“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• At the age of 47, should I stop looking for a job? b
• Do you think my relatives are right? b
• What will happen to salaries after the LE devaluation? c
• How to get a job in the development field? b

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: At the age of 47, should I stop looking for a job?

I am 47 years old, I used to work as Secretary, then Executive Secretary, Office Manager and I also worked as Assistant to Director of Organization Development ( wee can call it Human Resources). I also worked as assistant to the Regional Personnel Director for Middle East and North Africa ....

When I apply for a job -I have to apply for Secretary or Office Manager - as my experience certificates indicate my position as same. Well now I do not want to work as secretary I want to work as telesales, or customer service as I like very much to deal with customers...

Do you think it is too late to apply for a job now due to being old (47 years) in spite of being active and my daughter and son have graduated and I like work ? I love to work but may be during my working period I was looking for good timing (to look after my children) and of course good salary, and now when I apply for a job I do not to have an answer of course because of my years of experience (23) and I think they would like to have young graduates as their salaries will be low without asking if salary will be convenient for someone like me or not.

Do you think I should keep on looking for a job that will be of interest to me now or should I stop looking being 47 years.

Thank you very much and sorry for bothering you

H. H. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Ms. H.

You are not bothering us at all, in fact we are here to address questions, concerns, requests for advice, and try our best to be of some use to others.

47 is not old, you may describe it as mature… but definitely not old. There are of course jobs where experience and maturity are not required, hence they are usually dedicated to young professionals who have recently graduated, one of such jobs would be telesales.

On the other hand, there are jobs related to administration, sales coordination, operations (eg. membership affairs in a business association or registration in an educational institute etc..) where maturity is required and at the same time your experience and exposure could be of relevance. During your long years of employment, you definitely learnt a lot, whether from your direct responsibilities or from observing the organizations and work environments you belong to.

You should also bear in mind that the certificates of experience do not count…. Since these are not the first thing a potential employer would look at. Usually - or rather always - they would be attracted by a nicely written cover letter and the CV, then if really interested they would ask the applicant for an interview. Here is your chance to convey what you want to do, how your experience can be of benefit to that position you are applying for etc…. This is also something you should carefully do in your cover letter. Go out of your way, to let the reader believe, this is a mature, hardworking and reliable person he/she can hire as an administrator, operations officer or whatever.

In summary, no you should not stop looking for a job… specially if as you say you really enjoy working and have the time to dedicate to it. What you need to be aware of, is the type of jobs where you could be more suitable, and as we previously mentioned, to really "sell" your skills through a well written and relevant cover letter.

Feel free to forward it to us, before you send it to a potential employer if you would like a second opinion or some suggestions.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q2: Do you think my relatives are right?

I graduated from a Faculty of Commerce in 2001 . I haven't had any jobs till now although I enrolled in many courses in English and computer . I presented my C.V and was invited to many job interviews. Unfortunately, I failed in all of them .

My relatives said that there is something in my personality because I am calm .

Finally I decided to enroll in a an Applied Computerized Accounting course. My relatives also said it is useless for me . What do you think about all of this ?

N. W. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. W.

The good news is that you were invited to be interviewed by a number of potential employers. So, what people saw on paper encouraged them. Not being hired, does not necessarily mean "failure" - at least not in every case. The objective of the interview - from the employer's perspective - is to assess if the candidate or applicant reasonably matches the job requirements (from various aspects) and fits within the organization and environment. So not fitting does not mean one is bad or a failure. The concern - yours and ours - is to identify what could be the most suitable ?

We cannot tell from your message if you are calm or extremely calm to the point where you do not interact with interviewers and do not leave a positive impression. If this is the case, then something should be done about it, for you to become more lively and show interest in the company, ask questions, establish eye contact etc… Otherwise, for someone who has recently graduated and has no previous job experience, potential employers have many to choose from…. And character will be one of the important criteria. By the way, did you visit on skill-link.com, the "Career Resources" section of the "Interest Zone", there you will find numerous tips about how to prepare for a job interview and what to do and not to do. We encourage you to go through it carefully.

We are also not sure about your "relatives" you mentioned in your message. As a rule, you should respect their opinion, but we do not know how much you know about the job market and employment in general.

With regards to the computerized accounting course you enrolled in, it is difficult for us to assess it. Who is offering it ? what are its contents ? you did not say. In all cases it will not hurt… it assumes however that you want to work as an accountant…. However if you are seeking other roles, then it will not be relevant. After two years of graduation without a job, we believe you should not narrow the selection, get your foot into the employment world first… accountant or not.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q3: What will happen to salaries after the LE devaluation?

