About a year ago, I wrote an article titled "" which was based on the assumption of goodwill and mutual interest from both sides for long-term collaboration (a win-win scenario, and all that).
The experience of the past year shows that the market situation is gradually changing for the worse for workers, namely:
- while the worker generally remains interested in being hired on their own or at least acceptable terms (although in Kharkiv and Krasnodar there are additional options);
- the HR on the employer's side may have no interest in this whatsoever.
TL:DR Moving on to interesting old and new methods of optimization before, during, and after interviews, and as always, a stream of consciousness. Feel free to skip and downvote immediately.
What has changed in the labor market
In the past couple of years, the labor market in Russia (including Moscow) has turned upside down several times. This was influenced by numerous factors:
- A decrease in demand for certain employees due to the transfer of services to the cloud, outsourcing, etc.
- A shift in demand structure from, say, system administrators to DevOps engineers (with an extended list of requirements by 10 lines)
- Emigration of some workers from Russia (while far fewer are returning)
- The end of the influx of personnel from the regions
- The economy has become more frugal overall
- The very "demographic and educational gap" that has been talked about for so long is now here — today's worker aged 25-30 mostly studied "something and somehow," while birth rates from 1989 to 1999 dipped somewhat.
Consequently, finding a good and inexpensive worker in Moscow has become much more difficult (sometimes even impossible), while there isn't enough money for an expensive one.
In the regions — good workers have somehow also moved to Moscow / St. Petersburg (and beyond), while the remaining ones are quite satisfied with their current jobs and have settled in.
How business has responded
Businesses need employees yesterday, or maybe today. There is no time, desire, or funds for staff training, and HR departments have also been "optimized."
There are two options:
- Outsource the application to external contractors; perhaps they can find something due to their databases, connections, black and white lists (which, of course, everyone will deny, but black lists have surfaced at least once), and search experience.
- Perform clever tricks at all stages of the interview and probation period to fit within the required framework.
This post is dedicated to listing such clever tricks.
1. Sourcing by external contractors (agencies and freelancers)
Contracts can be awarded to several agencies simultaneously. As a result, I received automated newsletters from 2-3 different organizations, indicating that I had almost advanced to the second stage of the competition 'who wants to work in our large friendly young high-tech company,' I just need to reply that I agree. Since the mailing is automated, the resume selection based on the request proceeds with keywords.
A resume may state Linux (which I have never seen) or Java (not my favorite language) — for a selection query like select where *linux*, that will be sufficient.
Since the KPI for an employee (HR, agency) can be measured by the number of calls, mailings, confirmed interviews, and the overall number of resumes submitted, if your resume made it into the selection, it is quite likely that you should expect a call afterward, ideally without grievances like 'I wrote to you,' although there may be instances like 'so what if it's the middle of the working day — you still have to listen to me, and no, I won't call you back or write you later.'
As a result,
- the candidate receives a ton of automated mailings (spam)
- everything goes through to the customer.
This can be somewhat frustrating for both the client and the employee, especially considering subsequent complaints from HR like 'I called him from different numbers, messaged on all platforms, including Tinder, yet he just hangs up immediately; is it so hard for him to listen to me?' However, there is always the chance that the job will be interesting, and one will have to delve into the specifics of a particular offer.
2. Clever tricks at the discussion stage before the interview, during, and after.
Recently, the tendency of Russians towards fixed salaries has been discussed again… a salary of 120,000 rubles, quarterly bonuses of one salary, annual bonuses of three salaries… the calculated monthly salary amounts to 190,000 rubles. Candidates say — 120 is not enough, I am offered 180. But we are offering you 190 — that’s good, but if only it were paid every month. It's clear that guarantees are good, that bonuses can be taken away, but a salary is something you can always count on… Is this generation of millennials seeking stability in this way? (quote from the internet)
2.1 Clever tricks before the interview
- Hello, we are looking for talent. In fact, the organization is not searching for employees, but rather compiling a ‘reserve’ database overall. As a result, you will be called back about never.
- There is no stated salary at all, ‘we have an individual approach, etc.’ The reasons for such a method are known, but overall, if the salary range is not announced after 2-3 interviews, that’s a bad sign.
- The stated salary is gross (at least it's before the personal income tax, not before the unified social tax), with 100% KPI and all possible bonuses.
- The stated salary is generally not available. For instance, the job listing may say ‘up to 200’ with the actual range being ‘up to 150 and that's including bonuses’ (for Moscow) or ‘up to 80’ (with a real figure not exceeding 50) in the region. Both instances are real, the numbers have been rounded.
- We can't offer that much. This is already a question not from the realm of tricks, but sometimes you can find out a month or two later in the break room from colleagues that more could have been offered. This often coincides with a ban on discussing salaries with colleagues.
- Class A office. Yet located in quite a poor area. An example for Moscow — office K near metro station R.
