UNIT 24. SOCIAL ISSUES

I. Read the text and comment on its content.

RUSSIAN JOB SEEKERS LOST ON THE WEB

Internet-aided recruitment may soon be able to replace regular recruitment processes, World Wide Web enthusiasts expect. However, a closer look at existing Russian job search procedures show that they are not bringing jobseekers and employers to get her effectively. Few of these sites provide the necessary tools for users in a professional manner; many are just only listings of vacancies. Many Russian job portals seem to be more concerned with attracting advertisers through high visitor figures than with the quality of their services.

Several sites don’t even make much of an effort to look after the quality of the vacancies advertised, or check that they haven’t already been filled. This is necessary in order to avoid sites becoming virtual vacancy dumps where, on the face of it, there seem to be a lot of vacancies, but in reality, many are either already filled or never existed in the first place. The number of vacancies offered by various sites ranges between 100 and 20,000. The sites that have lower figures usually are either new (cvonline.ru) or specifically target certain groups of employers and job seekers (nj.ru, profy.ru).

The Websites jobs.ru and job-today.ru are online versions of the print newspapers Rabota dlya vas (Work for You) and Rabota segodnya (Work Today). Both have simple designs and the search tools leave much to be desired. Another deficiency of these resources is the complicated or incompetent classification of vacancies. Where does a marketing manager go – to the PR section, the advertising section or the middle-management section? There might be very interesting job opportunities, but to find them you will have to check virtually all the announcements and will still not know if the job offer is still open.

Also, beware of posting your resumes in various sites that do not provide restricted access to your data; your mailbox risks becoming a host for spam. Both profy.ru and nj.ru say they protect their job seekers and that access to their resume banks is only provided to registered users. Both sites aim to target qualified job seekers and reliable companies. In order to do so, they work offline with the companies that announce their vacancies on the sites and ensure that all vacancies are real and have not yet been filled. In comparison with other resources, these sites have smaller vacancy banks (over 100 at profy.ru and 300 at nj.ru). The developers of Profy.ru say they do not want dubious announcements from unidentified companies to be placed near the names of famous companies and Maria Chernitskaya from National Job Club (nj.ru) says they prefer to work with brand-name companies. Both resources require user registration.

There is a popular belief that only IT specialists can find a job through the Internet easily. Indeed, computer and Web-related vacancies predominate in all job-searching sites. "IT specialists will find a job through job.rbc.ru at the click of a mouse," says Ilya Radionov, their project manager. Recruitment for such specialists via the Internet is so successful that Igor Arzumanyan from software-development company Multimedia Technologies says his company advertises new job opportunities solely on the Internet. "We’ve employed around 20 people in this way," he said.

The site job.rbc.ru was launched last September and has a collection of 15,000 vacancies. Both individuals and firms can place their resumes there and some companies may sign a contract with the site operator to place their logo on the Web page, allowing the visitors to search vacancies in specific companies, in addition to in job and position categories. Rodionov said that the Website employs a full-time moderator to look through the vacancy announcements to cancel spam or vacancies from direct-sales companies. However, in spite of the moderator’s control, we noticed several such vacancies in different categories.
The parent company of job.rbc.ru, RosBusiness Consulting, has already used the site for recruitment. Vadim Yekomasov, its HR manager, said that 18 new employees have been recruited for the company through the site since September 2000. National Job Club has also filled some positions through its site. However, Yekomasov said, he does not think recruitment will go fully online. "For some top positions I would prefer traditional methods," he said. "However, RBC recruits almost all its IT specialists through Internet Websites."

Of the above-mentioned sites, only a very few keep track of the hiring procedures conducted through them. Either they have not yet realized that the number of people who have found jobs through the sites is the best advertising for them, or this number is so small they do not want to publicize it.

VOCABULARY ITEMS

the Web – зд.интернет

jobseekers – люди, которые ищут работу

an internet-aided recruitment – набор рабочей силы с помощью интернета

a tool – орудие

a listing – список

II. Exercises

a. Answer the questions.

1. Is it possible to find a job through the Internet?

2. Are these possibilities in Russia very effective?

3. What do the Internet sites provide for the users?

4. Have you heard of any one finding a good job through the Internet?

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