21

21Wieści z zagranicy WWW.magazynrekruter.pl

temat numeru O tym SiĘ mÓWi kOmentarze SpecJaliStÓW śWiat Hr WyDarzenia BranŻOWe śWiat rekrutacJi FelietOnWieści z zagranicy

Cee rekruter focus on ukraine2014 has been a hard year for ukraine, and one year on from the breakout of the majdan square resistance and ukraine is still trying to get itself back to normal. what haPPened in ukraine last year was akin to the london bombings of 2007 and new york in 2001, with PeoPle coming together to show their true humanity. doPomoga is a leading agency in the ukraine and we return to them for an uPdate on the recruitment market there. kateryna skibska, ceo of doPomoga grouP fills us in on what has haPPened since january.

kateryna skibska, ceo, doPomoga ukraine

The Ukrainian Economy went through a major overhaul during the first half of the year, not only in terms of the basic principles of economy, but also in terms of how many emotions the population had to go through. Each person was af-fected differently by the changes, and each person had their own unique ap-praisal of what they thought had happe-ned. Some decided to leave the country, others decided to fight, others helped as they could and yet a few also tried to pretend that nothing untoward was occurring around them. There was no person left by the middle of the year who had not been affected one way or another by what had happened in the Ukraine. There is nothing worse than to live in anticipation of war.

Every day as people read the news, the only thing that crossed your mind was: “We can handle anything, as long as it’s not a war”. Ukrainians have proudly handled everything. Everything that is happening in Ukraine united the em-ployees in a struggle to help their com-panies to survive. Employees across the country tightened their belts and put aside selfish thoughts of payrises and

promotions, in order to help the com-mon good. The majority of business decisions in 2014 were made with a he-avy emphasis on employee input. This year was the year of Dedication and

Solidarity, nobody put themselves first. For their part, companies helped their employees manage the stress as best as possible. The best support those in Hu-man Resources could give these people

was to create an „oasis without stress” in their offices. All resources were used: theaters, art-therapy, psychologists, mo-vies, warm milk and cookies, childcare centers in the offices, master-classes, volunteering and participating in social care activities. For many employees this year, work became a place where they went happily in the knowledge that they were not alone, and that life goes on.

Of course, not all companies survived this transition period. For example, many Russian companies operating in Ukraine have suffered from financial losses due to the boycott of Russian go-ods and services. Many luxury brands, insurance companies and construction companies had to cope with the natu-ral decrease of their purchasing power, forsaking profit margins for the sake of continuity.

the labour market must have seen more changes than most sectors, how did this affect the recruitment sector?The Current difficult political and eco-nomic situation in the country affected the labour market badly, especially in the east of Ukraine. The number of va-

22

22www.magazynrekruter.pl wieści z zagranicy

temat numeru O tym SiĘ mÓwi kOmentarze SpecJaliStÓw świat Hr wyDarzenia BranŻOwe świat rekrutacJi FelietOnwieści z zagranicy

cancies offered by employers in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were down by 80% on the previous year. The majority of the open vacan-cies are related with network marketing and field-based roles. The labour market in the Crimean peninsula is flo-oded with job opportunities for low-skilled personnel, sti-pulating relocation to Russia (as opposed to the Crimean region as it was before). Ho-wever, many other regions of Ukraine showed some positi-ve signs through the year.

We have witnessed mass mi-gration of job-seekers from the unstable regions to we-stern and central regions of Ukraine, which has in turn put additional stress on their labour markets of these regions. The number of migrants leaving for Russia remains stable, with no significant growth or drop in numbers compared to earlier years.

2014 has been the year of the Employ-er. The average amount of applicants per role has been 10 people for mid and junior roles. In 2013, this number was 20. This indeed is a conundrum and may leave the reader feeling confused, but there is a simple reason behind this. Internal migration does not mean a bet-ter “permanent” recruitment market, as most of the migrants are still hoping that one day they can return to their ho-mes. These people know work mainly as taxi drivers, nurses, porters, market ven-dors, and in similar trades. And on the flipside, many permanent employees are scared to change jobs, lowering the applications to roles on the job market.

Bearing in mind our previous observa-tions, employees in Ukraine are now far more loyal to their employers than ever before. It’s also not a profitable situation for someone to currently change work. Salaries of mid-level specialists, ma-nagers and supervisors have dropped by 30% from 2013. Companies prefer to recruit people only in the case of an emergency, trying instead to manage the workload with an existing team of people even if that means extra hours. Occasionally new roles are posted by employers, but salaries are much less attractive than they once had been, and companies have half an eye on suppor-ting the unemployed rather than truly needing to hire someone. Top mana-gement salaries also took a drop, some 15% less than they had been in 2013. The flexible business manager has been a concept that has been very popular in 2014, with companies experimenting more than ever in order to stay compe-

titive.

