Foreign economic activity manager: characteristics, responsibility, pros and cons

Modern business expands its activities far beyond the borders of the Russian Federation, focusing on the world market. The international exchange of goods, services, information and scientific developments is one of the components of such a capacious concept as foreign economic activity - foreign economic activity. This sector of the economy belongs to the market sphere.

At the legislative level, it has a certain degree of legal and economic independence. The main principle of foreign economic activity is extraction of commercial profit due to the turnover of its own financial and material and technical means. Let's figure out what exactly a foreign economic activity manager does.

One of the many areas of management is specialization in foreign economic activity. A foreign economic activity manager is in demand in commercial structures whose business is associated with foreign partners. The type of activity of the company also determines the range of responsibilities for such a specialist.

• Export abroad of a product... In this case, the employee will have to solve problems related to finding a buyer, analyzing the competitive environment and market capacity.
• Import of foreign goods. The manager will have to look for suppliers, as well as study the price level for the products of interest.

In their work, FEA specialists are guided by the legislation of the Russian Federation, the norms of international trade law, the customs code, the laws on foreign exchange regulation, as well as the internal regulations of the company and orders of its management.The regulation of the manager's work within the organization is carried out using a special document called job description, with which the specialist is introduced when he is registered in the state. The head of the external economic work manager is the head of the department, the commercial director and the general director of the company.

Currently, the profession of a manager for foreign economic activity is promising and in demand on the labor market... Competition for vacant positions often reaches 6-7 applicants for a position. The salary directly depends on the work experience and qualification level of the specialist. On average, a novice manager can earn from 15 to 30 thousand rubles, and after a few years his monetary remuneration can already vary from 75 to 150 thousand rubles. Of course, a lot depends on the level of the company and the success of the employee's career advancement.

The foreign economic activity manager always has development prospects. Having started work as an ordinary specialist and constantly raising the level of his education, an employee can quickly build a career for himself and take a managerial position or organize his own business from scratch.

The work of a specialist in foreign economic activity implies daily fulfillment of a certain range of official duties:

• negotiating and exchanging business correspondence with partners;
• conclusion of contracts and control of their execution;
• daily monitoring of the exchange rate;
• organization of logistics processes and optimization of cargo transportation costs;
• pricing, control of the movement of funds;
• preparation of customs documents;
• execution or receipt of the necessary documents, such as certificates, permits, licenses, quality passports, and the like;
• analysis and monitoring of the market, identifying the relationship between the level of supply and demand;
• working with customer claims or drafting complaints upon receipt of goods of inadequate quality;
• search for new partners-suppliers or customers for the sale of products;
• participation in specialized exhibitions for the company, seminars, presentations, conferences.

To cope with such a wide range of responsibilities, a foreign economic activity specialist needs be fluent in modern computer programs, be ready to travel on business trips abroad, as well as have a good knowledge of the language, customs and cultural traditions of those countries with which he will have to cooperate. This kind of profession is suitable for both men and women. The best option employers consider the age of the applicant to be in the range from 25 to 45 years. Preference is given to candidates who are fluent in English, Chinese or German.

When considering a candidate for the position of manager for foreign economic activity, the main attention is paid to his experience in concluding contracts with foreign partners. It is not bad if the applicant has an established relationship with business partners in the areas of interest to the employer. Today, such specialists are highly valued in the labor market and are always in demand. The general requirements for foreign trade managers from employers are as follows:

• the candidate was trained at a higher educational institution in one of the programs of international management or economics, customs, logistics or financial management in the field of foreign economic activity;
• excellent knowledge of a foreign language;
• knowledge of international legislation in the field of trade and logistics;
• experience of interaction with customs authorities and transport companies working with foreign clients;
• the skill of drawing up contracts, complaints, acts of acceptance and transfer, specifications, declarations, primary accounting documents and other business nomenclature;
• the skill of conducting commercial negotiations with foreign partners;
• experience with customs brokers;
• knowledge of the rules for working with foreign exchange funds.

To start working as a foreign economic activity officer, the candidate must have at least 5 years of work experience. If the applicant has just graduated from a specialized university, he can be taken to the company for a trial period as a trainee or assistant manager. Specialists in the field of foreign economic activity must constantly improve their knowledge and be aware of all changes in both domestic and foreign legislation related to their profile of work.

Working in the field of external economics has both its positive aspects and negative aspects. The intensity of work and the workload on the manager during the day is quite high, often you have to work in the regime of irregular working hours. But such work pays well and provides an opportunity for self-development.

Positive aspects of the profession:

• rather rapid career growth and demand in the labor market;
• the possibility of foreign business trips;
• practice for spoken and business foreign language;
• high earnings with experience;
• work in a comfortable office environment, certain social guarantees from the employer;
• the need for constant self-improvement.

Disadvantages of working in the field of foreign economic activity:

• frequent fluctuations in the exchange rate, affecting the level of profit and the implementation of the sales plan;
• relatively small income for people who have just started their career;
• multitasking work often creates conflict and stressful situations;
• high risk and responsibility for decisions made;
• the need to build relationships with any partners.

The foreign economic activity manager's profession is relatively young, but already quite promising. Work requires fundamental knowledge and good memory, the ability to control many multidirectional processes, to manage your time and emotions. Much will depend on personal qualities and learning ability here, but it's worth it.