Employment “by acquaintance”. Blame or professional connections. What to do with “thieves” employees? Good jobs are hired only through connections

Relatively recently, one respected sociological agency conducted a survey of Ukrainians on how they look for work, and it turned out that about 85% are looking for work through friends or acquaintances. Most likely, this is what happens. In life, I had to hire and fire people in different ways, and therefore it is quite possible to agree with people’s opinions regarding job searches. But why does this happen? We can’t say that this is a scientific study, but it’s worth saying a few words about why hiring through acquaintances is so popular in Ukraine...

There are several reasons for this.

Everyone understands that in their resumes people try to embellish themselves, and even more so their work successes. There is nothing surprising or wrong about this. Everyone does it. But some Ukrainians are so carried away by this embellishment that it is difficult to assess the qualifications of the applicant at all. Because if you read individual resumes for the job of a cashier in a bank, you might think that the applicant had previously worked at least as a top manager of the bank.

Very often we have a position and functional a person's responsibilities are not the same. It happens that in order to increase the salary of a good specialist, they give him a leadership position such as head of a department or head of a sector. In reality, he is not a leader of any kind, because he has no one subordinate to him, he himself is subordinate to his direct superior. And after reading the resume of such a pseudo boss, you can simply make a mistake in the selection of personnel. And it's good if he at the interview honestly admits that he has no experience in leadership work. But there are cases when a person deliberately keeps silent about this fact, and when you hire him to the position of even a small boss, problems begin out of the blue.

We have a lot of personnel and recruiting agencies. But finding a good recruitment agency is even more difficult than finding a good specialist. If you need specialists in simple professions such as a cashier, credit officer or accountant, then recruitment agencies can really help here. But if a specialist needs a more complex qualification, which requires the ability to make decisions independently, then recruitment agencies are of little help. History knows such a case: some very respected people decided to hire a mid-level specialist through a cool recruiting agency. And indeed such a specialist was found, all tests were carried out and interviews, but in the end, with great difficulty, these respected people endured the found specialist for a three-month trial period and flatly refused to sign a permanent contract with him. And then he sued them for another six months for lost profits and moral damages, citing an agreement with a recruiting agency. It’s difficult to say who is more to blame for the miscalculation here, but after this, respected people avoid various types of recruiting agencies.

Before hiring a person, they always try to find out more about him from other people. But our system of recommendation letters is not suitable for this. Very often these letters of recommendation do not reveal anything, and one gets the impression that they are all written as carbon copies. Therefore, most often you give preference to a candidate if a person you know can tell you about this person. And in this case, unreasonable praise and excessive admiration cannot be avoided. But in general, some information about the applicant can be obtained. One very smart person said: “If you know the weaknesses of this person - hire him without any problems - you know the most important thing about him, and the rest does not matter.” Maybe he's right. All people have shortcomings, and there is nothing worse than dealing with a person about whom nothing definite can be said, and you don’t know what can be expected from him.

Whatever they say, the ideal option is if you have the opportunity to take a closer look at the person while working at the same place. Then both the weaknesses and strengths of a person are visible, and no resumes are needed. The best option is if the applicant has been working in a team for many years, starting from lower positions. In this case, you understand what can be expected from this person, what can be entrusted to him, and what should never be entrusted.

Anyone looking for a job thinks that it is difficult to find a job. Those who are hired suffer even more when looking for the right specialist. The problem is eternal

According to experts, about 60% of Russian companies today select their personnel mainly with the help of friends, relatives and their own employees. The situation is slightly different in foreign companies: only 20% of them welcome this approach. In addition, according to sociologists, about 60% of educational institution graduates get a job through patronage: through relatives or friends. But can this be called hiring “through connections”? And if so, how to evaluate this phenomenon: as a relic of the past or as fully motivated actions of employers? Let's try to understand these issues.

First, let’s find out what “hiring through connections” means. The roots of this phenomenon go entirely back to Soviet times. At that time, it was possible to get a good position, from government agencies to shops, only with someone’s help. Those who did not have this very “connection” worked in places that were not prestigious, received a small salary and did not even dream of any career growth. That is, selection for vacancies then took place mainly not according to professional criteria, but according to the criteria of nepotism and clannishness. And there was no competition at all!

Thus, we can derive an approximate definition of hiring “by pull”: a person is hired not because he is an excellent professional suitable for a given vacancy, but because someone asked for him, who for certain reasons cannot be refused. So, the primary criterion is subjective, personal, and the secondary ones are all the rest.

Is this happening now? In what areas are professionalism and personal qualities relegated to the background, and cronyism comes to the fore?

