Mariia Dorokhina, Head of the St Petersburg University Career Centre, talks about the current labour market and early-career development strategies

What are the most sought-after competences that employers are looking for, in your opinion? How can young specialists develop professionally, and what are the best investments in yourself?

It is rather a complicated question considering the scope of a classical university with its broad range of academic programmes and areas of study. However, there are a number of supra-professional competences that are most valued by employers. These are: creative and critical thinking; flexibility; motivation; and continuous learning to name but a few. All these skills are mostly about personal development and are relevant for many professions. Many employers today are emphasising these skills when they talk to university students and give them recommendations on how to move along the career path.

St Petersburg University promotes the professional development of students at all stages of their studies. When do you think a student should start thinking about building a career? What are the main steps of the career-planning process in the current labour market conditions?

Nowadays, university applicants are quite demanding. The most common questions about academic programmes are: where can I work upon graduation? What placement options will I have? In fact, when you become a student of St Petersburg University, your professional path has already begun. Awareness of this fact is an important starting block for building a career. Career path is about doing. You have to go and look for opportunities that are applicable to you. Hence, your career is a conversation with yourself. It is important that you realise what you are interested in; what you are good at; and how your strengths can be made use of in the workplace. On the other hand, career is an algorithm. You need to understand what you want and move systematically towards your career goals.

How many of today’s students start their career before they graduate?

Quite a few of them do. It is advisable that you start early on, because today the University offers plenty of opportunities. From the first year, students are involved in various projects and can try their hand at induction training. Many students find employment during the course of their studies. However, there is a certain nuance: our main focus is education so that students successfully complete their degrees. Nevertheless, those students who have proved themselves well at student work placements or extracurricular internships can receive job offers before finishing their degrees. Most employers who come to the University aim to select the best candidates for their companies at the early stages of their studies. Because in highly competitive industries, this is how the best workers, who will move the company forward, are selected. So, a proactive student who has managed to prove himself or herself professionally capable at the early stages of their university studies has every chance of receiving a coveted job offer in the second or third year at the university. And then they can combine their studies and work for the company — obviously, not at the expense of their studies.

What to do if you have difficulties in choosing the career path? How to let go of doubts and find your career path? Can the St Petersburg University Career Centre help in making this difficult but vital choice?

Such doubts are perfectly natural. There should be some hesitation. We all go through certain crises, and the university stage is also a kind of crisis. Still, it is a good thing because crisis is an opportunity to grow. You should embrace your doubts because they help you to understand yourself better and to move on. On the other hand, in order to understand your motivation and what you are interested in, you need to try. How can the Career Centre help? We are developing a career environment. In our VKontakte group, we post all sorts of useful materials for you that can help you let go of and move beyond doubt. Together with the University’s partners, we prepare interesting articles on how you can develop in various industries. You can also get help in choosing a career path at the University Psychological Clinic, where a Centre for Professional and Personal Counselling has been operating for many years. In addition, the University offers many opportunities for professional networking, you just have to seize them.

What about those who have realised that their career path requires a change? People grow and their interests change. Is it possible to be professionally successful today after changing the direction of work?

It is okay if at some point you realise that you have been moving in the wrong direction. Perhaps in your choice of education, you relied on advice from people who are important to you, and you did not hear yourself. Or you may realise that the labour market has started developing in a different direction, and new market niches are opening up, which you consider quite interesting. I think, it is important to stop and try to understand what make them interesting. I would recommend consulting a specialist, a career counsellor in order to check yourself. After all, when talking about changes in the labour market, there are specialists who have a broader view of the market. After a personal interview, they can suggest directions for further development taking into account both the market perspective and the candidate’s personal qualities. Such a comprehensive, systematic approach will enable you to take the next step. Life sometimes forces you to move into a different field, a different direction, and that is fine! You just need to understand how the knowledge and skills you have already acquired can benefit you in the new field. Once this gap is bridged, it is easier to change direction. We gain skills, knowledge, competences, and this is exactly what we can take with us when moving into the new field.

