Catch a fish, big and ... big! Where and how to look for a job for top managers in retail? Where to look for vacancies for top management? Help for top managers in finding a job

As Shakespeare said, "He is doubly unhappy who, in days of sorrow about sweet times, recalls times."

These thoughts are inspired by fifteen years of interviews with highly qualified executives who have an excellent set of skills, but cannot sell themselves for several months. They torment themselves and torture us, causing a mixture of sympathy and irritation. And they don't want to listen to our recommendations in the employment process.

The article is offensive. Therefore, please leave for the faint of heart.

So. Imagine (and someone does not need to imagine) that you are a major leader ...

Dear top!

Have you had good times? Forget about them. You are now in the role of an unemployed person.

Can you solve a few questions?

Here, it would seem, they found a vacancy on the Internet, where in the requirements they simply wrote off a portrait of a professional from you! They sent their resume there, and ... like into a bottomless pit. You, of course, thought that they should persuade you, and of course you will resist, weigh everything, whether they correspond to the title of an employer worthy of you. But this is not the case. And I want to know the reason for the refusal. And you call. On the other end of the line, they politely answer that your resume has come, your candidacy is being considered, and they will definitely call you back. And ... they don't call. Weird.

Or vice versa. You were not told politely, but simply barked that there were a lot of you, such directors walking around here. And give everyone a position! ... It's unpleasant. You have long lost the habit of such treatment. ...

A month passes, another ... fifth. No, death by starvation does not threaten you. There may not be enough money for grandchildren, but for sure for children. But the wife is already looking askance at you, and the children do not brag with pride in front of their friends. And you are even willing to pay your own money to these pompous recruiters, just to find out the reason for your lack of demand.

The great psychotherapist Frankl once said: “During a crisis, neurotics lose their jobs. This is what they can now explain all their failures ... ".

Here are some very common statistics:

If you belong to this statistic, we know your objections in advance. That in the same way as most of the candidates for your enterprises, you, at one time, tried not to take over 45 years old, in the same way you think about yourself that you have already had all the best in your life. That now it is too late to think about something big. And you just need to "live out" after fifty. What are your plans for 40 years? Listening to all this is boring and hopeless. We need to jump in front of you only if we can sell you somewhere this very second. This does not happen often, excuse the cynicism. Only at these moments we will be happy to ride and adjust to your banalism.

If you belong to this statistic - your destiny by the age of 70, sitting with your own kind in the yard, slaughter a domino goat, (or worse, drain a glass), criticize the government, and grumble about the fact that in your times the youth was better, and the water is wetter. Thought completely "new". Or, peeling seeds on a bench, as part of one-toothed old women, discuss everything latest news from the personal life of neighbors (there is no one of our own), to consider the unchaste outfits of young girls from the entrance and be indignant where our world is heading. Do you want this? You do not want?

Then if you do not belong to this statistic - maybe you shouldn't slip into it? Maybe you will remember that you can not only take advantage of the opportunity when fortune favors you? And can you also take a hit in moments of your own calm? Just as you once knew how to get your enterprises out of difficult situations? And yet, start making long-term plans, even just now, when the roast cock has already pecked?

Let me give you two examples of a life strategy.

First example. Banal. The director of a large production, which is our client, asked a good friend to help him find employment. I said let his friend call me on the phone at certain time... He was able to call me at a different time, when I was in roaming and held a seminar in another city. Therefore, he was offended at my wish to call back on Monday afternoon. But then, he called back. And he began to be indignant with claims in his voice, why did not I answer him at the moment when it was convenient for him to speak? After all, they specifically asked about him, as a leader with a lot of regalia? And who asked! Here's our dialogue:

- May I ask you? Do you want to tell me how good you are, or find out why you are not hired?

- Who are you? Do you know what position I held? I realized that you can help with finding a job! Can you help me?

- Most likely I can't. I did not occupy your position. I am borrowing another. And by the way, I don't need a job now, but you want me to consider you for a vacancy. And the result of your employment will no longer depend on me, but on you. What do you think - where are you calling?

