The HR Brand award has been presented since 2006 in recognition of the best human resources management practices, organized by the online recruitment company HeadHunter. Every year, the jury picks the best projects that not only help companies grow, but also make working there a comfortable, safe, exciting, and promising experience. According to the organizing team, the winners and runners-up are those who set the tone for the entire professional community.

The criteria for award categories are, to a large degree, formed by the global agenda. In 2022, they were influenced by the challenges faced by businesses as well as the need to focus on the current needs of companies.

All in all, 96 applications were submitted for the 2022 awards. The participants competed in seven main categories:

  • World – projects implemented on a global scale (13 nominees);

  • Federation – projects implemented in several regions of Russia, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, by a company with up to 5,000 staff (13 nominees);

  • Federation Grand – projects implemented in several regions of Russia, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, by a company with over 5,000 staff (19 nominees);

  • Region – projects implemented in one or several regions of Russia (15 nominees);

  • Northern Capital – projects implemented in St. Petersburg or the Leningrad Oblast (10 nominees);

  • Capital – projects implemented in Moscow or the Moscow Oblast (15 nominees);

  • Small Business – projects implemented by companies with up to 250 staff and up to 2 billion rubles in revenue over the previous year (11 nominees).

ITMO staff members. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev / ITMO.NEWS

ITMO staff members. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev / ITMO.NEWS

ITMO made it into the final selection for the Northern Capital category. For its application, the university submitted its project for the establishment of a recruiting center and talent scouting system. Also on the shortlist were the companies BIOCAD, Seletel, Pharmacy Chain 36.6, and Rive Gauche.

“State-funded organizations, particularly universities, can rarely boast their own recruiting centers – until recently, ITMO didn’t have one, either. Starting with the latter half of 2021, we built a talent scouting system pretty much from the ground up; in 2022, we had already honed the major aspects. This allowed us to systematize the recruiting processes, shorten the average time to fill a position to one month, fill almost 100% of job openings with qualified staff, and boost the quality of our communication – as well as reduce the workload of department heads, who were previously expected to handle these processes on their own. In the future, we want to focus our efforts on the process of finding researchers and lecturers,” says Olga Maskalik, the head of the Recruiting and Internal Communications Center at ITMO.

All in all, 53 companies made it into the finals of the HR Brand 2022 award. Next, the candidates will be assessed by 11 jury members – all HR experts picked by the nominees themselves. The winners will be announced on May 31 at the official awards ceremony.