As you are aware the effect of the devaluation of the Egyptian Pound against the US Dollar has really affected the cost of living, where most imported items witnessed about a 30-35% price increase.

I would like to know the reaction of the private sector, especially, the multinationals and international organizations that have the USD as their budgetary and reporting currency.

On the other hand, I have seen on the Wall-Street Journal web-site, the salary scales for each job in the world by region, showing max. pay for a certain title, and the average pay. Do you know any other web-site having similar information as this one on the Wall Street was through a membership of a colleague of mine.

A. F. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Mr. F.

Well, all Egyptians felt the burden of the Egyptian Pound devaluation, against the dollar and all other free currencies. This had many implications, mainly the increase in the cost of living. Some durable goods, such as cars, jumped so much, that many who were considering buying a small Korean car suddenly found it unaffordable to them. The other implication is that some professionals who two or three years ago, would not be considering a job in the Arab Gulf, for one reason or the other, are now finding it too attractive to turn down. Three years ago, the Saudi Riyal, the Dirham etch were equivalent to a little less than one Egyptian Pound. Now, they are a little over 1.5 Egyptian Pound, hence, a job which did not witness any salary increase is now 50% higher for an Egyptian !

What is happening in Egypt ? there isn't one unified direction. As a matter of fact the CEO of a multinational company was asking skill-link.com a very similar question this morning. So what are organizations doing ?:

• There are those companies that pay in USD… so nothing changed… the employees are shielded from the devaluation,
• another group has its compensation tied to the US dollar, so while they actually pay their employees' salaries in Egyptian Pound, the amount if converted from a USD figure… these are also lucky ones… the Arab Bank, American Express Bank and BP are good examples for this category.
• There is also a category of organizations, mainly multinationals and NGOs, who conduct annual cost of living surveys (or use the inflation index to adjust their salaries)… these will probably be more accommodating with regards to the coming year's salary adjustments. So the employees working for them are not as lucky, but will not be suffering too much.
• And then there is the vast majority of companies, including those that export (and have benefited from the devaluation) … these will not necessarily take any immediate actions… some will bear it in mind in the next round of salary reviews, usually at the end of the fiscal year…. Others will slowly go with the trend of salaries, having their own problems of slower sales or cost of imported good increases or others… But we advise their staff no to hold their breath.

So, in which category do you belong ? J

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q4: How to get a job in the development field?

I would like to apply for a job in the development field like an NGO, the UN,...etc, as I am currently working on my Masters degree in professional development. I received my BA in economics in 2000 from the AUC.

Even though all my career was in banking (worked in several departments), I am genuinely interested to work in a non-governmental organization as it matches my interests.

However I am willing to start from an entry level position in order to gain experience in this field.

I would be grateful if you informed about how to approach these organizations.........

S. A. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Ms. A.

Many odds are in your favor, where do we start ? let us see:
1. Your degrees, both under graduate and post graduate are relevant and from a good university.
2. You worked for three years in a service organization (a bank), so you have job experience. At the same time, it is not as if you have been a banker for 25 years, hence labeled "she can only work in banks, and nothing else".
3. Development organizations, whether a UN agency, US Aid or others NGOs (non government organizations) have their own funding, and are not affected by the slow economy Egypt has been going through for the last three years or more. Hence, no "we are not selling"; "we cannot hire because of the dollar increase" etc… The field you are after is shielded.
4. The organizations you are after, frequently hire… if you visit skill-link.com regularly, you will find that every week we have one or more vacancies in such international or regional organizations. Of course the jobs they seek to fill vary, but definitely some would be relevant to you.
5. The organizations we mentioned, favor those with a post graduate degree (in your case a Masters); even though in the business world, we know from experience it is not really a key consideration in most jobs.
6. Also, numerous organizations working in development have a financing aspect since they receive funding for projects or would be financing micro projects or social initiatives. Your finance / banking experience, may in some cases be a plus for you. If we consider for example, the Social Fund for Development, one would find that a number of managers there, including the Chairman, are ex bankers.

So, as we mentioned above, you are well positioned. You need to be actively searching, and with a bit of luck, you will find the right job. Keep an eye on skill-link.com every week, do some research as to which of the organizations you are targeting operates in Egypt, and visit their websites regularly. In most cases, they advertise their job vacancies online, well in advance of the dead line.

Otherwise, there are no special advice for approaching them…. follow the same rule we present regarding the cover letter, the CV (despite the fact that sometimes there organizations require you to submit a pre designed form), how to handle the interview etc… We are sure you will be able to demonstrate why you are interested in the field of development…

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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