What: Kyiv Post Employment Fair
When: Saturday, Sept. 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Olympic Stadium in Kyiv
Admission is free
On Sept. 21, the Kyiv Post Employment Fair celebrates its 15-year anniversary of uniting career seekers with a plethora of opportunities among top companies and organizations.
The semiannual fair, which will take place in Olympic Stadium from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. will allow attendees to network with 50 of the country’s leading employers, including PepsiCo, the American Chamber of Commerce, Danone, Deloitte, BIIR and Winner. The represented industries include logistics, engineering, healthcare, hospitality and food processing, among others.
The fair will have many representatives from the banking sector, including the National Bank of Ukraine, PrivatBank, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval and Ukrsibbank.
Many international organizations will also be looking for talent, including the United Nations Office for Project Services, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Many companies will be returning to the fair after previous participation. One of these is Winner, which has an array of businesses in automotive imports and dealerships, construction and real estate. Winner HR specialist Olena Pavlenko said that the company will be looking for people for a range of positions, including car dealers, sales consultants, auto mechanics, accountants and others.
“There are many young specialists who are ready to work at a fairly young age, combining work and education,” said Pavlenko, who called the job market “new, dynamic and interesting.”
However, the fair will see new faces as well. Italy’s low-cost Ernest Airlines, which opened routes to Ukraine in 2017, is launching its first representative office in Kyiv in October and will be building its team practically from scratch. Next year, the airline will base some of its aircraft in Kyiv and expand its network of representatives to other cities in Ukraine.
Country manager Davide Strinna said that the airline will be looking for motivated, English-speaking professionals to work in the sky and on the ground. Positions are available for pilots, cabin crew, sales representatives, customer service representatives and call center operators.
“The company is growing every day,” said Strinna.
As high tech continues to penetrate the job market, artificial intelligence and automation has come to the fore. Maksym Obrizan, an associate professor and academic director at the Kyiv School of Economics MBA program will discuss the ramifications of AI during a seminar at the employment fair. The explosive development of AI allows machines to schedule appointments, predict crops, detect early signs of disease, scan receipts, compile tax reports and more.
“On the negative side, these trends put in danger many of the traditional occupations (cashiers, travel agents and even professors) which can be easily and cheaply replaced by robots,” Obrizan wrote in an email. He will also discuss universal basic income as one of the strategies for societies to survive in a post-industrial world.
Nevertheless, Obrizan added, “Creativity, education and entrepreneurial spirit, on the other hand, will always be in high demand so these qualities will be important for future employees and companies.”
UNOPS will hold another seminar, describing the organization, its needs, and the practices it applies for selecting job applicants. The organization is on the lookout for project managers, assistants and support officers, engineer consultants, procurement assistants and ICT specialists, among other professions.
“We want to use this opportunity to tell our story to those who already have an extensive experience in these areas, but also to those who consider pursuing a career in an international organization,” wrote UNOPS HR analyst Svitlana Orlova.