- You were deceived. We are recruiters. We take money from employers and give guarantees to employers that the candidate will cope with the job. We do not take money from you, and we do not carry any guarantees. And, in fact, we did not look for you, and even without you we lived well. If I understood correctly, then in this moment do you need us?

- Right. (already a little quieter). so what?

- If you think that you are the only one so wonderful among the leaders, then I want to disappoint you. Not alone. And do not even enter a hundred. We have a summary of the likes of yours - mountains.

- And what do you mean by that? That it is impossible for me to find a job?

- Impossible. With the approach you are showing me now, it is definitely impossible. And I don't even want to talk to you, let alone take a job. Although you have such a skill set that many will envy. If you changed your approach, that everyone owes you and would learn from us the technique of negotiating work ... But you don't need that, right?

- And what kind of technique? ...

With the help of this dialogue, I was able to drag him into the workshop, because in a nutshell, you can't tell him how to correct his actions. Unfortunately, with him, not much more was achieved in two days. What is the reason for his refusals for vacancies for six months already? He considers communicating with rank-and-file personnel officers "not tsarist" business. And bypassing them is trying to get through to the first persons. And, by the way, he also demonstrated to me that I am lower than him - after all, I am an intermediary, while I myself called for help. Whether you want it or not, dear tops, even if personnel officers and recruiters in companies do not possess a tenth of your skills, you should not demonstrate it to them. Better yet, treat them like your boss on a temporary project called Employment at Company X. Still, they are yours checkpoint to the guide.

Example two. Non-trivial. In which, due to their banal thinking, the banal majority of tops do not believe. Whereas, in our opinion, this is the norm for everyone. And especially for those whose abilities are such that they have already achieved great heights in leadership positions. That is, it is yours, dear top, extraordinary and non-trivial abilities.

I flew from Rostov to Krasnoyarsk to conduct a seminar. My grandfather turned out to be a neighbor on the plane. I opened my laptop and prepared for the seminar. I noticed that he was peeping at what I was doing. We got to talking. Who was he? My grandfather turned out to be 82 years old. Grandfather - Chief Engineer at one of the Krasnoyarsk factories. Grandfather is currently one of the world's best specialists at the intersection of physics and chemistry. The grandfather's salary is one of the highest not only at the plant, but also in Krasnoyarsk. And taking into account the fact that in Soviet times, the experience was accrued from the moment of study at the university and industrial practice, grandfather's experience - 65 years in one place. He flew from one of the Rostov factories, from an industrial trip, along with three apprentices. One of the apprentices was 30, the second 35, and the third 50. I think that the third apprentice thought that it was "too late" for him to make any plans. A couple more touches to the portrait of this highly qualified and intelligent man, whom, in fact, cannot be called a grandfather. Fluent English. Flies around the world to conferences. And according to the results of the work of the personnel service of his plant on the ability to establish contacts with colleagues, which is carried out by interviewing colleagues, he said: "You know, I am already uncomfortable, but I am the best for the third year." Impressive?

Why is this so with this person? Because at 82, he continues to make long-term plans! And to act in their direction, and not fold their legs out of despair.

Let me ask you one last question?

Now, after I, on behalf of the recruiters, poured so much poison into you, how do you think we treat you? Roughly and dismissively, interrupting you, as it seems to you, on a unique story during an interview, while we hear dozens of such stories every day? Or respectful? How about a strong person who has already achieved great results, and has even greater (emphasis on the first syllable) reserves of unrealized potential? How to a person with whom you do not need polite phrases, but you need specific help? As for the second.

If we thought that it was really "late" for you, I assure you, we are not sadists. They would behave culturally, and try not to hurt the quick. But I am sure that I did not offend you, because even if you are in these circumstances, you can change them! Why? The same Viktor Frankl wrote: “A healthy person can also lose his job, but he does not reduce his activity (studies, retraining) and acts like an athlete who was expelled from the team - he continues to train, because he understands that it is impossible to get out of form”. And as proof that you healthy people- you are looking for a way out, and even read these nasty things to the end!

