“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• How to start my own retail business? (h)
• What salary to expect for an FMCG Marketing Manager? (c)
• Would my MBA get me into a marketing job? (e)

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: How to start my own retail business?

I'm planning to start my own retail business (a shop) to sell audio tapes and books. Since I have no experience in operating a small business I wanted to ask you a few questions.

What kind of legalities do I need to start up a project like that?

I already have the location, and know of a few book and tape vendors but I need to know what paper work is required and how do I keep track of the shop's finances.

Do you know how the tax system works and what's the right agency to contact and at which stage do I contact them?

Is there any software that is used to help track small business accounts? Any other tips to help me out?

L. T. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. T.

While we are career advisors, and may be reasonably good at it, we cannot claim to be small business, tax or legal consultants. Some of your questions ought to be directed to an audit & tax firm, who deal with these issues all day long.

Nevertheless, you need to know that your starting point would be to obtain a commercial register (segel togary) and then register your establishment with the tax authority, actually two tax authorities J The Income Tax Authority and the Sales Tax Authority. All of this should be completed before you sell to your first client !

Also, if your establishment will hire staff to help you, these will need to be registered with the Labor Office (Maktab El Aamal).

If you will be selling books and tapes, you may have to obtain a certain license (Mosanafat), but we are not sure about that.

Keeping track of your shop finances will not be difficult if you know the basics of accounting, if not, you could have a part time accountant (say one afternoon every week or on the week end) maintain your books and handle your taxes. There are of course software packages for small businesses costing LE 2,000 to LE 3,000 or you may elect to start in the beginning with Excel spreadsheets.

What is more important than all of the above, is for you to carefully think of the feasibility of this project, what sort of investment you will have to make, how are you going to cover the ongoing expenses and pay suppliers until the business starts generating enough cash to support itself. Also, you need to properly asses what sales volumes you could be reasonably generating, Egyptians now read less and less books, audio tapes are another story. The sales will also depend on your location (street and district), ease of reach by potential buyers and how many competitors are close to where you are.

Once you have made your decision regarding the business and financial feasibility, the legalities and formalities are easy.

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

Q2: What salary to expect for an FMCG Marketing Manager?

I am a marketing manager in my mid thirties, a graduate of the American University in Cairo (AUC), having majored in business administration. I started my career as an Assistant Brand Manager in a multinational FMCG (fast moving consumer goods company); then moved a few years later to my current employer, a multinational food and beverages company. I joined them as Brand Manager and was later promoted to Marketing Manager.

In my current job, where I work really hard, I am in charge of developing marketing strategies and their implementation. Hence looking after products, packaging, pricing, promotion and media to build brand equity and support sales growth.

As I am currently being approached by some companies to join them as Marketing Head, what salary range should I expect.

L. H. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Mr. H.

As we always reply in such instances, the salary depends on many factors, one of them is your previous achievements and experience. Among these factors would be the turn over of the company you are considering…. A Marketing Manager of an LE 50 million a year (in sales) company is not the same as one for a company that sells for over LE 250 million p.a. Similarly, the variety of products on offer, the competition and how well established the brand(s) is (are) all play a role in determining the complexity of the job and hence the associated compensation. For example, a new entrant to the Egyptian market planning to offer three product lines, is a more complex job than that at a well established company in the same market with a single product line and a dominating market share.

Having said the above, somebody with you experience, track record background, assuming he/she is really good, could be considering an annual salary of LE 180,000 to LE 240,000. A variable incentive would come on top of that based on performance and achievements.

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

Q3: Would my MBA get me into a marketing job?

I am a 29 year old Egyptian graduate of a Faculty of Arts, holding a BA in French Literature. After graduation, I worked for as an Administrative Assistant in different multinational and governmental organizations in Egypt.

Since I wanted to change my career, I enrolled in an MBA program, where I am expect to complete it in a few weeks. I faced problems at the beginning of my MBA studies as my educational background was too far from the program but I struggled and got high grades, that is why I consider it an important achievement in my life.

My questions to you are:
1. How can I mention, properly and professionally, this wish of switching my career in my updated CV in an attractive way to the employer?
2. I am planning to send my CV to all recruitment agencies in Egypt, do you think this is enough?
3. I want to start working in the Marketing field, what are the suitable positions and organizations should I target?
4. Will I be considered as Junior in the Marketing field, from the career path and the salary perspectives, although I have the knowledge of an MBA holder?
5. What salary range should I ask for or expect ?
6. How do you think that current political and economical circumstances would affect my new job searching?

K. (Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. K.

These are 6 questions disguised in one ! "Your Career Advisor" has to work overtime for that J Nevertheless it is the least we can do, after all the effort you put in your MBA studies.

