“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• I have a job offer in online advertising, tell me about this field? (e)

• Could you provide me with a job description of a Quality Assurance Engineer? (g)

• I Really like journalism, how can I become a reporter? (d)

• How can I improve my English to be a better secretary? (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: I have a job offer in online advertising, tell me about this field?

I graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) two years ago, majoring in Mass Communication. I also took several courses in business administration and political sciences. I then joined an American marketing and telesales company - based in Cairo - selling financial services products to US residents (over the phone). After intensive sales training, I quickly got promoted to Sales Supervisor.

I just received a job offer from a company that operates a portal and provides e business and content. The proposed position is Sales Manager for online advertisements. I really know very little about this field (online advertising); would really appreciate if you could provide me with more information about it.

D. S. (Alexandria)

Replying:

Dear Miss. S.

Online advertising encompasses a number of tools to promote products, services or brands leveraging the Internet. These are in the form of banners, emails or sponsorships of content or competitions. As more and more people access the net and spend longer times visiting web sites for business, pleasure or information gathering, in addition to email usage, online advertising is rapidly growing in Egypt and the rest of the world. You can see on skill-link.com numerous businesses advertise their products and services.

In 2001, email advertising alone, was estimated at USD 900 million in the United Sates. Banner ads and sponsorships amounted to USD 6.2 billion in that same year.

If smartly thought of and implemented, online advertising has no limit with regards to attractiveness and growth potential. This is because the Internet has the best of all other advertising channels when it comes to "attractiveness" and "attention grabbing". Here is why:

Animation: it allows for colorful graphic animation, high resolution photos that could change/vary in presenting more than one theme in the same spot: Even sound could be added. This is similar to the TV for a fraction of the cost and no remote controls.

Interaction: where else could you have an interested potential customer request information (or fill an application / order) rapidly, easily and for zero cost from the comfort of his/her chair? In less than a minute you could receive a message from someone already online. The newspaper, TV or street sign rely on remembering your phone numbers, remembering to call at the right working hours and maintaining such an interest! Similarly, online competitions and quizzes - proven to attract thousands - are enabled by the Internet without the hassle of mailing or the costs of a phone call and the logistics of tracking and registering participants' entries manually.

Information: there is a limit to the level of details a printed advertisement (in a newspaper or magazine) could provide; otherwise it will be boring and very expensive. On the Internet (or via emails) the key messages are presented up front to be clearly remembered, additionally numerous links / pages could provide additional details on offerings / products / packages / terms etc… up to an online information request or application to the advertiser.

Update: online you could have "offer of the day" or "weekly special" if you so wish changed as often as you need, or you could easily update product offerings (when stocks are exhausted). Doing the same with a flier, a street sign, a printed ad or a TV advertising spot is a cumbersome, time consuming and expensive undertaking.

Permanence: unlike newspaper/magazine ads or TV spots, where you rely on immediate registration of your brand or offering by a fraction of the audience, online your banner is displayed for a small fraction of the cost for an extended duration, thus being presented to potential customers every time they visit the web site. Gradually, more and more people will pay attention to it and register the key message(s) you are promoting.

Killer discounts: using online promotions you do not need to sell to online customers via physical (expensive) outlets, you also bypass retailers/distributors (and their margins); hence the chance to offer unprecedented discounts to an attractive audience that would apply online for your products / services to benefit from these discounts.

And finally, the main challenge in working in the filed of sales for online advertisements is that a lot of convincing is required, it is a relatively new media and "traditional" people tend to resist new things.

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

Q2: Could you provide me with a job description of a Quality Assurance Engineer?

I am an executive assistant to the Chairman of a medical supplies company based in a new industrial city close to Cairo. Could you please provide me with a job description for Quality Assurance Engineer four our factory? He will be reporting to the General Manager.

Your assistance will be highly appreciated.

G. A. (Heliopolis, Cairo)

Replying:

Dear Ms. A.

As you are well aware, good job description needs to be developed based on the particular needs of each company/organization. However, we are providing you below with a sample you can then fine tune.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and implement the point system to grade the final quality checks on the finished goods.
• Develop and ensure the implementation of the quality evaluation standards of supplied components (local / imported).
• Organize the quality check aspects of receiving of local / imported components and monitor that all procedures and implemented correctly.
• Establish and maintain a lab for sample testing for the quality of delivered components / raw material.
• Introduce quality control check points / stations within the production process to test the semi-finished product before it moves to the next production station without creating a "bottle neck" hazard to the production flow.
• Encourage and facilitate the creation of work environment supporting a two-way communication and reporting between Production, Logistics, and Quality Assurance functions.
• Highlight repetitive product / components defaults and quality issues to be discussed with management and concerned functions (Production / Logistics).
• Monitor/follow up on new trends in the local markets and worldwide in the area of quality assurance and control activities, through observing success stories of other international Companies / Suppliers, reading industry publications, attending conferences and calling on industry experts.
• Ensure implementation of the Management Information flow regarding all product quality reports in his area.

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

Q3: I Really like journalism, how can I become a reporter?

I graduated from Alexandria University three years ago, and subsequently obtained an IT certificate from the Arab Academy for Sciences & Technology. I worked for an environment related project and then move to my current job where I am a network administrator. However, I am not that satisfied with my job, not because of the salary wise, but because of my personality and character. After deep thinking and trying to discover what I really want in life, I discovered that I want to be journalist specially a reporter ("Morasel Sahafy")! My question is: are there any institutes or certifications I could join to work in this field, without the need to go to the college again?

