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- Stop, cadres: companies have drastically reduced the hiring of employees without experience
Stop, cadres: companies have drastically reduced the hiring of employees without experience
The share of vacancies for candidates without experience in Russia fell by a quarter in the first quarter of 2026, Izvestia found out. Employers are reducing the recruitment of beginners amid the introduction of artificial intelligence and increasing efficiency requirements. It is more profitable for businesses to hire already trained specialists than to invest in training. This leads to a tougher entry into the labor market: it is more difficult for young people and students to find their first job, and the search time may increase.
How the number of vacancies for candidates without experience is decreasing
Companies are less willing to hire candidates without experience. The share of such vacancies fell by 24% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, according to the study "Jobs.<url>" and "SberPodbor" (Izvestia has it).
In general, the most vacant places turned out to be in the trade — about a quarter of all offers, the study says. However, their number in this segment still decreased by 14%. At the same time, the increase occurred in the field of beauty and health (by 96%), services (+51%), as well as culture, education and civil service (+46%).
Two opposing trends are now clearly visible on the Russian labor market, said the Deputy General Director of Work.<url>", Alexander Veterkov, Chief Operating Officer of Sberpodbor.
— In the fields of trade and vacancies for candidates without experience, the applicant's resource is almost exhausted: there are no more people willing to work on the same terms. Plus, automation has the strongest impact (fewer cashiers, pickers, and handymen are needed) and the salary race, which these industries can no longer withstand," he explained.
The released demand for personnel is flowing into the service, beauty and health sectors. There is a fast cash flow, higher margins and the ability to offer salaries that applicants are willing to pursue, the expert said. In addition, IT went into negative territory for the first time: the sector also faced a shortage of intelligent specialists and overheating salaries.
The general trend is that employers are reducing the recruitment of novice specialists. Izvestia contacted the Ministry of Labor, as well as the largest recruitment agencies, with a question about how this trend manifests itself.
As SuperJob told Izvestia, most of the vacancies for applicants without experience are now open in retail, construction and industry.
Why companies are not ready to hire beginners
Today, employers are really more interested in working with experienced candidates, 60% of companies focus on employee development, said Alexandra Naumova, Director of Recruitment at Ventra HR Holding.
— This is primarily due to the focus on process efficiency, when each specialist must make a profit. And in this trend, it is very difficult to hire, train and adapt young people who have just completed higher education," she explained.
The expert noted that the number of vacancies for candidates without experience has fallen by about 30% in just a year.
Currently, applicants accept jobs for which their qualifications are excessive, and the salary is significantly lower than their previous income, said Natalia Garshina, Director of Organizational Development at Rusconsult Group.
— The situation that we call the "employer's market" has developed in the market again. Companies have the opportunity to choose from a large number of candidates by holding a competition to fill vacant positions. In such conditions, it makes no sense for them to hire specialists without experience," she said.
Many applicants join the ranks of the self-employed or accept jobs where work experience is not required: couriers, waiters, staff at pick-up points, the expert explained.
Young specialists are readily hired when the company is growing and scaling, but now there is practically no such thing, said Sergey Goncharov, Chief Operating Officer in IT management, a specialist in scaling service companies.
"It is primarily beginners who are under pressure: an employer would prefer to retain an experienced employee than invest resources in training yesterday's graduate," he noted.
The development and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) is also displacing the basic roles that have traditionally served as an entry point for graduates. For example, in IT— this is a junior developer, tester, entry-level analyst, and technical support specialist. AI copes with such tasks faster, cheaper and without a trial period, said Sergey Goncharov.
According to him, this creates a real problem for young people: without a first job, you can't gain experience, and without experience, you can't get a good job. This creates a vicious circle. Now, novice specialists should pay attention to high-tech industries, the military-industrial complex, as well as the agricultural sector, the expert believes.
Until the economy enters a phase of active growth, and businesses begin to build long-term personnel strategies again, the trend will intensify, concluded Sergey Goncharov.
Due to this trend, young people may begin to lose motivation to pursue higher education, Alexandra Naumova warned. Due to the requirements of having experience, it will be easier and faster for her to go to college and continue to find a job.
Those who received a diploma and could not find a job will begin to leave for a completely non-core field and stay there, the expert admitted. As a result, knowledge will be lost, and after three or four years such an applicant will no longer be interesting to the market if he starts looking for a job in his specialty. However, with well-structured work with young talents, both sides benefit, she concluded.
As Izvestia previously reported, 1.2 million teenagers were looking for work in 2025. Compared to the previous year, their number increased by 16%. Among the reasons for this increase are staff shortages, easier hiring of teenagers, higher salaries, a change in attitude to work, and the desire of young people to be financially independent.
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