Is it more solid to mention the names of people and places of workplace in the content? Chevening

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 am qualified to be in charge

During the past three years, I have been through several situations that required me to develop a set of practical skills that are essential in the work field. At the same time, those situations placed my leadership competency at stake and proved how reliable and influential I could be.

I would like to start with my first senior job-position where I was responsible for two agents operating in telesales for foreign customers. The main duty was to be able to convince clients and earn their trust so that they would choose your company for their needs. one of my sales agents was facing some issues in closing his deals, the thing that affected his morale and caused him anxiety. I started to work out this issue by listening to his calls with clients via our CRM software, then specified fifteen minutes every day to meet with him and address his weak points in negotiation with potential customers. in less than a month of probation period and frequent follow-up, he was able to control his personality and close deals confidently and professionally. Moreover, his contribution to the team's revenue increased and motivated him to exert more efforts.

The other situation that formed a turning-point in my career and enriched significantly my leadership skills is the promotion I received to manage the sales process and coordinate the human resources of a leading multinational staffed clinic for hair restoration in Istanbul. I started by organizing the working mechanism between Turkish and foreigner personnel, after that, I divide them into small groups, then, I assigned one translator to work only with a certain group of Turkish medical consultants.Consequently, I was able to follow and evaluate the performance of every team easily and encouraged them to work closely and accomplish their tasks successfully. On the other part of the job, I introduced an inclusive sales improvement strategy in order to boost the sales revenue, set sales targets according to the market situation and develop the incentives and bonuses schedule. I applied the quota system to vitalize the sales process and motivate sales persons. Though it was a new transform to the way they used to approach sales and a tough challenge and could not be achieved from the first two months, we caught the target in the third month and started to break the sales record of the company.

What I wanted to express from the abovementioned achievements is the fact that I do have a set of professional skills that qualify me to be in charge, also it demonstrates the positive attitude I follow in influencing others towards problem-solving and sharing the responsibility. Alongside other effective skills, I will polish my leadership competency with an in-depth understanding of the academic concepts the Chevening scholarship will provide within its community of professional experts and colleagues, the thing that will prepare me well to go back to Aleppo and carry out what a Chevening award leader can do.

Memduh, which of these experiences are the most recent for you? You should not use an experience more than 5 years old for this essay. If possible, use only one leadership and influencing experience. The most recent one that shows you in a leadership position that deals with problematic situations in the workplace. You have to display a strong analytical ability to recognize the actual problem points in a situation and develop a plan of action that shows a strong influencing style involving either your subordinates or upper management, or both. Just in case you are thinking it, the call center experience is not strong enough to represent that situation. That did not directly involve you in a management problem nor require a personal management style. It only involved a single employee that you helped, which does not really represent a strong leadership style. Needless to say, I would be more comfortable if you wrote a new essay instead of trying to revise this version. You may find it difficult to fix the problem points or fit in certain elements if you are merely trying to adjust the content of an essay that is not as helpful as it should be to your application.

In response to your question in the title, you can and must mention the company that you worked for and the consecutive dates of your employment with them. That means, if you are still working with them, then you need to mention that you are currently employed with them. It is not necessary to mention any names if those names that you will be providing will not provide a recommendation letter for you nor make themselves available for information clarification interviews by the scholarship committee. If you mention just the company, then a simple call to HR will suffice to confirm your essay claims.

@holt, the experience I mentioned above took place in 2015, and I think it deserves to be the answer to this question because it was my first time to be in a serious position which required me to show responsibility and be under the spotlight.

In December 2015, I was thrilled to receive the promotion to my first senior job position in my career. It was the experience to become sales and patient's relation manager at Natural Hair Turkey after working as sales team leader there. From that experience, I developed my own understanding of leadership. When you put your resources, knowledge, and expertise in the hands of those following you, then you deserve the title. It is only when you enable subordinates to think responsibly and have the courage to go the extra mile, you earn to be an influencer.

The clinic was managed haphazardly lacking a system of planned schedules to direct personnel and coordinate their daily tasks in advance. There was only one Turkish operation manager responsible for running the place. She was covering multiple departments the thing that wasted her time considerably. Although the clinic was not short-staffed (more than 20 multi-national employees), the working mechanism seemed problematic and I noticed that employees are working without stimulus; just for a paycheck, no harmonious atmosphere between the Turkish medical consultants and the Arabic-English translators in the time that neither one of them is dispensable to the other.

Because of its remarkable impact on staff's morale and performance, I placed solving issues related to workplace and employees at the top of my priority list. I wanted to alter the way they perceive their duties and responsibilities towards clients and towards their workmates as well. Therefore, I asked the operation manager, who was the starting point, to provide me with all staff's resumes and information to take a look on it before meeting with them individually. My goal was to establish a solid professional relationship that is based on reliability and the willingness to collaborate. With some communication skills and my sufficient command of Turkish language, I was able to get close to them in a short period of time and encouraged them to become more proactive to share their problems with me. Moreover, I divided them into small groups in order have an organized working environment and embrace the benefits of teamwork. By accomplishing that, I managed to make the workforce adapt easily to changes and apply flexibly new rules and measures that are necessary to increase revenue and improve client's satisfaction. I introduced an inclusive sales improvement strategy in order to boost the sales revenue, set sales targets according to the market situation and develop the incentives and bonuses schedule. I applied the quota system to vitalize the sales process and motivate sales persons. Though it was a new transform to the way they used to approach sales and a tough challenge and could not be achieved from the first two months, I succeeded to catch targets in the third month and started to break the sales records of the company.

To conclude, that situation unveiled my qualifications which allow me to be in charge, the thing I will strive to polish within the Chevening community of professional experts and colleagues.