During the current crisis Ukrainians are paying increasingly less attention to career growth and development, their salaries, and even the tasks and functions they are supposed to do in new jobs, while the criterion of company’s stability is now 20 times more important than twoyears ago. These are the results of the survey of nearly 2,000 job seekers in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Kyiv conducted by ANCOR Holding Management Company.
In early autumn different kinds of predictions appeared regarding a change of the crisis situation on the job market. Some experts predicted a new wave of job cuts, while others predicted more job opportunities. What happened in reality?
The survey shows no visible improvement on the market. The numbers may look fairly dismal also because the data for the current year were compared with the situation in 2007 when the job market was thriving. The survey organizers wondered why Ukrainians quit jobs during the crisis. The economic situation in the country has been a factor here: in 2007 employees generally gave up jobs due to a lack of prospects for career growth, personal development, or satisfactory compensation, while today the reasons are different.
Today dismissals take place largely independent of the employees’ wishes. For example, a great number of Ukrainians were simply laid off. This figure showed a fourfold increase in the past two years in the survey of the Ukrainian job market. People find themselves unemployed three times more often due to their employing company’s unstable situation. Respondents also point out that conflicts with their management have become more frequent or that companies ceased to exist altogether.
DEVELOPMENT IS BETTER THAN MONEY
It is actually impossible today for a job seeker to be fastidious about vacancies. Half of the respondents pointed out that they had just one job offer so they did not have a choice. The number of such respondents compared to 2007 has tripled. The other 50 percent of job seekers have two or three offers from employers, while just a few percent – one-fifth of the 2007 figure – are fortunate to receive four and more offers at once.
Therefore, the question about preferred criteria in choosing a job was applicable only to half of the respondents. Even so a certain tendency has been discovered: professional development and salary still have the leading position, although compared to 2007 they are clearly less relevant. What is more important now is a criterion that was secondary a short while ago – the stability of a company in all aspects, including its international status, confident position on the market, possession of a strategy and plans for development, and the personality of the executive officer. This is what the average job seeker now pays special attention to. Still important are such factors as financial stimulation of achievements and legal employment registration.
The research was conducted not only in Ukraine but also in Russia. Our neighbors also have a range of factors that remain unchangeable regardless of market conditions. But Russian respondents, unlike ours, did not mention problems with remuneration, atmosphere in the company, and conflicts with managers. At the same time, Russians much more often quit their jobs due to the absence of prospects for professional development. The main criterion for Russian job seekers is the level of income offered at the new job. In this situation Ukrainians prefer professional development, leaving money as a secondary consideration. Therefore, provided that Ukrainians gave honest answers, the crisis has not broken them so far – they are more interested in professionalism, while Russians, in salary.
The survey in question has revealed one more interesting fact.
As it turns out, 10 percent of Ukrainians believe that it is simply impossible to work for one company for over 10 years. Another 13 percent claim that they are ready to work so long only for their own business. But the majority of the respondents said they are still ready to work an entire decade for one company provided it constantly increases the salary.
The money factor, naturally, tops the list. A possibility to become a partner or co-owner of the business takes the second place. A bit less important but still significant is a possibility to work in foreign branches of the company and company-provided accommodation and health insurance. All these indicators have not affected by the crisis at all – this year they are nearly the same as in 2007. However, the number of those wishing to take out a loan on preferential terms from their company for a major purchase has decreased.
ONLY JAPAN IS TRUSTED LESS
This situation on the job market in our country is one of reasons why Ukrainians barely trust their country. In terms of the assessment of a country’s reputation by its own citizens Ukraine ranks last in Europe and next to last in the world, reports Reputation Capital Ukraine.
No wonder that the trust to us on the part of the G8 countries has also dropped. Ukrainians gave Russia’s reputation 66.87 points, while Russians awarded no more than 31 points to Ukraine.
Experts say that such a low rating was caused by the state social policy, unfavorable business environment, and lifestyle. Over the past year the already low popular trust indicator for Ukraine has decreased by more than 19 percent. Thus, only the Japanese hold their country in lower regard, report the researchers.
