Article

www.sibers.com, 16 Сентября 2009

How to Become a Favorite Employer?

Ancor (the largest recruitment company in Russia) has reviewed employee management practices of Sibers, one of the largest employers for software programmers in Novosibirsk.

Sibers' growth in the recent years has made it important for HR managers to concentrate on high-quality and consistent hiring of new employees. The challenge is that the employee market in Novosibirsk is overheated by great number of well-qualified specialists, great number of software outsourcing companies and overrated salaries that are advertised on the job sites.

Sibers HR Managers has solved this problem in its own, all-round way. To maintain its good image, the company has decided not to use popular gray methods of hiring such as headhunting or publishing of too large numbers in the salary portion of job offers. Instead, the company focused on building a reputation of a very close and accessible company. For example, speakers on a Career Day in the Novosibirsk University made a very informal and easy-to understand presentation with a video shot by company members and all questions answered personally. It provided HR managers with many good resumes of soon-to-be-graduates of the University. On the other hand, the Internships Program opened the company's doors to everyone interested in becoming a software developer but without necessary skills to work on real commercial projects. About 80% of interns has become junior developers at Sibers and gotten their chance to try their new skills on paid projects.

The IT education being primarily theoretical and outdated, new employees definitely require a significant portion of education and adaptation before they can work on real software projects. Sibers successfully solves this problem by attaching a buddy for every newcomer and holding weekly feedback sessions during the first month. The buddy, being a senior developer in the newcomer's team, monitors his progress during the education cycle and teaches him the best practices of efficient agile programming. The buddy also plays the major role in integrating the recruit into the entire Sibers team, paying special attention to how others communicate with him, and whether the recruit feels comfortable in the team. The buddy also makes sure that all his questions are answered.

As programmers become more experienced, they need a room for their personal and professional improvement. Sibers offers them options for both vertical and horizontal career development. For developers wishing to advance with their programming skills, the company always has more complex tasks that usually involve some research and technological challenges. If a person decides to try working in another department, it is usually possible, and that is how the company has got its best project managers and designers. A very flexible and clear system of grades helps to keep employees' salaries on the level that suits their experience.

The last but not least aspect of the relationship of Sibers with its employees is the dismissal. Unlike many other companies in the industry, Sibers does not make a secret out of employees' leaves that do happen. The company also does not immediately becomes enemies with people who quit. Sibers takes it as granted and normal that people leave: the liberty must take place on all levels and in all cases. To stay in contact with former employees and to keep providing benefits to them, Sibers introduced the Alumni Club with regular gatherings and most of advantages that current employees receive such as invites to corporate events and referral programs.

Despite the financial crisis that hit the outsourcing market as well, the employee management in Sibers proved its efficiency. A major role in keeping good tempo in any times plays its organization in a way that ensures that employees' and company's goals are met on all steps such as hiring, adaptation, integration, training, and retention.

We would like to say thank you to the staff of Ancor recruitment company for this article.