‘It’s getting harder to find employees, and you need to be more creative’

“We are moving more and more online”

At the moment, the current unemployment rate in Russia is 3%.

“There has never been such a level of unemployment in our country," said Maxim Oreshkin, the assistant to the president of Russia, during parliamentary hearings in the State Duma.

Now, there is being an increase in offers on the labour market. According to Dmitry Puchkov, the development director of Avito Work platform, the number of vacancies in the third quarter of 2023 increased by 132% compared to the same period last year, and by 24% compared to the previous quarter. There are several trends, one of them is the growth of the salaries offered.

“It becomes more difficult to find employees and, accordingly, you need to be more creative and understand what applicants really want. On the other hand, from the applicant's side, it seems that this is a time of opportunity. If someone once wanted to change jobs, now it is not the best time to do it, but exactly the moment when you can find the best conditions for yourself in the job market," he noted.

The expert raised the issue of “age discrimination” of people over 45 years of age — the trend of 2018-2021.

“Then they said: “When one turns 45, they will find a job.” Not really. Now they even say that the postponement of the retirement age additionally gives an influx to the labour market — it is about 2-3 million people, which in the current situation is a serious help. Let me remind you that there are about 73 million able-bodied people in Russia.

Other trends — remote work format, part-time employment — are increasing from year to year: “The same trend for part-time work — we have seen that it is growing by about a quarter more years from 2018-2019 in terms of search queries. Now the pace is only increasing.”

“Well, such a general macro trend — we are increasingly moving online, no matter what kind of activity it concerns — or ordering products, or finding a job. Now there is already a fairly high degree of penetration of online platforms — about 85-87% — and in the future this figure is going to increase," Dmitry Puchkov noted.

Kazan residents are more likely to choose part-time jobs

In general, there have been structural changes in the demand for labour.

“In fact, a number of industries — agriculture or manufacturing — are experiencing an even more acute situation in terms of the availability of labour resources," said Puchkov, drawing attention to that employers cannot provide 100 percent staffing. “This generates to some extent the ingenuity or openness of employers to new forms of employment, which are dictated by the wishes of applicants.

These include self-employment, civil law contract, and platform-based employment. Thus, the number of part-time vacancies increased by 73%, and resumes for them — by 140%. In general, more than half of the candidates — 53% — combined their main job and part-time work.

If you look in detail at the statistics on the structure of job-seeking activity, then most still choose a full-time job. Remote work in Russia and the Volga Federal District is chosen by 30%, while in Kazan — only 23%. At the same time, residents of the capital of Tatarstan are most often attracted to part-time jobs — 53%, while in the district and in the whole country this figure is 33%.

“This is understandable — if you look not with Russia and the Volga Federal District, but, for example, with other million-plus cities, then the trend for part-time employment is more evident there," Dmitry Puchkov stressed.

AI can give rise to new professions

Another growing trend concerns automation, says the expert:

“Obviously, we are now fully aware of the demographic pit. Let me remind you that our birth rate has been decreasing since the 1990s. That is, we are talking about about thirty-year-old people who should now enter the labour market — and here we have lags. In fact, many employers will be forced to turn to various formats of automation of their production processes.

Another exciting issue is artificial intelligence. According to the study, 32% of employers plan to implement neural networks and AI in business processes. We are talking about such areas as analytics of marketing and sales results (55%), accounting (44%), design and HR (35% each), SMM (22%), and law (19%). Despite this, Dmitry Puchkov reassured, AI is not going to replace humans:

“On the contrary, it is more likely to generate new professions. And here we even see on our platform that the emergence of new technologies will rather restructure the labour market, creating new professions, or increasing the basic requirements for professions to which we are all accustomed. For example, in the profession of accountant, where knowledge of 1C program was previously required, they will soon ask for a much higher level of training, based on that the emergence of neural networks allows you to maximise and speed up the learning process.

“People are changing jobs more and more often”

As for Tatarstan, the unemployment rate here is lower than in the country — 2%

“If we talk about the republic, it ranks fifth among successful regions in terms of the labour market. We have quite a lot of production facilities and factories. In 2023, 97% of candidates are looking for work online. And more than two-thirds do it using smartphones. The phone is always at hand, and it's much easier to find everything there. More than 80% are looking on professional platforms, 27% of applicants are not interested in geography and place of work. That is, they are ready to change their place of work, to work remotely. According to research, 87% of Kazan residents have been looking for work with the help of special services in the last year," said Nail Khafizov, regional representative of Avito Jobs in Tatarstan.

According to the study, more than half have attempted to find a job at least once this year, 17% have tried to find a job two or three times this year, and 15% have been looking for a job more than three times.

“People are changing jobs more and more often. They look at what opportunities there are in the market, what employers offer," the expert stressed.

In the third quarter of 2023, the number of vacancies in Tatarstan doubled compared to the same period in 2022 — there are about 230 thousand of them, including 80 thousand in Kazan. The average salary offered was by 31% higher. The following areas are leading in terms of job growth: personnel management, administrative work, art and entertainment, manufacturing, raw materials and agriculture, transport and logistics, etc.

The top 10 biggest salary offers from July to September is the following:

• trucker — 135,800 rubles;

• steelworker — 120,000 rubles;

• realtor -102,600 rubles;

• tile maker — 101,900 rubles;

• turner — 100,100 rubles;

• installer (doors, stretch ceilings, furniture, etc.) — 100,100 rubles;

• miller — 96,900 rubles;

• rollerman — 96,600 rubles;

• auto house painter — 95,600 rubles;

• adjuster — 94,800 rubles.

“Employers cannot lose interested candidates because everyone costs a lot”

According to Avito Jobs, 46% of working Kazan residents are happy at their place of work. According to this indicator, the capital of Tatarstan ranks 13th among Russian cities.

“In my opinion, this is a very good position among the numerous cities that we have. As for the main factors by which happiness is assessed, it is a pleasant team, stability and reliability of the organisation, good working conditions, decent wages and flexible working conditions," explained Anna Osmak, the head of the sales department of Avito Jobs.

According to her, first of all, a potential employee looks at the level of income, the stability of the company, and flexible employment formats.

“Now employees are more often attracted to hybrid work formats — a person can determine for himself when it is more convenient for him to go to the office and when he can work remotely," the expert stressed.

The shortage of personnel also affects the behaviour of employers.

“Employers cannot lose interested candidates because everyone costs a lot. And if earlier employers chose on their side, they could not answer for a very long time, now they are focused on speed and on responding to each candidate," said Osmak.