Internships in Russia

Find a Job on the Web

By Daniel S. Nolan

Getting a job in Russia is rarely a simple matter for Westerners. Students and professionals working in companies with contacts in Russia will have the least difficulty. They key is to find help (a language school is a good base of support), and the Internet can provide a starting place for locating organizations and resource centers.

I began my search in January by sending out a resume attached to an email letter of introduction. After contacting numerous organizations and viewing hundreds of web sites I came across AIESEC, a student organization that arranges international internships www.aiesec.org. It worked with me in arranging an internship with the Liden and Denz language school where I take classes during the afternoons to improve my Russian as part of my traineeship as a web specialist. The advantages of working and studying abroad simultaneously are immeasurable. Being forced to speak the language with those around you in the context of your daily work makes the homework seem all the more necessary.

The internships possibilities here come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, there is the Russian Birth Project, www.angelfire.com/ia/russianbirthproject, "providing internships and instruction in midwifery for already practicing or aspiring midwives.” Larger organizations like the International Career Employment Center, www.internationaljobs.org, and the U.S. Government, www.state.gov, offer a wider range of opportunities.

Or you can apply for direct funding from The Academy for Educational Development, www.aed.org. Some resources are specific to Eastern Europe and the NIS, www.indiana.edu/~reeiweb/. Many organizations offer positions, both paid and volunteer, for teachers of English as a foreign language (see, for example, The Fulbright, www.fulbright.org).

If you are confident enough to apply directly try The St. Petersburg Times (an English language newspaper in St. Petersburg, www.sptimes.ru, which lists job opportunities in Russian and English.

Finding employment in Russia or the Newly Independent States usually means investigating many resources and using them in conjunction with one another. If an organization helps you locate an internship or a job, they are most likely to charge a fee. The amount you earn in Russia, if anything, is not likely to compare favorably with your income in another industrialized nation. What you will get out of it is a good deal of language practice and immediate experience in Russia today.

Internet Sites

Russia: www.online.ru is a comprehensive site for an introduction to the Russian web; it also offers a great deal of up-to-date practical information. Russia’s best search engine is called the Rambler, www.rambler.ru, provides a decent search engine for sites in Russia. A service powered by Russia’s largest Internet service provider, Demos, www.ru/eng/index.html.

Saint Petersburg: For general info see www.spb.ru. The St. Petersburg Times, www.times.spb.ru is an excellent English language newspaper. Also see www.cityguide.spb.ru.

Russian Studies: For a list of Slavic departments around the world, generally also good places for information on Russia, see www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/mll/russian/people/sforrester.html. www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb is comprehensive; this is the kind of site where you might spend a rainy day.

Travel and Study: www.studyabroad.com is a good portal for college and high school students. William Nolting’s pages at the Univ. of Michigan (and those of this magazine, for which Nolting writes) are always a good place to start if you are looking to do anything abroad: www.umich.edu/~icenter/swt/index.html, and www.TransitionsAbroad.com.

DANIEL S. NOLAN received his degree in philosophy in 1997 from the Univ. of Michigan. He is now working and studying Russian at Liden and Denz language school in St. Petersburg.