Russians recognized the significant role of dating in their careers

Almost two thirds of working Russians believe that maintaining human connections with colleagues is essential for career growth, and one in six is convinced that good acquaintances are more important than strong hard skills. This follows from the results of a survey of the hh.ru platform and the social network for networking "Setka", which "Izvestia" got acquainted with on December 11.

As it turned out, almost two-thirds of respondents believe that maintaining both business and informal ties is rather (35%) or very (29%) important, and almost half of them are convinced that having good acquaintances is as important (26%) or even more important (16%) than strong hard skills. At the same time, many do not pay significant attention to maintaining and expanding human connections.

It is noted that over half of respondents (53%) only socialize with their current colleagues. Nearly as many - 54% - are not aware of whether their industry has a professional community, and 11% reported no professional community. The presence of professional communities in their industries was reported by 35% of respondents. First of all, these are representatives of IT and creative industries: IT specialists (47%), journalists (45%), PR and marketing specialists (44%) and designers (42%), as well as those employed in logistics and retail (41% and 38% respectively).

At the same time, the vast majority of respondents see some degree of benefit in such communities. For example, more than half of respondents (58%) see participation in communities as useful for their job search. In particular, 56% see participation in them as a good opportunity to share knowledge, skills and news. 45% see an opportunity to get recommendations from colleagues for potential employers and in turn give someone their own, 38% see an opportunity to meet a potential employer, and 11% have already found a job thanks to participation in such communities. Of those who are unaware of the existence of a professional community in their industry, almost 70% would like to find out.

At the same time, 33% consider participation in communities useful but not mandatory and do not attach much importance to it, and 9% do not see the point in it for themselves.

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The survey showed that over half of respondents (53%) do not maintain relationships with former coworkers, but one in three would like to reconnect with some former coworkers.

At the same time, 47% of respondents do keep in touch. In particular, 16% do it actively and consciously (periodically learn news, congratulate on holidays, remind about themselves, etc.), and 31% communicate with a small number of former colleagues with whom they managed to make friends, but do not seek to increase the number of active contacts.

The vast majority of those who maintain or would like to renew relationships with former colleagues (89%) are convinced that this can help in building a career. One in six - 17% - have been able to find a job thanks to former colleagues. And one in eight - 12% - were able to help a former colleague(s) find a job by leaving recommendations.

In addition, according to the survey results, every third respondent (31%) does not make friends with current colleagues and most often does not communicate with them outside of work hours.

Among the most common reasons are: reluctance to talk about work for fear that it will be passed on to the boss (52%); fear that friendship will reduce the effectiveness of joint work (45%); lack of common interests (43% of respondents said so); reluctance to share details about personal life for fear of gossip at work (40%); lack of free time (39%); presence of conflicts (36%); big difference in age (33%).

Of those who maintain informal relations with colleagues (69%), most do so because in a situation where eight or more hours a day are devoted to work, it is possible to communicate only with them (63%); respondents genuinely like their colleagues (58%), have common interests (53%), and want to use current acquaintances in the future, after changing jobs (43%).

In addition, the absolute majority do not make friends and do not communicate with managers outside of work hours. Thus, 87% responded negatively, indicating that they maintain polite neutral relations with them.

At the end of November, 47% of Russians surveyed said that they would like to become self-employed. Among the advantages 45% of the survey participants noted the possibility to engage in several types of activities. Another 44% would like to combine employment and self-employment. And 24% highlighted such an advantage as low taxation.