“We are interested in any strong specialists” – Kommersant

The HR director of the company told Kommersant about the personnel policy of Yandex, the possibilities of remote work and salary expectations of IT specialists in 2023 Daria Zolotukhina.

— In the third quarter of 2022, Russian IT companies reported difficulties in retaining employees due to mobilization. How can you now evaluate its impact on the personnel situation?

— The demand for talented developers has always been high and continues to this day. Over the past year, we have not had an atypical outflow of employees: at the end of 2022, the company’s staff grew by 16%. But the demand for highly qualified personnel remains.

— Did you continue to hire IT specialists in 2022?

— Hiring was suspended in February, partially resumed in March for positions of senior back-end, front-end and mobile developers. In July, all restrictions were lifted.

— What proportion of employees have decided to move to other countries? With dismissal or preservation of remote work.

– We do not track how many employees are not in Russia, because since 2020, Yandex can work completely remotely from anywhere. All this time, we, like many other companies, including foreign ones, have been evaluating remote work from different angles – and first of all, from the point of view of the impact on the company’s culture.

As a result, we decided that the hybrid mode is culturally closer to us, so in March we asked employees to choose an office in one of the countries of our hubs, which they can combine with remote work. The office does not have to be in Russia. We have more than 30 offices in the Russian Federation and abroad – in particular, in Serbia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Armenia. After choosing the main office of work, it is recommended to stay in it three days a week, for two more days you can work from anywhere. We assume that over the summer it will become clear what percentage of employees will choose work from foreign hubs, but we do not expect it to be high.

— When hiring new employees, what level of education do you consider necessary for a specialist? Do you consider candidates who do not have a specialized higher education?

— We are interested in any strong specialists who can prove their worth and suitability for the position they are looking for at interviews, which include testing practical skills. Of course, during the initial search for candidates, we look at universities and specialties, but this does not mean that the road to the company is closed to the rest.

At the same time, we have a large number of educational programs at the best universities in the country, from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology to the Higher School of Economics, which help students better understand how modern IT companies work and gain the necessary skills in the process of learning.

In general, for a student, one of the best ways to get into Yandex and immediately get the necessary experience is paid internships, as a result of which every second becomes an employee of the company; this year we have opened twice as many positions compared to 2021.

– What role does the activity of applicants play for you, not related to their activities at their previous place of work or as part of their studies? For example, their own projects, participation in third-party open-source projects, etc. Do you consider “empty GitHub” a disadvantage?

– Third-party professional projects can only be a plus to other criteria.

— Are the salary expectations of potential employees comparable to the offer? In general, do you think the current salary expectations of IT specialists are adequate?

— In 2022, we replaced the “optional” part with an increase in salary and bonuses, and also introduced an additional motivational tool for managers and key specialists — an annual bonus. Now pay is usually more than meets the expectations of candidates.

Interviewed by Yuri Litvinenko