Why didn’t they call me back-6, or be careful, username

When almost a year ago I wrote the article " How to save my own and other people's time in interviews, or a little about HR misconceptions ", I proceeded from the assumption of decency and interest of the two parties in long-term cooperation (mutual win, win-win, that's all).

The practice of the last year shows that the market situation is gradually changing for the worse for the employee, namely:

• if the employee as a whole still remains interested in hiring on his own or at least acceptable terms (although in Kharkov and Krasnodar there are additional options);
• then HR on the part of the employer may be completely uninterested in this.

TL: DR More about interesting old and new optimization methods before, during and after the interview and, as always, a stream of consciousness. You can not read and immediately minus.

What has changed in the labor market

Over the past couple of years, the labor market in the Russian Federation (including Moscow) a couple of times has turned over in all directions. This was influenced by many factors:

• Decrease in demand for a number of employees due to the transfer of services to the clouds, outsourcing, etc.
• Change in the demand structure from, say, system administrators to devs engineers (the list of requirements was extended by 10 lines)
• The emigration of some workers from the Russian Federation (at the same time, it returns several times less)
• The end of the influx of personnel from the regions
• The economy as a whole has become more economical
• The very “demographic and educational pit” that has been talked about for so long. So she came - today's worker of 25-30 years in the mass studied already “something and somehow”, and the birth rate in 1989. 1999 was a little subsided.

As a result, it became much more difficult (sometimes even impossible) to find a good and cheap employee in Moscow, and money was no longer enough for an expensive one.

In the case of the regions, for some reason, good workers also left for Moscow / St. Petersburg (and beyond), while the rest were quite satisfied with their current place of work, settled down.

What did the business answer

Employees need business yesterday, well, maybe today. The business has no time, desire and money to train employees, the HR department is also “optimized”.

There are two ways out:

• Submit an application to external contractors, suddenly they find something, they have bases, connections, black and white lists (which, of course, they will all deny, but black lists have popped up at least once), and search experience.
• Arrange clever tricks at all stages of the interview and probationary period to fit into the required framework.

Enumeration of such clever tricks is the subject of this post.

1. Search by external contractors (agencies and free agents)

The contract can be given to several agencies at the same time. As a result, I received an automated mailing from 2-3 different organizations that I almost went to the second stage of the contest "who wants to work in our big friendly young high-tech campaign", you just need to write that I agree. At the same time, since the newsletter is automated. then the selection of resumes for the query is by keywords.

Linux (I haven’t seen it in my eyes) or Java (not my favorite language) can be written in the resume — to select select where * linux * this will be enough.

Since the KPI of an employee (HR, agency) can be counted both from the number of calls, mailings, confirmed interviews, and in general the number of resumes sent up, then if your resume fell into the sample, it is likely that you should wait for the call after that, and it’s good if there are no complaints of the form “I wrote to you,” although there may be options like “well, what about the middle of the working day - you still have to listen to me, and no, I won’t call you back and write later.”

As a result,

• the candidate receives a lot of automated mailing (spam)
• everything goes to the customer in a row.

This annoys both the customer and the employee to a certain extent, especially given the subsequent HR complaints of the form “I called him from different numbers, wrote to all instant messengers, including Tinder, and he immediately hangs up, which is hard for me to listen to,” but Nevertheless, there is always the possibility that the work will be interesting, and you will have to understand the features of a particular proposal.

2. Nimble tricks in the discussion phase before the interview, during and after

Recently, they again discussed the Russian craving for a fixed salary ... a salary of 120 thousand rubles, a quarterly bonus of one salary, an annual three salaries ... the reduced monthly salary is 190 thousand rubles. Candidates say - 120 is not enough, they offer me 180. But we offer you 190 - that's good, but if only they would be paid every month. It is clear that guarantees are good, that they can deprive bonuses, but take out your salary and put it ... Does this generation of millenials want stability in this way? (quote from the internet)

2.1 Smart tricks before the interview

• Hello, we are looking for talent. In fact, the organization does not search for an employee, but is gaining a base “against the whole reserve”. As a result, you will never be called back.
• There is no declared salary at all, “we have an individual approach, etc.” The reasons for this method are known, but in general, if the plug is not voiced before passing 2-3 interviews, then this is a bad sign.
• The declared salary is a gross (it’s good even to personal income tax, and not to the unified social tax), with 100% KPI and all possible bonuses.
• The declared salary is not available at all. For example, in a vacancy, it can be written “up to 200” with a real plug “up to 150 and this is with a premium” (for Moscow) or “up to 80” (with the actual maximum 50) in the region. Both cases are real, the numbers are rounded.
• We can’t give so much. There is already a question not from the area of ​​tricks, but sometimes after a month or two you can learn from a colleague in a smoking room that more was possible. Often combined with a ban on discussing salaries with colleagues.
• Class A office. At the same time, located in a hefty J. An example for Moscow is K.'s office at R. metro station.
• Class A office, but there is a nuance - your customer will personally have your workplace.
• Class A office, but there is a nuance - parking space will not be given. When I wrote a post
• Non-material motivation - what is included there, it only included a parking lot, while in some offices of “Class A” parking is not included in the minimum “by default”.