- Class A office, but there’s a catch — your personal workspace will be at the client's location.
- Class A office, but there’s a catch — no parking space will be provided. When I wrote the post
- , I only included bike parking, while in some ‘class A’ offices, parking is not included in the minimum ‘by default’.
In modern conditions, it is necessary to ask about cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and the availability of a spot in a covered parking lot with a socket for charging a scooter. Moreover, the spots should not be ‘if there will be later’, but ‘right now’.
Squeeze candidates out even before the interview
- Automated systems allow tracking the update of an employee's resume on hh REGARDLESS of the setting ‘do not show my resume to my current job’
- The established connections allow colleagues to be informed that "this kind of employee is about to leave your office" — which sometimes leads to various interesting effects. As a result, you might not have intended to leave your familiar surroundings, but it turns out you will have to. Of course, this subsection is just rumors; it can't really be true.
2.2 Clever Tricks During the Interview
- Confirmation of a certain amount at the interview stage followed by a different amount in the employment contract. Surprisingly, this can happen.
- Vague requirements for the probationary period. For example, during the probation period, the salary may be about 30% less, but the probation might last for a month or could last three months (more than three months is not allowed under Russian labor law for regular positions. For non-regular positions, it can be longer).
- An uncommunicated complex bonus system with non-obvious aspects. For example — bonuses cannot be obtained without actual overtime.
- Simple and familiar pressure on the employee with questions that come out of left field. "What, you don’t know about the implementation of the technology you used once six months ago?" — oh, we expected more from you, but you seem promising, so how about you come to us for 2/3 of N, and in a year we can talk, and maybe raise your salary by 5%. We see potential in you!
- Multiple interviews with different people. At best, this will involve two different hiring managers; at worst, it’s the copied idea of interviewing "everyone to gather opinions." Partly, it’s a reincarnation of absurd assessments. For the employee, this means a loss of anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 1.5-2 months just for interviews. Clarify from the start how many interviews are planned, with whom, and when. The problem is that these interviews may be bureaucratically necessary and can also serve as a means of retaining a candidate who isn’t the top choice but might reject the offer.
2.3 Clever Tricks After the Interview
- Being put on hold or the "we will call you back" tactic. Translation: We already have a candidate (or two) who we like a little more (or costs a little less), but if they decline, we might contact you, but that’s not a guarantee. My record for being "on hold" was 1.5 months (I didn’t wait).
- A complex method of salary payment, where "the first salary is paid in the middle of the second month."
- Employment under a fixed-term labor contract. A fixed-term labor contract has its advantages for all parties involved, but sometimes unscrupulous employers may use it to pressure the employee.
- Complex accounting of actual working hours. There are many options here. Always clarify this issue, from the start of the workday to recording hours and accounting overall.
- Actual payment for overtime. There is room for various maneuvers and offsets, starting from the simple "you have an irregular work schedule, so leaving before 8 PM is not customary for us."
- "On-call duty." This topic recently came up in a discussion with the words "it is mandatory for us." This issue affected me three jobs ago, and it consists of needing to be on standby during your legitimate days off, being ready to arrive at work within 2-3 hours.
Formally, you are not at work and they are not obliged to pay you for this time (and they won't — there is no money, but hang in there), however, for Moscow, arriving two hours early means that you must be relatively free, sober, and well-rested. Thus, from absolutely free time, one and a half days drop out, and in some cases, all weekends — going to the dacha for barbecues won't be possible.
Several years ago at that job, I was clarified about this situation during the interview, being told that "the extra pay is this much, the frequency of on-call duty is such-and-such." I accepted it at that time, but the next employer might not reveal this until after hiring.
- Career growth and other grades and ratings. Another mechanism that can both improve work and spoil it. On one hand, the dangling carrot can indeed motivate you to run faster. On the other, the mere promise of that carrot can also help you run… for some time. Once it becomes fundamentally impossible to reach the carrot, running for it becomes significantly less interesting.
- Envelopes. The growth of "white salary" has again hit the barrier that paying contributions (Pension Fund, Medical Insurance, Social Insurance) plus injury insurance plus personal income tax is not always profitable, while with an envelope, there are always options.
- Devaluation of part of the intangible motivation in the form of internal training. Such training can be actively claimed, but in fact, it may consist of a half-day talk every six months about how "working with us is a great honor" and other team games. From what I have personally observed — training after working hours on "how to speak to employees about their upcoming salary raise" and "now we will work on team building with those people you see for the first and last time."
- Devaluation of part of the intangible motivation. About 5 years ago, the ability to actively learn new technologies at arm's length was essential. Now, merely listing free or nearly free courses takes up a page of text, for example, here is a selection for , here , here , not to mention training subscriptions for AWS and Azure.
Thanks to the well-known for the general idea.
Source: habr.com