Firstly, this state of affairs has remained in all types of government agencies. All kinds of “open personnel competitions” that these organizations hold are in fact a fiction. According to experts, such competitions are accompanied by a lot of propaganda hype (articles in the press, stories on TV news, etc.), but are launched solely for image purposes. That is, government agencies are simply trying to create an image of “openness and accessibility for the people.” However, the probability of winning such a competition is minimal, since all places are usually allocated in advance and “strangers” are clearly not welcome there!

Secondly, approximately the same situation arises in many budget offices. With one exception: outsiders may well get there, but only if none of the relatives and friends, “their own”, lays claim to this place. But career growth for people who come from the street is difficult or completely excluded. " Say thank you for being hired at all, sit quietly in your place and don’t rock the boat.”- this is how they treat “outsiders” there.

Thirdly, positions in various foundations and parties. Only friends and relatives “sit” on them. Or relatives of friends... Or friends of relatives... In general, “strangers” have no place there either.

Fourth- in very rare cases! - in Russian business structures. In order for a commercial organization to hire a person solely “through connections,” that is, without looking at his professional qualities, very compelling reasons are needed. Yes, management or company owners sometimes do this, but this is the exception rather than the rule. In principle, an employee can be accepted based on this criterion in two cases: either he has the necessary connections for the business, or someone asked for him and it was impossible to refuse him. According to experts, “blat” in business is a pass to the company, but nothing more, and it does not affect career growth in any way. Moreover, there are few such people in modern commercial structures, and they usually move horizontally, moving from company to company in equal positions. Although there are exceptions. In principle, everything depends only on the person himself. If he demonstrates his professionalism and good personal qualities, he may well achieve a lot in the organization.

Let's summarize some results. Yes, today hiring is practiced “through connections,” but only in government agencies and budgetary organizations. This approach is not typical for Russian business structures. This is even less typical for foreign companies operating in Russia. In many of them, on the contrary, it is considered bad form to try to get a job for someone you know, much less a relative. Let me give you a real life case. A friend of mine’s sister works in the Russian representative office of a large American corporation, and not in an ordinary position. About six months ago, this friend of mine found himself without a job and was actively looking for one. During the search process, he learned that the above-mentioned representative office was looking for a specialist for a vacancy specifically in his profile. The working conditions and wages were simply excellent! He immediately asked to help him get a job in their office, to which he received a laconic and firm answer from his sister: “No! This is not accepted among us...” And it wasn’t that the sister didn’t want to help him, she just really couldn’t do anything: if she had come to the HR department with such a request, they simply wouldn’t have understood her!

These are the conclusions drawn. So the figures given at the beginning of the article speak exclusively of the fact that the selection of candidates through acquaintances, relatives and one’s own employees is the main channel for finding employees for many companies. But this is by no means the main criterion! All candidates undergo a competition and are selected solely on their professional qualities. And this no longer corresponds to the definition we derived and is not hiring “through connections.”

However, there is also a fly in the ointment. Everything written above is typical only for large cities with a developed labor market. The situation is completely different today in most regions. After all, unemployment is still one of the most pressing problems of the Russian provinces. And besides, the share of government agencies and all kinds of budget offices there is much higher. And commercial organizations are mostly small family businesses where outsiders are not needed at all. Therefore, in the regions, hiring “through cronyism”, and even for bribes, is one of the main forms of employment. Therefore, excellent specialists, especially young ones, cannot find work without family ties and patronage. So most of them go to large cities, where their future career depends solely on their personal qualities and determination. And they do it right!

And in conclusion, I would like to say that hiring “through connections” is exclusively a relic of the past. Which is a “reality of our time” in a number of Russian structures and in the Russian outback. But we sincerely hope that over time there will be nothing left of him. And all people will have equal starting opportunities. And their career will be derived solely from their professionalism and business qualities!

Quite often I receive letters like this: “ How can you interact with employees who are patronized by managers and owners of enterprises if these employees are under your control? What to do with the caste of “untouchables” who, taking advantage of their “special” relationship with management, do not give their best at work?»

The question is indeed a very painful one, given that there are many such cases, and according to my inner feelings, there have been more and more of them lately.

Let's assume that the owner of your organization has some scoundrel nephew who cannot get a job either in fast food, or in promoters, or as a courier, or in any other position that does not require the possession of special competencies. And so the first person of your company decides to give him a school of life in your company and, moreover, in your direct subordination.
The first thing I want to say is that he has the right to do this. Any business owner has the right to do whatever he wants with his business, since he is its parent, and he bears all the risks for conducting his business activities and for his management decisions. He can hire anyone, fire anyone, close the business, withdraw money and spend it on a new country house, or give you a share in the business. And when they try to blame the owner for any such decisions, I always take his side. He has the right to this, and first of all he himself will pay for his mistakes.

