“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• Where can I improve my English, while not paying much ?

• I lost both chances, what shall I do ?

• I am interested in many career options, how to know which one ?

•  Shall I switch to Oracle or keep waiting ?

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:Where can I improve my English, while not paying much ?

Many thanks for the great efforts you provide us with.

I am an educated person, a graduate of Cairo University’s Faculty of Commerce, I also attended the Future Generation Foundation (FGF) program in computers and business.

I also have many skills and want to complete my way in business development but my main problem is the English language. It is very expensive to take a useful certificate in it so could you help me to find a way to complete my dream and join a good job and identify for me the place I can join to improve my English.

N. A. (Giza)

Replying:

Dear Ms. A.

Thank you for your kind words of appreciation.

It is already a positive sign that you recognize your need to improve your English. We noticed it from your message, and your CV registered on skill-link.com.

While not every one can be fluent, there are ways to improve ones English, at least written English. For instance, you can use a spell checker to minimize spelling mistakes.

Now, this of course was not your question. It is actually difficult to identify a place where the fees are low / inexpensive while the quality is good. You were already lucky to enroll in the FGF program, and to our knowledge that includes English teaching by Berlitz. The recommended places to attend language programs would include the British Council, the American University’s Continuing Education Center, Berlitz etc… But these of course have expenses to cover and are not that cheap.

Alternatively, your other option is self training, through books, tapes and practice. Try the following:

• Dedicate two or three hours a day to listening to English: the BBC radio, watching the English programs on the Egyptian TV (English news, Nile TV etc…). With some attention your pronunciation and vocabulary should improve.
• Read a lot in English, books and newspapers. Make it a habit to buy and carefully read Al Ahram Weekly, that appears every Thursday. If you can, there is a daily English newspaper you can also read: The Egyptian Gazette.
• On the internet, there are a number of web sites that have both an English and Arabic version. You can go through the articles, and compare both Arabic and English texts. Again over time, this will add to your language proficiency.

The above are some helpful tips, we hope you will find of some use. Let us not forget that not all jobs require English fluency. Some do not require it at all, others require some working knowledge only.

Good Luck

Q2:I lost both chances, what shall I do ?

I am a fresh engineering graduate who joined an multinational food company directly after graduation then I had this chance for traveling to Europe for a one year training program, which was un resistible for me, as I am just at the beginning of my professional life and I don’t have any responsibilities here.

However, after I left my job, I found out that there are some problems with the working visa and that I will not travel ! So now I lost my job and my chance to travel, what do you think I should do ?

I found some opportunities which are not satisfying for me. Do you think I should wait for the good chance or do I have to take what is available taking in consideration that its not so nice to change two jobs in one year.

Kindly give me your advice, my resume is attached and also registered on skill-link.com.

M. E. (Alexandria)

Replying:

Dear Mr. A.

You did not provide us with details about the training opportunity in Europe or why the visa did not go through. Anyhow, there is not point now to tell you that you should have waited until everything is in order before you resign from your job. This is now history, let us look for the future.

First, would there be a slight possibility you could go back to your previous employer ? While they could be angry you left, if you did it in a professional way and explain that you were after skill development, not just after a better paying local job, there is a possibility they will understand. At least they know you as opposed to trying someone new. This assume they have a vacancy, and that they appreciated your work before you leave.

If the above does not work, you must find a job now ! Obviously, Alexandria does not have as many opportunities as Cairo, but still … they need engineers. The more you stay out of work, the worse your situation becomes. We cannot tell how bad or un interesting the opportunities you have now are… since you did not explain. However if one is somehow acceptable take it. Six months from now, you may regret not taking the opportunity on offer.

On another note your CV is promising and well written.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q3: I am interested in many career options, how to know which one ?

I am a 26 years old Egyptian and I need your help concerning my career path.

I need you to recommend for me the most dependable book or software (preferable) or website purchase or free in order to use it as my guide in determining what most job I fit in.

As u can see I am 26 now but I am still facing a problem concerning how to find the most suitable job for me, I don’t want to waste my time any more in trying to do jobs it might be or not the perfect for me.

I have used some of the FREE website’s appraisal tests (assesment.com, careerbuild.com, monster.com), I can say that my personality is strategic & creative but I want to be sure 99% at least, I think this will come by more tests or by using the most recommended & dependable tools.

