Huawei starts hiring spree in Russia

July 5, 2022 0 Comments

Huawei, China’s ICT leader, has tripled the number of job openings in sales and more than doubled the number of job openings in electronics manufacturing and service in Russia, despite the suspension of the company’s sales in Russia.

As of the first half of 2022, Huawei has 814 job vacancies in Russian, which amounts to a 49% increase compared with 545 vacancies last year, according to Russian media Kommersant quoting Russian recruiting platform HH.ru.

The Chinese company more than tripled the number of vacancies in sales from 27 last year to 117 this year. In addition, Huawei is also hiring tech specialists. Job openings for ICT specialists increased by 33%, equipment maintenance and installation specialists increased by 186%, students and trainees increased by 132%, and specialists in the production and maintenance of electronics increased by 233%, per Kommersant.

Huawei’s hiring spree happens amid the company’s and its spinoff brand Honor suspends orders in Russia. In April, Huawei furloughed many of its Russian staff and suspended sales in the country due to “fear of secondary sanctions,” according to Forbes Russia. In mid-June, the company closed 4 out of 19 brand stores.

Due to U.S. President Joe Biden’s ban which restricts Russia’s access to advanced technologies, tech companies such as Huawei are unable to sell equipments containing American technology in Russia. Huawei is reviewing its production line in order to find a solution, bypassing the ban and re-establish its operations in Russian, according to Forbes Russia quoting experts. 

The company has a heavy presence in Russian. According to Russian newspaper Izvestia, more than 33 percent of network equipments, including base stations, installed in Russia is owned by Huawei and built on equipment provided by Huawei. Unlike its foreign counterparts, such as Nokia, Cisco and Ericsson who has left the Russian market, Huawei is on the fence but can’t stay on for much longer. According to Kommersant, officials of Russia’s Ministry of Digital Transformation were “angered” by Huawei’s ambiguous position.

Huawei’s Russian rivals are also highly concerned with the company’s moves in the country, especially its staffing expansion. As Huawei increasingly hires tech specialists, many of whom were made available after foreign enterprises withdrew from the country, Russian companies worry about the country’s own tech independence. “Taking into account the fact that in the domestic IT industry and R&D, the need for specialists, it is unreasonable that a Chinese company takes the personnel. We give it specialists, so that later we can buy developments made by them,” Sergey Sukhman, president of telecommunications company Zelax told Kommersant.

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