Scholarship / Leadership offers wide spectrum to develop, implement and persuade people towards a positive change [7]

LEADERSHIP ESSAY FOR CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIP

Hello All,

I have drafted my first essay for the leader question of Chevening application. Please have a look and provide feedback. Thanks in advance!

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

I always firmly believed that leadership offers a wide spectrum to develop, implement and persuade people towards a positive change, particularly of mindset. Being a female engineer in Pakistan, where the gender gap on an industrial level is extremely high, further making women holding a small percentage in the science and technology sector. The increased gender gap has made engineering termed as a 'male only' or 'male-dominated' sector, in the country. This further leads the male counterparts contemplating female engineers as ineligible to lead teams and projects on industrial levels.

My first leadership experience came from being promoted to lead/supervise a team of technicians during my first job at "company name' in 2014. My expertise in the field made me eligible to supervise a team of ten technicians, where my main tasks were to lead the team while conducting site surveys and closely monitor the team performance and work progress during the project implementation phase.

Where on one hand this work responsibility came as a huge opportunity for me in order to enhance my leadership qualities and work dedicatedly towards the timely closing of the project, on the other hand, I was challenged when three members of my team refused to work under my leadership. They consider it as inappropriate to work under a woman's leadership, thus raising questions about my eligibility and skills as an engineer as well as a leader. Moreover, they found it difficult to take guidance from a female engineer in a male-dominated sector, where they consider themselves superior to me for the sole reason that according to them I belong to an incompetent gender group of the community.

During this phase, I kept myself confident and motivated to persuade a much-needed change in the mindset of my team whilst not letting the work commitments to compromise. To deal with the situation, I conducted various one-on-one sessions with each member of my team, where I closely listen to their concerns and convinced them that I hold the required potential to carry out the tasks. I efficiently distributed the tasks among the team based on their skill-sets, motivated the team throughout the project phase while closely monitoring each member's contribution to the project and successfully mediated team disputes.

As a result, my team was successful to complete the project milestones within time. Our first success also helped me to change the mindset of all are the members of my team to a great extent who had doubts about my leadership qualities and engineering knowledge. Later, I was successful in completing numerous projects with the same team along with changing people's perceptions regarding female engineers until my tenure ended with the company in December 2015.

Leaders hold the potential to change the society, and I look forward to changing the negative mindset of people regarding women working in the technology sector in Pakistan. Moreover, I wish to encourage more girls to take up engineering for their prospective careers by being an example of a successful female engineer.

Scholarship / Huge opportunity to connect with aspiring young leaders from different parts of the world [5]

Networking Essay - Chevening Scholarship

Hello All,

I have drafted the networking essay of Chevening scholarship. Kindly review and provide feedback. Thanks in advance.

Chevening is looking for individuals with strong networking skills, who will engage with the Chevening community and influence and lead others in their chosen profession. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your networking skills, and outline how you hope to use these skills in the future.

I had the opportunity to complete my high school education from Muscat, Oman. That experience exposed me to people belonging from different cultures and ethnicities. Interacting with different nationality people provides a huge spectrum to grow and establish relationships, which can be used for personal and professional growth if maintained appropriately.

I capitalized on this opportunity and remained connected with all of the connections I made in Oman after moving back to Pakistan for graduation in 2009. Being landed a first job which highly incorporates conducting sales meetings and maintaining strong business relationships with all the current and prospective clients, I was given a vast opportunity to utilize my networking skills in the most effective manner. While working at 'company name' in 2015, I was assigned a project which required acquiring a quotation from the sub-contractor of an international company. I found out that the subcontractor of the company for the South Asia and the Middle East region was operating in Oman. I was lucky enough to find one of my class-mate working with the same sub-contractor. To my manager's delight, my connection in Oman helped me by offering a much-discounted quote. This was only made possible through my networking skills. The management of the company was pleased with my effective networking and assigned me with the responsibility of dealing/communicating with all the sub-contractors from the Middle East region.

Currently, I am working as a pre-sales engineer and a major part of my job is to meet clients and pitch sales ideas to them. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are the backbone of a sales team. The key in being a sales engineer not only lies in have sufficient technical knowledge but also strong professional networking. Maintaining a healthy rapport with my clients has throughout helped me to win various projects for the company.

Networking should not be restricted to professional life. It is always essential to be involved in different social activities happening around. I actively participate in various activities held by my university for the alumni, till date. It was during a social event where I interacted with one of my batch-mate and he informed me about the Chevening scholarship program in the UK.

During my research about the Chevening scholarship for Pakistanis, through different social media platforms, I found out that there are still many prospective students who are unaware of this prestigious opportunity. By becoming a successful Chevening scholar, I look forward to utilizing my social connections in establishing an online platform preferably on a social media website, where all the current and former Chevening scholars from Pakistan can answer the queries of prospective students and share their Chevening experiences.

The prestigious Chevening experience will provide me with huge opportunity to connect with aspiring young leaders from different parts of the world where we all can motivate each other and contribute towards building a better future for our countries.

