On April 29, 2021, the Talent Up! mentoring program ended at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU)! 2020/2021: alumni shared with students their experience of building a career, developing skills and competencies.

The program started in November. 34 “student + alumnus” pairs worked to achieve the set goals: mentoring helped to determine a future career, get useful insights, exchange knowledge, experience and energy. “The program is especially useful for students who have a specific request. If you have a goal, the mentor will help you build a path from point A to point B,” said mentor Vasily Taran.

The online format allowed expanding the geography of mentors — they live in the USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and represented Gazprombank, McKinsey, Apple, Amazon, Yandex and others. The mentors also included entrepreneurs who helped students realize ideas for their own projects.

“Each of us has potential, the main thing is to find our point of growth in time. Believe in yourself. Meet the right people. Learn from them. Systematically take steps towards your goal and, finally, achieve it. Talent Up! created the conditions for all of the above to happen for the mentee in six months. We have created a concept from scratch for the educational project of Elena Sokolova, a Master student, which has already resonated with hundreds of people. I am happy to be involved in the creation of a new generation of leaders — people who will make a significant contribution to the prosperity of our society and the world as a whole,” noted mentor and entrepreneur Anna Pushkova.

During the academic year, events were held with the participation of GSOM SPbU alumni and project mentors: an orientation meeting, a career discussion at FAANG (about working in leading international companies), Product Management Day, an informal New Year's meeting, a new format — open consultations from alumni during Management Career week (MCW).

Talent Up! implemented by the Alumni Relations Department together with a team of active students of the Business School. This year, the Organizing Committee were represented by third-year Bachelor students — Polina Fedyanina, Darina Kazykenova, Ksenia Nikolaenko, Polina Kvasha, Denis Mochalin and Anastasia Golubkova.

The next enrollment for the program will take place in October-November 2021.

Talent UP! is a mentoring program, in which students (menties) and alumni (mentors) unite in pairs and communicate and exchange experiences for several months. For mentors, this is an opportunity to pass on their knowledge, and for students — to find answers to questions about career and development after graduation from GSOM SPbU.