Want to bring back the good times? Forget your pride! Try to start acting like this, as if you still have at least 100 years of productive life left! And what difference does it actually make? Until 70 years as we used to think, or up to 150 * years, as most scientists believe, when calculating the strength of the human body? The main thing is HOW we will conduct them. And if you do not rush, but do not stop, then the result will come.

Let's not remember what you were! Let's get settled now, the way you are!

* According to some scientific physiologists, the human body is designed for 150 years, according to others for 250 years. In ancient Greece, Democritus lived up to 110 years, Pythagoras up to 109 years, like many other philosophers. And they did not "live out", but created, were productive, and had good sex. The average duration of a warrior in Sparta (if he was not killed in the war) was 105 years. The first officer's position was received no earlier than 50 years. Neurotic reasons why the majority does not work this way are described in many books by M. Litvak. (author's note.)

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The relevance of job search in our time not only does not decrease when compared with previous decades, but, on the contrary, becomes higher and higher. Some, others are fired, some want to change jobs for some reason, others simply face the need for change. But if earlier everyone used, so to speak, the classical method: buying a newspaper - searching for ads - making phone calls - scheduling interviews; then today two, and most often, even the first three points of this method can be safely crossed out, because people have the Internet at their disposal.

Searching for a job via the Internet allows you to significantly reduce time, avoid waiting in queues and preparing documents, because you can simply find a vacancy of interest and respond to it, or write a letter to the organization by sending a resume by E-Mail and briefly telling about yourself. And you can do this while sitting at your computer and sipping your favorite green tea.

However, special attention in this matter should be paid to finding the most suitable site for finding a job, because you can find many options, but not all resources can provide professional services and help you finally find a job. Therefore, we decided to provide a list of the most, in our opinion, the best job search sites in Russia, which have already been tested over the years and by a huge number of job seekers.

Below we will consider the "hot" top ten sites, turning to which, any person significantly increases their chances of finding a suitable job for themselves.

JOB.RU

The Job.ru site is one of the oldest job search sites - it has been operating since 1996. Having applied here, the applicant gets the opportunity to find a job in the territory of the Russian Federation and the countries of the former CIS, and the bank of vacancies is over 100 thousand offers, which are updated daily. In addition, on the site you can learn about how to correctly write a resume, with an employer, find a lot of useful materials related to labor law and career. All resumes submitted to the database from applicants undergo thorough moderation, due to which requests from job seekers best meet the conditions of employers.

HEADHUNTER.RU

The resource "HeadHunter.ru (hh.ru)" occupies a leading position among the resources working in the field of job search. The site contains over 300 thousand relevant job offers and more than 13 million CVs of job seekers. Each applicant is offered the opportunity to use a very convenient search engine, learn about news on the labor market, get acquainted with the updated salary catalog, get expert help online, as well as learn about all kinds of training and advanced training courses and visit the research section. Among other things, this site is very useful for employers.

GORODRABOT.RU

One of the youngest job search sites GorodRabot.ru is already included in the Top 7 most popular job portals on the Runet. More than 8 million users choose GorodRabot.ru every month. There are almost 1.5 million vacancies here. The portal contains vacancies from 150 trusted sources, including the most famous job search sites in Russia. Employers can post vacancies on GorodRabot.ru for free. Plus, it contains a database of candidates of 1.3 million resumes and services for quickly finding employees. It also has salary statistics, an indexing calculator, breaking news, helpful articles, commentary and expert advice.

RABOTA.RU

The site "Rabota.ru" is a portal that offers job seekers over 180 thousand job offers in the regions of the Russian Federation and the countries of the former CIS, and employers - more than 3 million resumes. Job search on this site is very convenient, fast and accurate, and its specialists are in touch 24 hours a day. A student, a storekeeper, a manager, a manager, and a specialist in any field can find a job here. However, the resource has quite strict regulations for posting resumes and vacancies, which is done in order to avoid dubious publications, repetitions and spam. In addition, the site has a mobile version and a special application that can be installed on a smartphone or tablet.

