Article

The St. Petersburg Times, 15 Декабря 2009

2009: An Employers’ Market

According to Ancor recruitment agency, it now takes twice as long for job seekers to find new employment as it did before the economic crisis.

The agency interviewed more than 1,800 specialists at both Russian and foreign companies in September, and then compared the results with similar research carried out in 2007. Ancor found that in 2007, managers could expect to find new positions within one or two months, while in 2009 the same search takes four to six months.

In comparison with 2007, the number of job seekers considering more than five positions at one time fell by six percent, though the number of people receiving only one job offer doubled during the same period, rising from 8 percent of the total number searching for work to 16 percent.

Those who are prepared to lower their wage expectations and accept work in alternative spheres find work in one to two months, while those not prepared to make such compromises can expect to spend over half a year seeking employment, said Yelena Kolkova, director of the St. Petersburg branch of job agency Staffwell. Kolkova said that jobs in sales could be found most quickly, while in the construction and building materials sectors job hunting can last about six months.

On average, the amount of time needed in order to find a new job has increased by between 300 and 400 percent, according to Alexei Zakharov, president of the SuperJob.ru recruitment site. Zakharov said that the number of vacancies in September 2009 was 2.2 times lower than in September 2008. The average salary was 10 to 15 percent lower than in 2008.

In marketing, advertising and public relations and the banking and investment sectors, salaries for positions offered have fallen by about 40 percent in comparison with the same period last year, said Yulia Sakharova, director of the St. Petersburg branch of HeadHunter.

The amount of time employers can expect to spend filling a position has fallen from a month to one to two weeks, said Pavel Lavrov, manager of Petrokommerts Bank in St. Petersburg.

The job market is stagnating, with many companies already having been able to pick and choose from candidates appearing on the market following mass layoffs at the beginning of the year, said Denis Razdimovsky, general director of Vkus, the management company that oversees the Miks chain of cafes.

There are more resumes to choose from, but there is still a shortage of technicians with certain specializations, said Yelena Streltsova, general director of the Lyubimy Krai bakeries.

According to Ancor, among those seeking work, the number of those who left their previous positions because there were no prospects has fallen by 23 percent, while those who were dissatisfied with the remuneration at their previous place of work has fallen by 16 percent. Of those who were searching for work, 16 percent had been made redundant as a result of downsizing, while 10 percent found themselves unemployed when their previous employer shut down entirely.

Employees are now thinking longer and harder before quitting their jobs, said Sergei Kravchenko, consulting director at Ciber. Prior to the crisis, people were ready to resign over psychological factors, but now the turnover of personnel at firms has decreased significantly.

The number of personnel expressing a readiness to work overtime or inconvenient hours has increased by about 50 percent, said Sergei Shcherbakov, the deputy chairman of Investtorgbank. This increase comes despite the fact that average wages are at about 80 percent of their 2008 levels, the difference being made up by bonuses for the meeting of targets.