The Russia Journal

Elena Denisova began the interview in true PR style— with a bit of a speil. She is obviously someone who is used to speaking in public. Denisova was particularly interested the issue of sexual inequality at work, and particularly discrimination in the selection of personnel.


The Leader: Could you please describe an average working day?

Mrs. Denisova: As a PR manager, I am always working, even when I meet up with friends. I always have to think about the way I’m dressed, because I am responsible for the image of the company.

But, as far as the office goes, in the morning I look through the newspapers for anything that I or my colleagues might find useful. I also like to read news on the Internet.

A lot of meetings with various departments of DHL, such as the commercial department, take place throughout the day. But I try not to take part in all of them because it takes up a lot of time. I find it more useful to use the time to meet up with journalists or with someone from an information agency or an advertising manager from a newspaper.

I have lunch and then I go to more meetings and receive calls from journalists. This afternoon, I have to check a press release from Minsk and some articles from Krasnodar. Yesterday we had a joint press conference with our shareholders Lufthanser Cargo, celebrating the launch of a new cargo flight between Russia and Europe.

The Leader: What are your main responsibilities?

Mrs. Denisova: I arrange press briefings and interviews and decide which exhibitions we should participate in. I also organize promotions at exhibitions and arrange special events. For example, last year we celebrated 15 years in Russia and we organized a big event for our customers.

I also work on the customer magazine. A PR agency helps me a lot with the magazine and with press releases. I also organize a lot of press conferences in the regions. I try not to travel too much now, but last year was very tough. I had to travel so much, because our competitors began to organize strong advertising campaigns in the regions. PR strategy is also important in my job, for which I have to use market research.

The PR community is very small in Moscow and I give lectures and I write articles for professional PR magazines. Relations with charities are also very important in my job, especially with arts rehabilitation center The Children of Maria.

The Leader: What do you enjoy most about your job?

Mrs. Denisova: Contact with people, the fact that I am not at a desk all day; that I travel and that I meet different people.

The Leader: What kind of skills does a PR manager need to have?

Mrs. Denisova: You need to read a lot, but not only newspapers, and PR managers often forget about that. A PR manager should read books on psychology and classics, because he’s got to be able to think all the time. He needs to be a well-rounded person.

The Leader: Do you feel like you have had to sacrifice a lot for your work?

Mrs. Denisova: A clever person can coordinate his work and his life. You need a lot of strength to maintain a career. So it is important to relax. If you like to paint or read, then you should make time for it too. As far as I’m concerned, only foolish people say that they don’t have time to do something. Everybody has different aims. For some, it is to earn as much money as possible, and these people have to spend a lot of time at work. But in my profession, it is important to remain an interesting person.

The Leader: Being a woman, has it been harder to get to where you are today ?

Mrs. Denisova: That’s a very good question. I think that it is harder for a woman to make a good career in Russia than it is for a man. There is more competition, and it is even harder when that competition is with a man. If you’re a woman, prospective employers automatically assume that you are about to have a family, or if you already have one, they assume that you will be distracted by it. It’s worth mentioning that we don’t have many women in the top positions in government. Russians have a saying that "man serves God and woman serves man."

At the moment, there are a lot of well-educated women, who have traveled a lot and have seen how women make their careers in other countries. For example, they see that a woman can still be successful in Italy, even though she has to negotiate with very strong family traditions. In Russia we have more Asiatic traditions.

Even at DHL, a great and democratic company, we don’t have many women in top positions. Women are very good executives. They are very good at organizing things. But a man has to read out what a woman has written, for it to be believed. For example, we have a male commercial director, he is more solidly built than me, and as a result, he’s more likely to be a speaker in Moscow. I can have a better education, have traveled a lot, and behave like a man in business, but I probably won’t get to speak in public as much as a man. Sometimes you start to think that a man is right, when he says that something is too serious or too official for you to do.

The Leader: Have you ever felt discriminated against when applying for a job?

Mrs. Denisova: Once, I applied for a job, even though I knew they were looking for a man. I didn’t want to work there, but I was curious to see what would happen if I applied. They saw my work and somebody recommended me. I had five interviews. It was a kind of victory for me to get that far, as they had had a lot of applicants. I made it to the last round. I found it very hard to lose just because of my gender, and I am sure that that was the case.

The Leader: Is it possible for a graduate with limited experience to get a job at DHL?

Mrs. Denisova: I think it so, because we have a lot of different positions and a lot of students. There are students who do entry- level work, such as working part-time in the customer services department, as I used to. DHL likes young people and we have good training programs.

The Leader: What advice do you have for anyone who would like to work at DHL?

Mrs. Denisova: We have an application form, which anyone can pick up at the at the reception desk. We also post our vacancies on the Internet. DHL works mostly with recruitment agencies, so you can send your resume to them. If that doesn’t suit you, then you can come to the reception and fill out an application form. We are always looking for people, especially for those with a lot of enthusiasm, but it depends from job to job. Connections do help, though, as anywhere, it’s always useful if somebody knows or recommends someone.

The Leader: What is the ratio of Russians to foreigners at DHL?

Mrs. Denisova: We have mostly Russians and only six foreigners at DHL. There are more and more Russians occupying top positions. I haven’t really noticed a big difference between the foreigners and the Russians, although, naturally have they have fairly separate social lives. I think that the foreigners even have several Russian friends. At DHL there isn’t a big difference between the Russians and the foreigners, in the way there was ten years ago, when didn’t have experience with foreign companies. During perestroika, there was a very big difference between the lifestyle of foreigners and the lifestyle of Russians. For example, the supermarkets were only for foreigners. Right now if a Russian has the money, then he can end up traveling more than some foreign managers.