SUPERJOB.RU

The Superjob.ru portal database contains over 220 thousand vacancies from companies of various sizes and formats, both from domestic and foreign ones. But the main activity of the site is not only the provision of job offers, but also useful materials and the most up-to-date information in the field of the labor market, salary reviews, career guidance tests and even the help of specialists in the preparation of professional resumes. In addition, applicants have the opportunity to obtain a list of recruiting agencies, learn about various thematic events and find courses for training, advanced training or professional retraining.

ZARPLATA.RU

The site "Zarplata.ru" has been working in the field of employment for 12 years and cooperates with the popular and well-known publication "Work and Salary". The resource invites users to familiarize themselves with a huge number of offers - in total there are more than 40 thousand, and the number of people who visit the site every day exceeds 100 thousand. The site is equipped with a functional, fast and convenient job search that is updated every day, news, labor market reviews and analytical data sections, as well as the ability to post a resume and subscribe to updates. Moderation of all incoming resumes allows as soon as possible find vacancies corresponding to the given parameters.

RABOTA.MAIL.RU

The Rabota.Mail.Ru portal is very well known to Russian job seekers and employers. Every day on the site you can find a lot of fresh job offers in all regions of Russia. Almost everyone can find suitable offers here, regardless of what their specialization is - there is work for everyone, from handymen and housewives to managers and specialists. In addition, site visitors have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with labor market news and all kinds of analytical data, and students can use a special section, which contains very good and promising proposals for people without work experience and who want to combine work with education.

FREE-LANCE.RU

The resource "Free-Lance.ru" is very well known among Internet users and people who are specifically interested in distant work... Most of all, this site is suitable for people specializing in copywriting, translation of texts, writing articles, infographics, web design, photography, programming, etc. By and large, the presented resource is one of the most popular also for the reason that it allows offline employees to present their works and creations for sale and opens up a very wide scope for anyone who wants to work and with the possibility of receiving good financial rewards.

VAKANT.RU

The site "Vakant.ru" offers job seekers high-quality services and easy search for vacancies, the total number of which exceeds 170 thousand. Users can add their resumes to the databank and look for work, both at the employer's territory and remotely. The resource has been operating since 2000, and is currently considered one of the best. It is distinguished from the mass of others by its quick registration, the ability to post a resume and the presence of an internal mail, which simplifies the interaction of job seekers and employers. In addition to this, we can note the possibility of creating your own archive of vacancies, subscribing and getting acquainted with the latest news in the labor market.

The CEO is one of the most scarce top managers. Any headhunter is happy with an experienced CEO, but nevertheless, top managers are looking for a job for several months.

To speed up this process, you need to use all the most effective job search tools.

How to look for a job for a CEO?

The situation on the labor market today is paradoxical. On the one hand, companies are increasingly experiencing a shortage of top managers. The demand for CEOs is especially high. It would seem that in such conditions, qualified managers should be grabbed on the fly. However, many experienced professionals who know their own worth are looking for decent work for six months.

The crux of the problem lies in the fact that Russia has not yet debugged a mechanism that balances supply and demand in this market segment. Faced with the problem of finding a job, managers do not understand which side to approach this issue: where to start, who to turn to. In turn, employers cannot formulate who they need, and at the same time often underestimate the real value of a top manager. As a result, the search process is greatly delayed, which is detrimental to both parties.

How to speed up the job search process and not end up on the bench?

Personal connections

The most effective employment mechanism is networking. According to internal statistics of Russian and foreign executive search companies, more than 70% of top managers find jobs through the so-called social networks.

When starting your search, first of all "raise" all your formal and informal acquaintances, analyze them and make a list of contacts. Focus not only on the people with whom you are communicating at the moment. Remember with whom you studied at school, university, as well as acquaintances who have good connections. An intermediary can be not only a person from a professional environment, but also a personal hairdresser, swimming coach and a casual acquaintance.

Call everyone and inform about your readiness to consider interesting proposals and projects. Some top managers are wary of making such calls, believing that it could damage their image. successful person, and close for themselves the most effective way to search for vacancies.

