Scholarship / Mastering leadership skills; being firm yet resilient, giving your colleges the freedom to improvise [5]

Chevening Leadership & Influence Question

Leadership is about seeing the bigger picture, being patient, aiming to the target, making the right decision but after discussing ideas and possibilities with colleges, being firm yet resilient, giving your colleges the freedom to improvise, act and innovate in their tasks to achieve the greater goal. It's a long path which you can master by experience, hardworking and learning from your mistakes.

My first influencing spark was when I established with 6 friends a student activity in Cairo University. We were targeting +1K students in the first year and the number increased the following year. We were aiming to spread public awareness about problems facing students using public events, brochures, exhibits, etc. Being able to suggest new ideas, make plans and solve so many problems at the beginning got me a repetition to be elected to be vice president of activities committee the following year.

I volunteered in an internship with AIESEC Hyderabad-India. My rule was teaching English in a private school. The students were good at grammar rules but they were shy, not confident to participate and lacking English vocabulary. I tried to influence them to interact which I thought would be better than giving examples and try to solve it. I started by taking about myself, my roots and my country and asked them to do the same. Also, I tried to make friends with them outside the class. Fortunately, they started to participate and talk freely. It was fun but above all they were encouraged to express themselves and improve their English abilities.

After graduation, I was faced with new challenges. I was a freshly graduated site engineer who is responsible of the workmanship, materials and money invested in the project. Being owned by The Administrative Control Authority ACA, The site had a security situation so our activities, moves were limited. We had to follow the security instructions to keep work going so I had to be firm. I had to make right, quick decisions to control the workers to ensure their safety, keep works going according to project timetable and solve conflicts that arise.

During my compulsory military service, my unit commander decided to make a football playground. Being with another solider the only civil engineers in the unit, we were responsible of planning, designing and constructing it. We had the permission to lead other solider to finish the task. As I was a solider too, it was a challenge to lead others of the same rank and to deliver work on time. I managed to lead but in friendly way by explaining the purpose of the playground, dividing work on small teams and recommending the hard workers to the officers. We managed to deliver on time and I'm proud of it.

Scholarship / A strong connections network is essential to ensure the advancement of my career. [2]

Can you review my essay and comment on it...Thanks in advance

Chevening Networking Question

As a professional construction engineer,I don't have a permanent workplace. I move from site to site depending on work needs. That leads me to work with numerous professionals from different backgrounds. Being able to communicate,create a well-established network and maintain a strong connections with them is essential to ensure the advancement of my career.

Since I was an undergraduate, I tried to establish a steady connection with colleges through co-working projects and professionals and technicians through summer trainings and field trips.

After graduation,I became a site engineer who is responsible for workmanship, money involved in the project and workflow rate according to project timetable. I knew that maintaining my connections and expanding my network through daily interaction with professionals will pay off one day. After being moved to another site,We faced a problem. We needed to quickly start an activity that failing to complete it on time would lead to a deduction in our contract payment. I knew a sub-contractor who was able to start working immediately. Also, I was able to negotiate to get the best price. The job was done and delivered on time. Since then, my company maintained a strong connection with this sub-contractor and used his services in other projects.

After completing my military service, I was intending to take my career to higher level and explore new challenges. I had that college whom our connection started in high school and maintained through college. He is working in an international company which is constructing mega structures inside and outside Egypt. He was able to recommend me to his manager at that time. His manager became my current manager as I was interviewed and accepted to join the company. My current position is a quality control engineer. I took my network to a new level as I'm working with professionals from different countries who represent different local and international contractors. I'm the connection between the different departments and official governmental engineers of National Authority of Tunnels NAT. Also, I'm the internal connection between different departments. So, I was able to create a steady connection with supportive professionals in different engineering fields that can aid and offer help when needed.

Becoming a Chevening scholar will give me the chance to extend my professional network by connecting with other scholars, link it to my current network in which I can help young professionals who seek to join Chevening scholars, effectively communicate with Chevening Alumni and engage with them to create a strong network and interesting materials to influence and direct professionals through their career. Creating such a massive network will support my endeavor to always boost my career.