Ukrainian students of economics and business looking to get some valuable work experience for foreign companies – either abroad or at home – can thank the non-profit organization International Association in Economics and Management (AIESEC) for making a wide variety of business exchange programs available to them.
AIESEC runs job placement programs all over the globe, and has been establishing programs in Ukraine with increasing frequency since it opened its first office here in 1991.
AIESEC runs programs to equip Ukrainian students with skills in demand by Western companies, as well as programs to assist them in finding work in such companies.
The range of countries in which a Ukrainian student might find a job through AIESEC is impressive. AIESEC operates in 87 countries, and students might end up with jobs in any of them.
In addition to helping Ukrainians find work abroad, AIESEC helps foreign students find work in Ukraine – for both local companies and foreign companies with offices here. One such student, Andrew Jacoby of the University of Texas, found his three-month internship at local investment house Matura Investment so rewarding that he plans to come back and continue working for the company when he graduates next spring, he told the Post.
Among AIESEC's specific programs is an event called Career Day. Held annually, Career Day draws most of the Big Five accounting firms, Proctor & Gamble, and a host of other foreign powerhouses in pursuit of the finest local talent.
'After Career Day, we received a lot of resumes from students, and that is a very good sign,' an Alfa Capital representative told the Post. She added that although Alfa Capital only took one person, that person was hired into the responsible position of risk manager.
Svetlana Mazur of the P&G personnel department told the Post that P&G has benefited from several new hires at past Career Days, and will be shopping for more when this year's Career Day is held on Oct. 3. 'Definitely, Career Day is an effective instrument,' Mazur said.
Others signed up for Career Day this year include Ernst&Young, Arthur Andersen, Unilever, KPMG, Parmalat, Xerox, Philips, and International Education Resources Consortium.
Yuliya Yurina, the president of the AIESEC office in Ukraine, says AIESEC is looking to expand the scope of Career Day to include not only final-year university students as it has in the past, but also second- and third-year students. 'We are planning to inform students about the possibilities beforehand so that they will be able to develop the necessary skills and be more prepared for the job after graduation,' she says.
Another notable AIESEC program is Challenge 2000, which sets Ukrainians up with internships abroad. This year, 16 students went through a rigorous examination and interview process and emerged from a large pack of applicants as the winners of internships in the West.
Possibly AIESEC's most unique program is an international program called Bank Masters of '98-99. Sponsored by the German bank WestLB, Bank Masters is a game that simulates real bank conditions and challenges teams of three to five students to cope successfully with an on-going set of banking sector problems.
Participants must be majoring in economics or related fields plus have a working knowledge of English or German. The number of teams is gradually trimmed down over three rounds, with finalists heading to Dussledorf to square off against each other. The top three teams win internships at WestLB branches in Germany, while all finalists receive a financial reward.
No Ukrainians teams qualified for the final of last year's inaugural contest, although three did make it in to the second round. Ukrainian teams will again have a chance to do better when this year's contest begins in mid-November. The contest lasts until the end of March, 1999.
AIESEC's organizers in Ukraine have undertaken vigorous efforts to gear Ukrainian teams up for this year's event and hope to put at least one Ukrainian team in the final. Organizers have gone as far as running a summer business camp in Mykolayiv dedicated specifically to the event, and will hold several banking seminars leading up to the kick-off of the game.