But a hired top manager or manager of any other level, in my opinion, does not have the right to hire incompetent people and deal with them from different sides. The task of hired managers is to protect the interests of the business, and when they begin to “place” their people who are not fit to perform tasks, and even more so to place them not under their direct subordination, I would perceive this with caution. I believe that such actions indicate the weakness of managers and the inability to refuse. Over the 13 years of working in my company, dozens, and maybe even a hundred different people came to me from different sides: classmates, colleagues, friends of parents, old acquaintances and various other wonderful people with a request to “accommodate” good boys and girls. My answer was always the same: “We will be happy to hire your candidate, but in our company the procedure is as follows: he will need to personally go through all stages of hiring on a general basis. I can't help with this. Let me give you the telephone number of the personnel service so that you can find out what vacancies we have.” As you might guess, none of my friends were happy with this approach. Most of them didn’t even try to sign up for an interview, they simply got offended at me and disappeared from my life forever.

The second thing I would like to note is that not all people organized by cronyism are orthodox scoundrels and quitters. Among them there are the same number of selfless and smart guys as there are in the labor market. Not much, but not little either. Not all people who have a “roof” and a personal patron begin to use this. Therefore, there is no need to classify all such candidates into a special cohort. If a person simply doesn’t know how to behave, let him read. Perhaps a person will come to his senses after reading it and begin to behave more carefully and correctly.

But the main discussion, of course, will be about those employees who feel their absolute immunity and begin to take advantage of this: they are late for work, take 1.5 hours to lunch, do not give their best in completing tasks, can be insolent to the manager and, in principle, work carelessly. I think everyone has had such a character in their life, and if you haven’t yet, then you have to go through it. So get ready.
If you have a brother, matchmaker, daughter, niece, mistress, classmate of the top officials of your company working for you, rest assured that you are participating in a reality show. Only the broadcast of this show is not from surveillance cameras, but through the prism of the subjective opinion about what is happening in your department of this very “thieves” employee, and the broadcast is not broadcast in prime time on central television, but neatly into the brain of that same patron somewhere - somewhere in his kitchen. This is always a threat, and this must be understood. And any manager, in fact, has 2 ways of behavior in such a situation:
1) Fawn and adjust.
2) Stay true to your principles.
There is nothing special to write about the first option. There are leaders who try to win points for themselves by pleasing someone’s protégé, showing off in every possible way to top officials through this person, hoping for reciprocal favor from the sovereign. I think this is bad management.

As for the second option, this is the path to results regardless of what resources the manager has. The work of any manager is his results, and if someone tries to interfere with these results, you need to make a decision that such a person should not be under your command.

Once, when I was a middle manager, a nice girl came into my department, but on her first day of work she was late for work. I asked her manager to respond to this delay, and he had an educational conversation with her. The second day - and again she was late, this time she was asked to write an explanatory note. The third day history repeats itself. Then I asked her supervisor to bring her to my office, where we had the following dialogue:
Me: - This is, to say the least, ugly. You haven’t even started working here yet, and everyone is already talking about you. Three delays in the first three working days - I've never had anything like this. I think that this conversation of ours should put everything in place. What do we need to do to ensure that you arrive on time?
Employee: - I was told even before I came to you that being 20 minutes late is not critical, so I agreed to come to work for you.
Me: - And who, excuse me, could tell you this?
Employee: - Mikhail Mikhailovich.
Me: - How do you know him?
Employee: - He is my uncle...

It must be said that Mikhail Mikhailovich was one of the top officials of our company and a very influential person. In just a moment, I felt the sword of retribution penetrate my flesh for having offended his niece. It was an extremely unpleasant feeling, I tell you. And so I was faced with a choice: try to please Mikhail Mikhailovich and meet the new employee halfway, or be true to myself and my principles, but at the same time be in danger of parting with my position. In a couple of seconds, I imagined how I would look my players in the eyes if I allowed someone to play a double game and break the rules I had set. How will I justify myself to my colleagues and explain to them that some people can be late, but others can’t? How will I personally betray what is valuable to me - discipline in the sales department. And after this short pause I said:
- Mikhail Mikhailovich was mistaken. In my department you can't be late. If you want to be late, look for another job anywhere, but not with me.
The offended employee went to quit, and I sat and waited for retribution for my decision. But neither in a day, nor in three, nor in a month did retribution come to me. Apparently, I was lucky that Mikhail Mikhailovich turned out to be a competent manager and did not get involved in such issues, and I admit that there are only a few of hundreds, or even thousands of managers like him...

