Assessment Cover Sheet

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Assessment Title

Assignment 1 - report

Programme Title:

BILM

Course No.:

GSP5203

Course Title:

Market Yourself

Student Name:

Zahra Ali

Student ID:

201000227

Tutor:

Eman Al-Shamlawi

Due Date:

9th November 2014

Date submitted:

9th November 2014

By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the
following:

This assignment is my own work

Any information used has been properly referenced.
I understand that a copy of my work may be used for moderation.
I have kept a copy of this assignment
I have read and/or attached the Turnitin Originality Report

Do not write below this line. For Polytechnic use only.

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Date of Marking:

Report on personal interview with target position

Zahra Ali
Bahrain Polytechnic
9th November 2014
Contents Page
Contents .. 2
Introduction 3
Executive Summary ... 4
Interview outcome. 4.1 5.1
Personal outcome .. 5.2 6.1
Findings . 6
Conclusions .. 7
Recommendations 7
Reference list 8

Introduction

Purpose
The purpose of this report is to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of
work. Plus, identify the generic competencies required by employers in a chosen industry.
And finally describe how educational achievements and life experiences relate to
occupational opportunities.

Terms of Reference
This report was required by Eman AlShamlawi, Commercial Initiative
Coordinator, Bahrain Polytechnic. It is due Saturday the 9th of October. 2014. The report is to
complete the task above and make recommendation for the relevant subject.

Method
The information in this report was obtained from a range of sources, such as;
websites, videos, class discussions, articles, and a personal Interview.

Executive Summary
-

Interview outcome

For this assignment I was able to interview Hassan AlKhaja, Shipping Manager in Al-Mulla
Logistics Company on October 28. He has been working in maritime industry for over 20 years,
in different jobs and different positions over those years which made him reach what he
presently is. However, the following are the main questions that were discussed in the
interview with Mr. Hassan.

At first he was asked about how he got the job or what did he do before getting this job, he said
that at first I was working in Mina Salman as a forklift driver in their warehouse, then I was in
charge of categorizing the goods and items received in the port and gather all the information
of time received and place received from, their quality and quantity, their perishability and all
other information of the goods. However, over the years, and because of the experience I got
from this job, Ive been promoted to be the manager of the items documentation. I was in this
job for over 5 years, and then I got the opportunity to manage the whole process of shipping
after an experience of around 15 years in shipping dealing and administration.

My second question was what qualification or knowledge did u have before working in Mina
Salman, he said that when I first worked there, I had no qualification or certificate other than
high school certificate. However, in my documentation position, Ive been giving many training
courses in computer, Microsoft Office and internet usage. And I also went to many courses
outside of Bahrain in shipping and maritime studies.

Furthermore, I asked Mr. Hassan about his interest and whether they fit his job or not, he said
that before 20 and 30 years no one had a specific interest in something or an ambition in
working somewhere we only wanted to work, but when I started working in this field it became
4

a part of my life and I tried to know as much as I could about it through news, books, going to
other departments and see what theyre doing, how theyre doing it, and because of that, when
I went to study about shipping and maritime, I knew more than half of what I was given to study
on my own knowledge. So my passion to know and experiencing or understanding other
peoples jobs of same field has helped me a lot in reaching to this level of my career.

In addition, I asked him what skills or qualification is needed to fill his position, he said that in
my own perspective, personal skills and knowledge is more important for me in picking my
employees than paper qualification which he referred to certificates and education, especially
in management position as if he had the required personality in managing and organizing that
makes everyone around him respect him and listen to what they say with off course the
sufficient knowledge of what he is doing he will then make a good candidate for the job. On the
other hand, nowadays, I see that education and high certificates are the most important, so if
you want to become what you want then you need to compete them with your certificated
knowledge and education.

Finally, I asked Mr. Hassan if he thinks that maritime is a right choice for me to start my career in, he said
that if you are a person who is able to work in changeable environment with unstable laws and legislation
as they are very likely to change according to politics and worldwide change, and if you have the ability to
know and work in different roles and with different tasks, responsibilities, and different departments like
warehouses, distributions, shippers of other countries, dealing with main source of the items and many
different things, they you can start from the bottom line in working in a maritime logistics company with
any suitable position offered to you.

Personal outcome

Shipping management is one of my top jobs to reach, however, according to personal research, shipping
manager is someone who deals with different type of storage and distribution management, oversee
shipping and receiving departments. In addition, its duties involves packing items for shipment,
5

monitoring subordinate employees, and ordering supplies. They also deal with preparing departmental
budgets, training personnel, reviewing invoices, and implementing security or safety programs. Large
corporations, warehouses, manufacturing companies, shipping groups, and related firms often employ
shipping managers. Moreover, there are different requirements for the job includes educations
requirement of High Diploma or Bachelor Certificate or at least the GED equivalent; some experience as a
shipping dealer is required. Common courses in a 1- or 2-year certificate or associate's program that will
help prepare you for a career in related field, plus to knowledge of records and information management,
shipping and receiving, computer applications, office administration, and business communication. In
addition, there is also skills required such as; strong managerial and multitasking skill and basic math and
strong interpersonal skills. (Education Portal , 2014)

Findings
From the previous outcomes of the personal interview and personal research about shipping
management position, it was appeared that shipping manager does involve in many task and
roles of the organization as Mr. Hassan said. Moreover, his experience of items and
documentation management was highly related to shipping management as what he is doing
now, so it is important to gain experience within same field or industry which relates to
anticipated job. In addition, the training courses that Mr. Hassan took in his previous job was a
major factor in getting management position as they were related to his career path. In
addition, as Mr. Hassan said, nowadays certificate is all that matters, and according to my
personal research of shipping jobs vacancy in Bahrain logistics companies, it was shown that
education and sufficient qualification of similar field is very important for an efficient career
path to reach the future goals and ambitious. (Indeed, 2014) (OilCareers, 2014)

Conclusion
To sum up, reaching to required position needs a long path of planned and well managed
career of varied experience and knowledge. However, according to the interview I made
and the information I gathered about the shipping management, I found that I do like this
job more than I found, as it has many parts and areas that I didnt know about, such as the
diversity of roles and tasks and the major organization and management required, which
Im good at both and I always wanted to work in a multitasking position which enables me
to be more conversant and not confined on specific role.

Recommendations
Many recommendations have been shown according to this report to reach to required job,
these recommendations are;
1) Gain as much experience as you could
2) Make sure that everything that youre currently doing is at some point related to what
you want to reach.
3) Seek to know about other departments and fields than yours to be a head of any other
candidate competing with you to reach what you want.
4) Education and knowledge are never enough, so as long as you can gain more dont
hesitate continuing .
5) According to Mr. Hassan, when you have a goal in front of you, try to avoid any conflicts
or failure that blurring the goal and never avoid the goal in order to focus on the
weaknesses.

Word Count: 1,340

Reference

Bibliography
Education Portal . (2014). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from Shipping Manager: Job Duties & Career
Requirements: http://educationportal.com/articles/Shipping_Manager_Job_Duties_and_Requirements_for_Becoming_a_Shipping
_Manager.html
Indeed. (2014). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from shipping jobs in Bahrain:
http://bh.indeed.com/Shipping-jobs
OilCareers. (2014). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from Bahrain Marine Jobs - OilCareers:
http://www.oilcareers.com/regions/732/BAHRAIN_marine.asp