Results of 2021: Marina Lopatina from Talents In Games about the main thing for the year

We continue to summarize the results of 2021 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry (and related ones). Next up is an interview with Marina Lopatina, Business Development director of the job search service and recruiting agency Talents In Games.

How did 2021 go for the company?

This year we have strengthened all directions and launched one new one.

Now Talents In Games is:

• recruitment-direction (platform and recruitment agency);
• events for HR specialists of the entire Russian-speaking gamedev;
• educational conferences for gaming industry professionals Talents In Games Conferences;
• analytical direction Talents In Games Analytics.

Now about everything in order.

1. Recruitment direction

The audience of the platform in the past year showed growth and good metrics. It is especially pleasant that every month we receive more and more feedback with gratitude from the guys who found work through us.

As for the recruitment agency, this year we have greatly grown the recruiting team. We have built a structure, distributed recruiters in the directions.

We really liked the practice with distribution. We have a positive experience in this regard. The recruiter works in one specific direction, for example, art. He loves his direction, he has a good view, he increases it every day. His entire IPR (individual development plan) as an employee, he is aimed at developing these skills, so he understands artists perfectly, and his personal development in the team, the growth of professionalism, the number of closed vacancies directly depends on knowledge about his direction.

Both candidates and clients like this approach.

2. Events for HR specialists

This year we have held 8 events dedicated to gaming HR. Among them: a number of offline and online breakfasts for HR specialists, the Game Dev HR Awards and the online conference on human resources and recruiting Talents In Games: HR Conference 2021.

3. Educational conferences

Under the Talents In Games brand, we also regularly hold offline conferences for game developers – game designers, artists, programmers, UX/UI designers and other specialists. This year was no exception. On December 13-14, the fifth Talents In Games Conference was held in Moscow.

4. Analytical direction

This year we have also launched another direction. It’s called Talents In Games Analytics.

We have been conducting various surveys and analyzing the labor market for several years in relation to salaries, employer proposals, and conditions offered by companies. And since this year we have been doing such analytical studies on order.

Analytics are requested in the following cases:

• the company is preparing to revise salaries (the revision is done in order to reduce the outflow of personnel, increase the loyalty and comfort of its employees; companies order analytics, realizing that the situation in the market with wages and competition is constantly changing, you need to monitor the dynamics);
• difficulties in closing a vacancy (you need to understand the reasons, find out the salary forks in similar positions, the conditions that companies offer in a particular position, as well as find out its functionality, since it can be different with the same job title);
• preparing to launch a new direction/project.

Thanks to such different requests, we have 2 types of research.

1) A complete study that includes:

• market analysis (the number of similar vacancies on the market, the number of suitable resumes, their ratio);
• the image part (the number of reviews about the company, their distribution into positive and negative, the number of mentions in the media);
• comparison of social packages, that is, conditions offered by other companies (for example, VMI with dentistry, relocation, parking, kindergarten, etc.);
• top 10 functions in the selected pool of vacancies.

2) Operational analytics:

• usually it is needed to review salaries when you need to urgently find out the levels of remuneration;
• a list of vacancies is sent, for which we provide data broken down by location and level.

What event or trend of 2021 do you consider central within your niche?

1. Investments

First of all, I will note the growth in the volume of investments in the industry and the growth in the number of startups. We felt this in connection with the increase in the number of requests for the formation of teams from scratch and requests for C-level positions.

2. Demand for creative specialists

There has also been a strong increase in demand for everyone who works on creating marketing creatives. Whole creative departments are being created within companies, they create competition for advertising agencies, since gaming companies are much ahead in salaries.

3. The interest of European companies in personnel from Russia and the CIS

There has also been an interest in the Russian-speaking industry from Europe. For example, recently I was an invited speaker at the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce when a delegation of German companies came. The guys wanted to know the situation in the gaming industry, there were a lot of requests and questions about wages, the labor market, candidates and companies of the Russian-speaking game dev.

For Western companies, the market of our candidates is attractive, as there are many professional, talented guys. But there is a point at which our market is sagging: the level of English. Few can communicate and write at the Advanced level.

By the way, at that meeting, representatives of some companies openly stated that if a candidate fits the skills, the company is ready to pay for his English language training and wait until he reaches the right level. Moreover, she employs him from the first day of training and pays wages so as not to lose.

As an addition to the previous point: this year we have vacancies for foreign companies. Finding people for purely English-speaking teams was a challenge for us, but we coped.

4. Collaborations of gaming companies with higher educational institutions

Today, there are active collaborations of gaming companies with universities. The goal is to grow the staff.

It’s great that there is a tendency not only to cover today’s needs, but to plan your development for years to come. Training for beginners is not an easy and long—term model of personnel cultivation, but it is very true.

5. Returned offline

Offline events have returned this year. This is undoubtedly pleasing. Of course, it is still difficult in terms of movement now, but this did not prevent our team from personally attending three conferences in a year.

6. HR growth on all fronts

During the year, many HR departments and recruitment departments have grown significantly. Companies are increasingly attracting agencies to stimulate recruitment, devote more time and effort to adaptation, work harder than ever on the development and motivation of employees, HR-brand. All this is aimed at ensuring stable and dynamic growth of your company.

What will be the stake in the development of the company in 2022?

The strategy is aimed at the growth and development of all areas. Slogan: “Save and multiply!”