Now Boarding to Ukraine

 

February 2011

 

Welcome to Ukraine

Ukraine will open its heart to you. It boasts a rich culture, vibrant traditions, unique natural and architectural landmarks, and a high level of creative potential. With its great natural beauty and warm and hospitable people, it's a wonderful place to visit.

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe with a territory of approximately 603,628 sq. m. and a population of 46 million. Next year, Ukraine will co-host Euro 2012 together with Poland.

Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is one of the most ancient cities in all of Europe. Founded in the 5th century, it is regarded as the principal seat of Slavic culture. As the saying goes, “Kyiv is the Mother of all Rus′ cities.” The official emblem of Kyiv is the chestnut tree, so the best time to visit the Ukrainian capital is in May, when the chestnut trees are in full bloom.

Ukraine’s most valuable asset is its people, who are hard-working, talented, and friendly. With its top-flight educational institutions, Ukraine is justifiably proud of its intellectual potential and past achievements. Among its luminaries are the distinguished Ukrainian aircraft designers, Ihor Sikorsky and Oleh Antonov, and Serhii Korolev, the designer of rocket and space systems. Today, many Ukrainians have become household names: soccer star Andriy Shevchenko, the Klitschko brothers, who have made boxing history, and the world’s best-ever Olympic pole-vaulter, Serhiy Bubka. 

 

Some facts about Ukraine

The Arsenalna subway station in Kyiv is the deepest in the world: it was constructed in 1960 at a depth of 105 meters.
The geographical centre of Europe is near the city of Rakhiv, in the Lviv region.
At a linguistic competition held in Paris in 1934, Ukrainian was ranked the third most beautiful language in the world, after French and Persian.
Ukraine is the home of the Antonov An-225 aircraft, the world’s largest cargo plane ever built.
Ukraine is slightly larger than Texas or France.
Kyiv was the seat of the Kyivan Rus′ Principality. Settlers from Kyivan Rus′ went on to settle Muscovy, known today as Russia.
Ukraine, which has been independent for just 20 years, was one of the founders of the United Nations over half a century ago. Officials of the Ukrainian SSR participated in the drafting of the UN Statute adopted in 1945.
The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, founded in Kyiv in 1615, is the oldest university in Eastern Europe. In 1658 it became the first institution of higher learning in Eastern Europe to earn the title of "academy."
Ukraine possesses more than one-quarter of the world's black soil. The word chornozem, meaning “black earth,” has become internationally recognized and refers specifically to Ukrainian soil, celebrated as the most fertile in the world.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Lviv was the only city in the world to host the residences of the archbishops of three different Catholic churches: Roman Catholic, Ukrainian-Greek Catholic, and Armenian Catholic.
Christmas Day in Ukraine is celebrated on January 7, according to the Orthodox or Eastern-rite Julian calendar, or on December 25, in keeping with the Gregorian calendar.
Ukraine, together with Belarus and Kazakhstan, voluntarily renounced its nuclear weapons.
Ukraine holds more than 19% of the world’s iron ore resources, 20% of uranium ore, and huge reserves of salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, and mercury.

 

UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group

UkrSibbank has over 2 million individual clients, nearly 270,000 SMEs, and approximately 4,000 large corporate clients, including industrial heavyweights, who are leaders of the national economy.

UkrSibbank is one of the biggest banks in Ukraine (TOP-5), and has been in the market for over 20 years. Since its founding, the bank has grown from a regional bank to a member of an international financial group. 99.99% of the bank’s shares are held by BNP Paribas.

Thanks to its strategic partnership with BNP Paribas, UkrSibbank is now the most reliable and stable bank in Ukraine. For four years in a row the New York-based magazine, Global Finance, has recognized UkrSibbank as the best bank in Ukraine among those listed in “Best Banks in Central and Eastern Europe.”

UkrSibbank’s retail network numbers more then 700 branches throughout Ukraine, and boasts a partnership ATM network featuring 5,000 units, including 1,600 ATMs belonging to UkrSibbank.

UkrSibbank employs over 10,000 people. Our bank is its people – a strong, committed team of professionals leading the bank toward its goals and sustainable development.

We welcome new members to our big family. Join us on our path to creating positive changes!

 

A career with UkrSibbank

UkrSibbank’s success is the undisputable achievement of all its employees. That is why personnel development is one of the priority areas of our HR policy. Only highly skilled specialists who are committed to a common cause can ensure the dynamic development and prosperity of our Bank.

