For those who are looking for a career start or change, the Kyiv Post Employment Fair is bringing together 40 companies and is expected to attract 1,000 people at the Toronto-Kyiv business center on April 6.
The semiannual event is meant to match both newbies and experienced professionals with some of the country’s largest and leading employers, such as the National Bank of Ukraine, American Chamber of Commerce, BIIR, DataRobot, EBS, FenixAgro, Jooble, Mars Ukraine, ProCredit Bank, United Nations Development Programme and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“Knowledge of English is a basic requirement without which nothing else will happen,” says Alina Chugunova, human resources manager at Sabis, a global education management organization.
The represented industries range from engineering, logistics, humanitarian aid, and healthcare to tourism, hospitality and food processing. Ukrainian state authorities and international organizations will also be seeking top talent in Ukraine.
This year’s Kyiv Post Employment Fair is taking place at a time when Ukraine is losing millions of economically active professionals to neighboring countries. Many Ukrainians prefer to work in the European Union or Russia as they seek higher salaries and better living conditions.
Women pick up advertising booklets at the Kyiv Post Employment Fair at Ukrainian House in Kyiv on Sept. 22, 2018. (Volodymyr Petrov)
But despite the brain drain, some of the companies that will be present have been participating in the fair for a long time. Danone is one of them.
“This employment fair is attended by people of various professions, ages and qualifications. That is why the fair is of priority importance to us,” says Veronika Sheina, an HR manager at Danone’s Ukraine branch.
Her company has participated in the fair two times already for two reasons — to search for talent and to promote the company. Currently Danone is looking for students willing to participate in a nine-month management internship program called Surf Danone. The French company also has vacancies for experienced professionals.
Four participating organizations will run seminars for attendees during the event which will focus on such topics as building a career within an engineering company, teaching science, working for international organizations, and finding fulfilment at a job. The special guest of the event will be Svitlana Zalishchuk, a pro-European member of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
Although most of the companies that will be represented offer jobs in Ukraine, some have vacancies abroad. For example, National Westminster Bank, also known as NatWest, is looking for analysts and controllers to be employed in its Warsaw office.
Sabis is looking for science and art teachers to be working in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. Prospective teachers need to speak advanced English if they want to teach sciences or intermediate level English if they want to teach ballet or sports, explains Chugunova.
“We already have teachers from Ukraine but not so many. That is why we participate in (such) career events,” she says.
Also, there will be several recruiting companies participating, which will advertise jobs for their clients from various industries.
At least one of the recruiters will be recruiting for recruiters. During the fair, Kateryna Rybchuk of Ward Howell intends to “tell young people about the interesting industry (of executive search) and to popularize the profession.”
Besides, Rybchuk will be on the lookout for headhunting interns and full-time employees. “We normally offer employment to the active, curious, and interested.”
While searching for talent, Ward Howell will not limit itself to particular professions or a pre-defined list of universities.
However, fluency in English is a must. And “if (a candidate) is not ready to discover new industries, spheres, roles as well as read, learn, analyze big volumes of information and make certain conclusions, most probably we will part our ways,” Rybchuk concludes.
