Personnel Competency Competitions in Russia: Increasing the Efficiency of Manager Selection for the Civil Service

The purpose of this article is to, by using the example of the Leaders of Russia competition, identify the strengths of open mass personnel competitions (OMPC) in terms of their impact on the career prospects of their participants, improving the effectiveness of personnel policy, and also spreading the notion about the importance of meritocratic principles in the selection of personnel for leadership positions in society. To do this, the article discusses the main problems that exist in Russia in the field of attracting managers at the current moment. The article highlights the advantages of OMPC: the effectiveness of the selection of candidates and competitive procedures. However, the most common criticism of the methodology and mechanisms of the "Leaders of Russia" competition is also considered: some of the problems have an accessible solution, others can only be corrected to a small extent without deviating from the declared goals and principles of the competition - the thesis is substantiated that a departure from the fundamental principles of OMPC is impractical. It is concluded that the introduction of a system for assessing the competencies of candidates, in which the qualities of applicants for leadership positions will be identified through a competitive selection system, will improve the quality of public administration as a whole.