Academic and Employability Skills BMSW 401

This report discusses employability skills, time management, finding information/research skill, planning and organization, and more in BMSW 401 course. It includes personal reflections, examples, and the use of Gibbs reflective cycle. The report also cites relevant books and journals.

ACADEMIC AND
EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Employability skills.....................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The report is on academic and employability skills. It gives a personal reflection of oneself and
the employability skills present in an individual. This ultimately helps in achieving the
professional goal which has been discussed. The employability skills are those which help a
person in achieving the goal one has aimed for in life. These are the ones which an organisation
considers suitable to have in a person for a job. The report also uses Gibbs reflective cycle as an
approach in skill development and discusses 4 Ds of time management.
Employability skills
Time management
It is the process involving planning and controlling strictly the required time for being spent on
every activity needed for being performed in a time frame given. The aim of the controlling and
planning is for increasing effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. The system involving the
time management is the summation of techniques, tools, methods and processes. Time
management is made of most prominent five elements that involve an environment which is
conducive, setting of priorities, eliminating of non – priority, goals setting and forming of right
habits. The biggest merit of successful management with the time available is to be efficient
highly in time spending by establishment of effective control.
This skill, I am developing in myself over the years and shall assist in any organisation for
employability. My idea is to prioritise the tasks to be completed first and then schedule
accordingly. As I go through their completion, it helps me gather confidence in self to achieve
my aim. I have linked self-confidence with this skill. If a person knows what he can achieve in a
certain time frame, it builds up confidence in one’s abilities (Suleman, 2018). I have learnt this
skill through experience in my college assignments and presentations when we had to achieve
their completion on deadlines. Also, we had to make the assignment in groups where it was to be
decided on the parts one has to complete. Making of schedule by dividing work in time frames
help gets the work done. I will be taking example of my assignments at college in which I
allotted time frame for different subjects in view of completing them. In case I exceeded time on
one assignment, I used to reduce time on another to make up for the time and thus, complete
them for submission (Di Gregorio and et.al., 2019). It happened once that an assignment had to
be made in two days which otherwise could have been done in a period of a week. All of us in

class were abuzz with the same topic as to how the topic has to be done. We discussed the
possible measures in which the assignment could be completed. All of us were confused how to
go about the project to finish it in time allotted. It was here it started roaming in my mind about
getting the difficult task done first which was of numerical. I prioritised it and made a time frame
for the same to be done the day itself. The theoretical part of the assignment I kept for the other
day, I discussed the strategy with my friends. They agreed with my opinion and we went ahead
with the project the day after classes got over. I told my friends that we will be scheduling time
for each numerical and we had to achieve completion in that time. We worked in time schedules
planned and got our work done of numerical that day. Next day, we were at a bit of ease with
theoretical part remaining and it was divided amongst us to study the lessons and explain the
summary of them to each other to know what we had to write. As planned, we could complete
our work as scheduled. The assignment could be thus completed due to proper scheduling and
time management. Also, it can be said it was a result of our team efforts too.
The 4 Ds of time management which can be followed are:
a) Do: Working on tasks which can take some time for completion.
b) Defer: Temporarily pausing a low priority task (Suleman, 2018).
c) Delegate: Reassigning task which is essential to somebody else.
d) Delete: Removing tasks which are unnecessary from schedule.
Finding information/ research skill
I have always been interested in finding different sources of information whether it is internet,
books by renowned authors and journals. The information age is being currently present and it is
the current norm to be ahead in information (Di Gregorio and et.al., 2019). I have always
believed that gaining information is one different thing and another is learning and application of
the same. It is more important to apply the information. I developed this skill in my school
intermediate where I was doing science as my subject. We had practical in it and had to be in
know of information about various machinery tools used in physics and chemistry. The tools had
to be utilised for making projects and machinery parts had to be joined in a manner of co-
function. Thus, I gathered information from various sources how to make the apparatus where
the machinery could be made functional. I had conversation with my seniors of how to go about

the project and this helped in making the project of working windmill a successful one. Internet
sources were used where it was necessary to gain knowledge of functioning. I found that it is
necessary to take help of magazines which are related to mechanics and have certainly good
ideas.
Apart from this, research skill used by me also has an experience. It was about working part time
in a retail garment company where I had to do sales as an executive. It was decided that we shall
be conducting a survey where we would be asking questions to public about the satisfaction of
product from the customers (Teng and et.al., 2019). This was a part of primary research where
we had conducted a feedback survey in which questionnaire was put to people about products in
which they had to answer questions relating to the product quality. We as executives conducted
this research by brainstorming for questions which could be asked and thus were able to zero in
on relevant questions which could garner honest feedback from customers. In our survey, we
used the qualitative research and got customer ratings for the products. Our manager also
appreciated our efforts and we were successful in conducting a research which could help the
company in improvement of product quality.
I would narrate my college event through Gibbs reflective cycle:
Gibbs reflective cycle
This method is a good technique to work through one's problems. It provides a framework for
analysing experiences, and its cyclic character refers to recurring events. It is divided into six
stages:
a) Description: It refers to an event that occurred in the past and had an impact on the way
things are now. This was an encounter I had during a presentation during my MBA
programme. This was a very different experience than the one described previously. We
had to give a factoring presentation as a four-person group. It is a form of financial
transaction in which a company sells its account receivables at a discount to a third party.
Our credit investment professor was in the audience crowd, as were college students. We
had divided our sections amongst ourselves, and I had factored in North America for my
half.
b) Feelings: We were both excited and scared as we prepared to present to one of the most
knowledgeable instructors. I had the impression that we would be able to do justice to the