Young professionals just starting a career often fear they might fail in the labour market due to the competition and might become excluded from the labour market. What advice can you give them? How to market yourself and avoid mistakes when entering the labour market if you have no work experience?

That fear and self-doubt are common issues that many early-career professionals and university graduates face. Building a career is a process that does not start from the moment you complete your degree. It is a process comprising certain stages. Indeed, there is luck or chance; yet, if you take the right steps, you will be making progress. In June 2023, the University Career Centre launched an intensive training course for graduates who do not have job offers yet. There is a series of webinars about understanding yourself; and about building identity capital: who I am, what my strengths are and what I can offer to the labour market. The next webinar series is about finding employment: what job-hunting resources exist and what you need to do to create a range of opportunities for yourself. The next stage is, of course, the CV. All the employers talk about the importance of getting your CV right. You should make it catch the eye of potential employers and competently tell them about you from your career path perspective. It is not so important that you do not have 10 years of professional experience. This is normal for a young professional. What is really important is how you describe your achievements. In fact, if you are actively engaged in academic life, by the time you graduate from the University you have already built up your professional portfolio. These include student internships and projects where you have shown your professional qualities and your leadership experience. This is not just about business, economics and management. You should take advantage of any activity that our partners organise in order to attract and select the right job candidates among students. That is why it is vitally important that your CV should be clear and competent. The next stage is the job interview stage. It is very important to present yourself professionally in an interview so that the employer would want to hire you. The job market for young professionals is very competitive, indeed. However, if you start thinking about it early on while still studying, gaining employment can be quite straightforward. You will just transition from student life to working life.

What advice would you give to young professionals who are now choosing their career path?

When I speak to students at forums or induction training, I use an expression that I thought of a few years ago — ‘healthy careerism’. We often think that the word ‘careerism’ has a negative connotation. However, "healthy careerism" is a different story — it is first and foremost a career plan. What is essential here is to understand where to move, because in our career path, we always move not from something, but towards something. When a young person is thinking about his or her professional path, it is important to imagine the desired future, to define what you want to achieve and what exactly you are doing to achieve your goals. Another important point is to keep an eye on the companies that you identified as your prospective employers. You can view their current vacancies open for young professionals and check their requirements. Thus, using basic analytics, you can draw conclusions about your prospects. For example, you see that a company needs specialists with certain skills. You realise that you already have some of the required skills and these skills will be further improved, but some skills you need to acquire; hence, you need to work on this.

Could you please tell us about the current projects of the St Petersburg University Career Centre? What are the most relevant topics today?

The University is continuously working to strengthen and expand relations with employers. Over the years, close cooperation in various areas has been established, and one of the important accomplishments of the Career Centre can be considered the assistance to students in choosing a career path and career development. We have created a VKontakte group, where we cover a wide range of career-related topics. We talk about the algorithm of career building and we engage in dialogue with our partners and also with the University graduates, who talk about their professional path and the companies they work for. We have also created a Telegram channel where we post information about current vacancies and internships.

We have created a convenient navigator so that students could sort through the vacancies for themselves. Indeed, it is a hot season now, especially for graduates. Many companies are opening internship programmes and announcing recruitment of young specialists. This can be a great employment opportunity in future. Even if you are not a graduate yet, it is important to look at what the market offers and test yourself on how ready you are to have a job interview today.

We have formed and will further develop a schedule of career events for students in all areas of study. Despite the fact that St Petersburg University holds large-scale career days every year, students are always interested in communication with key employers. In this case, these are not just conversations about employment, but expert master-classes and lectures that provide a better orientation in the professional field. This is where we focus our efforts on — in all areas of study. We want to create a regular series of career guidance events that will help students to better orient themselves within the labour market.

Well, one more salient point: we constantly upgrade the existing student internship programmes. Despite the fact that internships are a well-established process at the University, there are new companies showing interest in St Petersburg University students. Of course, this requires attention and constant revision. There is always room for development.