The time is summer 2008, and employers are hiring freely and are eager to get good candidates, even if it means paying more, or even substantially more. Applicants negotiate with confidence, and recruiting agencies confirm that salaries are going up and up, sometimes by as much as 50 per cent a year. Now it`s barely six months later - and the market could not be more different. Natalya Pavlova, an account manager at Coleman Services, a staffing agency that works mainly with Western companies, said that unemployment is clearly going up and she has seen a significant increase in applicants. She said that the supply/demand ratio in the employment market Òhas grown two to five times, due to both the increase of people looking for jobs and the decrease of vacancies. Those who are still hiring have set stricter budgets, as well as offering much less generous social packages, and applicants are reconsidering their expectations to have a better chance of securing a job. Capture the Season`s Best Memories Get a free Sony Cybershot 10MP camera and Sony 9" Digital Picture Frame! ElectronicsSource.us.com LATEST NEWS Russian-Iranian trade turnover hits $3.7 bln 12:59 20/02/2009 |TEHRAN, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian-Iranian trade turnover rose to $3.7 billion last year, Russia`s deputy foreign minister said on Friday. Politkovskaya case to be referred back to investigators - judge 12:12 20/02/2009 |The murder case of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be referred back to an investigative committee at the Russian Prosecutor General`s Office, a judge said on Friday. Consul not allowed onboard Russian ship detained by North Korea 11:53 20/02/2009 |Russia`s consul in North Korea has been denied permission to board a Russian vessel earlier seized by border guards off the coast of the secretive communist state, the ship`s owner said on Friday. Kyrgyz president signs decree on U.S. base withdrawal 11:44 20/02/2009 |Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed on Friday a decree to close a U.S. airbase used since 2001 to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan, his press service said. more news The Moscow Trade Union Federation released a report that the official unemployment rate in Moscow doubled over the New Year`s holidays, and increased a another 9 per cent during the period of January 16-23. Furthermore, there are many people who are still employed but not earning, or earning much less. Manufacturers across the globe are suffering, with automobile makers hitting the headlines last year as one after another announced production cuts and took extended stop-work holidays to cope with the drop in demand. Russia in this regard is no exception, with Avtoframos, Renault`s Russian subsidiary, halting the local production of its Logan economy-class car for one month. Russian truck manufacturer ZIL likewise stopped production for an extended period over the New Year`s holidays, and many of its administrative staff were placed on unpaid leave for two months until mid-February. In mid-February, the situation only grew worse - the entire factory was placed on a three day working week until August, with a corresponding cut in pay. Pavlova of Coleman Services, said that the employment market`s "turning point" occurred between last September and October. She said that there were still quite a lot of vacancies in September, but by October, companies were reconsidering their policies and many declared a hiring freeze, with some, especially in the financial and construction sector, beginning to lay off workers. In October, Renaissance Capital was one of the first to cut jobs - 100 employees were let go, in striking contrast to the two previous years when the bank doubled its staff. Elena, a 41-year-old, single mother of two, found herself without a job when the small bank where she had worked for the past 10 years went bankrupt. It had been a fairly good job, she said, with reasonable working hours and fairly good pay. She is looking for another job now, but is very discouraged by the fact that the pay is substantially lower and the work hours longer and no longer flexible. "I live with my mother, so it`s not that imperative for me to be at home all the time, but she`s getting old too. A flexible schedule is really important to me, but I`m afraid that in the crisis, it`s just simply impossible." Segei Mazeyev, a manager at Pure Hunt, a headhunting agency in the financial sector, confirmed that now is not the time to expect any indulgence from employers. The few who are still hiring expect new hires to have enough expertise and experience to participate fully from day one, without any training. He said that the situation is, from a long-term point of view, salutary. "Until the crisis, there were a lot of people who were successful just because they caught ‘the wave`. Now, a lot of ‘dead weight` has been thrown out on the street and only people with real skills will have opportunities, which eventually leads us to a better business environment." Antal recruitment company said that the financial sector, however, was bucking the trend with a 10 to 15 per cent increase in vacancies. Irina Kalkina, principal consultant at Antal Russia, said some banks have begun filling the very same positions they hastily vacated a few months ago. "In some cases, it became apparent that those remaining in the company were overloaded with duties and hence the need to find more people once more. Moreover, good credit controllers are in demand, because companies need to hire good managers to deal with bad debts," said Kalkina. She added that new positions were being created to deal with crisis management and restructuring of organizations, but companies are looking specifically for tried-and-tested people who successfully overcame the crisis in 1998. Recruitment agencies agreed that successful job hunters were those with the most flexibility, willing to take on temporary projects or relocate to another region. Languages were important as well as were specific skill sets. Companies looking for someone with knowledge of SAP business software would no longer look at candidates who are versed in Oracle, Hyperion or some other ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. As a result, people were increasingly going back to university to get a higher qualification or an MBA. Diversification is a tactic not only for prospective employees but for recruitment agencies as well - Mazeyev said that Pure Hunt, which formerly specialized in the financial sector, is now encompassing a wider area of business, and will continue doing so as long as the financial sector remains so "crippled". There is no common solution, not for companies, nor for employees. Few people will dispute that if you have even a halfway decent job, it is better to stick with it, now is not the time for adventures.