Ella Detkova’s Ascent

Krasnodar, 1 February – Yug Times. Many higher school graduates are dreaming of becoming part of the team of CLAAS’ factory in Krasnodar. Entries for some jobs may reach 700 applicants for every seat! Much credit for that must go to HR Director Ella Detkova who managed to gather a real team of high professionals.

One day, passing by CLAAS Krasnodar factory, Ella noted a green combine harvester that stood on the lawn in front of the main entry.

“I had heard a lot about the German company, so I thought that it would be excellent to get a job there,” she recalls. “No wonder that when a year later they called me and offered to be interviewed for the position of the HR Director, I agreed without long hesitations. As soon as I talked to CEO Ralf Bendisch and Sales Director Michael Ritter, I understood that what they were offering was free hand [at everything].”

Her tasks as the new HR Director included recruitment of employees for the second stage of the factory, whose construction had just begun as a Greenfield project. In several years, the project was accomplished, and the staff expanded from 100 to 600.

She needs just three minutes to understand whether a new employee may be ‘infected’ with the Company’s ‘green blood’, which is the spirit and the culture that reigns at CLAAS - openness, honesty, reasonable straightforwardness, readiness to begin a dialog, to have an open life position, grow and develop. If a candidate fails to comply with these requirements, he or she would immediately be denied the job, no matter how urgently the Company needs that kind of specialist.

“It’s like setting puzzles: at first, you are looking for a person that should fit this place, and then for another one that should fit all others,” Ella says. “Although each musician may be good as he is, an important thing is to turn them into an orchestra.”

CLAAS does not apply any punishment systems. For them, the main working principle is respect and trust - these are the foundations for the corporate motivation.