work.
Other major industrial companies are adopting similar approaches. SIBUR has introduced its AI assistant “Mendeleev,” while EVRAZ launched its employer branding campaign “The Time of Strong People Has Arrived.” Across the industry, companies are learning to speak to younger audiences in a language they understand.
What attracts young professionals to the industrial sector? Job stability ranks first, cited by 53% of respondents, followed by modern technologies (45%), and career development opportunities and mentoring (34%). According to Anna Demeshkina, Deputy CEO for Human Resources at VGK, the industry can attract a significant number of young professionals by offering competitive working conditions. At VGK, employees under the age of 25 earn an average of RUB 150,000 per month and receive additional benefits including company housing, meals, workwear, and other perks.
Data from hh.ru show that the median salary in Russia’s mining sector is RUB 120,600 per month, rising to RUB 157,900 in the Sakhalin Region. Nearly nine out of ten young Russians also said they would be interested in participating in a creative internship program at a major industrial company.
Yulia Tsareva, founder of FAVES Communications, noted that industrial companies are investing heavily in employer branding. According to an earlier FAVES study, brand development and increasing public awareness became one of the largest marketing priorities for industrial businesses in 2026, with 29% of surveyed companies identifying it as a key area of investment.
Heavy industry is shedding its traditional image of noisy machinery and physically demanding labor. To attract Generation Z, employers are reinventing the sector’s identity—replacing manual work with purpose-driven missions, mines with high-tech bases, and routine operations with robots, data, and digital technologies. The survey suggests that the strategy is beginning to pay off.
Source: Eastern Mining Company (EMCO)
Image: East Mining Company (VGK)
