Ankit, International Economic Policy

In December 2020, I reached out to Joyce Zhang Gray, Co-Founder and CEO at Alariss Global, via Linkedin. For the past few years, Alariss had been building a talent marketplace that would allow foreign companies to work with leading US talent to support their growth. As the pandemic unfolded, top tech companies started to focus their efforts on expanding operations into the US and seeing the opportunity from a Canadian perspective, I was excited to support their work and have a positive impact in helping companies grow. After the initial interviews, I spoke with Nicholas Manske, Co-Founder and CTO, on how content marketing, thought leadership, branding and referrals could help attract new customers. We had a good follow-up conversation, and Alariss offered me the opportunity to join their team to help them scale their presence around the world. 

A key focus for Alariss is to build a talent marketplace for foreign companies and top US sales and business development personals. To help develop the demand and supply side of the marketplace, my role as the Head of Growth revolves around the following three areas of responsibility: 

1. Growth Marketing: Leveraging the best practices in customer acquisition to build engaged leads and convert them through Alariss sales funnel - from interest and demo calls all the way through paid customers and referrals. On the candidates’ side, the growth team regularly sends newsletters with the latest jobs and insights into career development.  
2. Data Analytics: Collaborating with Product and Data Science to develop concrete business metrics to showcase the weekly progress of the sales and marketing teams. 
3. Business Operations: Providing broad strategy and analytical support to the leadership team on the competitive landscape and recommending concrete suggestions for operational improvements to execute Alariss’ customer growth strategy. 

The experience of working for an early-stage startup is very different from a large organisation. In many ways, this role has allowed me more autonomy and space to execute my ideas compared to previous roles at larger organisations. The fascinating aspect of this position is the real impact on people and communities. By matching candidates with top foreign tech companies, Alariss is bringing new job opportunities to people in the United States regardless of their location and supporting business growth and innovation around the world. 

During my second year, I took several courses to learn how countries can grow their economies by developing new technologies. For one of our class projects, we presented the opportunities that lie in the transition to a low carbon economy as it would encourage broader collaboration between countries and create mechanisms to drive business expansion and growth. At Alariss, the notes from our class project have helped scope markets where technology development can be scaled into the US market. 

I would strongly suggest PSIA students proactively engage in current affairs. For the past decade, my strategy has been to write about the impact of innovative technologies on the economy and publish articles on leading media outlets such as Forbes, Techcrunch, Renewable Energy World, NextBillion and the Energy Post. By publishing articles, I am able to interact with thought leaders from around the world. Through this proactive approach, I have been able to actively network and become more confident in highlighting solutions to some of the problems businesses face. At PSIA, I know students will write a lot of essays during their studies. My advice would be to publish the best essays as articles on media outlets as it will help them showcase their thought leadership and interact with working professionals. 

Based on my experience, the job market has changed significantly in the past ten years and will continue to evolve going forward. For example, I initially studied at Sciences Po Paris, intending to work for the Government of Canada. However, after three years at various international organisations and government agencies, I transitioned to startups in San Francisco. The decision to pivot has required learning new skills and reapplying my knowledge in the private sector. Therefore, I would recommend PSIA graduates to continue learning new skills after their studies with a particular focus on analytical, cognitive and interpersonal skills. By doing so, it will be easier to transition into new positions and remain competitive in the job market.

Furthermore, I would also recommend roles where PSIA graduates can enter and learn software skills as part of their job. For example, Periscope Data/SQL for Data Analysis & Visualisation, Salesforce/HubSpot for managing B2B Sales, QuickBooks for Accounting, Facebook & Google Ads for User Acquisition Campaigns. By showcasing software skills, employers tend to look favourably towards candidates. 

For those looking to work in technology and startups, feel free to reach out if you have any questions at ankit.mishra@sciencespo.fr  Happy to help.