1. STANFORD UNIVERSITY
DESIGN THINKING ACTION LAB
ASSIGNMENT 6
“EMPATHIZE AND DEFINE”
By Dr. Mikhail Zenchenkov
SCHOOL-TO-WORK CHALLENGES
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEW
August 4, 2013
The goal of the interview is to identify school-to-work transition challenges in Russia related
to 1) cultural comparisons Russia vs USA; 2) four stages transition process; 3) “from start to
one year on the job experience”.
In order to have a variety of answers and to observe if there’s any relation between them in Part
I immediate cultural perceived comparisons are reviewed, in Part II 4 typical transitional stages
are discussed with interview participants, and in Part III “from start to one year on the job”
factors affecting career development are finally summarized.
The target audience was Russian relatively recent graduates with 1-5 yrs of overall experience,
both after graduation and combined with the studies as a part time job; among them several were
students. Totally 18 people took part in face –to-face the interviews. It was conducted on the
premises of Southern Russia Resort Park at the Black Sea. Interview took 6.5hrs in total.
INTERVIEW:
General school-to-work transition cultural challenges, PART I
Personal info of 18 participants:
Ethnicity: Russians
Age: 19-23; 24-28
M/F: 11 males, 7 females
University/College/Technical Schools: 4-5yrs degree programs, 2-3 yrs degree programs
Major: Law, Math, Programming, Culinary, Engineering, Construction, Services
Work experience, yrs.: 0-5
Family Status: Singles and young families with mostly one kid
International Work Experience, yrs: 1-3 months, mostly CIS countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan)
Cities/Regions: Perm, Salsk, Gukovo, Krasnodar, Nizhniy Novgorod, Stavropol
Other comments: only 3 people haven’t changed their job from the 1st
one they’ve taken,
primarily because of their work experience is under 6-8 months.

2. 2
General school-to-work transition challenges (immediately proposed)
Russia USA (Russians think so)
1. Mandatory required 1-1.5 yrs work
experience right after graduation;
2. Younger candidates are preferred;
3. Immediate overload with job responsibilities;
4. Low pay;
5. Personal connections are involved in getting
good jobs;
6. Mandatory military service for men, 1-2 yrs;
7. Job agencies misrepresent information about
the job offered (was quite surprising to me)
1. No problem at all;
2. Longer time to complete the
studies;
3. Overload with job responsibilities;
4. Low pay;
5. Tense relations with the boss;
6. I’m not sure, but I think they are
very much OK
INTERVIEW:
Four stages process of the transition, PART II
The range of questions was aimed to explore and uncover main themes that may concern
Russians regarding the 4 selected stages of transition process and to further narrow it down to 3-
5 main concerns to suggest a problem statement.
1. Looking for the job 2. Preparing for and
having the interview
3.Getting around on
the1st
job
4. 1st
half a year to 1
year adaptation
1. Previous work
experience
requirement;
2. Location/Conveni
ent reach
3. First time
experience
4. Specific
knowledge/skills
requirements
5. Fake job agencies
asking for money
and not delivering
results
6. Preparing a
resume
1. Negotiating over
time pay
2. Unexpected
questions
3. Being worried
with 1st
time
interview
4. Ambiguity in
conversation
5. No clear
information
about the
company
expectations
6. Having a
recommendation
7. Absence of some
skills
8. No or
insufficient work
experience
1. It was OK
2. New tasks
3. Getting used
with new
environment
4. Gaps in
knowledge
5. Work itself
6. Many companies
put you on a trial
period with 2-3
times lower pay
to throw you
right after and
re-hire another
person for the
same reason
(I’m very
surprised)
1. Had to change
from auto services
to tourism
2. It was all right
3. working in a team
4. mistrust and
misunderstanding
5. unexpected work
load
6. Many promises
are made by the
mid-level
managers and not
fulfilled

