What amazing professions and specialties you will not meet these days. One of those is the GR manager. This is the person responsible for lobbying the interests of the company at the state level. Let's try to understand in more detail what this profession is, for the fulfillment of what functional responsibilities it performs, and also whether it is well paid today.
general information
GR-manager is an employee of the company who is responsible for relations with government bodies at various levels and public institutions, advocating for the interests of the company, holding negotiations and business meetings, concluding contracts, organizing exhibitions and conferences, as well as advising senior management on all political issues.
Functional responsibilities
The GR-manager, whose functionality is quite diverse and largely depends on a specific industry, is responsible for the following duties:
- Organization of interaction of the company with government bodies and public organizations.
- Conducting business meetings and negotiations.
- Organization of exhibitions, conferences, training events and conferences.
- Monitoring the political situation in the country, tracking changes in the legislative framework, as well as advising company executives.
- Lobbying the interests of the enterprise at the state level.
A specialist in Government Relations should be able to build trusting relationships between the company and government bodies in all possible ways at a professional level. In some cases, even informal communication and bribery of government representatives are allowed if this is in the best interests of the employer.
Requirements for GR Managers
Having a higher education is critical for a GR manager. Universities should relate to public administration, jurisprudence, or economics. Non-company management education is also allowed, be it journalism, business, or chemistry. The presence of experience in the field of GR, in senior positions in large companies, in public organizations or in government structures is mandatory.
What qualities should a specialist have
The manager must have well-developed communication skills. He must be able to find an approach to any person at an interpersonal level. This is very important, since the specialist acts as an intermediary between all links of the corporation and the state, as well as the media in building business relationships. Since the organization and conduct of large-scale projects has a complex structure, organizational skills, strategic thinking, the ability to identify problems and quickly solve them, as well as creative thinking in unusual situations are indispensable. If the company operates internationally, knowledge of foreign languages is welcome.
Thus, the GR-manager is one of the most important posts of our time, on the shoulders of which there are many responsibilities.
Personal qualities
Many employers take into account not only the level of professional training of the applicant, but also his personal qualities, the most important of which are:
- analytical thinking;
- oratorical qualities;
- stress resistance;
- purposefulness;
- leadership skills;
- ability to achieve the task.
Only thanks to the combination of a strong personality, good education and extensive work experience, a good GR manager can be obtained from a graduate of a university. The functions entrusted to this specialist require deep knowledge in the field of economy and political situation of the country, therefore, the applicant should be set up for a long and hard work.
Implementation of Government Relations in Russian companies
Given the current economic and political realities in Russia, representatives of domestic business are gradually beginning to realize how important the profession of GR-manager is for the normal functioning and development of companies. The staff of any large enterprise critically requires the presence of a person who is able to establish normal relations with the state and adapt the corporation to its actions. Indeed, today the success of a business and the ability to survive in a competitive environment largely depends not on the size of market capitalization, but on how the authorities relate to a particular company.
The big problem of GR in Russia is that before there was no such profession in domestic universities, so finding qualified personnel was quite problematic. Employers had to attract specialists from abroad. But not all companies had their own GR-manager. Training graduates of Russian universities was quite expensive and required a lot of time, but in practice it was often counterproductive. But today, the training of these specialists is carried out in our country. The Higher School of Economics has opened the department of "Theories and Practices of Interaction between Business and Power", where young people are trained. As for the old generation of “Dzhiarschikov”, they mainly came to business from state and legislative bodies or politics.
The level of salaries of GR-managers
As for the level of remuneration, then everything depends on many factors. The minimum salary of a GR manager is approximately $ 1,000, but employment requires a higher education and work experience in the field of Government Relations. If a candidate has graduated from an economic or legal university and has extensive work experience, and also has well-developed professional skills and connections among government officials, then in Moscow he can get a position in a large corporation with a salary of $ 25,000. But, as statistics show, there are only a few specialists like this in our country, so it’s quite difficult to get them.
Pros and cons of the profession
GR-manager is a popular profession in the labor market, which is becoming more and more popular every year. But, as in any other field, this vacancy has certain pros and cons. To decide whether to connect your life with Government Relations, let's talk about this in more detail.
Benefits of the profession
Beginning specialists who have just graduated from the institute can easily find work with a minimum monthly salary of 40,000 rubles. If you have at least a little experience and well-developed professional skills, you can count on higher wages. For example, a GR manager in the aviation industry receives from 100,000 rubles.
A great advantage of the profession is the presence of a huge number of contacts and useful acquaintances. A friendly or warm relationship with government officials provides various concessions and opens up new opportunities, for example, if you get tired of work and come in to open your own business. This will help and knowledge from within the intricacies of all business processes that occur in companies.
Also, do not forget that today, “Dzhiarschiki” are officially employed in enterprises, which guarantees a good old-age pension.It is worth noting that only a few years ago such a position did not exist at all in Russian companies, so their employees received salaries in envelopes.
Disadvantages of the profession
Despite the large number of advantages that the profession of a GR manager possesses, unfortunately, there were some disadvantages as well. When applying for a job, the applicant assumes great responsibility, because he is responsible for the company's image on the market, as well as the opinion of it on the part of state bodies.
In addition, the life of the "Dzhiarschikov" is full of various events, so you should not count on a normalized working day, legal holidays and regular holidays. Be prepared to work overtime, hold frequent meetings and conferences, and constantly travel on business trips. All this is very exhausting physically and mentally, so a stressful state is something that representatives of this profession have to regularly struggle with.
But the biggest minus is that many companies use various corruption schemes, which GR managers have to crank out. Therefore, if you do not have good relations in the government, then you are very much at risk of falling under criminal liability.
Employment tips
One of the most popular and sought-after professions today is the GR-manager. Vacancies in Moscow are regularly updated, and their number is growing every year. The great demand from employers is due to the fact that Russian institutions do not train “jiarists”. They do not even have a corresponding department. However, if you want to find a job, then just a diploma of higher education, as well as the availability of professional skills and great desire will not be enough.
Of course, you have a chance to find a job, but to get into a large company that is ready to pay you a high salary, you must have good connections in the business environment. In addition, it will not be out of place to have friends among government officials.
As for education, your chances of getting a vacant place are much higher if you graduated from one of the following specialties:
- Public relations in state and municipal government.
- Advertising and public relations in the commercial or political sphere.
- Management and analytics in the public sector.
- Economics of enterprises and organizations.
- Jurisprudence.
When choosing an educational institution, one should be guided by its prestige. The higher it is, the better for you. All of the above specialties are taught in many Moscow universities, so there will be no problems with choosing a university.
But remember that just learning is not enough to become a good GR-manager. You should want to give yourself completely to this profession, and be prepared to work hard day and night, and only then you will succeed. The most important thing is to always believe in your abilities, have a sense of confidence and in no case do not despair as a result of any turmoil.