Anastasiia from Kyiv – how Finnish Industries got a Ukrainian colleague

Ever since Russia started the brutal war against Ukraine in February, Finnish Industries EK has been involved in the dramatic change of the European trade and security environment. One of our important tasks is to prepare the Finnish business community for the future reconstruction of Ukraine.

However, EK has had a more personal relation to Ukraine, as well: in April we got a new colleague, Anastasiia Ishchenko from Kyiv. She turned out to be a highly valued team member in our Data and Research unit – whenever a good report, analysis, fact checking or translation was needed, Anastasiia always performed successfully, quickly and with a friendly smile.

Anastasiia, tell us about your professional background!

I have a fresh university degree from the famous Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadim Hetman. Accounting and taxation are my area of expertise.

Like many Ukrainian students, I’m very ambitious. That’s why I wanted to get work experience as early as possible. When I turned 20, I started working as an auditor assistant for advisory and accounting firm “HLB Ukraine”. The best part of my working experience was traveling around Ukraine for inventory procedures of different companies from agriculture to military.

I did have time for student activities, as well. We had for instance a lot of sports events – I was in the winning team when our faculty won the chess competition!

How was your life in Kyiv?

I am hugely proud of my hometown Kyiv, where I have lived all my life until last spring.

Kyiv is a big city so my life was quite busy, eventful and fun before the war. In my free time I enjoyed exploring the old town or going to an art exhibition or just meeting friends at a café. One of my favorite places are the Golden Gates, the nearly 1000 years old historic monument.

My family is small, but very united. It includes me, my mother, father, and our cat of course! The cat’s name is Bentley and he is already of legal age – 18 years old.  My family has stayed in Kyiv.

Anastasiia cooperated with many teams across EK. One close colleague was Tatiana Kit (to the right).

Now you are building a new life in Finland. How did your working life start here?

This year has been a tremendous change in my life. I arrived in Helsinki in March and started to look for work opportunities. Thanks to my English skills, I quickly found a temporary employment at Confederation of Finnish Industries (Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto EK). I was part of EK’s Data and Research unit.

I soon discovered that EK was very much involved in the current situation relating to Ukraine and Russia. It was great to see how strongly Finland supported Ukraine and how committed the Finnish business was to implementing the economic sanctions against Russia.

One of my work tasks was related to the early preparation of the reconstruction of Ukraine. I analyzed international reconstruction plans and Finnish solutions on how to help Ukraine in this massive future project. I hope and believe that one day Finnish companies will have an important role in helping Ukraine be not only reconstructed but also modernized.

I also helped with translations from Ukrainian to English languages. However, one day I will be able to translate from Ukrainian into Finnish!

What are your hopes for the future?

My temporary employment with EK has ended. That’s why I am open for new opportunities now. It is very interesting for me to explore new career opportunities, hopefully here in Finland!

I’m sure I can make use of my skills in accounting, audit and finance, as well as office management. I don’t want to limit myself only to accounting and figures. During my time in Finland I have discovered that I can do much more – for instance help with data and research, like I did at EK. Being a hardworking and analytic person, I can learn many new skills!

Finally, let’s repeat the most important words of Ukrainian language we learned from you!

When Ukrainians greet each other, they say “slava Ukraini”, which means “glory to Ukraine”. The typical answer to that is ”heroyam slava”, which translates “glory to heroes”. That is a good start for a conversation!

In career matters Anastasiia Ishchenko can be reach through LinkedIn.