What to do when the patron does not look like Mikhail Mikhailovich?

I would recommend trying to negotiate with the employee. One, two, three... ten. Determine for yourself the boundary where common sense ends and, after this boundary is passed, begin an operation to remove the employee from direct subordination. It is possible even to involve the patron himself in bringing reason to such a subordinate.
I still believe that most of the high-ranking leaders are people wise by experience and life, and that you will be heard. Especially if they understand that you spend most of your managerial energy not on creation, but on trying to build a relationship with your new colleague. Instead of getting results. Instead of. Mining. Result.

Well, if even in this case it is not possible to come to an agreement with either party, and the desire to continue working with these managers in this company overrides all other desires, then I recommend using the case that one of the participants in my master classes told me from Kazakhstan.
I'll try to recreate the story from the first person.
“It so happened that a relative of our first person was forced into my subordination. Moreover, I had to take her as my personal assistant. She took advantage of her position and immunity in every possible way, and every time I spent an incredible amount of effort to complete basic tasks like “photocopy this stack of documents.” But one day my patience ran out.
I had a very important presentation planned for tomorrow, and I needed to prepare documents for the event participants. The task was very simple, and I entrusted its execution to my newly appointed assistant. She assured me that everything would be ready by morning, and I calmly immersed myself in my presentation so that tomorrow I would be at my best. And then at 23.30 I receive an SMS from my subordinate that she will not have time to do her work, and she has not even started to complete this task. If you say that I was angry at that moment, it would be an understatement. My rage knew no bounds.

As a result, I managed to do everything on my own before five in the morning, and the presentation was a success. But after her, I gathered all the leaders who could assign tasks to this girl and told them:
- Dear friends, Katya (let her name be that) works in our office. Starting today, she receives the status of “The Most Awesome Employee,” and not just like that, but deservedly so. Katya’s scale of awesomeness is so high that I ask each of you not to assign her any tasks at all, even the most basic ones. There should not be a single request addressed to her. We will pay her a salary just like that. Because we have her, she’s so awesome.
And Katya stopped receiving any kind of orders, requests and tasks. Katya fell into isolation and started going to work just like that. Day without work, second, third, fourth….

On the fifth day, Katya howled, came running to me, and began to repent of her wrong behavior and apologize for the mistake. Katya really wanted to be needed in at least something, just like every person on the planet wants to be needed.

Since then, we have been working with her for several years, and I have never met an employee more dedicated to her work. This is my right hand and it will never let me down again.”

This is such a wonderful and instructive story. When a manager skillfully creates conditions in which a person returns to his indecent behavior, and the subordinate himself realizes the full depth of what he has done.
Perhaps you also have cases on this topic. Write to [email protected], share your successful stories of resolving similar situations. We need to make each other stronger, because we are all

“(work under patronage) - although these words may sound like a curse to some, for the majority of people in our country, work through acquaintance is an absolutely normal phenomenon. There are both disadvantages and advantages to this. The main thing is to understand what you can use for the benefit of yourself and others, and what you should avoid and beware of.

Those who want to find a job through connections must first understand that acquaintances can help in finding a job, but they will not be decisive in the future. Connections play only a starting role, especially important at the beginning of a career, but further success will depend entirely on the professionalism of the employee. If, after getting a good position through an acquaintance, you do not meet the professional requirements, then sooner or later you will still be forced to leave.

In most cases, protégés are young professionals. When hiring, one of the key conditions is seniority and work experience. Therefore, it is no secret that it is very difficult for young graduates to find a job that will hire an inexperienced person with only theoretical knowledge.

Also, people who decide to change their profession and change jobs are faced with the situation of employment through pull. And of course, here the main factor is not only the lack of experience, but also the lack of education document. Also, any life situation, such as moving, downsizing, etc. may be the reason that prompts you to find a job through friends.

Work under patronage may be beneficial not only to the person who is looking for it, employers may also be interested in hiring a person based on a recommendation for a number of reasons.

There are times when the mistake of hiring an incompetent specialist can be very costly for a company. Therefore, quite often people are hired as lawyers, financiers, accountants, who are vouched for by someone who is reliable and trusted for the employer, someone he trusts. If a position becomes vacant at an enterprise, the manager sometimes resorts to the patronage of his employees who have already proven themselves in one position or another, because, as a rule, good personnel are unlikely to recommend a bad specialist.

