“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• Should I stay as I am or switch to graphic design? e
• Which MBA program to choose and what concentration? d
• Should I get into clinical pharmacy ? and what online education can I find?d
• As a translator, what to do about the lack of experience problem? e
• How to improve my English? d

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: Should I stay as I am or switch to graphic design?

I graduated in 1996 from the Institute for Specific Studies (in EL-Hegaz Square) receiving a B. Sc. in computer science. I worked after graduation as a secretary in a construction company then I joined a tourism company as a drawer using Photoshop , Corel draw , AutoCAD (2D)and MS Project.

Next I worked as a sales person and a secretary in Pico; that was followed by a job as Executive Secretary in a consulting firm. But now my office finalized his project it was working on and it will close down after me having spent 3 years with them .

I am searching in different areas for job opportunities as a secretary or as Photoshop and Flash designer. However, I found it's a bit difficult at my age (30 years) to get a job in the secretarial or administrative field, because now they need younger than me .

Also I studied to PL/SQL to continue for Oracle but I stopped during my employment time . I am thinking to change my career to web designer and next to developer but I am afraid to spend all my money and then I can't get a job because they prefer graduates of the Faculty of Arts or something of that sort.

I don't know if it is better for me to complete Oracle courses or desing.net or stay as I am an Executive secretary ?

Can you please advice me . Thank you very much for your time.

A. S. R. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. R.

First of all, we tend to disagree with you with regards to the age discrimination against office managers, secretaries and administrative staff. This is not true, unless of course, the person's skills and experience in the field are so limited, that you could hire someone much younger and get the same performance. Otherwise, we see secretaries and office managers being hired in their late thirties and forties all the time.

On the other hand, you should be more concerned about the age in the field of IT or graphics design. Lot of young professionals, even before finishing university have been involved in IT (or graphics) related work, part time or full time. In other words, you may find numerous professionals at or around 30 years of age with close to 8 or 10 years hands on IT experience… here you will really be at a disadvantage since you have been working in a different field.

As a side note, in graphics design, it is the talent and creativity of the person that really counts. While, some employers prefer Fine Arts graduates, someone with an impressive portfolio of designs will get the job even if he/she is a graduate of Law or even Agriculture.

We would suggest you ought not to invest in IT training (being ORACLE or web development); however you should focus on developing skills related to administrative, secretarial etc… jobs, starting with improving your "business writing", "presentation preparation" skills and the likes. This is where you stand to have more chances and a relatively better competitive advantage.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q2: Which MBA program to choose and what concentration?

I would appreciate your reply to the following inquiries:

1- I am looking for an MBA in Egypt, with a major in Finance and/or Accounting (taught in English language of course). Would you kindly advise me as to where I could find it. I know that the AUC, Maastricht and Arab Academy are offering MBA programs. Are there other institutions in Egypt offering MBA programs?

2- Could the MBA be followed by a Ph. D.? if I am interested in a Ph. D. in Accounting, should the MBA also be specialized in Accounting ? or the MBA could be with a Major in Finance and the Ph. D. in Accounting?

Thanks in advance & best regards

K. M. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Mr. M.

Allow us to start with your second question; it is not clear why you are so interested in a Ph. D. in Accounting. Unless you are in academia, ie. teaching or conducting research, it has little employment value in the business world. An MBA can of course be followed by a Ph.D., however an MBA is not a pre requisite for a Ph. D. ; it will also not save study time for a Ph.D., unlike an M. Phil. (Master of Philosophy) in Accounting where you can get some credit towards your Ph. D. studies. The MBA is a course based degree, not focused on research, the MBA programs range from one to two years of studies. On the other hand the M. Phil - like all Masters degrees offered by Egyptian universities - has a set of courses followed by a thesis (resala) that must be approved by a panel. The M. Phil. is more research oriented. So, to summarize, if you are really keen on a Ph. D., you are better off starting with a Masters degree in Accounting (M. Phil.).

