Before moving to their new office at Ostozhenka, the management of Consort Group engaged in manpower consulting had carefully planned premises for the staff of 90. Special attention was paid to a line of isolated rooms (dubbed «confessionals») for confidential talks with clients. Managers were placed in the general hall after the western pattern, where they initially thought to fashion the workplace of general manager Mikhail Bogdanov as well. But on careful examination they decided not to give up on a traditional office for the principal of a firm where our conversation with him took place.

— Mr, Mikhail, everywhere in your corporate headquarters various images of nice llftle ships are stationed or hung, Why?
— Among other things, the English word 'consort' that we chose for the name of our company, means an escort or navigator ship, We help our corporate clients find their bearings in the personnel realm and select specialists who could be adequate to their tasks. Furthermore our top managers come from St, Petersburg, and we even leased our office at the waters of Moskva-river.

— The consort idea is fortunately played up in the series of landscape photographs featuring sea and river water that decorate the wall opposite the rooms for confidential talks with clients.
— Thank you! The pictures were taken by our lady employees during their vacations, And flowers in my office are an object of care by another employee who cherishes special relationship with plants! The palm-tree was presented on my jubilee; as to the climbing jasmine, I dug it out on a Moscow street in the late eighties and transplanted to a pot, Since then it has been gladdening me with amazingly fragrant blossoms every year on my birthday, How on earth can you part with this beauty?

— By the abundance of photographs, diplomas and deeds on the walls your study reminds of British or American offices.
— Don't forget that I worked in London as correspondent of Socialist Industry newspaper, I take pride in the fact that I was a disciple of one of the world's best «head-hunters»—Canadian Clark Jackson — and so I hung my certificate of graduation from his course on the wall, Among the deeds and diplomas I'd mention the Archery Gold Medal I received at one of the clubs from the international organisations Rotary Club and Lions and another one for visiting the Great Chinese Wall. The last prize is rather amusing: it is surely given out to all tourists, but, believe it or not, it takes great efforts to get it, and I just couldn't help bragging…

— Getting back to work, what are the principal differences between your company and other employment agencies, and has this business become more civilised In Moscow?
— Progress is obvious. Now 250—260 recruiting agencies operate in the capital, and we are on the brink of what I call the «holdingisation» process. Employment holding companies are horizontally structured, i.e. their net¬works ramify into branches and divisions dealing with the same corporate lines of business, and we've been running vertical recruitment for 13 years: one of our departments hunts for attendants, another—for median managers; a third one — for top managers, But the main emphasis is laid on «executive search», i.e. direct target quest of chief executives. Now we have our offices in both Russian capitals and are well-known among corporate clients as «headhunters», And never will our managers charge claimants for their services, even on a death penalty.
— Well, now you've switched to professional jargon. Nobody remembers that we once did a loan translation of such terms as «brainwashing» and «brain leakage» from English. Why not translating the word "headhunting" into Russian instead of «enriching» our language with English transliteration.
— You know, people hold a very negative attitude towards the term «headhunters» in the West, but no other term has been invented yet, As a matter of fact, I have been invited to read the manuscript of a new book titled «Okhota za Golovami» (Hunting for Heads), so the Russian version of this phrase is striking root.

— Manpower business injected a huge pile of linguistic rubbish Into Russian. Unfortunately, no Russian business has so far got around to hiring experts who could suggest direct and descriptive Russian equivalents for foreign terms, In France they have a special law forbidding the use of English names, if French equivalents are available…
— I fully share your concern over Russian language pollution, Moreover by entering into this discussion with me you hit the mark: during five years I had presided over the Personnel Selection Consultants Association and pressed for this problem solution, Our firm made its first linguistic contribu¬tion in the year 2001, when we translated a glossary on the «executive search» subject into Russian, Secondly, our employee, a graduate from the Moris Torez University of Foreign Languages, published a lengthy article titled «Is it worthwhile to build the Tower of Babel?» where she interpreted some terms and made the first attempt to find Russian equivalents.
— For example, what's the right word: PRovets or PRshlk? And how do you like the set phrase «PRovskaya action»?
— We still wonder whether the stress is to fall on the second or on the last syllable in the word «recruiter». Looking for Russian equivalents is a painstaking job to be done by the entire society.
— As «head-hunters», you become secret adversaries of those companies, whence you pump out valuable and promising workers, do you?
— I've just finished an article for one of manpower magazines titled «Head-hunter: a Foe or a Friend?» No, we are partners, not enemies, When a person is happy with the round of his or her duties, career prospects, labour conditions and wages, you'll never be able to win him or her over, I always use the following metaphor: if your wife has left for another, you should blame yourself.
— And complain to yourself
— That's right!

— Mr. Mikhail, let me satisfy my curiosity: what kind of a huge monster did you place on the window-sill near the tall palm-tree?
— This papier-mache monster is the Japanese doll called Prince of Darum. Like the Russian matreshka-doll, it may vary in size from a dwarf to a giant, which has a special meaning, though: buying a little prince, you set a small target in your life. You paint over one of Darum's eye and then you just cannot escape his reticent persistence — you cannot just scrap such a handsome fellow, can you? You reach your end and paint over his second eye. Then you buy a bigger Darum and set a more ambitious goal and so on until you get to a giant Darum.

—Judging by the size of your Japanese prince, you set a very ambitious goal.
— I want our company to be recognizable on a world scale.

— And can't you paint over Darum's second eye little by little as you advance towards your goal?
— In no way! It would be fraud; in her time Margaret Thatcher and the then prime-minister of Japan publicly painted over an eye of this doll, having signed a contract for Sony factory construction in Wales, and they painted over his second eye after the plant had been inaugurated.

— Perhaps our public officials would do well to use Darum to develop persistence?
— I wouldn't mind.
— Consort is a short name, Does your company have any motto?
— It does: «premium people to premium companies».

—It's good you didn 't use the word «best», or this slogan might be rem¬iniscent of beer or cigarette advertising.
— We are serious people and mind all shades in meaning, We also patronize art and help the Youth Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg University, whose graduate I am, I don't like the word «sponsor», Those gifted fellows are our partners, so you may see their photographs on the wall.
… And this smoking pipe once belonged to famous Soviet intelligence officer Kim Filbi. It was presented by his widow Rufina.

Interview by Yelena Golubeva

«MYR & DOM. Business»
№ 02'2006