On May 21, CSR Ukraine, CSR Development Center expert organization and Career Hub in partnership with the First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB), the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine held the third regional conference of My Career in Ukraine Competition for students of 10th grades of secondary schools of Ukraine.

My Career in Ukraine is an all-Ukrainian project which provides opportunities for self-realization of youth in Ukraine, inspires professional development and creates a platform for passing on the experience of successful people to the young generation. In 2020, we received around 1,000 essays from tenth-graders about their future profession. The authors of 360 best works will take part in 6 regional meetings, and the 60 most active will be invited to the All-Ukrainian Conference in Kyiv, where the tenth-graders will meet famous people and discuss their future professions.

Maryna Saprykina, Head of the Center for CSR Development, opened the conference: “After a 2-month break due to quarantine, My Career in Ukraine returned in a new format. All parts of the program were adapted to the online format, including teamwork and panel discussion. We are also for inclusiveness, so a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing is involved in the program, because among the participants of the conference there were hard of hearing girls”.

At the third My Career in Ukraine Regional Conference, 60 authors of the best essays from Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions met top managers of national companies and received tips on how to become successful in Ukraine. 

Olena Masliyenko, Head of FUIB Central RC, emphasized: “It's very cool to choose a profession that you really like. Working with inspiration, drive, love is the key to your success. In the future, the bank is communication and training of clients, paperless processes and digitalization of business.”

Dmytro Bobrytskyi, a journalist and political commentator for Novoe Vremya, added: “Often we see ourselves at the top, but the way to it is not so easy. Never look at the status of professions, listen to "your feelings". Remember, you can always change the industry, the specialty.”

This year, the TOP-5 professions included: doctor, journalist, teacher, programmer and lawyer. Despite the fact that the conference took place in an unusual online format, the organizers managed to preserve the unique atmosphere that prevailed at the offline meetings. 

Participants were happy to share their motivation to participate in the My Career in Ukraine project, as well as their impressions of the updated online format. 

“The program is compiled competently, tasks are very interesting and no less interesting speakers are invited. For myself, I noted some tips from successful people and, I can say, changed my views on the near future,” says Pavlo Kirchev from Melitopol.

During the conference, participants also took part in the Bank of the Future game which was adapted to the new online reality. Thanks to it, tenth-graders got acquainted with the trends of the future. Students presented their ideas for solving the 7 biggest challenges: climate change, overpopulation, digitalization, robotics, attention to health issues, overload with information and the threat of pandemics.