As for your first question, you mentioned three of the best known MBA programs in Egypt from the AUC, the Arab Academy and the Masstricht one. There is also a joint MBA program between Georgia State University (USA) and Cairo University, click here for more information.

The OUDA (the Operational unit for Development Assistance - established in 1992 jointly by UNDP and the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affair) administers an MBA program in cooperation with a French business school ESLSCA (Ecole Superieure Libre Des Sciences Commerciales Appliquees). OUDA could be reached at:

World Trade Center 5th floor
1191 Cornish El Nile, Cairo - EGYPT
Tel : (202)5747797 - 5786705 - 5782736
Fax : (202)5786456
e-mail : ouda@ouda.org.eg 

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q3: Should I get into clinical pharmacy ? and what online education can I find?

First , I am really impressed by your site and I'd like to thank the "Interest Zone" staff for their excellent work and their excellent choice of the articles they provide us with it so many thanks for all the skill-link team .

About me, I'm a pharmacist , graduated with Bachelors degree in pharmacy from October 6 University in 2002 and I need your advice about some points concerning my career and the first step which may need a strong push and someone's opinion that help me to take the right decision.

First point is about continuing education in the clinical pharmacy branch using distance learning or on-line courses because it's the most suitable one ( on-line ) for me. So , my question is , how can I get enrolled in such a degree , is it available on-line or not and what about the practical part , I mean that should I go there to get this practical education and what's the requirement for this diploma ?

Second point and the important one in my opinion concerning the career and finding job with this diploma which as I know that clinical pharmacy is a new branch in pharmacy ( hospital pharmacy ) and with no application here in Egypt and middle east.

M. A. (Alexandria)

Replying:

Dear Mr. A.

Thank you for your kind words to the "Interest Zone" team J

Let us first try to enlighten our readers about "Clinical Pharmacy"; it is a health speciality, which describes the activities and services of the clinical pharmacist to develop and promote the rational and appropriate use of medicinal products and devices. He/she would work on:

• analyzing therapies, advising health care practitioners on the correctness of drug therapy and providing pharmaceutical care to patients both at hospital and at community level.
• defining "drug formularies" or "limited lists of drugs" in collaboration with hospital doctors, general practitioners and decision makers.
• seeking information and critically evaluating scientific literature; organizing information services for both the health care practitioners and the patients

As you said, it seems more in demand in more advanced nations. While, your question is a bit too specialized, however we tend to think its career options in Egypt would be very limited. We confirmed this with a Doctor working at one of the most advanced hospitals in Cairo (Dar El Fouad) and she confirmed our opinion.

With regards to online education in Clinical Pharmacy, there are more online courses available than full degrees. These however, should contribute to skill development, degree or not. For instance, you may be interested to check those offered by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, click here.

For a formal online degree, you may want to check the ones offered by the Queen's University in Belfast (UK), which are designed specifically for hospital pharmacists with the aim that graduates will be able to contribute more fully to clinical pharmacy practice. The Certificate is taken over one year, the diploma can be taken over one or two years, and the MSc over a minimum of two years. Click here.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q4: As a translator, what to do about the lack of experience problem?

I studied translation at Al-Azhar University and I am also studying Translation now at the American University in Cairo, Center for Adult and Continuing Education Arabic and Translation Studies Division. I still have nine subjects left to obtain the Certificate from the AUC.

My problem is that whenever I ask or try to apply in any translation agency they always tell me we need somebody with experience. This bugs me if everybody requires a translator with experience how will fresh graduates ever find a job.

The only jobs I could find were as a teacher of English Language. I really don't want to be a teacher and I don't think I am ever going to like such a career. In spite of that my parents are telling me be pragmatic; if that is the only thing that you could find, do it until you find something else.

I am not convinced with this point of view, and I don't know were to look for a job that is not necessarily a job of a translator but it could be a job that involves translation.