In the practice of Olga Chebotkova, partner of TRANSEARCH / Top Hunt International, there was a case when an experienced top manager, an MBA graduate, was looking for a job for six months without results. After listening to Olga's arguments, he wrote an information letter and sent it to the addresses of the MBA alumni with whom he studied together. Literally 15 minutes later, one of his classmates called him and offered to take a position for which it had not been possible to find a person for several months. And for two years now, a top manager has been successfully working in this company.

Executive search

Another way to find a decent job is to contact an executive search company. Often, really non-public top managers do not come to the attention of employers and headhunters, even if they work effectively. To get noticed in the labor market, you need to make yourself known. And in order to do this efficiently, it is best to turn to professionals for help.

It is better to start “making friends” with executive search consultants before the “thunder has struck”. Even if you are not thinking about changing jobs right now, do a little research on the ES market, get recommendations from colleagues and select several recruiting agencies you can trust (in any case, there are no more than 10-15 industry leaders in Moscow and 3-4 in St. Petersburg ). Write or call these companies. Having provided information about yourself, you will be taken to the headhunters' database, after which you will be "remembered". Perhaps they will ask you to recommend someone from the professionals you know - this is a good opportunity to “consolidate” relations with consultants who will offer you the best vacancies in the future.

However, it is worth remembering that the headhunter's client is the employer, and your relevance will depend not so much on the readiness to change the place of work, but on the availability of a specific order from the consultant.

Internet

The internet as a job search tool for CEOs is less effective than social media. In addition, privacy is difficult to maintain on the Internet. Of course, you can create a "blind" resume: indicate a different name, remove the names of companies in which you worked previously, but this policy is not welcomed by employers and executive search specialists. By acting in this way, you risk causing more damage to your reputation. Therefore, it is better to choose fair play.

However, the Internet, a potential source of offers, should not be overlooked. Thus, HeadHunter.Ru makes it possible to maintain confidentiality by using various modes of visibility of the resume, for example, “available to registered companies, except for selected ones” or “available only to listed companies”.

In addition, the Internet is the most open source of information about employing companies and a space that helps to strengthen contacts. In particular, by posting your resume on job search sites, you attract the attention of headhunters, most of whom actively use Internet resume databases.

Positioning

An important component of a successful job search is the correct positioning among friends and professionals. You should be known as a person who does this and that, knows how to do this and that, works in such and such a field or has such and such interests. This is necessary in order for you to be remembered, if necessary, and recommended to acquaintances.

Of course, the further you go professional world the person who recommends you, the less clear his understanding of your interests and requests will be. Regardless, openness and a principled willingness to talk about what you do and what you want is very important.

Sometimes offers are not received simply because you are considered closed and not ready to make contact: "too successful", "too expensive" or because they do not know anything about you.

Articles in professional publications and speeches at business conferences are also a good way to “stake out” the professional field and be in the public eye. The last method should not be underestimated, if only because recruiters and journalists actively attend conferences. According to our observations, 25-30% of new speakers change jobs within 2-3 months after their appearance in public.

Providing an empty vacancy with a good salary in the hope that a high-quality candidate will appear by itself, as practice shows, is not a way out of the situation. HR specialists traditionally divide companies into “closed” and “open”. The former prefer to find candidates for high-paying positions from among employees working in junior positions, the latter are looking for candidates on the side. Supporters of each of these strategies are ready to voice dozens of arguments in support of their position. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but only one fact remains indisputable: the search for a charismatic and possessing all the necessary professional qualities a leader is not an easy task, and one must approach him with great responsibility.

War with the "nomads"

The CEO of one company, a very intelligent and educated person, once justified his decision to hire a candidate for top management: "During a conversation with him, I felt comfortable and saw that he shared my views." As it turned out later, the candidate simply did not have his own views, and he "mirrored" the leader's behavior during the interview. On the business qualities They did not pay attention, they gave up on bad recommendations, and the person was hired. Very soon they parted with him.