Because we care about the professional and personal development of all our employees, we have introduced programs to upgrade skills, training, and seminars. We also monitor team success and encourage our top employees.

UkrSibbank is proud of the fact that the majority of its top people were once ordinary staff members, who recognized that the key to their careers was ambition, creativity, cooperation, and commitment.

 

Annual Performance Appraisal

Employee career planning is conducted systematically, and it begins during the very first interview. The Human Resources Department applies leading-edge techniques for assessing candidates, which help reduce the risk of recruitment mistakes and provide additional information on needs in subsequent training and development.

Annual Performance Appraisal results constitute one of the decision-making criteria governing training and career development. The appraisal’s indices allow HR specialists to define eligible candidates for the Bank’s personnel reserve.

“In my opinion, the most important part of the Annual Performance Appraisal is the performance interview, during which a manager discusses the employee’s achievements for the year, his/her strong points and development areas. Together they develop a course of training that can help the employee develop the skills needed to achieve even better results. This kind of discussion is important for both the manager and the employee.”
Natalia Zuzak, head of the Staff Appraisal Unit

 

Corporate life

Corporate life is not just about work. In order to strengthen in-house communications and boost office camaraderie, UkrSibbank regularly organizes various types of recreational activities and team-building programs. One of the most popular programs is called Active Weekends, which was initiated by one of the Bank’s “Best Employees.”

“Besides taking part in traditional Active Weekends programs and various kinds of corporate activities, I am planning to start a sports section. Some volleyball and soccer tournaments have already taken place, and the Joint Bank Tennis Tournament is in the planning stages.”
Konstantin Bazhbeuk-Melikhov.

 

Staff Training

Development trends among successful companies indicate that employees are increasingly considered to be an investment. Aspirations and skills (both intellectual and emotional) are the necessary prerequisites for a successful career at UkrSibbank.
The Bank provides all its employees with every opportunity to improve his/her qualifications and to develop professionally.

 

Corporate Training

In the last five-year period the training portfolio of the Qualifications Improvement Division expanded from 4 to 29 soft-skills training courses:

• Corporate Standards
• Welcoming Clients
• The Art of Sales
• Telemarketing: Effective Telephone Selling
• Basis of Management; Basis of Personnel Management
• Effective Communication for Managers
• Timing for Managers: Area of Effectiveness
• Conflict Management
• Competency-based Interviews; Career Management
• Public-speaking Skills
• MS PowerPoint presentations
• Working Effectively in MS Excel (basic course)
• Working on an MS Project

In 2010 the portfolio was increased by 7 new full-time training courses: Leadership in a Time of Changes, Working in a Team Environment, Effective Business Negotiation Skills, Training for Trainers, Resistance as Feedback, Working on an MS Project, and Effective Work in MS Excel (advanced course).
The number of specialized projects that have been developed at the personal request of subdivision managers is also increasing. Personal requests are a way to develop, through training and post-training support, those competencies that are required by a particular subdivision in order to achieve certain strategic goals.

 

Web-based training

Bank employees have access to the “Training Portal,” which allows them to:

• pursue general and specialized e-courses (165 in-house e-courses) and e-tests (276 in-house e-tests)
• register for in-house and external training sessions
• conduct competitions (3 in-house competitions), surveys (12 in-house surveys), forums, pre- and post-training.
• provide managers with all data on their employees’ training and development.

 

2010 employee training figures:

• 1,286 employees participated in in-house training (185 training days)
• 1,097 employees participated in special external training (136 different training and development sessions)
• 155,479 in-house e-courses completed
• 95,046 in-house e-tests completed

 

“I admire greatly the corporate education in our bank. I was lucky to undergo 2 days training on public-speaking skills recently. Personally for me, as a press-service manager, public performance and communication with audience are among the most important and essential attainments. So thanks to our coaches Mariya Fedkevych and Oksana Moroz I gained confidence, learned how to make away with stage fright and how to make my speech suspenseful to people. Now, using my knowledge in practice, I gratefully recall the coaches and their eagerness to deliver their proficiency to the participants of the training.”
 Viktoriya Tomin, press-service manager of UkrSibbank

 

Staff Recruitment

One of the main tasks of the Bank is to create an efficient team capable of achieving ambitious goals. The search for promising and highly skilled employees and the creation of the most favorable conditions for their further self-development are some of the tools used to achieve these goals.

