“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• I am tired and disappointed… can you help?
• What salary bracket should I expect?
• How can a person like me find a good job?
• What is risk management in banks and what is a Country Risk Manager?

All reasonable questions related to careers, skill development or employment related issues – sent to advisor@skill-link.com - would be addressed in this section every week.

Q1: I am tired and disappointed… can you help?

I am in my mid twenties, a graduate of Ain Shams University's Faculty of Commerce. During my university years I worked in more than one job.

I cannot find any job … I am tired and disappointed and need any help.

S. S. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Mr. S.

Of course it is frustrating and disappointing not to have a job. What you did not elaborate on is where you have been job hunting or applying.

Despite the economic slow down in Egypt and the over supply of university graduates, there are still jobs to be found. The name of the game is for the person to present him/herself in a way that would interest potential employers. And to explore all possible venues. For instance, according to you, you have been seeking to find a job for a long time, however upon checking your CV posted on skill-link.com we noticed it was posted less than a month ago.

If you check your CV (posted on skill-link.com) - and most likely your hard copy CV you present to companies (which we have not seen) - you will find you are making a number of mistakes that could worry potential employers…. For instance:

• You have lots of spelling mistakes in words that are very common , such a "jop" which should be "job". Whether you are fluent in English or just average, this is a simple word. Also, by using a spell checker (or using a dictionary ) you would know its correct spelling. So even if a potential employer does not require fluent English, he/she will worry that you are not keen on the quality of your work.
• Your CV on skill-link.com does not tell the reader what you know or can do…. You had the benefit of working during your university years… did you explain what you did or learnt to make your CV more attractive ? NO… you just wrote "working in marketing" for one job and "executive manager" for the other…. Why not explain what you did, what you achieved and why skills you gained ? as it stands right now… you make it look like you are either too bored or not interested…. It is unfortunate, because you are trying to sell something ( your employment services ), therefore you should properly present it and spell check it.
• Do not be "selfish" in describing yourself or your employment objectives; you wrote "hope to found a good job and a goog position which my interpersonal skills can be farther developed and applied" … if you read this carefully you will notice it is all about what you want not what the employer can benefit from …. Also, notice three mistakes that we underlined in just one sentence.

Please do not take our comments presented to you in a negative way, these are all for your own benefit. We strongly believe that for someone with your degree, your PC skills, some previous work experience and with the right attitude you should find a job. We also suggest you visit the "Career Resources" section of skill-link.com's Interest Zone for useful articles about cover letters, resume writing, interview handling etc..

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Q2: What salary bracket should I expect?

I am an American University of Cairo graduate in my late thirties, the daughter of an Egyptian diplomat, thus frequently lived abroad during my childhood. Early in my career I worked in marketing in international hotels. I had to interrupt my work to accompany my husband to an Arab Gulf state where he worked for sometime. Upon our return to Egypt, I worked as a free lance consultant, advising clients on PR, communication and marketing issues.

With the latest downturn in the Egyptian economy, getting consulting work in my field is obviously becoming more difficult, also I am getting fed up with chasing invoices and late payments. This is where I started considering full time employment. I have an offer from the CEO of a company with a number of subsidiaries where I believe I can add value in the field I know most: marketing communication, PR, media handling, events etc.. However, since I have not been an employee for such a long time, I lost touch with salaries… what do you think should be a reasonable salary range I should expect ?

N.B. a brief about my work and achievements is attached for your review.

L. H. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. H.

Working as an employee versus a free lancer or business owner is completely natural, people could shift from one to the other. At the end of the day, your personal satisfaction is derived from what you achieve and how much control you have over getting your work done and the surrounding environment. You do not loose anything by giving it a try, as long as you do your homework about the organization you are considering to join and clearly set the expectations on both sides (yours and the employer). Of course when you start you will need sometime for "emotional" adjustment, however as a consultant you probably dealt with a variety of entities and characters, so it is something you should be able to handle.

Determining a salary range, is not a straight forward thing, are we always state when replying to similar questions. On one side it depends on what you really know and can do, not only technical or functional skills but also ability to plan, organize, get things done, work with and through others, etc… On the other side it depends on the organization you are joining (its size, the sector its in, its sophistication, working conditions etc..) in addition to the nature of the job itself (scope of work, challenges to be faced, amount of responsibilities, autonomy, skills required, risks involved etc…). For example the job of Marketing Manager of a Korean car brand like "Subaru" recently introduced in Egypt, is a very tough one, since it is: (1) a new brand, (2) an economy car facing competition from other brands of the same origin such as Hyunday and Daweoo let alone cars in the same price range from other countries (Fiat, Citroen etc..); and (3) a tight market where due to liquidity problems lots of potential buyers cannot afford or are delaying purchasing a new car.

Having put all the above "qualifying" statements with regards to how a salary range is set, let alone considering other benefits and possible incentives, we tend to suggest that someone of your background could be looking for LE 10,000 to LE 15,000 for the position you descried to us.