M. S. (Alexandria)

Replying:

Dear Mr. S.

It is always healthy and positive for a person to clearly think about his situation and try and identify what he/she likes. In your case, you were at least lucky to have a clear idea about a field you are interested in. Assuming of course it is not a passing "whim" you will soon forget.

Working in journalism, particularly as a reported or a correspondent is currently a relatively easier field for those who want to join it, compared to say 10 years ago. However, you have to remember that in Egypt, where you live the pay is not great!

It is relatively easier because numerous new publications (newspapers and magazines) have appeared in Egypt and the Arab region in the last few years, some are general, and others are more specialized (IT, business, tourism, entertainment etc…). Another dimension to the media business are the internet portals and online content providers, the good ones have the same needs as a printed publication: they need to provide their visitors (readers) with up to date coverage of news, events, interviews etc… skill-link.com is a good example, you can see it provides updated content every week in a variety of topics (its Interest Zone magazine).

Where do these media players get their content (material, coverage etc.)? Most of them would have a limited number of full time staff and a larger network of independent contributors. These freelance people could be working for one or more publications (online portals) on an article-by-article basis; they could be serving more than one publication in the same time as long as they are not in direct competition. This arrangement proved to be satisfactory for the publications since it is more efficient. It also allows those individuals that want to establish some track record in the field to have their work published without the need to convince an Editor In Chief to hire them on a full time basis.

Some of those interested in reporting started their first steps during University (or may be earlier in school) in editing a student newspaper; others working for large companies would be responsible for a staff newsletter…

As per the above, your entry point would be to free lance (even with no compensation in the beginning) with a few publications / portals, to fine tune your style and build a track record. You living in Alexandria are both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that most publications and content providers are based in Cairo and most of their Egypt coverage is focused on events taking place in and around Cairo (since more things happen there and most of their readers also reside there). The opportunity lies in the fact that they would not be interested to invest in a full time presence in Alexandria, however they would welcome contributions from a correspondent or a reported in Alexandria. A good example is the Youth Employment Summit (YES 2002) that just took place in Alex. Definitely lots of coverage and interesting stories to be told, similarly people's reaction to the recently announced closure of the Israeli Consulate in Alexandria. The city's business news, the Shipping industry, reporting on the sports scene in Alex, cultural events, etc… all has interesting aspects….

Sooner or later you will have to decide what you would like (or are capable) to report on? Is it general & current events or IT or sports or business or entertainment etc?

Now, how to be skilled on that front? First of all you must decide on what language you would like to be reporting in? Namely English or Arabic (or may be both). Then you have to be (or become) and avid reader of article, coverage of numerous topics in the local, regional and international media (newspapers, magazines and web sites). Over time, this will enrich your style and present you with useful material to reflect on.

With regards to books on the topic, there are a few Arabic books available on journalism, how to write in a newspaper etc… some are written by Egyptians and others are translated from US books. They are mostly available in Egypt in the Cairo downtown bookstores in Adly and Sherif streets. Alexandria has a limited number of book stores (namely in Saad Zaghloul street) and hence we do not believe they have a reasonable offering.

In English you will have a wider selection, just check what Amazon or Barnes & Nobel have to offer ( www.amazon.com ; www.bn.com ). You should read a few books to get the basics. A good start would be: "Reporting & Writing: Basics for the 21st Century" by Christopher Scanlan.

Check more information on journalism, training and sometimes scholarships on the net, you may want to start with: http://www.newswriting.com/; http://www.ijnet.org/; http://www.icfj.org/; http://www.medialin.com/; http://www.journalism.co.uk/

As you noticed we started with reading (on all fronts) and practice, these in our opinion are more useful than formal education. Since we are not talking here about skill development in fields such as accounting or database administration where formal studies and classroom attendance is a must. In media writing, the person has to be gifted or talented … in addition of course to having a grasp for the fundamentals of it.

Formal education is trickier, for an under graduate degree in communication (which includes journalism among other topics) The Open University, administered by Cairo university, offers a distance learning degree, which we announced on skill-link.com (click here). There is a good masters degree in Journalism and Mass Communication offered by the American University in Cairo (click here for details); however this requires regular attendance and loads of work.

Alternatively there are distance learning programs (online) degrees available by some foreign universities, you may wish to check the University of Memphis Department of Journalism online master's program (click here).

A final note, Television journalism is also another aspect of reporting, especially with a number of private and public TV channels emerging in Egypt and the region (El Mehwar, Dream, Al-Jazeera etc…). The best place for training in that field in Egypt is the Adham Center for Television Journalism at the American University in Cairo. Check it out by visiting: http://www.aucegypt.edu/adhamcenter/home.html

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

Q4: How can I improve my English to be a better secretary?

I am a secretary, how can I develop my English language skills to be a better in my Job?

F. N. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Miss N.

As you are well aware, English is THE universal language and is required in business communications (correspondences, phones, internet etc…). To better develop in this field, you must:

• Read a lot in English, the Internet offers plenty of resources, also we suggest you regularly read a newspaper such as the Ahram Weekly (issued every Thursday). You do not need to look up every word you do not understand in the dictionary, but enough words to make you understand the articles.
• Also listening to English conversations, make it a habit to watch the Nile TV and the English news … will help you improve your accent and pronunciation.
• Enrolling in English language classes would be of great help to you, choose a good center such as the British Council, the American University in Cairo's (continuing education center) or Berlitz.

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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