Scholarship / The UK has always been my first choice for higher education - CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIP [7]

Hello,

Please provide on my STUDY IN UK essay for the Chevening Scholarship.
P.S: As I have already mentioned my academic background in the opening paragraph, therefore I did not discuss it again towards the end in the form of a closing statement. Please comment if that is ok?

WORD COUNT = 484 [max. 500 words limit]

TIA
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M. Sc Engineering Management Programs choices

During the four years of my professional career, numerous opportunities came into my way where I practiced my academic knowledge of Electrical Engineering in a challenging environment, at the same time implementing my analytical abilities to add value to the teams I worked with. My current job of Pre-sales Engineer is a position which demands strong technical knowledge and management skills. In my day to day tasks, I am required to establish technical documentation of the projects, supervise the site teams and implement different management techniques to handle multiple projects and their timely deliverables to the clients.

The UK has always been my first choice for higher education as it got a range of world-leading universities with courses offered in English, which is an advantage for international students. I have chosen to apply for the post-graduate study in Engineering Management course. This course will help me to gain more insight into engineering as well as management disciplines along with developing effective skills to implement management strategies and techniques to the industrial challenges I come across every day.

My first choice for M. Sc Engineering Management is the University of XXX. The modules included in the course aims at extending critical understanding about engineering management significance and research applications. Collectively, this course program will align my professional experience with the importance of technical and commercial leadership within an industrial context at the same time enhancing my project planning, team-working and risk management skills. The reason of University of XXX being my prime choice to study extends to the campus being located in a contemporary country-side town close to nature, with many relaxation spots to rejuvenate. Moreover, the town offers lower cost of living with easy access to the neighboring metropolitan cities of Manchester and Leeds to spend the weekends.

My second choice for M. Sc Engineering Management is the University of YYY. The modules offered under this course will help me in enhancing my core management concepts, mostly focusing on supply chain and project management. I am particularly excited in learning more about International Finance Management module, as it will improve my financial planning skills along with greatly helping me in designing the project funding plan. Moreover, the rich history and vibrant culture of YYY fascinates me to learn more about it and to experience living there. Also, the moderate weather and sandy beaches of YYY offers great opportunities to relax and de-stress.

My third choice for M. Sc Engineering Management is the ZZZ. The modules included in the course program emphasizes on all the key areas of modern management essential for the engineers progressing in management roles. These critical management courses will benefit me in understanding the contemporary issues of organizational management, which I come across on a daily basis. The opportunity to study these courses along with the optional modules of electrical engineering will help me in becoming a specialist Pre-Sales Engineer.

Scholarship / Over the past four years, I have built a strong network of business professionals and IT experts [4]

Hello,

Kindly review my networking essay and provide feedback.
TIA.

Networking Essay - Chevening Scholarship

Over the past four years, I have built a strong network of business professionals and IT experts in Pakistan. Being landed the first job at XXX in 2013, which highly incorporated conducting sales meetings and maintaining strong business relationships with all the current and prospective clients, I was able to make regular contacts with many experienced and professional people from the technology industry, particularly in Karachi. I established my contacts by conducting meetings, maintaining follow-ups and inviting my clients to different IT exhibitions and events in which my company participated.

I had the opportunity to complete my high school education from Muscat, Oman where I build a strong connection with my fellow students before moving back to Pakistan. I was benefitted with my networking efforts in 2015 when I was assigned a project, which required acquiring a quotation from the sub-contractor of an international company. The subcontractor of the company for the South Asia region was operating in Oman and one of my school's class-mate worked there as an International Sales Officer. I have been in contact with my school friend since I left Oman, therefore I effectively negotiated with him on the pricing and requested for a special discount in the quotation. As I was known to him both personally and professionally, he persuaded his Manager successfully to offer me a discounted quote. My connection with my school class-mate greatly helped my company for that project and I was able to build a strong business relationship between my company and the sub-contractor, which made my company, received many discounted quotations for different projects in the future.

Since joining XXX as a Product Specialist Engineer in 2016, I was able to extend my existing professional network. I was introduced to the new contacts by my colleagues at business meetings. I have utilized these contacts to act as speakers at the business partner symposia organized by my company and to acquire positive testimonials from them based on their experience with XXX. By maintaining a healthy business relationship with the existing clients, I was able to add new customers to the company's clientele.

Earlier this year, my networking connections benefitted me when one of my old clients from XXX, invited me to speak at a business seminar for young engineers, where the professionals from the technology industry discussed the career opportunities and tips to become a successful engineer. That seminar gave me the opportunity to connect with the young minds and share innovative ideas with them.

By becoming a successful Chevening scholar, I plan to use these events as a platform to educate the young engineers about the esteemed Chevening Scholarship. Extending the prestigious Chevening network to my professional network will help me in connecting with young engineers and industry professionals who aspire to become a Chevening scholar. By sharing my Chevening experience and highlighting how this opportunity can help them in progressing in their individual careers as well as contributing towards a progressive and prosperous Pakistan.