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Q3: How can a person like me find a good job?

I am Egyptian lady in my early forties, who graduated from Ain Shams University's Faculty of Commerce, after having spent all my school years in a French language school in Cairo. In earlier days I was a member of the national team in more than one sport.

Over the years I worked in a number of entities, ranging from media, hotels and advertising to manufacturing and real estate. I mainly held executive secretary or office manager positions. My latest job was the Chairman's Office Manager.

I am fluent in both English and French, and experienced in the various office automation tools.

I needed to ask how a person like me with many years of experiences and at my age can find a good job in the Egyptian market? Do recruitment web sites help ?

N. A. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Ms. A.

What do you mean "a person like me with years of experience and at my age" ? You are currently at the mid point of your career, with probably as much working years ahead of you as you have already worked. So do not think to much about this issue.

Also, you mainly worked in a role where maturity, tact, discretion and personal judgement are paramount, by that we mean the role of office manager or executive secretary. It is not like you are in "modeling" or software development where when one reaches 30 he/she is considered "old" J

Obviously, with your CV, you ought to be seeking jobs in the same field or close: such as administration, operations in a business association or a non profit organization (such as a USAID, EU or UNDP project) and the likes; maybe human resources in a small company. We both know that a drastic change (eg. marketing or logistics) is difficult from both your perspective and a potential employer's view. Luckily, your skill set is required in each and every organization around the globe. The challenge of course is to find the right match: an environment you feel comfortable in and an employer who approves of you (the right personal chemistry) and appreciates your experience.

The only concern one would have, upon reviewing your CV is the number of jobs you held or in other words the frequency of change. After 8 years in your first job after graduation, you worked in 7 different places in the last 10.5 years. That an average of 1.5 years per employer… lots of companies would worry about that.

An finally with regards to recruitment web sites… what do you expect skill-link.com to tell you ….? They are GREAT ! J No seriously, they are definitely useful, there aren't that many around anyway and the credible, professional and serious ones are even less.. we tend to think there is only one that combines the internet with proper staff who assess candidates and take the time to match their skills with the job requirements while also explaining to the person the potential vacancy. Anyway, having your CV online is free and requires you to post it once; you are of course encourage to pursue other venues as well; it is an "And" not an "either or".

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Q4: What is risk management in banks and what is a Country Risk Manager?

It is me again, "Your Career Advisor" # 1 Fan… this is my third question to you this month.

Can you provide me with a description for Risk Assessment / Management in the banking industry highlighting risk management in areas of credit, market, operational, and financial risk? What is a Country Risk Manager.

K. (Beirut, Lebanon)

Replying:

Dear Mr. K.

What is this ? a question ? it is more of a final term paper in an MBA program J Actually whole books and thesis were written to address your question.

Risk has to do with uncertainty, ie. when things could go wrong or not happen at all resulting in a loss. The whole insurance industry is built around mitigating risk or at least reducing - if not eliminating - the resulting financial losses. We stress "financial" losses or damages because there is nothing to make up for the loss of a life or one's health.

Banks in general are exposed to significant risks since they primarily deal in money in the form of credit (loans) or investments (currency trading, equity holdings, bonds etc…). And since banks predominantly lend or invest depositors' money (as opposed to just their shareholders capital), risk management is a #1 priority in such entities. The stability of the economy depends on the prudent risk management of financial institutions.

Obviously in banks risks are inherent in all their operational aspects, starting from the risk of not achieving business plans and the risk of a failure or loss of data in their information technology systems to the risk of a branch being robbed. However, "risk management" in banks mainly refers to those risks resulting from an exposure in credit, treasury or investments… in other words when bank assets may loose value (eg. foreign currency losses or securities price decline) or never be recovered (eg. bad loans).

As per the previous "focused" definition of risk, banks tend to manage them by introducing "risk management policies" identifying how to rate risk, the decision making process and authorities concerning commitments (committees etc..), risk concentration / diversification, monitoring and reporting etc… Most if not all banks would have organizational units entrusted with risk assessments, administration and ensuring compliance with sound risk management practices; the organizational names may differ from bank to bank (eg. Credit Department, Compliance Unit, Risk Management Division etc..) but the role should supposedly be similar. Internal Auditor and external audit firms also play a key role to ensure adequate risk management measures and controls are in place, so do the banking regulatory authorities (namely Central Banks). In Lebanon, the Banks Control Commission (Lagnat El Rekaba Alaa El Massaref) plays that role.

A Country Risk Manager is therefore an organizational title reflecting two things for the job holder:

• He/she has a country wide responsibility, it is most likely used in a bank with operations in several countries, therefore in our case designating a geographical specific responsibility as opposed to a bank wide one (otherwise the position would have just been named Risk Manager)
• The job has risk policy formulation, monitoring and assessment responsibilities. Overseeing the bank's exposure and ensuring other units (eg. corporate banking, treasury etc…) comply with risk management directives and guidelines.

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Note from the editor: 
Employer names and inquiry sender names were withheld for confidentiality

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