Редакция журнала «Позитивные изменения» - Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 1 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 1 (2022)

в стране. То есть наш главный импакт в том, что мы помогаем соискателю найти понятные, прозрачные способы сделать свою карьеру максимально эффективной. Речь не обязательно про деньги. Это может быть про должность, про интересные проекты, про переход из найма в свое дело или обратно. То есть мы реально всегда помогаем, уже 22 года, и по большей части бесплатно.

Юлия Вяткина

Журналист

How am I Improving the World Right Now? Am I Improving Myself? — The Two Criteria of Impact in your Career. Interview with Alena Vladimirskaya

Yulia Vyatkina

DOI 10.55140/2782-5817-2022-2-1-5-9

Social impact is one of the top career trends in 2022. If you know how to apply the impact in your career, it increases your value on the labor market and makes you happier. What are the impact criteria in your career, why should HRs disclose salaries in job postings for “white collars”, and where to search for a job with an impact? Alena Vladimirskaya, one of Russia's most influential experts on recruitment and headhunting, talks about these issues in an interview with Yulia Vyatkina.

Alena Vladimirskaya

How can you define an impact in relation to career?

There are two ways of looking at it. First, there are firms that call themselves impact companies. Their impact criteria are clear and have nothing to do with recruitment. These companies say that they are not just making money, but also improving the world and making the Earth and the people who inhabit it happier. Of course, job seekers have a more positive attitude towards impact companies as opposed to companies without the impact factor.

However, it does not matter how much a company is involved in external activities, such as planting trees, recycling or feeding children in Ethiopia. If it does not have an impact on the lives of its own employees, it will experience high staff turnover, bad reputation, emotional burnouts, etc.

When we talk about impact recruiting, the first and foremost is of course a focus on diversity in employment. A company may seem cool, but it refuses to hire a 58-year-old employee or would not promote him or her. The second extremely important thing is salary transparency.

Is this why you at Facancy (a job-seeking service for middle and top management founded by Alena Vladimirskaya and Sergei Druzhinin — ed. note) disclose salaries for any job offering?

Yes, and we are tired of explaining to recruiters why they need to do the same. They don't get it, don't do it, get annoyed. On our website, companies must disclose average salary forks for every opening. For any vacancy for “white collars” you can see three figures — minimum, maximum, and median salary, meaning the most common one. Social impact also involves salary transparency right from the start, already during the job interview. You need to understand how to increase your income and get clear career progress criteria.

In other words, impact in relation to career is full adherence to diversity and a clear, transparent motivation system both inside and outside the company. Without such obvious internal impact considerations, all the external impact is a hoax that will be exposed very quickly.

You used the term "high sky" to refer to job applicants' desire to work for companies with great prospects that can make an international impact.

Let's make it clear. I never meant international companies. On the contrary, I believe that right now, working for a Russian company is much more exciting. Why? Because the political and economic environment right now do not favor the development of international companies in Russia, perhaps excluding the Chinese and some Asian firms. Russian companies, on the other hand, are developing at a staggering rate. So I would not associate the concept of impact with international companies in Russia in any way whatsoever at this point.

All right. And when did you recognize the increased importance of impact factors among job seekers?

The thing is, people looking for a job have always wanted to work for a company with a good mission and clear requirements. It just wasn't called an "impact”. People used to say, "oh, this is something that international companies have and Russian companies don't, so let's all work for international companies”.

Impact in relation to career is a clear, transparent motivation system both inside and outside the company.

When discussing impact, a question of measurement often comes up. In your opinion, how can you measure an impact when it comes to jobs and career?

It's actually very simple. How much do I improve the world? Everyone operates on a different scale, it's not always about millions and billions. However, it is always about improving the world and improving yourself. Say, if I am sitting at a desk filling in tables in Excel, I'm not making an impact. But if I fill in those accounting tables knowing that part of taxes or contributions go to a retirement home, then yes. This is the first criterion. The second — how does this job help me get better, both personally and professionally? In other words, in which way this position helps my development and allows me to do exciting things. Therefore, there is no impact without people. If a person can answer "yes” to both of the criteria, then this is the impact related to your career.

What opportunities does the impact bring for one's career? How can it increase an employee's value?

Just the simple fact that a person has worked for an impact company, and these are mostly brand companies, is enough to make this specialist more valuable. But if you have poor skills, if you simply moved the papers around in any impact company for three years and have lost your qualifications, then of course your value in the job market won't increase. It's not enough to work for a major brand company, you need to do something important and grow as a professional.

In the newsletters from your Facancy project, you sometimes call job postings from NGOs "good karma vacancies". Can you say that working for a charity or NGO is an impact job experience by --">