Let us address your questions one at a time, here we go:

How can I mention, properly and professionally, this wish of switching my career in my updated CV in an attractive way to the employer?

That should be clearly stated in your cover letter, since your (or anybody's) CV is basically a document of facts: what you studied, the skills you have, your employment history, the activities you are involved in etc… It is a good cover letter that would attract the attention and communicate what you are hoping / seeking to do. Advice on how to prepare a good cover letter is provided on skill-link.com's Career Resources Section. You can click here for a quick access.

I am planning to send my CV to all recruitment agencies in Egypt, do you think this is enough?

No it is not enough ! To start with, register your CV online on skill-link.com of course, but it is not enough because most recruitment service providers will not fight the battle for your specific case. By that we mean, a person in his /her late twenties aiming to work in marketing but with a totally different experience would not be easy to convince a client (of those service providers) with… it is much easier for them, to fill the vacancy with either a fresh graduate or a person with experience in that same field (depending on the vacancy requirements).

The other venues you should pursue are direct contact with companies you are interested in, responding to advertised vacancies in the papers and leveraging a network of individuals (people you know) to tip you on vacancies they are aware of.

I want to start working in the Marketing field, what are the suitable positions and organizations should I target?

Usually in the Marketing field, one start as a Marketing Assistant, Marketing Coordinator or Assistant Brand Managers… you should be aware that in many companies in Egypt, specially small and medium sized ones, they sometimes confuse the title of marketing with sales, ie. it is a sales job as opposed to marketing as per its correct definition.

Now, as to which companies you should target, that is an extremely difficult question, there are hundreds out there, and we have no basis for recommendation since you did not express interest in a specific industry and do not have an intimate knowledge of a particular range of services, products or industries. Having a background in non for profit organizations, you may have a slight advantage there, private universities, social foundations and business associations do require professionals to work on their image, name recognition and marketing their activities… Hence, you may start from there. Such entities and organizations also are less attractive to those with marketing experience in products, financial services, IT etc… therefore you may face a bit less competition from others.

Will I be considered as Junior in the Marketing field, from the career path and the salary perspectives, although I have the knowledge of an MBA holder?

An MBA is not a ticket to the best jobs, it is just a degree from which various people benefit in various ways. In your case, it provided you with a good theoretical understanding of business and management that you did not get from your undergraduate degree…. That is it. It will give you an advantage over others with a similar background but no MBA, it may help you be more convincing as to why you are interested in a career shift, but should not be a reason for a higher salary. So yes, you will be considered entry level with regards to position (responsibilities, duties, expectations etc…) in a pure marketing position, and most probably also with regards to salary. Except that, should an opportunity be available, you may deserve a slight increase due to your general experience in the work place and your maturity (compared to someone who graduated last year). We hope to be proven wrong on this, but that is most likely what would happen.

What salary range should I ask for or expect?

It really depends on a lot of things, bearing in mind our reply to the above question. What is more important is to get that Marketing job, if you can. The starting salary is not a key issue, as you prove yourself and start meeting or exceeding expectations it should increase. Salaries, as we often mention in "Your Career Advisor" depend on many factors: the role, the environment, the working condition, the business volume, the product/service, your communication skills, your professionalism etc…. We would rather advise you on that when you have a specific opportunity in front of you. Let us also tell you, that an administrative or operations job for someone like you would get you a much higher salary in the near future… for obvious reasons.

How do you think that current political and economical circumstances would affect my new job searching?

We cannot ignore the fact that our national economy, and thus businesses, are going through very difficult times and for a number of reasons. This of course negatively impacts the employment market, it affects it in two ways:

• Obviously organizations will be hiring less
• And with the growing supply of individuals seeking jobs (or reluctant to switch jobs, chasing better prospects), employers can afford to be more selective with regards to experience, hence thy can get more experienced and qualified people for the vacancies they have.

With regards to your particular case, it will make the task of convincing a manager to hire you for a marketing position more difficult compared to a function or role that is close to what you used to do. While you may not like it, these are the facts of life.

Just so we do not sound negative with regards to your prospects in marketing, you may wish to consider back doors to the corporate world, hence a step closer to marketing. For instance:

• "customer service" would be easier to convince a potential employer with;
• "Sales" (if you can and like to sell) is an even better entry point since companies want individuals to sell their products and services
• "Sales Administration" or "Export Administration" where the job consists on following up and fulfilling client orders (in coordination with other departments such as production, transportation, assembly etc…)

Once in any of the above role, and you had the chance to better know the product/service you are dealing with, and more importantly the decision makers in the organization, you will have a better chance to attempt to convince them of giving you an opportunity in marketing, if at that time you are still interested in it.

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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