Those employees who did not earn and did not save money for the company were the first ones to get laid off.

what skills shortages have remained constant or deve-loped through 2014?The roles which were in the most demand in 2014 Sales specialists at all levels; IT specialists; Accountants (fe-wer and fewer accountants want to grow in the pro-fession due to the frequent changes in legislation and national standards); and Agricultural experts. The demand for top-level execu-tives increased in conjunc-

tion with the optimization and restruc-turing of the company. Some top-level executives also had to spend some time looking into new markets so as to diver-sify as quickly as possible.

This year local producers in the FMCG sector recruited new employees, as well as the IT, Agricultural and Pharmaceu-tical sectors. These were both local and international companies, which have branches in Ukraine.

The majority of the vacancies received by recruiting agencies were from busi-nesses with foreign investments (77% of orders). In comparison with 2013, the demand for recruitment services decreased by 61%. In addition to the re-duction of the need for new employees, budgets for external suppliers have been also reduced and most of the work was distributed between departments insi-de the companies.

23

23Wieści z zagranicy WWW.magazynrekruter.pl

temat numeru O tym SiĘ mÓWi kOmentarze SpecJaliStÓW śWiat Hr WyDarzenia BranŻOWe śWiat rekrutacJi FelietOnWieści z zagranicy

It should be pointed out that the market for recruitment agencies remained sta-ble with small fluctuations. New recru-itment agencies opened in Kiev, Ode-ssa, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Aside from the volume of recruitment itself, the work of an average recruiter in 2014 was characterized by:

• Delays in candidates being intervie-wed by Clients;

• Tougher person specifications from our Clients;

• Instability of vacancies: active to-day on hold tomorrow;

• Closing or putting on hold of roles after final interviews – successful or not;

• Disengaged candidate-base;

• Reduction of normal work-load

Considering these trends, DOPOMO-GA Ukraine had to take steps too:

• Changed the production figures ac-cording to situation on the market;

• Developed new standards by intro-ducing innovative approaches;

• Created a new social project for ca-reer-oriented pupils. Developed a program of internships and career consulting for Ukrainian students;

• Developed a framework for internal communications;

• Built a platform to exchange infor-mation with select business part-ners;

• Helping develop the professiona-lism of its recruiters through self--training initiatives.

and how did the Human resources in-dustry deal with the change?Earlier in the year we witnessed a large flow of Human Resources professionals entering the job market. Executive ma-nagers often thought that the main duty of a Human Resources Manager is the recruiting of personnel and as there is no recruiting this year – there is no work for a HR manager. Lots of freelancers, trainers, coaches and facilitators who can provide HR services for companies surfaced on the market.

The second half of the year was busier and more intense for HR and CSR events. We adapted to the situation in the country, started to learn, to form communities, to organize small busi-nesses, to engage in volunteering, in-cluding in the field of HR. The salary level in HR dropped to 40% of what it had been; the number of candidates ap-plying per role rose to 15-20 people (in 2013 - 5-7). A lot of HR-tasks in 2014 were aimed at creating a non-stressful atmosphere in the company, to increase engagement among employees, to or-ganize volunteer and external corpora-te social responsibility activities by the company, to build a system of self-lear-ning and training, to work with univer-sities, young talents.

Our Thanks goes to all the Countries and those who were not indifferent to the problems in Ukraine.

Ukrainians are a cheerful people with good spirits. They have learned to enjoy the small things in life like kids’ birth-days, the first snowfall; the fact that all family members are safe and sound. They build short-term plans, are full of optimism, and open for helping others more than ever before.

ukRAiniAnS

ARe A cHeeRful

PeOPle witH GOOD

SPiRitS. tHey HAve

leARneD tO enjOy

tHe SmAll tHinGS

in life like kiDS’

BiRtHDAyS, tHe

fiRSt SnOwfAll; tHe

fAct tHAt All fAmily

memBeRS ARe SAfe

AnD SOunD. tHey

BuilD SHORt-teRm

PlAnS, ARe full Of

OPtimiSm, AnD OPen

fOR HelPinG OtHeRS

mORe tHAn eveR

BefORe.