situation. Others were also optimistic that everything would work out. We were ecstatic
after the presentation because we were applauded by both professors and coworkers.
c) Evaluation: In our experience, the positive aspects predominated. We were able to
present on the issue with a detailed approach in a short amount of time for rehearsal. In
terms of my contribution, it was utterly unrelated to the topic. Asset-based financing was
previously more popular in North America than factoring. I had done extensive
investigation and research to ensure that the fact was correct. My lecturer questioned me
about it as I was delivering my part. I referenced the sources from where I obtained the
information. The professor was convinced, and our effort was praised.
d) Analysis: I believe what worked in our favour was that we had done our homework and
knew enough about the subject. We had found relevant information, rehearsed and
discussed linkages in our roles with one another, as well as a list of possible audience
questions. I was exceptionally prepared for my topic because it deviated from the
assigned topic. The professor was also gracious enough to concede that regional variety
in factoring or lending processes may occur. As a result, I believe that if you are
confident in what you are saying, it will have an influence on your audience.
e) Conclusion: The most significant thing it taught me was the need of having knowledge
and confidence when presenting something new. Second, it showed me that if a team is
supportive and follows an organised process, the end result would almost always be a
success. If we had received a few more questions on the new lending technique, I believe
it would have become more positive.
f) Action Plan: If I had to do it over, I would try to expand my knowledge by reading
scholarly papers and adding more information and substance to the subject. I'd like to
emphasise why this technique is being used in a specific region, as well as the reasons for
its popularity. In terms of team management, additional rehearsal and incorporating each
other's perspectives to make the presentation a success are actions that should be taken in
the future.
Planning and organisation
It requires for any event to be planned and then only it can be implemented successfully (Teng
and et.al., 2019). Planning requires jotting down points by brainstorming session as to how the

work will have to be done. Organising requires allotment of people and resources to get the task
done. I will be narrating an example of myself going through a process and learning this skill.
The skill shall help in conducting of official events (Ornellas, Falkner and Stålbrandt, 2019).
We had to plan a fest in our college where students of other college were going to attend the
function. It was planned that firstly, we will find out the things which people like the most to eat
in fest. Our team gave this task to two of our team members and they found out the eminent
dishes to be put up at the fest. Next, we planned to make our budget for the fest. We then decided
to keep some events which were to be there for fun. Also, sponsors for the event was decided.
Next came the organisation function in which the task getting sponsors for the event were given
to me and my friend, arrangements of food was given to the two members who had done the
research and holding of fun events was given to three of our remaining team members. All of us,
were able to justify our tasks and made the function a successful one.
CONCLUSION
The report discussed employability skills which can come of use in future. Time management
skills were discussed with self-example of individual and gave insight in 4 Ds of time
management. The skill of finding information through research was also discussed and example
given. Gibbs reflective cycle was also used for illustration of an example. Planning and
organisation skill was discussed with apt example.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Suleman, F., 2018. The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into
conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2), pp.263-
278.
Di Gregorio, A., Maggioni, I., Mauri, C. and Mazzucchelli, A., 2019. Employability skills for
future marketing professionals. European management journal, 37(3), pp.251-258.
Teng, W., Ma, C., Pahlevansharif, S. and Turner, J.J., 2019. Graduate readiness for the
employment market of the 4th industrial revolution: The development of soft
employability skills. Education+ Training.
Ornellas, A., Falkner, K. and Stålbrandt, E.E., 2019. Enhancing graduates’ employability skills
through authentic learning approaches. Higher education, skills and work-based learning.
Nisha, S.M. and Rajasekaran, V., 2018. Employability skills: A review. IUP Journal of Soft
Skills, 12(1), pp.29-37.
Scott, F.J., Connell, P., Thomson, L.A. and Willison, D., 2019. Empowering students by
enhancing their employability skills. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(5),
pp.692-707.
Rowe, A.D. and Zegwaard, K.E., 2017. Developing graduate employability skills and attributes:
Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning.
Bhagra, A. and Sharma, D.K., 2018. Changing paradigm of employability skills in the global
business world: A review. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 12(2), pp.7-24.

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