In the context of the pandemic, many companies close internship programs, which complicates the search for summer internships and student employment. Thanks to many years of effective cooperation with corporate partners, this problem can be solved at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University (GSOM). So, the company Procter & Gamble together with the GSOM Career Center implemented a campaign for the career support of GSOM students.

 

P&G keeps hiring candidates even in the current environment with the help of a new European program of remote onboarding for new employees.

 

As part of GSOM's career week — MCW Spring 2020: going digital, P&G representatives held an online event — Job offer in 1 Day! Usually, the selection process takes several weeks or even months, but especially for students and recent alumni of the School, P&G shortened this process to one day. As a result, four GSOM students and graduates received the coveted offers.

 

“With the beginning of the pandemic, we immediately realized that internships and practices were under the threat of disruption in the current situation and began to urgently reformat our work. So MCW, which we traditionally held twice a year on campuses, had to be quickly transferred to the online format. As a result, a completely new digital format was born in a month of work, which is not inferior to the usual one. Of course, it would be impossible to bring it to life without our partners. The most flexible and loyal companies responded, and the example of P&G showed that you can get a dream job in one day even in a pandemic. Collaboration with P&G during MCW 2020: going digital proved that any crisis is always an opportunity that we were happy to realize,” said Elizaveta Troyanova, Director of the Career Center at GSOM SPbSU.

 

During the career week, P&G held several workshops and career counseling sessions. Pavel Kovalenko, HR Leader of P&G Kazakhstan, HR Partner for Sales in Eastern Europe, and Anna Morozova, Senior Talent Development Manager, HR Partner for Finance, held a series of individual career counseling sessions for students. Evgeny Yagnyatinskiy, IT Director at P&G in Eastern Europe, shared with the audience secrets of the company’s success in such challenging times during the workshop “Why P&G has already been ready for the new reality”.

 

“We would like to thank the GSOM team for organizing MCW in a very modern format that fully meets the needs of the new reality. Thanks to the effective collaboration between P&G and GSOM, we were able to conduct several events during the week at the same high level as in previous years. It was nice to see students' keen interest in career opportunities in our company as well as their high level of engagement. In particular, I was pleasantly impressed by the quality of students’ preparation for individual career counseling sessions,” said Anna Morozova.

 

P&G managers also participated in the "Digital HR Buffet", which was transferred into an online format without losing an opportunity for students to get in touch with various business representatives. Students moved from one company to another to get the first-hand information with the only difference – there was no need to go anywhere in the literal sense of the word: it was enough to select an online channel with the company of interest and connect to it.

 

“Digital HR Buffet” was organized at a high level. The initiative to split the session into several semantic blocks made the event more informative and interesting, perfectly complementing the traditional Q&A part. I also note the positive impact of having a moderator, which allowed us to streamline the flow of questions, avoid duplication, thereby giving us the opportunity to highlight more interesting facts about the company,” said Kirill Berezkin, P&G Talent Acquisition and Development Manager, Gillette Plant.

 

Procter & Gamble is a longtime partner of GSOM SPbSU. The first in the history of Russian education Advisory Boardof the Graduate School of Management was established in 1993, and for 10 years it was headed by John E. Pepper Jr., CEO of Procter & Gamble. In 2018, at the 25^th anniversary of GSOM SPbSU, the company presented the School with a coworking zone at the Student Club. Students have got a place for comfortable work in groups, equipped with new computers and modern furniture.