In modern conditions, you need to ask about cars, motorbikes, bicycles and the availability of a covered parking space with a power outlet for charging a scooter. Moreover, the place is not "then if there will be," but "now."

Candidate glue before the interview

• Automated systems allow you to track the update of an employee’s resume on hh OUT of dependence on the setting “do not show my resume to my current job”
• The built connections allow you to inform your colleagues that “such an employee is going to leave your office” - which sometimes leads to various and interesting effects. As a result, you did not seem to be going to leave your native oar, but it turns out that you will have to leave. Of course, this subparagraph is just a rumor, but this cannot really be.

2.2 Nimble tricks during the interview

• Confirmation of a certain amount at the stage of the interview, followed by another amount in the employment contract. Surprisingly, it happens.
• Blurry trial requirements. For example, on a trial period, salary can be 30 percent less, but the trial period can be a month, but it can be three (more in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is not possible for ordinary positions. It is possible for non-ordinary positions).
• Not announced complex bonus system with unobvious moments. For example, bonuses cannot be obtained without actual processing.
• Simple and familiar pressure on an employee with questions in some completely different direction. What, you don’t know about the implementation of the technology that was used 1 time half a year ago "- oooo, we expected more from you, but you are kind of promising, let's now come to us 2/3 of N, and after a year we’ll talk, discuss, and can raise your salary by 5 percent. We see potential in you!
• Multiple interviews with different people. In the best case, it will be 2 different SBs, in the worst - the copied idea about the interview “with everyone in a row to make up an opinion”. Partially - reincarnation of tests about hatches. For the employee - a loss of 2-3 weeks to 1.5-2 months only for interviews. Immediately specify how many interviews are planned, with whom and when. The problem is that these interviews can be both actually (bureaucratically) necessary and can be a means of retaining a candidate who, it seems, is not the first candidate, but suddenly the first will refuse.

2.3 Artful tricks after the interview

• Hold or we will call you back. Translation: We already have a candidate (or two) who we like a little more (or costs a little less), but if he refuses, then we can contact you, but that’s not for sure. My record “on hold” was 1.5 months (I did not wait).
• A complex method of paying salaries, such as "the first salary is paid in the middle of the second month."
• Registration under a fixed-term employment contract. A fixed-term employment contract has advantages for all parties, but sometimes unconscious employers can use it to put pressure on the employee.
• Complex accounting of actual working hours. There are many options. Always clarify this issue, starting from the beginning of the working day and ending with the cancellation of hours and accounting in general.
• Actual payment for processing. There is room for all kinds of maneuvers and offsets, starting from the simple "you have an irregular working day, so we are not allowed to leave before 20:00."
• "Watch", it is also on-call. This topic has slipped recently, in one discussion with the words "we have it mandatory." This trouble touched me 3 jobs back, and here it is: on your legal weekend you need one (or both) days to be ready for arrival at the workplace in 2-3 hours.

Formally, you are not at work and you are not obliged to pay this time (and they won’t - there is no money, but you hold on), but for Moscow, arrival in 2 hours means that you should be relatively free, and sober and sleepy. Thus, from one’s absolutely free time one way or another falls out not one day, but one and a half, and in some cases the whole weekend - it will not work to leave the cottage / barbecue.

Several years ago, at that workplace, this situation was clarified to me during an interview, saying that “there’s so much surcharge, the frequency of duty is such and such. It suited me at that time, but at the next workplace they might not say until the design.

• Career growth and other grades and ratings. Another mechanism that can both improve performance and spoil. On the one hand, a carrot hanging in front of your nose can really stimulate you to run faster. On the other hand, the promise of this carrot itself can also help to run ... for a while. After determining the fundamental impossibility of achieving a carrot to run after it, it becomes not so interesting.
• Envelopes. The growth of the “white salary” again rested in the fact that the UST (OPS, OMS, VNiM) plus injuries plus personal income tax is not always profitable to pay, and options are always possible with the envelope.
• The depreciation of part of intangible motivation in the form of internal learning. Such training can be actively declared, in fact it can consist in a story about half a day every six months “to work with us is a great honor” and other team games. From what I personally saw, it was training after a working day “on an owl or how to tell employees that they’re going to get their salary up”, and “now we are going to build a team with these people that you see for the first and last time”.
• The depreciation of part of intangible motivation. About 5 years ago, the ability to actively study new technologies at arm's length was necessary. Now only a listing of free or almost free courses takes a page of text, for example, here is a selection for VMware , here is a selection for storage emulators , here is MS LAB , not to mention training subscriptions for AWS and Azure.

Thanks to the famous site for the general idea.