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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 a
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 definition?
No sphere has any preferences in terms of impact. I know quite a few NGOs that were created not in order to improve the world, but to unfairly optimize taxes or income. I know quite a few NGOs with a toxic workplace environment. I also know quite a few NGOs that really help people and make the world a better place. These organizations make a real impact. In general, NGOs are naturally closer to impact. But just the fact that you call yourself an NGO does not automatically mean that you make an impact.
In your opinion, how can one make a greater impact – by self-employment or by being on payroll? And why? Self-employment has not more and not less impact. It all comes down to the same two questions – am I improving the world and am I improving myself? For instance, I have a cake shop that the whole neighborhood adores, and I also use the profits to plant three lilac trees in front of the shop, or I donate the leftover cakes to the homeless or the poor. Oddly enough, self-employment can have a greater impact because you make people happier every day and do something good on top of that. While a large corporation that spends millions of billions on impact-focused projects can have a box-ticking approach, and these projects won't bring any actual benefits. Or it may have an environment so toxic that no matter how many lilac trees they plant, they won't make any impact.
So once again, there are two key criteria – am I making the world better, and do I get better myself. If you answer «yes» to both of these questions, you are making an impact, regardless of whether you work for a company or are self-employed. If at least one answer is a «no», there is no impact.
What are the rules and criteria that can help people find a job that makes an impact?
Before you are invited to a job interview, usually you get a call from a recruiter who asks you questions and talks about the company. Listen carefully. How respectful are they? How willing are they to provide information about salary? It may be not a single figure but two, for instance, "We pay people in your position from 100,000 to 150,000 rubles (our salary fork), the rest depends on your qualification”. It's an honest reply. See how transparent and clear all processes are in general. You want to see a respectful attitude at all interview stages, transparency about job tasks, salary, the whole story of how this vacancy came around. Was someone fired or promoted, or is the company expanding? You want to get answers to most of your questions. Of course, there should be no under-the-table payments. These factors help understand that even if a company technically is not engaged in the impact business, it is an impact-focused company in terms of its internal career policy.