This story, told by the head of one of the Voronezh recruiting agencies, perfectly illustrates the importance of weeding out candidates who are greedy for a large salary and an important position for good vacancies. By the way, there are a lot of such “nomads” on the labor market today. “Young and promising”, they change one company after another, not knowing how to work, but possessing a beautiful resume, which indicates work in many top positions. Partly out of a desire to play it safe from hiring just such people, most large organizations try to look for candidates by looking over the personal files of existing employees - working in ordinary positions, but having proven themselves from the good side.

IN Russian companies top-personnel are hired mostly on the basis of recommendations, and only a small part - 10-20% - can be attracted with the help of recruiting companies, - Natalia Zhurova, head of the recruiting group of the ANKOR recruiting holding company, shares her experience. - Concerning Western companies, then they primarily use internal resources. Moreover, if it is a large international company, then we can talk about attracting personnel from the company's branches in other countries. Second-level managers are often searched for through personnel and executive search (targeted search and selection of executives top echelon and unique specialists) agencies. Searching for senior executives involves analyzing the market, obtaining information from various sources about the most successful professionals and preparing an interesting proposal for them.

Behind closed doors

We prefer to look for "promising" ones in our own company. Our company has a succession program that allows us to predict which of the talented employees and when will be able to take key positions in the business, ”says Alena Shesterikova, HR Director of MTS OJSC. - Each manager can suggest his own person for this program, and employees know that they will be promoted within one to three years. Of course, for the success of such a program, it is important to understand what kind of specialists the company will need in the long term, and the desire of employees to develop. In MTS, the program shows good results: in 2011, 30% of successors moved to the next career positions, and the percentage of vacancies filled by internal candidates reached 80%.

Approximately the same opinion is held in VTB Bank: according to the head of the group for work with personnel of the Belgorod branch of the bank, Ekaterina Zubkova, the company has one of the better systems motivation, the program for the training of its own personnel is being successfully implemented. “When selecting top managers, we rely on our talented youth,” notes Ms. Zubkova.

Belgorodenergo also has its own explanation of the “closed” personnel policy. “The specifics of work in the energy sector makes it ineffective to attract such personnel from outside. As a rule, a graduate of a university or even a secondary specialized educational institution comes to an enterprise as an ordinary specialist and grows to the level of a manager, ”the company notes.

A separate category of organizations is large industrial enterprises, the current leaders of which, back in the Soviet era, occupied soft chairs, having passed all personnel stages - from laborers and slingers to directors and owners of factories. Such people are often simply sure that a potential boss must independently learn all the intricacies of production, starting almost from the position of a cleaner.

Negotiators

However, sometimes there is such a situation that there are no suitable personnel within the company, or the organization basically adheres to the once established rule - to look for top officials on the side. Here recruitment agencies come to the rescue, which are ready to sell their own experience in this area for a certain amount.

Finding the right candidates for leadership positions is a key, strategic function of human relations departments in companies. Realizing this, in our bank we approach the search and selection of top managers in the most careful way. In the search for such employees, we use a wide range of HR tools based on the policy of openness and transparency of our relations in the market and within the company. Among others, we actively use recruitment agencies, since their long-term expertise is important to us, ”says Kirill Popov, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Department of Home Credit Bank.

Indeed, recruiting agencies can offer employers something that their own HR department cannot have by default - objectivity. Permanent job with a resume allows you not only to weed out the notorious "nomads", but also to find the really necessary person.

IN recent times For the selection of highly qualified managers, companies are increasingly resorting to the help of recruiting agencies. And this is no coincidence: while implementing such projects in various areas of business, recruiting companies are constantly replenishing their own database of candidates, which allows them to quickly respond to the client's need for a new employee, ”says Galina Volgach, director of the Voronezh office of the recruiting company Beagle. At the same time, it is important to understand that we are talking not only about those applicants who are already in open sources and are available to any employer. As a rule, these are mostly those candidates who are not currently actively looking for work, but are highly qualified specialists. Often they work in competing companies of the customer or simply do not think about the search better place... Experienced employees of recruiting companies help to attract such specialists.