3. 3
Comments
Certain practices of the companies require government intervention and regulation, week government
regulation
No proper job advising is provided to the transitioning graduates
INTERVIEW:
From start to one year on the job experience, PART III
Some participants were eager to share their experience and knowledge in particular questions
and elaborated quite extensively, while leaving almost just a face expression when answering
other questions:
1. In your opinion, are there criteria of readiness to take the first job, such as age for
example from the employer’s viewpoint?
Being able to work hard, work knowledge; liking your work, no pregnancy ; Education, look and
manners; if you have kids it’s quite problematic to find any job at all; to have a part-time job while
you are studying so that you’d have work experience by the time you graduate, I know at least 10
of my friends who are doing so; you will find it out during the interview
2. What do you think about a university mentor/advisor role in selection of the 1st
job?
N/A, we don’t have such a service, it is a very rare occasion that we have such an advice; most of
my advise came from my father; very few specialists exist; to provide professional help and create
motivation or just give us some idea what’s ahead; I don’t think it’s important if you know what
you want at an early age.
3. What are the entry jobs people are looking for these days in Russia?
Work/pay balance, office work, opportunities in Higher education, jobs such as an economist or
an engineer; it depends on what you are looking for, whether it’s just money or experience in a
specific field that you can apply further in your job; jobs with high pay irrelevant of what job it is;
high pay jobs.
4. How does the 1st
job selection/placement affect your ongoing career development?
By creating ambitious development; no relation at all unless you work in the office of the President
or companies such a Gazprom (Russia’s oil giant); good start depends on the company itself; it’s
more a record in my labor book (an official work experience record personal booklet in Russia,
used by the gov. pension agency to calculate future pension payments and for HR depts. reviews);
in no way at all; it was more of trial of what I can do, that’s it; I transferred some of my skills from
my previous job to my new one and it gave me a boost.

4. 4
5. What do you think about the importance of job performance in the 1st
year?
It’s definitely important; I can say it was relative in my case; for sure we understand it is
important; I would say yes; you can’t reach it without good relations in your team; it was not
important for me since it was my first year.
6. In your opinion, are there any specific factors which affect or stimulate career
development in the 1st
year?
Salary bonus; ambitious tasks; better pay; self-initiative, being a responsible, easy-going and
creative person; having continuous ideation going in your head; nothing drives me as much as
good money; relations with the boss; none.
7. Why some recent graduates stay jobless for quite a long time, 6months -1year?
Many of us are working not according to the specialty obtained, but some still hope to find the job
they really want to have; overproduction of people who have higher education degrees sometimes
quite useless or time-irrelevant; it’s all about relations-who knows who, you won’t get a good job
otherwise; substantial work experience together with English skills are required; some might be
just lazy or not happy with what they find; mainly it’s all about the compensation level
8. Why working graduates would quit their 1st
job?
Functional overload; unchanged or low pay; job proximity; problem within the team; no motivation
to stay with the company; team problems; problems with your boss
9. How did your expectation about the 1st
job vary over the period of time, before and after?
Pay raise promises were never delivered; many were educated as either economists or lawyers,
the number of which is not sufficient by the way, but I can see that science and engineering
gradually growing in demand and I think of getting 3d degree; I knew that some companies delay
the salaries, but it was just beyond any of my expectations (5 months); payment increase
promises were broken; I liked my next job much better
10. Do you think that legislation changes related to some “Employment activation policies
for youth” are required in Russia?
State support is needed badly; state subsidies should be given to the companies to balance off
low salaries for entry level jobs; mandatory internships for young specialists as it was in USSR;
guaranteed job placement or internship; change the President, the new one would come and we
can expect some positive changes; Cooperative Education should be a must imposed by the State;
I’m expecting more changes from the companies than from the government

5. 5
DATA FILTERING:
EMPATHY MAP
Summary. Selected Themes: most sensitive issues
SAY
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE:
All companies look for it in recent
graduates
PAY: General trend is that people
are highly concerned with their
salary levels
TEAM WORK: not easy, can be a
reason to quit, takes time
THINK
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE:
What can be done? Problem remains unsolved
and no one cares
PAY: They think that their pay level is much
lower than is should be
TEAM WORK: don’t think of it as a skill, rather
as a given condition
DO
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE:
Try to get part-time jobs while
studying
PAY: They look for jobs that pay
better
TEAM WORK: adjust, being
generally dissatisfied; quit
FEEL
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE:
Government doesn’t help at all in this question
PAY: They feel that government is helpless and
companies therefore should be more proactive
TEAM WORK: they can’t do much about it

6. 6
CONCLUSIONS:
TEAM: In general people are dissatisfied in Russia with their jobs when it comes to joining new
team. As new hires added to the team, they are feeling that it’s more of a condition in which they
can fit or not.
PAY: Low salaries at entry levels in Russia make it very unattractive for young people to join
the companies, on the other hand, by having no job experience they can’t afford better jobs.
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE: Companies need to have people who can do the job, but
fresh graduates can’t have 1-1.5 yrs work experience right after graduation.
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
TEAM: Does general (multifactor) work dissatisfaction affect team building in the company
(and as a result financial performance of the firm)?
PAY: Since the companies are not willing to provide fair pay to the entry-level jobs should other
stakeholders get involved to help newly recruited graduates?
REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE: How can companies together with students, government
and shareholders map out new balanced priorities in order to stimulate job market?
END of the document