The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (МИД России), Russia’s foreign ministry, reported that the level of professional training is of fundamental importance when recruiting migrant workers from India and African countries. For employers, this means structuring recruitment around the requirements of a specific position rather than postponing competency assessment until after the candidate arrives.
The published statement does not announce new rules, quotas, permits or mandatory procedures. It also does not specify when any requirements would enter into force. It presents a position that a company can use to reduce HR and operational risks when planning recruitment.
Why Qualifications Should Be Assessed at the Start of the Process
In mass or targeted recruitment of foreign specialists, an error in assessing skills becomes a problem not only for HR. A worker may not be suited to the operations, equipment or level of independence required by the vacancy. The company then has to revise its onboarding plan, find a replacement or provide additional training after the person has arrived.
The Foreign Ministry’s statement concerns the possible recruitment of workers from India and African countries, including for manual, technical and production positions. It is therefore useful to distinguish a candidate’s general interest in a vacancy from their readiness to perform a specific job. The criterion should be not merely the formal existence of experience, but its relevance to the conditions of the particular workplace.
Translate the Vacancy into a List of Assessable Competencies
Before starting recruitment, employers should formulate the mandatory skills for each position. This list may include the occupation, required practical experience, ability to operate the equipment used by the company and the level of training needed to perform the tasks. This creates a common standard for the recruiter, department head and specialist assessing the candidate.
Do not limit the description to something as general as “an experienced worker is needed.” The more precisely the requirements are linked to a specific vacancy, the easier it is to compare candidates and explain the decision within the company. The material does not prescribe a format for qualification requirements, so the employer determines this independently through its internal processes.
How to Gather Evidence Before Hiring
The Foreign Ministry recommends taking qualifications into account during recruitment itself. In practice, this means requesting information about education, occupation and previous work experience, and then comparing it with the requirements of the vacancy. Documents and information about past experience help create an initial picture, but they do not always show how well a candidate can perform the required tasks in practice.
Practical skills can be assessed through an interview, a practical assignment or a job-related skills test in an acceptable format. The choice depends on the position and the company’s internal procedures. The original statement does not specify mandatory types of assessment, a required list of documents or rules for verifying education, so these details cannot be treated as new official requirements.
Plan Onboarding in Advance Rather Than Concealing Skills Gaps
Qualification assessment is not limited to deciding whether a candidate is “suitable” or “unsuitable.” It makes it possible to identify in advance whether introductory training, instruction, mentoring or adaptation to the company’s technologies and equipment will be needed. Such planning is particularly important when the candidate’s basic occupation matches the vacancy but their previous experience differs in terms of tools, processes or work organization.
Advance planning helps the department calculate mentors’ involvement and the workload placed on the team. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry’s statement contains no requirements for the training program, the length of onboarding or the content of instructions. The company should not present its internal decisions on these matters as requirements that were not mentioned in the material.
What Managers and HR Should Monitor After the Assessment
It is useful to record the assessment results in internal recruitment documents: the requirements set for the position, the information provided by the candidate, how their skills were assessed and whether onboarding is needed. This documentation makes the process more transparent and helps transfer information from the recruiter to the worker’s future manager without losing important conditions.
Without a preliminary assessment, the likelihood increases that the employee will not match the vacancy, that additional training costs will arise and that onboarding will take longer. The statement does not mention legal sanctions or new liability for failing to conduct such an assessment. Qualification checks should therefore be viewed as an HR and operational practice, not as a new mandatory procedure announced by the Foreign Ministry.
What to Check
- Define the mandatory skills and qualification requirements for each vacancy.
- Match the position requirements with the tasks, equipment and technology at the specific workplace.
- Request information from the candidate about their education, occupation and previous experience.
- Assess practical skills through an interview, a practical assignment or a job-related skills test in an acceptable format.
- Decide before assigning the worker to the job whether introductory training, instruction and mentoring are needed.
- Record the assessment results in internal recruitment documents.