A third-party organization, when it comes to enticing a specialist from competitors, is like no one else suitable for the role of such a negotiator who can offer the necessary professional conditions for working for a competitor. According to Irina Veretennikova, Director for Development of the Southern Region of the HeadHunter Group, the agency can act as an intermediary when it is not possible to start negotiations directly. For example, when a candidate is not ready to negotiate with competitors or the employer wants to remain anonymous at first.

Issue price

How much will it cost to find a top manager through a recruiting agency? The employer should be ready to pay about a quarter of the future salary of the new employee for the name of the candidate (and, of course, his consent to change the company).

The cost of recruiting company services for finding and attracting the right specialist in Voronezh varies from 10% to 25% of the candidate's annual income. Such a spread in price is dictated, firstly, by the level of the agency itself, and secondly, by the level of the position to be closed, says Galina Volgach. - If an agency agrees to search for a top-level manager for one salary, then this should at least alert the employer. Here it is appropriate to study in detail the terms of the contract and clarify in what ways the agency is going to look for the right candidate, how many employees work in the agency, what is their experience in the implementation of similar projects, with which companies it cooperates. If necessary, you should request letters of recommendation from clients - in a word, make sure that the agency is reliable as a future provider.

Approximately the same figures are voiced by other market participants. The amount of remuneration of 25-30% of the candidate's annual income, taking into account all bonuses and bonuses, is also voiced by Irina Veretennikova, noting, however, that before going to the agency, you still need to try to find a specialist for a vacancy on your own.

In our practice, there are examples when the top candidate whom the agency leads was in the database of applicants on the site - the employer himself could find him, saving money.

The retail job market hardly has its own distinctive operating characteristics - executive-level job seekers in the retail segment face the same job search challenges as their counterparts in other industries.

One of the most common difficulties in the job search process is the small number of open-source vacancies. In a number of companies, recruitment is still in the "frozen" status. Often, a new employee is not taken in the place of a resigned person, but his duties are redistributed between colleagues or they are trying to fill a vacancy through an internal personnel reserve... This phenomenon is most common in the structure of middle management.

The functions of top management employees can rarely be distributed among other departments, so the need to find a new team member remains relevant. Usually employers delegate this task to large Russian and international executive search agencies, which, in turn, almost never publish vacancies on job search sites or social networks.

As a second difficulty, one can define the growth of competition for open vacancies and, as a result, a change and toughening of the requirements of employers to applicants for open positions. Currently, top managers are expected not only to quickly immerse themselves in the workflow, but also to be ready to take on some operational work... Even the highest paid manager should be ready to “roll up his sleeves” and carry out some of his duties on his own, and not shift tasks to numerous subordinates, as it could have been before, before the crisis. The fact is that this year hardly any company plans to expand its staff or significantly increase its budget.

Today employers themselves have become more critical in assessing applicants: the time for making a decision has increased, the number of interview stages has increased, and new assessment activities have been added. Therefore, the manager in search must be ready to go through "fire, water and copper pipes." Special methods there are many candidates for the position: stressful interview, polygraph, testing, " homework", Which is a business case, etc.

The next challenge in finding a job in retail is moving to retail from another industry. Attempting to move from industry to industry or from function to another function is a common trend among job seekers. This process is quite complicated, the result largely depends on the industry in which a person wants to get into. For example, such narrow-profile management positions as the head of a hypermarket, the head of the network development department or a manager product category occupied by managers who thoroughly know the specifics and features of work in the retail market, the main competitors. If we take into account the functions general order, such as finance, logistics or IT, then here, too, the applicant will most likely face the employer's desire to hire a “ready” employee, and not wait for the new team member to learn all the nuances of an industry unfamiliar to him, even if he is a high-class professional in his function ... In times of crisis and tough competition, not all companies have the time to "adapt" new employees. Therefore, applicants who have decided to try themselves in a new industry need to use all possible search channels and be prepared for the fact that the process can drag on for a long period of time.