Finding a new employee takes some time, and it is not a fact that during the interview process you will be able to find a worthy candidate. This means that management will have to spend money and, again, time on training a new employee, especially if this is an applicant for a high position. Therefore, management is unlikely to refuse if they recommend a specialist who is responsible and knows his business well.

Providing an applicant with a job under patronage can also be beneficial if you need to hire an employee who knows how to work in a team and can find a common language with the entire team. Therefore, the employer, being confident in the protégé’s restraint and ability to get along with people, will prefer him. However, in this case, the manager must be confident not only in the newcomer, but also in how the team will accept him. After all, it is often those who are hired through cronyism who have friction with their colleagues. Some even come under severe psychological pressure ( what is mobbing). Such an attitude towards “thieves” and some other reasons are a good reason not to look for acquaintance job. Such reasons include shyness and fear of responsibility, because “in case of failure, the blame may directly or indirectly fall on the person who hired you,” the applicants explain.

Of course, for some, getting a job through cronyism is shameful and unacceptable. People who are accustomed to achieving everything through their own efforts do not want their merits to be attributed to advantageous relationships or any other personal connections. However, having found work through friends You can also establish yourself well and prove your professionalism.

Despite the fact that some people have a negative attitude towards employees who get a job through pull and would not seek employment in this way, the results of a survey conducted by the Internet portal “Headhunter” show that this method of job search is quite widespread in society.

The main reason to hire your own person is trust. When hiring a relative or acquaintance, the manager understands that in his person he is acquiring a faithful assistant and ally. It’s easier to explain something to “one of our own” or to entrust something to someone. Therefore, it is always easier for a “thieves” newcomer to get into the swing of things. Almost any employer, if a high position becomes vacant in his company, will put a loved one in it, in order to always have a person at hand who can be completely trusted and on whom you can always rely. The applicant, in turn, receives a guarantee that no matter the outcome, he will be provided with work. He will feel more confident and protected, feeling the patronage of his superiors. This is about the advantages, but working through connections also has its disadvantages.

If you got a job through connections (through patronage, through kinship, through recommendations, through acquaintances - whatever you like, but the meaning is the same) be prepared for difficulties. Only at first glance it may seem that being a protégé is convenient and easy, but in reality everything turns out to be the opposite.

Rules for protégés

The main unpleasant moment for a cronyism employee can be the distrust of colleagues. Perhaps you took the place of a fired employee with whom everyone had a good relationship, or perhaps you were assigned to monitor the others, who knows. The cause of displeasure may be banal envy or resentment; someone who has gone through the “seven circles of hell” to get a job in this company may not like the fact that positions are obtained so easily, without interviews and probationary period.

In order to become a full-fledged part of the team and win its trust, an employee who has settled to work through acquaintance these rules should be followed:

• Do not use your “privileged” position with your manager for personal gain. Come to work on time, don’t leave early, don’t do extraneous things during working hours, etc.
• Don't give your colleagues reasons to gossip. Do not publicly demonstrate your good relationship with your superiors or with the person who recommended you, and certainly do not talk about them. Maintain subordination!
• If such conversations do occur and it is within your power to stop them, then do so.
• If the team does not make contact, do not immediately run and complain to the authorities, try to resolve the problem yourself.
• Show that you are just as worthy of the job as anyone else, but do it in a respectful manner.
• If your colleagues themselves show a desire to communicate with you, you should not close yourself off from this communication, however, if something does not suit you, without provoking a conflict, try to calmly discuss these points.
• Become an indispensable employee. A very common opinion about “thieves’ workers” is that he is unlikely to be able to do anything, but was hired only because of his relationship or his beautiful eyes. Prove your professionalism.
• And the main thing to remember is that difficulties in a team first working day at a new job, if you were hired for a job through an acquaintance, they always arise, but if this does not scare you, then in a fairly short period of time you will be able to correct the current situation.

Rules for the tread

Probably the main and only thing that a person recommending a friend or relative should take into account is his professionalism. It is at least unreasonable to recommend unsuitable specialists. Since all responsibility for the activities of the protégé to the employer always falls on the shoulders of the recommender. Of course, you can recommend a person without experience, but this must be said first.

Some people, as a matter of principle, do not ask their relatives and friends for help in finding a job, even if they really need it. I think this is stupid. If there is an opportunity, why not use it?! Of course, some nuances must be taken into account here (responsibility, payment for the service, etc.), but there is definitely nothing wrong with this.

What should those who believe that work through cronyism is not for them or who do not have cronyism and have no one to vouch for should do? How to find a job? There is a misconception that you can’t get into the highest paid, best and most prestigious places without cronyism. This is a misconception. Today the demand for good specialists is great, and if you are one, then you won’t need connections to find a decent job.

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