Career: A Choice of the Reason or of the Heart?

Consulting firm RosExpert interviewed 456 respondents from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan to find out how they perceive career success, and what factors related to career and work are the most important for them. The survey aimed to determine the career path, which is most associated with success in Russia, and compare it with the career motivations that keep employees involved.

Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan consider “Linear” to be a successful career path, according to more than 40% of respondents who took part in the survey.

Careers such as “Expert” and “Transitory” are perceived as successful by less than one sixth of respondents.

It is noteworthy that “Linear” and “Spiral” are the two main careers pursued by more than 70% of respondents, while the “Transitory” career inspires less than 14% of respondents.

Oxana Morsina, a Managing Partner at consulting firm RosExpert, comments: “On the one hand, it is not entirely surprising the the “Linear” career is viewed as successful, since it is associated with guaranteed high incomes, status, social lifts and security. However, if we talk about the potential and future competencies, and especially the digital future, they are more inherent in the “Transitory” career concept. The latter is generally distinguished by such competencies as Trying New Things, Networking, Being Mobile, Managing Oneself, Learning Quickly, Speeding Up, and Focusing Customer Value. As we see, the staff shortage faced by the new economy has a reason behind it.”

Women having a potential in leadership, and men ... in creative tasks?

By giving preference to the “Linear” career over the “Spiral” career, more than 10% of male respondents hardly realize that they would be more inspired by a horizontal growth and new, creative opportunities for using their knowledge and skills, rather than expanding the area of responsibility and moving upward in the organizational structure.

It is worth noting that women more often tend to point out “Spiral” as a successful career, while their motives manifest a higher pursue of the “Linear” path.

Sergey Kordashenko, a Managing Partner at RosExpert, Head of the Leadership & Talent Consulting Practice, comments: “The low employee involvement rate is a barrier to creating high-performing cultures around the globe. There is plenty of underutilized capacity. RosExpert’s survey reveals one of the possible resources to increase productivity — understanding the true career motives both by employees and employers.”

Z-generation opts for “Spiral”.

More than half of respondents under 25 consider “Spiral” a successful career and are ready to pursue this path.

Antonina Ivanova, a Senior Consultant within the Leadership & Talent Consulting Practice, comments: “It looks like young people take into account and understand their inclinations better. However, it could be another feature peculiar to the Z-generation, who tend to question any traditions and customs, and draw conclusions on their own, being less guided by the generally accepted approaches.”

SURVEY COMPANIES AND TOOLS

ROSEXPERT

A Russian consulting firm specialized in assessment, formation and development of leadership teams. Founded in 1996, RosExpert utilizes the best global practices and innovative tools in leadership search, assessment and development. Our track record of 20 years combined with a deep insight into the Russian market enables us to deliver effective solutions at any business development stage.

DECISION DYNAMICS

A developer and provider of solutions for leadership and talent management. The Decision Dynamics tools help organizations around the world succeed by making smarter decisions and developing their people. This approach results in greater engagement and superior performance in a dynamic environment and allows creating an integrated talent management framework in the organization. The assessment tools are complementary and can be used individually or in a combination. The results obtained allow one to draw conclusions at the individual, team or organization level.