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Kristina Kokoreva, Manager, Tax and Legal Services Department

So very recently, coming home from school as a fi rst-year student, I thought about my dream job. What was it then? Probably, as with today's students, I wanted to be a professional in my fi eld, in demand, result-oriented... and a lot of other beautiful phrases about success and potential of the "dream job" swarmed in my head. I also imagined myself leaving a beautiful offi ce with a smile on my face, rather than looking tired and pale. I understood that to get where I wanted to be I would have to study hard, and that desire alone would not be suffi cient – I had to act. Therefore, I looked for a job that could give me a jump-start while at the same time providing me with serious experience.

Information about the Big Four fi rms was widely distributed at my school, and it was so well aligned with my idea of the "dream job". Despite my fear of serious competition, I was sure of myself, convinced the employer of my confidence and joined one of the fi rms. I tried to work at 100% of my potential, understand every process. Not every path seemed smooth to me; it was hard to combine work and studies. But, on the other hand, I understood at some point that my work helped me to better understand what I learned at the university, and as I was able to put theory into practice, the study process became much more interesting for me.

I was carried away with my work: each day I received new and interesting tasks, acquired more experience, joined various teams in their work. Finding ways out of diffi cult situations, resolving issues quickly, handling a task successfully and getting good feedback from the client – these helped to overcome the weariness, which sometimes tended to get on my nerves. I believed that I was moving towards my dream job. Unfortunately, many of us have passed the stage where you become so tired that there seems to be no way out and you just want to give up and quit. Well, there came a day when I really did give up and quit. My transition job helped me to understand that this had been a step back. At my new job I liked the result but was not carried away by the process. However, whatever happens is for the best. It had been good, but it kept getting even better...

I want to be excited by the work process, feel in demand, understand what I do and build the working process of my team myself. Driven by my desires, I came to Deloitte, and ever since then the words "success” and “potential" have ceased to be mere beautiful but generally meaningless phrases. I think I have proved that one should start a career with a strong firm with strong people who are interested in your professional development and are able to teach and give you not only knowledge and techniques, but also instill discipline, the right approach to work, commitment to quality and responsibility for the deliverable. The ability to withstand challenges, confidence and commitment to what you do are all important in determining your future path. Building a successful career with Deloitte is surely a diffi cult process, but a very exciting one nevertheless.