Forgive me, but I really need your help in such a problem, as you can’t imagine how exhausting it is to live with no targets and with no mission in life, I want to reach a profession and I want to reach success in the job I really like and fit to me, but till now I didn’t find it , can you imagine?.

I have another question please, I read your writings about the personality, the interests and the ability, so after I know and discover all that, will I really find the suitable work I can reach success through ?, or there will be a % of defect in such tests which will lead me to a non satisfied career or job that will lead me to waste my time again and start the whole cycle of appraising from the beginning?

I am currently working as a sales advisor in a large IT retail store in Egypt, my past education was in the commerce field (4 years of studying), I love the IT field, and I love planning too, I love to be a doctor so much and I love to be an officer in the navy for, computer engineer not bad, you see I love a lot of careers, and may be one day I want to be one of them, the fact is now I don’t know what career I really want, what job is most suitable for me.

S. O. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Mr. O.

Only a few people really know what they really want from their professional life, specially in the early years. At least you are thinking about it, others do not even bother, they settle in any job ‘wel salam’.

On the other hand, you sound more confused than it should be. Get a sheet of paper and analyze the various aspects of any job, and what is it you like more and dislike. Start with categories and then go into more details. Before you do that, ignore the jobs that are really out of reach, such as becoming a doctor in the medical field or an officer etc… With your degree and past experience, you still have a wide range of options. For instances do you like sales jobs or not ? or would you rather get into systems development ? of maybe more administrative work ? or is it training and supporting others ? maybe you would like to become a Diplomat (you can do it if you prepare yourself well for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exam). You already have a frame of reference to rely on, which is what you have been doing so far… you are better off than someone still in his/her early years in university without knowledge of the real world. If you spend some time going through the archived questions and answers on skill-link.com’s ‘Your Career Advisor’, we believe you may find some useful insights.

As you have noticed, we started with the last part of your question. In our opinion, no tests, surveys or books can give you a very accurate description of your most suitable field of work. As you stated, you have tried some of the free ones. There are of course paying ones, while they are more elaborate, still they are only indicative, they cannot be tuned to the exact situation of tens of millions of people around the world. Let alone, that the web sites, tools and books one can use are 99.99% developed in North America and Europe, in other words addressing a different culture, mentality and job market. We are not saying do not use them… just remember they are just indicative.

The other good news is that you are still young, we assume also single, and can afford trial and error. It will not be the end of the world.

As a final word, the more you read about various functions and business sectors in Egypt and abroad, you will become more mature and start formulating better judgements. For example, watch the serious programs on TV (state TV, Dream, El Mehwar etc…) those addressing current issues, business problems, the economy etc.. Read opinions in the newspapers, get on the internet and access (usually for free sites such as the New York Times, Newsweek, Zawya.com, some IT news sites if you like etc..). Also, many large US universities have interesting career advice on their websites for their graduating students. Read more and broaden your horizons.

We hope the above was of some use to you.

Good Luck

Q4: Shall I switch to Oracle or keep waiting ?

I am a computer Engineer, I graduated 12 years ago, I have been working as a systems analyst, database administrator and application developer during this period.

The major problem I am facing is that I have been using SYBASE products mainly SQL servers and development tools, and I would like to get a chance outside Egypt, but I rarely find a chance for SYBASE products, while on the other hand I find a lot of chances available for ORACLE products.

What is your advice for me, shall I switch to ORACLE or shall I keep waiting.

H. T. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Mr. T.

It is true that demand is much stronger on Oracle products and hence skills. Ten years ago, three relational databases were leading the market, Oracle, Sybase and Ingres. Now the battle and prominence seem to have been won by Oracle.

Now remember, at your age and with your experience, it is not only the tools that count. There are general concepts and IT knowledge one develops over the years. These are in your favor. More importantly, getting to learn Oracle, of even becoming Oracle certified will not hurt you. It is not an ‘or’ decision. In other words, what if you learn Oracle and then find a job requiring Sybase skills ? It will not hurt, it will always be a plus. New skills, specially if related to your work, are always a positive addition. We also believe your knowledge of Sybase will give you an advantage over many others when getting to learn about Oracle.

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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