Category: Press

On September 23, 2023, a conference was held in Tashkent on the problems of the personnel market in Uzbekistan. The event was organized by Consort Uzbekistan, a representative in the Uzbek market of the Russian CONSORT Group, which has more than 30 years of experience in the field of personnel management, and its Uzbek partners from the Jobo company.

Personnel Management (PM) magazine came up with a useful initiative of conducting an “audit” of the Executive Search (ES) market.

It is extremely trite to call the year 2020 “a difficult one”, but it is also impossible to disagree with that assessment, especially for us working in the B2B service sector. But not everything is so simple – there are companies and people who have managed to magically turn all challenges into opportunities and success.

Our St Petersburg office showed a considerable growth in turnover in 2020. Yury Mikhailov, Consort Petersburg’s Managing Partner, shared with us the secrets of their achievements.

Yury, what was the reason for the success? Did you deal with yet another major client, as in 2017-2018?

Yury Mikhailov: No, last year there was no such client that would bring most of the income. Although with that major client we continued our partnership that has been proven over the years.

In 2020, we worked with a greater variety of companies, old clients and new ones. The demand in the Russia’s North-West market was mostly centered around key executives for businesses, which lead to a year-on-year increase of 55% in the average search fee for Consort Petersburg.

Russian clients, manufacturing companies, were looking for stronger managers who could work efficiently in an ever-changing critical environment.

International companies considered it a good time to strengthen and develop on the Russian market, requesting us to look for key managers for them.

Was there a demand for new services?

Yury Mikhailov: Yes, there was a demand for salary surveys re the level of compensation in competing companies, which was very reasonable in an unstable market. I believe that service will be even more in demand.

In general, the year was really a time of challenges, and required from my consultants and myself a lot of perseverance, endurance, and quick reaction. I rate our office’s work a success!

On 22 January 2020 CONSORT Group held its annual meeting. St Petersburg, Kaluga, Krasnodar and Yekaterinburg offices joined HQ staff in skype.

Yury Mikhailov, Managing Partner of Consort Petersburg, took part in the Points for Growth conference organized by Vedomosti newspaper in St Petersburg. This year the business publication, celebrating its 20th anniversary, summed up not only its work results but also the city’s milestones of the past two decades.

On 29 May 2019, the Captains of the Russian Business national award ceremony, organized for the 11th time by the Personnel Management magazine, was held at Savoy Hotel in Moscow. CONSORT Group received two diplomas: The Best Search Firm and Business Reputation. The Group’s senior managers Julia Balakina and Mikhail Bogdanov were also awarded personal The Best Expert on the Personnel Market diplomas.

On 4 April 2019, Yury Mikhailov, Managing Partner of Consort Petersburg, was invited to the opening ceremony in St Petersburg of the Finnish Vilakone Oy’s plant for the production of multifunctional machines for urban maintenance. The event was attended by St Petersburg’s Acting Governor Alexander Beglov, Chairman of the Finnish conglomerate Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, and Finland’s Consul General Anne Lammila.

The plant in Levashovo will produce urban machines for cleaning streets and courtyards. They are designed to operate through the four seasons under any weather conditions, and especially in winter, which in recent years has produced surprises in the form of heavy snowfalls.

Consort Petersburg acts as a key personnel search partner for Vilakone Oy, which in Russia is called Wihuri Rus.