ICEF graduates make successful careers in leading companies both in Russia and abroad. Among the graduates, over 2000 to date, there are lots of great specialists, who contribute to the development of business and industry. Top managers of the leading companies share their opinions about ICEF graduates, talk about who they want to recruit in the financial field and in consulting and what demands are placed on the candidates.
Vladimir Chernyavsky McKinsey & Company senior partner
Consulting demands applied knowledge of how business works and how business decisions are made. How to elaborate a strategy? How to reach efficiency? What is quality product marketing? Young specialists face these questions every day. That is why such skills as how to define tasks, to think conceptually and in big-picture terms, not to fixate on details - this is all important for successful work in consulting.
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During their studies, the students need to follow the latest business trends, understand the role of digital and analytical instruments and their influence on the development of strategy. They should not only study the theory, but also develop their functional skills, work with cases, learn to recognize and see different ways of solving business problems.
ICEF students are known for their solid knowledge in corporate finance, statistics, macro and microeconomics. I can say for sure that in the depth of their knowledge ICEF graduates often outperform the graduates of leading foreign MBA programmes. So here is my advice to the graduates: work a little bit after the bachelor’s programme. Believe me, your theoretical basis is more than enough to satisfy the requirements of the business environment in your hard skills. It is much more important to get practical and applied knowledge.
Kirill Kondrashin, the head of debt capital market in C.I.S. region at J.P. Morgan
Language fluency and “implementation” into international environment are the main advantages of ICEF. It enables one to organize business communication on a new level. Moreover, ICEF offers a good mixture of fundamental knowledge and practical skills, which together with the international component makes it possible for the students to adapt quickly in global corporations.
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I started work in 2004, since then I have noticed one big change: this is companies’ expectation from their future employees. But new requirements are directly proportional to the remarkably higher level of the job candidates. In my day 1-2 internships in your portfolio was splendid. Now graduates have great experience in different activities and high IT skills. They create trading and cases solving clubs, do internships every summer, invest money in stocks. When they start working, they have a full understanding of what a financier does in their professional environment. And opportunities that ICEF gives for students’ activity play an important role here.
Today a lot of people say that banking is turning into IT – but it is not so. If we talk about investment banking, finance workers’ skillset has not changed in the last few years. Traders‘ duties have changed a little bit due to the automation of some work. But the transformation has not touched anything in communication with the client.
Like every huge international bank, J.P. Morgan offers students special programmes. One big advantage to the studies is to do a summer two-month internship, when you can choose an office in the country where you want to get experience. In the first two working years newcomers work not only in different offices, but also in different teams. It is important to get an understanding of most of the working processes of the bank. It means that both geographically and professionally they are looking for their strong suits and the company’s department where they can be most efficient.
What is important for J.P. Morgan HR workers before the interview? Only the degree and grades. More often, when the candidate is not from a top university, he or she is not considered further. Thanks to the graduates that work in top positions in the banks all over the world, an ICEF degree is highly valued. As for me, I have taken ICEF graduates to the team many times, because I am confident in their level of knowledge. They are a pillar of our community.
Marat Ismagulov, HR director of Alfa-Bank
Fundamental higher education is essential for getting a good position in a prospering company. And the company's success is determined by the people. That is why the worker’s personal qualities are getting more and more important.
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I would call irreplaceable those specialists that are constantly developing cross functional interaction skills, are good in digital economy questions, use their experience and knowledge to create a project. On the one hand, it is very important for universities to integrate soft skills modules into the curriculum. On the other hand, they also need to evaluate the possibilities of new technologies in the study process and understand which of them can be beneficial to the students.
Every year we hold internships for graduates in Alfa-Bank. The programme lasts 6 months. And depending on the interns’ results, they might get a job.
In Alfa-bank we value ICEF education very highly and see in its graduates high potential for career growth. In 2019 we took about 80 HSE graduates on a full-time basis. Every year we expand the number of education programmes.
In January of 2020 we opened our own corporate university – Alfa-Academy.
In Alfa-Bank we are sure that constant learning and team development is the only way for the business to improve the efficiency and stay competitive.
Ruslan Vesterovsky, Deputy Governor of The Central Bank of the Russian Federation
Banks are now in a process of transformation, they are turning into IT companies in some way. That is why the fintech orientation is undoubtedly a professional trend. Banks are looking for mathematicians, financiers, analysts with IT skills. Moreover, there is need in risk-analysis, IT security specialists. That is why classical education demands additional IT skills. These are the processes of automatization, integration of new IT products into classical banking spheres, data analytics with the use of special programmes and so on.
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In the Bank of Russia we want to see among our workers people with rich experience, but also young talented specialists – such as ICEF students.
In the Bank of Russia there are several programmes that work with students and graduates. These programmes gradually reveal the essence of the profession and can help a young specialist to become a part of the Bank of Russia team. When a student comes here for practical training, he can get acquainted with the bank's work and its corporate culture, choose a direction for personal development and take a decision concerning building a career in our team. An internship gives a young specialist an opportunity to take part in the Bank of Russia’s projects, to work with real tasks of the departments and get much-needed knowledge and practical skills for a full job connection in the Bank of Russia.
In our new team members we see strong, motivated and goal-oriented young specialists, which are hard to find in the job market. You can find some information about career opportunities for young specialists on the official web-site of the Bank of Russia.
Larisa Vaipan, the head of the recruitment department of Bain & Company (Moscow office)
Strategic consulting has been working with students for a long time; for us it is the biggest part of recruitment. We take more people for entry-level jobs than for any others. In our business we always need to recruit many young and smart guys. Most of the staff in our company are from HSE, 60% from them are from ICEF. ICEF students are always in priority. We have never stopped hunting for them, even in the recent difficult months. I think it will not stop in the nearest future.
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Evidently, the situation with COVID-19 has had an influence on the job market. But we should understand that ICEF graduates are high-potential candidates with a very qualitative education. A lot of huge corporations, both Russian and international, want to get such guys. That is why, in spite of the crisis, they are sought-after specialists.
The communication between the students and the companies has changed in some way, but the recruitment needs have remained. That is why students need to step out of their comfort zone, be active, look for perspective positions, get acquainted with the employer. We have created informal chats and special meetings with our recruitment team and Moscow office consultants. It is enough to subscribe to our social nets, to follow the announcements and to register for interesting webinars.
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