Society

Yana Osman, a graduate of the bachelor’s degree programme in Journalism and the master’s degree programme in Management, now teaches at HSE University and works as a communications consultant at PR Inc. In this interview with Success Builder, Ms Osman explains how to find your superpower, why journalists make great PR agents who know how to get their materials published without paying a dime, and why you need to allow yourself everything in order to succeed in your profession.

It is the job of government relations (GR) professionals to build relationships with government officials. Internet technology companies need such experts, especially given technology’s growing role in business, society and everyday life. HSE University graduate Anton Shingarev works as Corporate Relations Director for Yandex. In this interview with Success Builder, he explains what GR specialists do, why political scientists make good journalists and how interacting with students helps experts stay young.

At the age of 24, Valeria Matyukhina is the CEO of the SberTroika unified transport payment system for the capital and the regions. Forbes recognized her phenomenal career achievements in 2021 by naming her Best Manager in its 30 Under 30 rating. In this interview with Success Builder, she explained how to make economics and finance education more dynamic, why early career success does not depend on a company’s prestige and what it feels like to have the keys to Moscow’s underground world.

State and Municipal Management master’s programme graduate Anor Tukaeva chose to become not a government official, but an activist. Her goal: use the activities of the Krokhino Foundation and ProNasledie.Media project to draw the attention of society and the state to the problem of preserving architectural monuments. In this interview with Success Builder, she explains how familiarity with the Russian hinterland changes a person’s worldview, why Russia tends to deny its past, how to build an artificial island for the sake of an idea and how an activist gets started.

The past year has made us all think about the importance of health and how vulnerable we can suddenly become during a global problem. Natalia Belova, graduate of the Faculty of Management and now Director of Market Management at Rosgosstrakh Zhizn, knows everything about how to ensure your financial health. In this interview with Success Builder, she explains why the best and brightest enrolled at HSE in the 1990s, the ins and outs of working with such a ‘product’ as human life, and how to be a good mom and a Board of Directors member at the same time.

When hard times hit the financial industry, economics university graduates gravitated to jobs in the public sector. Denis Deryushkin, head of the Energy Ministry’s Analytical Centre, told Success Builder how an ICEF graduate could wind up in a key role in the energy sector. He also explained how to monetise research skills, why government ministries are being reformed, the latest developments in the fuel and energy sector and what is so appealing about working for the state.

Sergey Korotkikh, graduate of HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, now manages consulting for CAG and teaches at HSE University. He has managed to make mentoring not only his profession but also his mission. In this interview with Success Builder, he explains how students can get the most from a university, the true meaning of ‘agile’, how to raise a new generation of managers and how goal-setting skills help in life.

Study at HSE University, then go to Oxford and on to Yale to plumb the full depths of economics as a social science—that is the path that Dmitry Aksakov, graduate of the ICEF bachelor’s programme and now head of ESG Banking at VEB.RF has followed. In this interview with Success Builder, he explains how Mick Jagger helped him choose a university, why employers themselves seek out Oxford students, what ‘green investing’ is and how working with it can change your lifestyle.

Recognized card game masters claim that victory is possible only after making a thorough analysis of the likely combinations contained in your opponent’s cards, making it a literal application of data analytics to game theory. Anastasia Erastova, now a data scientist at the New York office of BNP Paribas, graduated from ICEF with honours. At the time, she was also the Russian vice-champion at bridge. In an interview with Success Builder, she explained why mathematics and gambling often go hand in hand, the advantages of studying next door to Wall Street and how math students can get a work visa in the United States.

Despite the crisis in the labour market caused by the pandemic, the Mail.ru company has hired approximately 1,000 new employees over the past six months. HSE graduate Dmitry Smyslov, the Mail.ru Group Vice President for Personnel and Educational Projects, played a central role in that process. In this interview with Success Builder, Mr Smyslov explains why there are not enough mathematicians and economists among HR directors, how Mail.ru is blurring the line between fundamental science and the IT industry, which types of specialists are in demand right now and what exactly makes Russian companies good for careerists.