We observe the following recruitment principles:

• Diversity
  We are an equal-opportunity employer, offering equal opportunities to all jobseekers regardless of their gender, age, race, etc.
• Objectivity (objective selection)
  We reduce subjectivity in the personnel hiring process by applying a range of methods to evaluate candidates, such as competency interviews, tests, and Testing Centers.
• Effectiveness
  We ensure the timely provision of the required number of employees with the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience. 

Number of job openings filled by recruiters:
2008 – 1,385
2009 – 2,072
2010 – 3,265

As of 28 January 2011, UkrSibbank has 15 recruiters.

 

How to land a job with UkrSibbank

• Step 1: Send your CV to the Staff Recruitment and Appraisal Division at hrd@UkrSibbank.com. Current vacancies are listed on the Career page of the Bank’s website or on other employment websites. 
• Step 2: You must undergo several evaluations, depending on the position: e.g., a competency interview with a recruiter; an interview with a manager; testing at the Testing Center.
• Step 3: Following a successful evaluation, the candidate receives a job offer.

 

The “rising stars” young graduates program

The hiring of promising young specialists is an important aspect of achieving excellent results and ensuring that the Bank will operate efficiently. In 2007 UkrSibbank launched the Young Graduates Program, which is designed for final-year students and graduates of higher educational institutions. It offers additional educational and career opportunities for young specialists. The three-year Young Graduates Program consists of seminars and special training, and offers participants the opportunity to take part in working and project groups.

If you would like to register for this program, send your CV to: hrd@UkrSibbank.com. Candidates must write a number of tests and complete an internship, after which they are required to defend their project in front of the HR commission.

A participant in the Young Graduates Program must demonstrate the following skills and abilities:

• Goal-orientation – a willingness to take the initiative, perseverance, and persistence in achieving goals;
• Communication and negotiations – the ability to communicate information to someone, taking into consideration his/her characteristics, the ability to defend one’s position and demonstrate flexibility in interpersonal relationships;
• Analytical thinking – proficiency in qualitative analysis and the capacity to offer alternative solutions;
• Leadership – the ability to take responsibility for the team’s results, and motivate and inspire others.

“As a manager, I believe that the Young Graduates Program is truly an innovative project in the Ukrainian recruitment market, which is helping to attract high-level performers at an early age. This program offers young graduates a possibility to embark on a career path in a company and helps them enter the field of top managers. The training that I received from the program allowed me to develop my work skills in different areas, especially my technical and management skills.”
Julien Calvar, coach of an employee hired through the “Rising Stars” Program

 

Social projects

UkrSibbank is geared to making positive changes. Therefore, it focuses a lot of attention on social projects. The Bank’s initiatives are supported enthusiastically by many of our employees.

 

Mikhail Bulgakov Literary and Memorial Museum

UkrSibbank supports the Mikhail Bulgakov Literary and Memorial Museum in Kyiv. During the 20 years of its existence, the museum has amassed a large collection of items pertaining to the heritage of this prominent writer. Unfortunately, the building housing the museum, which is located in one of Kyiv’s oldest neighborhoods—Andriivsky uzviz—has not been renovated in the past two decades. UkrSibbank’s project is aimed at restoring the museum building and popularizing Bulgakov’s works. UkrSibbank has opened an account to raise funds in support of the museum, so that everyone can donate and take part in this worthy cause.

 

Construction of Playgrounds for Orphanages

Every New Year’s Eve UkrSibbank, together with the charitable organization, Likar.info, builds playgrounds for children living in Ukrainian orphanages. Over a two-year period the bank has constructed 16 playgrounds, where more than 2,000 kids play and exercise on the new chinning bars and swings. UkrSibbank is a bank geared toward making positive changes. So, it is important for us not just to distribute candies and toys on New Year’s Eve, but to give joy that will last for years.

 

Silver Coin Charitable Project

According to official statistics, every year approximately 400 children are born with Down’s syndrome in Ukraine, and many of them are abandoned in hospitals. Yet, despite this diagnosis, children with Down’s syndrome who are raised in families are fully capable of learning, having hobbies, working, and become full-fledged members of society. Working with Silver Coin, a charitable project carried out jointly with the Down’s Syndrome All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization,

UkrSibbank has raised funds for the founding and equipping of an early development center for children with Down’s syndrome, the first of its kind in Ukraine. The next stage of the project is to design developmental programs aimed at helping these children integrate into society. 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacant positions in UkrSibbank