Demand for vacancies in retail

last few years retail feels the negative influence of macroeconomic factors. Among them, for example, temporary economic difficulties, sanctions and the associated decrease in consumer demand. The period of 2015-2016 for the retail market can be called ambiguous - the owners of chain enterprises were tightly tightening their belts, and those who could not adapt to the existing realities left the market altogether.

In general, the situation in the retail sector is gradually starting to level out: the decline has stopped, the market is gradually stabilizing, the positive trends that have emerged in 2016 will continue this year. In this regard, one can count on an increase in the number of vacancies in retail, because the more stable the industry feels, the more interest it will be for job seekers. First of all, this applies to large federal Russian and international networks that are ready to offer job seekers stability, competitive wages, opportunity career growth and an attractive social package.

We have watched the structure of retail market continued to be formatted: many local retail chains could not survive in the face of an economic downturn and a decrease in consumer activity, and large players continued their policy of consolidating their market share, actively moving forward at the federal level. In retail chains, the task of developing a promising direction in the format ecommerce, which will affect the appearance of a significant number of vacancies in this direction.

Where and how to look for a job for top managers in retail?

The strategy and channels of job search for retail managers are not much different from the FMCG sphere, rather it depends on the search status of the applicant himself. Does he need a job here and now, or is he already employed, but is ready to consider new proposals? One way or another, there are several search channels that are effective and, accordingly, the most popular among job seekers - these are executive search agencies, job sites, social networks and, of course, recommendations and personal connections.

For managers who are not actively looking for work, executive search agencies- perhaps best tool... Such companies often offer attractive positions. At the same time, candidates can be sure that information will not leak, because recruiting agencies with a proven track record provide such a guarantee. The applicant can send his resume to the company with cover letter or contact the consultant directly and ask for a face-to-face meeting, if he has free time... Such meetings are useful in terms of developing business contacts, they also allow managers to improve their self-presentation skills and get first-hand information about the situation on the labor market. You can find a list of practices and contacts of consultants on the agency's official website or on social networks.

If we talk about social media, here it is worth paying special attention to Facebook and LinkedIn. Despite the fact that the latter is officially blocked in Russia, it is possible to get access to it. Moreover, HR representatives continue to use LinkedIn as one of the main search channels for executives. In this social network you can also continue to actively communicate in industry groups, expand your contacts, participate in professional discussions, contact people who can be useful for your career development.

Profgallery.ru conducted a special study to determine the effectiveness of job search methods, in which heads of medium and large businesses were interviewed. Personal contacts were the most effective - 80% of respondents use them. Others voted for recruiting sites, which often host managerial vacancies from large Russian and international companies - they helped 29% of respondents find a new job.

There are several options for working with this source: you can post a resume in the public domain, or search for a vacancy anonymously, responding only to the most interesting ones. In this case, it is better to find a “middle ground”. It so happens that your ideal job is in the public domain. Therefore, in order for the employer to contact you, it is still worth posting your resume, making it as unrecognizable as possible for your current manager. Particular attention should be paid to work sites specializing in working with managers, where the quality of offers and the level of confidentiality will be much higher - there you will be noticed faster. In addition, the coveted vacancy can be found on one of the specialized sites dedicated to the retail industry.

How to look for a job? - practical advice

Summing up, it is worth highlighting a few guidelines that will help job seekers achieve good results.

If you are really in search, do not neglect any of the search channels - this will increase your own chances of success. Pay special attention to the skills of self-presentation, and also focus on the competencies and skills that are most in demand on the market at the moment for each specific position.

There is no need to embellish your achievements, because the market in each industry is quite narrow, so it is not difficult to get real information on any manager of the management level. At the same time, you should not underestimate the merits - tell us about the tasks that you solved on your own and the results obtained as a result. After the interview, it will not be superfluous to send a letter of thanks for your time. Thus, you confirm your interest in the vacancy, and once again remind the employer of your candidacy.

And finally, even if your job search is delayed, in no case show negativity and fatigue at the interview - everyone general director wants to see active, charismatic, self-confident managers in the team. Self-confidence and a positive attitude are the keys to success!