Interview: Karen, a recent Kedge graduate living in Moscow

Hello, can you introduce yourself in a few words? 

My name is Karen Shaginyan, I'm 22 years old and I am Russian. I live in Moscow. I studied for a year at Kedge, as part of my exchange programme with CeseMed in Marseille, during which I had 9 months of classes in Marseille, and then I went to Paris for an internship.

After graduating from KEDGE, what did you do (internships, first jobs…), and in parallel what prompted you to want to work abroad?

Well, I am not yet an official Kedge graduate, I will receive my diploma in May 2018. However, I have already had several professional experiences: three internships and one indefinite contract for four companies!

I started with a internship in Moscow in consulting for the company KPMG, and thenI went to France for my year with the Cesemed in Marseille. I quickly found an internship in Paris in the banking sector, with the company Natixis, where I worked in trade finance for three months. 
Then, I came back to work in Russia, still in Moscow, but this time with EY, a consulting company in strategy and operational excellence.
This third internship turned into an indefinite contract, which enabled me to really enter the job market, and was my first official job.
And finally, in October 2017, I started a new job with the company Metro, where I still work today! 

My desire to come to France primarily came from the language, which I really loved. It was almost a childhood dream of mine to learn French. So, I thought the best way to do that was to come to France and speak the language everyday!
The choice of cities happened naturally, I didn't doubt it for a second, I already knew I wanted to go to Marseille, for the calanques and the heat! 

Can you tell us about your job? Is it related to what you studied at Kedge? And what are the essential skills you need to do your job? 

So, I am a project manager for the company Metro, and I manage projects in different departments within the company! 

Currently, I am working with the sales department, where my role is to put in place ways to increase the efficiency of sales in the company.

I completely changed fields, previously I worked in the banking sector, but I wanted to discover something new. Although there are a lot of interesting things in the finance industry, I was also interested in retail, a sector that is constantly moving due to new technologies, etc. 

For me, there is a lot to do in this field and I can use all the skills and knowledge I acquired previously. 

To answer your question about the classes I followed at Kedge, these were useful in two ways: 

The first is the use of case studies in each class, which is really efficient, and I think that in our everyday lives every problem is a case study. And the fact that we were confronted with these problems during exercices in class helped me better understand how to approach and manage problems in my field of sales.

The other thing is the international culture at Kedge, which enabled my develop my international knowledge and intercultural skills... There are a lot of nationalities in my company, people come from many different walks of live, and I feel a little more comfortable coming from Kedge, because that is what I was confronted with at school, talking to different nationalities, the case studies once again, with French students. 

Finally, in my opinion the three main qualities you need in my job are: analytical skills (Excel, computer programming), foreign language skills, which are always a plus during job interviews, personally I speak five languages, and that really helped me, and finally presentation skills, which are essential in my opinion, knowing how to sell yourself and sell your ideas.

How would you describe the culture in your country, the company culture compared to France?

I can't really answer that question, because even though I work in Russia, I have always worked in international companies in which the culture is very different from Russian companies in my opinion. 

But I think that I can say that hierarchy is present here, but not as much as in France. Here it is less strict, less straight, you can use the informal "you" with your higher ups here. 

In everyday life, I think it is harder to become friends with Russians, they are a little more closed off. However, the notion of friendship is very important, you can always count on your friends. 

Was there anything you were afraid of before your stay in France?

Honestly, no, I had done some research before I came.

Additionally, it was a country I was really interested in from the start, I wasn't afraid of anything in particular, I was mostly excited! 

Any last words?

For me, the most important thing in the professional world is determination and perseverance!
I think there is always a place, a good internship, a good job for whomever tries and is determined to find it!

With regard to opportunities at Metro, there are some in France, and in Russia, but it is a little more complicated…
In France, there is the programme "metro potentials", which offers a good opportunity to work for a big company like metro, and to develop your skills at the same time!  

Interview conducted by the student pro-act KEDGER TROTTER team

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