I need your advice.

M. M. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. M.

Of course we cannot tell how good you are at translating, however we can attest that you have good writing skills, we did not have to edit/fix/correct your message as we usually do with most others J

Now, starting from the end, we fully support your opinion with regards to teaching, for two reasons:
1. If you do not like, then there is no point of doing it. Specially that teaching is more of a vocation and not just any job. You must really like it, otherwise it is unfair to you or your pupils.
2. Once you get into teaching and spend a few years in such jobs, it will be rather difficult to make a shift to the corporate world. It is not unheard of, but more difficult.

So back to your basic problem, you may appreciate that the translation offices may not want to take the risk with their clients. What to do ? it is tricky, one of the things you may offer is to supply them with one or two assignments free of charge, for them to test you. This will be possible where the deadlines are not tight, so if the quality does not meet their expectations, they would still have time to re assign the work to another translator. Definitely somebody would accept this offer, not necessarily the best known offices, but you have to start somewhere. The question is, you must really be good and practice a lot.

While waiting for that to happen, you should not remain idle, employment is important. A secretarial job with lots of correspondence maybe the closes to translation (compare to teaching or other corporate jobs). You may also wish to explore with IBA the publishers of BusinessToday, EgyptToday and other publications. These may need some assistance in translating articles or other related tasks. Similarly, there are the online content providers, companies that have internet portals in both Arabic and English (such as IslamOnline.net and MSNArabia.com - represented in Cairo by LINKdotNET), these could require skills such as yours to maintain both versions (English and Arabic) of their constantly updated sites.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q5: How to improve my English?

I just want to ask you a simple question: "what is the best way to improve and practice the language?" and I mean the English language to be specific.

I'm saying that because the last employer I met ( in an interview ) said that my accent was good, but I need more vocabulary, and addition to that, I say I need grammar as well. I tried several ways to improve my language and I failed. I took courses (grammar & conversation), I watch the Euronews and BBC ...etc. on TV, I read books as much as possible and still there is no improvement. I tried to find somebody to talk to in English but I couldn't find that person.

Please tell me what to do, because I know that I have some problems in typing speed, Excel ( I'm a secretary by the way) but all these things I can manage, I even try to improve myself in these small defects, but concerning the English language I have no solution.

I need your advice to tell me the way even if I didn't use it in any job, I need it to myself.

M. D. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms D.

Languages are a "gift", a bit like playing music or painting, in other words, not all people have the same ability or fluency. This does not mean however, that through learning and practice one cannot attain an acceptable level of grammar and vocabulary in a certain language, even in Chinese. Luckily, your problem is with English, one of the easiest languages, even when compared to other European languages such as French or German. Most internet resources, TV shows and a large segment of the global printed media is in English.

What to do ? You mentioned all the right things, listening to English, attending courses and reading. Obviously you need to do more. We are not sure about the amount of time and concentration you dedicate to this task, however you should aim at 20 hours a week for some time. Consider it a diploma or a certification you are studying for. If you can afford it, we would suggest enrolling in the British Council. Additionally, we suggest you assign yourself a weekly set of English language publications to read (these should include Al Ahram weekly newspaper, BusinessToday and others you like). We prefer printed newspapers/magazines over books, since in addition to enriching your language, they will broaden your general knowledge much faster than books. The internet also offers a wealth or resources, a very good free one is the New York Times (one of the best newspapers around the world) on www.nytimes.com. Some internet news portals such as CNN and BBC have both an English and an Arabic version. Try to select a few news items to translate on your own, then compare them to the original Arabic version on the site. This could be good practice. Similarly, the United Nations and its organizations have sites in multiple languages (including Arabic, an official language of the UN), these are translated by experienced professionals. You can select periodically some Arabic pages to translate, and then compare your work to the English versions online.

Again, we have not told you anything you do not know, what we stressed is putting enough time and persisting on your task.

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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