The CEO in Russia is a middle-aged man with Russian citizenship, he has a diploma of higher technical education and receives a second higher education (already economic)
Who is the Russian CEO? The CEO in Russia is a middle-aged man with Russian citizenship, he has a diploma of higher technical education and receives a second higher education (already economic). This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Sergey Solntsev, a researcher at the Labor Market Research Laboratory (LIRT) of the State University — Higher School of Economics, who studied The New Times
Most likely, the Russian CEO (Chief Executive Officer - CEO) got the chair of the CEO because he worked as a top manager in this company and his merits were recognized by its main owner. The CEO will hold this position for about three years, and then change his position to work in government agencies or move to another company for the same position.
The position of general director in the vast majority of cases is occupied by men (94%) aged 30 to 45 years. Female CEOs do not dominate in any sector of the Russian industry (most of the fair sex is employed in advertising and recruiting - 37% and 29%, respectively). These data indicate the existence of a "glass ceiling" for women, that is, an invisible career barrier that limits the promotion of an employee in a company. At the same time, the probability that a woman over 53 years old will take the post of CEO is close to zero (the same applies to men over 68 years old).
Russian CEOs have at least one higher education: in 41% of cases it is technical (a legacy of the Soviet education system), in 16% - economics, in 6% - humanitarian 1 . The share of CEOs with two or three higher educations is growing from year to year.
Who and where
According to the study, the average tenure in the highest position in the company is 3 years. The share of foreigners working in Russia as CEOs is slightly more than 10% - these are mainly British, French, Germans, and people from the CIS countries.
In 72% of cases, the CEO of a company becomes a top manager who held a lower position in the same company before promotion. He can take this chair either through intra-company mobility - promotion due to accumulated work experience, merit to the company, length of service (this happened to half of the top managers surveyed), or the CEO is poached from another company (inter-company mobility is typical for one quarter of top managers). link).
In the remaining 28% of cases, the post of CEO is held by ex-CEOs from other companies. At the same time, about 16% of ex-CEOs come to the company through external recruitment (searched and selected by HR managers), the remaining 12% take up their position by changing one company to another, which is part of the same holding (intra-holding mobility).
These studies show that the Russian labor market for CEOs is not very closed, that is, the opportunity to take the CEO position for employees working one step lower in the company is quite high. However, it is quite difficult to become a top manager, from which CEOs “grow up”.
The trends in the Russian CEO job market are such that CEOs will increasingly be poached from other firms or hired through recruiting agencies, and hiring strategies within firms will shrink. This suggests that Russian companies have developed mechanisms to protect property from theft of assets by employees occupying high positions in the company, and are no longer afraid to invite “external” specialists to the positions of top managers, says Sergey Roshchin, head of the Department of Labor and Population Economics at the State University Higher School of Economics.
If we look at the mobility of top managers from an industry perspective, an interesting pattern emerges: in Russian industries of the “new economy” (in other words, created after the collapse of the USSR), CEOs are invited to positions through external recruitment. Thus, in advertising, insurance business, finance, auditing and services, the share of in-house CEO appointments does not exceed 50%. In the sectors of the "old economy" - construction, engineering, non-ferrous metallurgy, the oil sector - this figure is more than 50%, and in the gas industry it reaches 100% (see graph). Why is this happening? Sergey Solntsev explains this by the closeness of strategic sectors of the economy and the fear of company owners (major shareholders) to invite insiders. The price of a mistake with the wrong appointment of a CEO is too high - in traditional industries it will be higher.
Who and where
A third of CEOs either go to work in government agencies, or are engaged in creating their own business, or retire. For 42% of CEOs, further career advancement will be associated with occupying the same position, but in another company. The rest of the top managers leave their positions for second and third roles in the companies they once headed. Why is this happening? The answer to this question requires a more detailed study and study of the motivation and working conditions of CEOs, which will be undertaken by LIRT employees within the framework of the "Top Managers' Labor Markets" project in the future.
However, based on the data already available, we can say that the Russian labor market for general directors is acquiring the features of a market in which the shortage of personnel allows CEOs to dictate employment conditions and ensures high inter-company and inter-industry mobility. And this is a new generation of bosses not at all of the Soviet type.
The study was conducted on the basis of publications on the appointments of top managers in the Vedomosti newspaper for 1999-2007. Information collected on 812 SEO. The sample is not representative, as the newspaper does not track all the appointments of top managers in Russia. At the same time, the study reflects important and major trends in the Russian labor market for general directors.
____________________________
1 The share of CEOs without higher education fluctuates around 1%.
