“ICEF’s principled commitment to training appeals to me”

Vahe Ovasapyan earned his master’s degree from ICEF in 2012. After years of service at Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest investment banks, Vahe is currently head of experimental projects at Yandex. In this interview, he shares why it is important to pay heed to small details and what qualities separate good leaders from bad ones.

- Vahe, how did your interest in Economics start?

My choice was largely influenced by my older brother, who is a Bachelor of Economics, and how he referred to HSE. I knew I’d follow in his footsteps before high school. In order to stand a better chance of getting enrolled in HSE, I channeled my efforts into preparing for the Economics Competition. I won and was admitted as a direct entrant. Later, my advanced academic ranking made me eligible for tuition-free training at ICEF.

- Was it difficult to study at ICEF?

Quite difficult. Especially challenging for me was Mathematics, which wasn’t as big a focus with HSE bachelor’s program as it was at ICEF. And yet, things became even more challenging in my second year when I was juggling studies with traineeship at Goldman Sachs.

- How would you define core value of ICEF?

It has quite a few, I think. To begin with, the academic setting. It is what sets the path for you. ICEF is a community of bright, ambitious, hard-working students you continue networking with after you graduate. Many of the guys of my graduating class are successfully working at different private equity firms, the Big Three and other no less lucrative companies. Some of them – Andrey Kostylev, Stanislav Moscovtsev and Lena Malareva – are my friends and we still see much of each other. Secondly, the principled commitment to training. At ICEF, it’s your knowledge that comes first, not your other merits. Thirdly, the non-conventional thinking that ICEF is cultivating in students. Few would argue that understanding simple things like two and two makes four is of little real worth. Of real worth are skills and knowledge only few possess. With limited number of places on its programme, ICEF selects the best and these best-performing students end up as excellent specialists capable of creative problem-solving. I am even more certain of this having worked with many of them at Goldman Sachs Investment Analysis Department.

- Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest investment banks. How did you land a place on its traineeship programme?

Through a very long process. I went through 3 or 4 interviews, I guess, each of which lasted for some three hours and involved 5 or 6 interviewers. In that time, I managed to receive trainee experience at VTB Capital. That and my two CFA certificates (Level 1 passed in my last year of bachelor studies at HSE and Level 2 in my first year at ICEF) had led Goldman Sachs to take me onboard.

- So you mean that the long-awaited offers come only after one gains experience and profound knowledge of finance?

Exactly. And not only them. Weaker candidates get screened out at an early stage, that’s understandable, leaving the battlefield to two or three stronger ones to compete in the final stage where the determining factor is luck and, more often than not, the “one small detail” that sets you apart from the rest of the candidates.

- Is there anything else job-seekers need to be prepared for before being interviewed by a bank?

The importance of the dress code in the company you intend to work for. In the world of banking, it means suit and tie. A t-shirt-and-jeans outfit is a no-no for the interview. Appearing in it can almost guarantee you will be considered an ill fit or someone who would be likely to go against the rules. It’s hard to believe but quite a few candidates appeared in casual clothes.

Also, be sure to know as much as possible about the bank and, particularly, the department you want to get onboard with. It’s advisable to know full name and position of your recruiter. In the age of the Internet, getting these details is a matter of clicks.

- How high have you climbed the career ladder at?

Over the course of six years I worked my way up from a trainee at investment analysis department to Senior Associate at metals and mining. During the last few years before I left I was in charge of CEEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) Metals & Mining. Three of its staff members, by the way, were graduates of ICEF.

- Why did you leave for Yandex?

Yandex has an appealing brand identity and it attracted me by the democratic style of its corporate culture which is very similar to that of HSE. I said yes to the offer the moment I got it. I am currently the head of Yandex experimental projects. Our team, which operates under a task-matrix system, is responsible for corporate development of business undertakings. What we do is help our colleagues grow into full-fledged businesses. I like how diverse my duties are at Yandex. They suggest a hefty amount of personal initiative.

- Higher level of freedom, is that what you’d been missing out on at the bank?

I say: a company is only as great as its people. I’ve been lucky to have the bosses I had at Goldman Sachs. They’d leave it up to me to decide how we achieve the tasks before us. Still, Yandex offers even more room for personal fulfilment.

- Do you think you make a good team leader?

It’s hard to judge ourselves accurately. There are important leadership qualities that I’ve seen in my superiors and that I’m trying to cultivate in myself to maintain healthy work relationships. They include trust, ability to give a second chance to those who have slipped, and ability to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed. I must say it’s hard to react when someone is yelling at you, and yelling is still a common practice in many Russian corporations. Luckily, Goldman Sachs and Yandex rule out the culture of yelling altogether. And, a good leader always knows when his or her colleagues should be empowered to come up with ideas of their own. This is exactly the freedom I meant when I was answering your previous question.

Anastasia Chumak, specially for HSE ICEF