Pro bono impact: Roschier’s collaborative journey with the Ukrainian Professional Support Center for social change

Insights|March 6, 2024

Roschier’s pro bono partner, the Skill Shift Initiative, established the Ukrainian Professional Support Center in the spring of 2022 to assist Ukrainians in finding employment in Sweden. Roschier has had the opportunity to hire four professionals, who share their experiences in this article.  

In 2023, Ukrainian Anastasiia Furmaniuk joined Roschier as a specialist lawyer, bringing with her noteworthy experience from a legal career in Ukraine, which began at the age of 19. With a Master’s law degree in European trade law from the Kyiv National University, Anastasiia found the transition to employment in Sweden relatively easy. Reflecting on her journey, she notes, “This market can be really though for a foreigner to enter without a Swedish degree, but I was persistent.”

Anastasiia says that Roschier networking events were excellent starting points for building professional connections. “I got in contact with the HR after an event at Roshier’s office last autumn. Six months later we met again at a ‘speed-dating with employers’ event organized by the Skill Shift Initiative. As I had already met HR the process after the event was quick,” she says. She has also noticed the effect of not having studied in Sweden. “Because of how the society works here, you build most of your networks at university, but I basically skipped that step and had to catch up.”

Anastasiia is joined at Roschier by Dariia Steshenko, Iryna Stepova and Yustyna Hnyliakevych who work in the communications and branding, and PMO teams in Roschier’s Sweden office, leveraging their professional skills in communication, project management, and graphic design.

According to the Ukrainian employees, Roschier’s company culture is “supportive”, and it has made a positive impact on their working lives. “Here you have a lot more freedom to make your decisions, decide your workflow and set your goals. Ukraine has a more top-to-bottom leadership culture,” says Dariia. The planned approach to work and respect for individuals’ private lives contribute to a more relaxed and less stressful professional experience, all four say.

Their experience with the Ukrainian Professional Support Center (UPSC) recruitment process was straightforward, they say, involving direct contact with the association. “After 1.5 years of searching for an interesting position in Stockholm I was already becoming a bit desperate, but then finding UPSC was very helpful. After I saw Roschier’s ad for a graphic designer the whole interview process took only two weeks,” says Yustyna.

When asked about the future, Anastasiia and Yustyna express their intention to pursue further education. “I’m considering going for a conversion program in Stockholm University to be eligible for the Swedish bar, but this requires an academic level of Swedish”, says Anastasiia. Meanwhile, Dariia and Iryna express satisfaction with their current positions, with hopes of continuing their careers with Roschier in Sweden.

As part of their collaboration with UPSC, Roschier provides Swedish lessons for non-native staff, a benefit that’s appreciated by the interviewees. “It’s very nice of the firm to organize a course for us, they have engaged a tutor for all the Ukrainian employees to learn Swedish.”

Who?

Anastasiia Furmaniuk, LLM, Specialist Lawyer, works with private M&A

Dariia Steshenko, MA, Internal Communications Specialist, focuses on building the intranet & developing internal communication

Iryna Stepova, MArch, PMO Specialist, works with implementation of the HubSpot CRM System 

Yustyna Hnyliakevych, MA, Graphic Design Specialist, works with graphic design & visual content