Alexey G. Komissarov

The objective of this article is to reveal the most demanded competencies for senior management personnel and to discuss the methods and approaches for assessing such competencies within the framework of Open Mass Personnel Contests (OMPC). The article provides an overview of modern research on competencies of business leaders, as well as literature on approaches to assessing the competencies of civil servants: the focus of researchers is increasingly shifting to the skills and abilities of a manager to create value through conscious interaction with the team and stakeholders. The paper presents the approaches to assessing competencies of candidates for senior management positions at the contest «Leaders of Russia». It is shown that, other things equal, persons representing senior management personnel in large organizations were more successful than other groups at different stages and were more likely to win the competition. This indicates that the procedures of the competition, most likely, contributed to the achievement of the main goal - the selection of people with competencies corresponding to the top management. Basic socio-demographic characteristics (gender and age) were not associated with the success of the selection process. The author concludes that an open competition with a transparent way of assessing competencies using different methods both allows to select promising managerial personnel and ensures inclusiveness in the selection for senior positions. At the same time, factors such as correct conducting of all stages of an OMPC, ensuring sufficient quality and quantity of candidates at the entrance, and careful selection of competency assessment tools are of great importance.