Experience economy: Why managers of the future opt for big companies and how to deal with it

The first session focused on the results of the research in what motivated young people to work with the big companies. The research was carried out by the conference’s organizers, with its scientific supervisor SPbU’s Associate Professor Marina Latukha, among 560 students aged 18–25 and revealed that 5 years after graduation a majority of the respondents saw themselves as top managers or free-lance entrepreneurs. The key factor was challenging tasks and professional growth.

“Today the experience economy is replacing information economy. The key factor in choosing a job is an experience as a sum of the events or occurrences which have left an impression on a person. Among them are self-realization and self-development,  working with a flexible schedule, team work and close cooperation with the manager, aims and outcomes that will benefit society”, — said Sofia Kosheleva, Professor of the Department of the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at SPbU.

Working with a flexible schedule is not a priority for young people – they are ready to work at the hours their companies require, if they have clear aims in view and know their mission, the experts said.

The discussion came to a conclusion that a rapid career growth in a company is only possible in the fast growing segments of the market, in IT or pharmacy particularly.  It can be explained by an increasing number of jobs as these companies are constantly growing, enlarging or varying their range of products or field of operation.

The discussion particularly focused on what role the mentors play in the young talent programmes. In the FMCG the mentor is vital, agreed all the experts. Some companies use mentors as a tool to work with young professionals. “The mentors share their experience and have a clear knowledge and expertise in the sphere. Their aim is to propel young professionals’ career and boost their soft skills. For example, Severstal implements its leadership programme and equips its young professionals with two mentors, so they can absorb the experience of two managers”, — said Anna Butova, a head of the Severstal’s leadership programme.

The second session was in a focus-group format. The experts discussed how to attract and retain young talented professionals and focused on the corporate culture in the future. As there is a lack of talented people, the companies have to develop inside recruitment, the experts agreed. Another tool to attract young talented people is to collaborate with the universities and schools and offer internship opportunities and summer schools, the experts said. If we are interested to retain talented people, we need to draw up career planning schemes which will enable us to “grow” professionals inside the company.  With brands a crucial factor, we need to develop brands of the prospective employers. The term “corporate culture of the future” is not correct, as culture means ideas and values that the company transfers, adopts and follows, and it reflects a unique nature of the business atmosphere, the essence of the company. When it comes to the corporate culture, it is vital to primarily focus on how to transfer these values, knowledge, skills and experience and how to engage young specialists, the experts agreed.

The event was visited by SIBUR, CROC, BIOCAD, Severstal, Coca Cola HBS Russia, Rosneft, Bank VTB, SPIBA, Megafon, and Kelly Services Engineering Resources. The moderator of the discussion was Elena Topolskaia, BCG’s consultant; Marina Latukha and Sofia Kosheleva, SPbU’s Graduate School of Management. The discussion was supported by the Coca-Cola HBC Russia and an expert partner the Boston Consulting Group.

For reference:

April 6-8, SPbU, the VI Conference “Management of the Future” of the talented students and top Russia’s companies particularly is organized by the students and graduates of the SPbU’s Graduate School of Management with a particular focus on the “Russian business in the innovation age: Successes and Prospects”. The conference accepted the students of the world’s top universities who had successfully passed a rigorous selection procedure.