This spring's most anticipated career event — Management Career Week 2022: Spring — traditionally held by the Graduate School of Management St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU), has ended. The tenth anniversary season has become truly large-scale: more than 500 students met with experts at 14 thematic events, 25 companies supported the career week, and the organizers successfully tested three completely new formats of interaction with partners. We recorded the most vivid impressions of the participants and interesting thoughts of the speakers — that all made these days memorable.

Day 1. How to be unbiased?

"How much do brands know about us? "More than we know about ourselves." Tutorial "The World of post-truth. Survival Instructions" with Ruslan Yusufov, an expert in digital transformation and cybersecurity, captured listeners' attention from the first minute: together with technology, more and more fakes are entering our lives, and the only chance not to get hooked is to ask questions.

Day 2. How to make career plans?

This season has become not only an anniversary but also a difficult one. The organizers faced an ambitious task to inspire students with confidence in the future: the opportunity to find an internship and start a career. "Graduating from university, you find yourself in a vulnerable situation. I am here to help you navigate and understand where you are needed," Alyona Vladimirskaya, who runs her own Career Laboratory, began her speech with these words. At the Public Talk "Career chaos in the labor market: a guide to survival in a new reality," listeners learned about what competencies will now help to achieve success in finding a job. And the conversation ended with essential and universal advice: "Many things become clear after honest questions to yourself."

Day 3.1. How to lead yourself?

The seminar "Brain by storm: Applied neuropsychology in 60 minutes" with Candidate of Medical Sciences Andrey Sokol gathered many participants. Which is not surprising! Understanding the mechanics of the most complex engine on the planet — the human brain - will be helpful both in making a career and in life in general. It turns out that the intensified search for a way out of a difficult situation leads to a reduction in the harmful effects of stress, emotion can be controlled, and all diseases really come from nerves — the participants of the meeting came to such conclusions.

Day 3.2. How to take a break from reality?

"Do you collect stamps? This is the same thing, only on the screen..." — this is precisely how the speakers of the virtual Public Talk on VR and NFT "Between two realities: career at phygital" Ivan Puzyrev and Oleg Yusupov explain the value of new digital solutions. Students had a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the virtual world and walk around the VR gallery. One of the speakers held a dialogue straight from the virtual supermarket. However, the mass use of augmented reality technologies in everyday life is still far from us: and this is just a task for the younger generation of managers.

Day 4.1. How do overcome crises?

Alexey Markov, author of the famous "Hoolinomiki" and Public Talk Speaker "Anti-crisis Contribution": financial stability in unstable times," at the same time shocked and charmed listeners with an informal presentation of information, bright appearance, and even the surrounding environment. The economist performed online in bright neon lighting and with numerous posters of musical bands behind his back. However, it was about serious things: the financial world is not so rosy now, but, according to the expert, it is possible to cope with this. The participants learned what not to do in a crisis and how to make financial decisions in the current conjuncture.

Day 4.2. How do prevent brands from deceiving?

Perhaps only Nicholas Corot, the chief curator of the Brand Management and Brand Technology Research Center (RCB&B), could argue in brightness and expressiveness with Alexey Markov. In the Public Talk "Neuromarketing in Action: how brands hack our brains," students had psychological tests, examples from the surrounding reality, provocative questions, and ideas. "The brand is the air for which the consumer pays consciously" is a metaphor that most accurately reflects the essence of the conversation.

Day 5. How to talk about the difficult?

"When you find bad news, I say get it right, get it fast, get it out, get it over" – with a quote from the famous American entrepreneur Warren Buffett, the speech of the head of the group of international educational projects at Gazprom Corporate Institute Vadim Klimachev and the head of the SPbU Department of Foreign Languages in the field of Management Elena Orlova began. During the meeting "Fundamentals of Corporate crisis communication series: Crisis Interview," the speakers talked about the strategies used in crisis communications and showed the most effective communication techniques.

Day 6. How to find a job?

On Saturday, a meeting with representatives of partner companies was traditionally held at the career week, but completely new formats replaced the usual HR buffet. CareerChat allowed students, together with recruitment specialists, to go from finding vacancies to successfully adapting to a new place. How does the employee selection process work in different companies? Which soft skills are needed to work at L'Oréal, and which ones are necessary at Geropharm? The participants received complete answers to all questions. We express our special gratitude to the partners who were able to take part in the event even in conditions of economic turbulence: the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, as well as the companies "Bushe," L'Oréal, IQVIA, "BCS World of Investments," "Geropharm," EY, SBS Consulting, PwC, LLC "Contact," Nexign, Grintern.

Another innovation was the interactive discussion Your start: Startup vs. Corporation between the founders of startups and representatives of corporations. What awaits venture capital investments? How to start your startup? Why is the best time to do this right now? Do I need to get work experience before starting my own business? All these questions became a topic for a detailed conversation. And immediately after the end, students and speakers continued to communicate at an informal buffet. We are grateful to the companies that took part in the discussion: CRM "Pack," VTB Bank, ARB Pro, Evolwe, Paragon Consulting, Ingria Business Incubator, EY, Yandex Drive, NaPopravku, Senior Advisors, Smart Architects, HypeAuditor.

Day 7. How to relax and be with the GSOM family?

What can mark the end of the anniversary better than a family celebration? This was the atmosphere that prevailed at the final of the career marathon, which was held in the GSOM SPbU Student Club building. Maximilian Lapin, the founder of the PinkRabbit network, broke the pattern of the restraint of business people and shared his secrets of happiness and success with students as openly and naturally as possible. The role-playing team game from "Bushe" continued the series of events: the students launched their delivery service in two hours.  

In the final, the award found the most active participants. And for dessert, of course, there was a cake — what kind of anniversary without sweets?

Throughout the week, PwC conducted selection for internship positions in the Tax Consulting and Business assessment departments, Transaction Support Groups (Due Diligence), validation of the financial sector, audit of the financial industry, and Financial Risk Management. The best students of GSOM SPbU have already received an offer of an internship and a job. 

Many thanks to all GSOM St. Petersburg State University alumni who conducted career, coaching, and mentoring consultations for students.

Together we are changing the world for the better!

Elizaveta Borovikova, (MPM Master program, 2018)

Ksenia Bryuzgina (Bachelor program, GMU, 2020)

Nadezhda Voitovich, (Bachelor program, GMU, 2019)

Aliya Grig, (Specialist Degree, 2008)

Maria Daletskaya, (Master program, MIB 2010)

Mariam Janjgava, (Bachelor program, HR Management, 2017 G.)

Soslan Dzgoev, (Master program, MIM/CEMS, 2018)

Pavel Kovalenko, (Master program, MIB, 2013)

Maximilian Lapin, (Master program, 2003)

Grigory Lyubachev, (Master program, MIM, 2017)

Maria Morozova, (Bachelor program, 2021)

Ekaterina Mitusova, (Master program, MIB, 2014)

Mikhail Nikolaichev, (Bachelor program, GMU, 2019)

Timofey Pushkarev, (Specialist Degree, 2005)

Ekaterina Senicheva, (MIM/CEMS Master program, 2019)

Evgenia Filippova, (MITIM Master program, 2014)

Arkady Khachaturian, (Bachelor program 2013)

Management Career Week 2022: Spring has ended, but a new wave is ahead. Shall we catch her together?