“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• I lied about my current salary, what to do? (b)
• How would a translator find work? (b)
• What would a 38 year old Executive Assistant do next? (e)
• How to encourage sales referrals in my company? (a)

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 lied about my current salary, what to do?

I got a job offer from a new company. At the time of the HR recruitment interview, I stated I was getting a salary that was higher than what I was actually getting at the moment.(envisaging the hike that I could get in the coming months). The problem is this potential employer asked me for the salary slip ! Will that be a problem ? Can you give me a good solution by which I could tackle this problem.

J. S. (country unidentified)

Replying:

Dear Mr. S.

This is not a nice situation you are in…. twisting or stretching the truth can back fire.. and it did backfire… Your potential employer may worry about your character, if he/she remembers what you stated when they get the pay slip… and most likely they wrote it down on your CV or the interview form… So what can you do ?

Depending on your previous job and type of employer (which you did not mention) you could say the figure you stated was total compensation (not basic salary) hence factoring in annual bonus and incentives.

You can also claim, depending on how the conversation went, that what you replied to was "how much would you like to be making" as opposed to "how much are you currently making"… also you may state that it reflected a coming promotion you were promised next quarter… none of these is a fool proof solution, but you got yourself into this.

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

Q2: How would a translator find work?

I work as a free lance translator since 1994 when I got a diploma in simultaneous translation (French/Arabic) from Cairo University. Ever since then, I have been a translator, and since I have a baby at the moment (a one-year-old daughter), all I can do is work from home, which I am already doing and this suits me very well. I am planning to extend the field of my activities and search for new employers to face the recession wave in the business.

I need your help as to how to present myself to interested employers and where to reach them? Should I contact them directly as my conditions are a bit particular? Or should I simply insert my c.v. in your directory as a job seeker?

R. W. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. W.

Translation fits well with part time and "remote" working… since those your serve, consider them clients rather than employers, are more interested in the end deliverable (the quality and timeliness). Hence, you could present yourself, on nice letter head and with a statement of credentials, to all those companies that you think would need to periodically use the services of a translator… The quality of your work and your pricing will make a difference…

If your French is really good, you could also target printed publications and media services (such as Al Ahram Hebdo, La Revue D'Egypte, Agence France Presse etc…). You may also consider letting the Chambre Des Affaires Franco Egyptiennes (CAFE) in Wadi El Nile street (Mohandessin) know of your services, since they may be asked to refer translating service providers by their members.

As you know there is no fool proof method to find a client or an employer… you should register yourself on skill-link.com, mentioning you are open to part time or free lance work. Additionally, as previously mentioned you ought to address potential clients directly.

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

Q3: What would a 38 year old Executive Assistant do next?

I am a High School Certificate holder. I have been working for the last twenty years in the administrative and secretarial fields in different types of companies and establishments. I am currently working as an Executive Assistant in an academic institute in Sharjah, UAE. I have a strong personality, sense of humor, communication, and interpersonal skills. Also, I am spontaneous, very ambitious, and popular at my work.

I am now 38 years old, i.e. it is very difficult for me to find a secretarial job specially in the Arab countries. I decided to change my career. What do you think is the right career for me? Is there any skills I have to maintain. Do I have to study something new ?

E. A. H. (UAE)

Replying:

Dear Ms. H.

Let us begin by disagreeing with you J … At 38, you are not too old to find a secretarial job in the UAE or the Arab region. Senior executives in numerous organizations we know of, have office managers / executive secretaries / personal assistants in their forties and sometimes their fifties… If you are active, alert, hard working, well organized, pleasant and meticulous you are in demand… Lots of employers prefer the maturity, experience and freedom from young babies that this middle age brings.

Having said that, it does not mean you are not entitled to pursue other venues…. You will not suddenly turn into a sales rep or an IT professional, but you may play a valuable role in the field of administration, customer service etc… Also, you may want to leverage your exposure to the education field (if you have been working in it for a while) to get into scheduling, registration, student affairs etc… which all require skills and capabilities not far from yours. Human resources may also be a field to explore, albeit a bit distant from the other, however you could demonstrate your interest in this particular field by reading and may be becoming HR certified. In the archives of "Your Career Advisor" and skill-link.com's Skill Development Section we have addressed in more than one occasion the topic of HR certification.

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

Q4: How to encourage sales referrals in my company?

I am the Managing Director of an IT company that sells a variety of products and services. We have a number of departments, each assigned a product line or service type. While staff in each department have their sales targets and related incentive scheme.. I always believe that regardless of what one has to promote or sell, once with a current or potential client, there is plenty of room for referral or cross selling.

How do you suggest one can encourage / push this within the various sales teams ?

S. N. (Giza, Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Mr. N.

As employees of the company, sales professionals and department managers have a direct responsibility to generate new business and sell to clients their assigned products and services. However, they are encouraged, as you correctly stated, to refer business opportunities to other units they do not belong to, for the wellbeing of the company as a whole.

Additionally, other staff such as those project management or support roles (Finance, Procurement, Administration etc…) also have the opportunity to observe and identify new business opportunities for the company, they should all be encouraged to generate business leads.

Hence the need to clearly identify how the above mentioned categories will be recognized and compensated (rewarded) for referred deals that materialize (ie. the sale is closed). Reward is the best motivation.

You may consider the following:

For Sales Professionals: Any referrals that lead to closing a deal through another department, should result in the concerned Sales Professional having x % of the amount of sale added to his "Volume Achieved", upon which his variable incentive is based.

On the other hand, the Sales Professional in the unit that is concerned with that contract (the unit referred to) will be entitled to 100% - x % of the sale amount to go into his own "Volume Achieved". This is to reflect the fact that it is an addition contribution to his own direct effort.

For Others: All those whose incentive is not based on "Volume Achieved" (eg. project managers, corporate support, technical support etc..), would be entitled to y% of the sale amount. Due at the end of the nearest half year.

The Sales Professional in the unit that is concerned with that contract (the unit referred to) will be entitled to 100% - y % of the sale amount to go into his own "Volume Achieved". This is to reflect the fact that it is an addition contribution to his own direct effort.

One issue remains: what about the department managers of the sales professionals who referred sales / leads to other units ?

This is an important issue since it is mandatory that department managers instill the culture of referrals within all their staff, encourage them to do so, and give it enough attention in performance appraisals. Therefore, at the expense of double counting, we suggest that the company tracks both of the following:

• Overall business generated by the department from its own products or services (referred to it or sold directly) + its x % and y% share of what it referred. This latter share represents the combined referrals share of all staff in the department.
• Net business generated by the department from its own products or services (ie overall minus referrals [x% & y%] due to others) + its own referrals to which it is entitled from other departments.

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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