Academic & Employability Skill Assignment Sample

Academic &
Employability Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1:.....................................................................................................................................1
Brief personal overview...............................................................................................................1
Screen graphs from initial power point presentation...................................................................2
List of key points learnt when trying to product and deliver a successful power point
presentation..................................................................................................................................4
SECTION 2: SKILLS EVALUATION...........................................................................................5
Identification of the skills which are required for successful HE learning and employability....5
Conducting a self evaluation exercise to discover strengths, weaknesses, personality type and
suitable career suggestions...........................................................................................................6
SECTION 3: ACTION PLANS.......................................................................................................7
SECTION 4: APPLICATION.........................................................................................................7
SECTION 5: CONCLUSION & EVALUATION...........................................................................7
Screenshot of completed PDP implementation and written explanation.....................................7
Summary and conclusion.............................................................................................................8
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Academic and employability skills could be defined as the qualities which are required
for individuals to attain all their career goals. These characteristics are communication,
teamwork, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, collaborative nature etc. With the
help of all of them all the responsibilities of the job role in future could be fulfilled by
individuals (Andrews and Russell, 2012). This report is based upon analysis of them and main
objective of it is to develop understanding regarding importance of academic and employability
skills for an individual. This assignment covers various topics such as personal overview,
evaluation of different qualities, action plan, application of it etc. Along with this, conclusion is
also provided at the end of the report with the evaluation of the PDP.
SECTION 1:
Brief personal overview
I am Bianca a student studying Business Management in the college. I selected this
course to develop and enhance my skills regarding academics and employability. There are
various qualities that I am already having and some other characteristics are also there which are
required to be developed by me in future with the help of this course. I am good in self and time
management, planning and organising but my team working, leadership and decision making
skills are weak. In order to improve all of them I have planned to study effectively in the college
and enhance all of them. With the help of Business Management course my abilities of handling
difficult tasks at work place will be enhanced (Bilsland, Nagy and Smith, 2014).
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Screen graphs from initial power point presentation
2

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List of key points learnt when trying to product and deliver a successful power point presentation
In college all the students were guided by the tutor to deliver a power point presentation
to introduce ourselves to others in the class so that we all can interact with each other. While
preparing and delivering the PPT I have learned various things which will be beneficial for me to
attain all my career goals (Boahin and Hofman, 2013). All the learnings of mine are as follows:
 I have learned that while preparing a PPT we are require to take such type of template
which will be easily visible to the viewers.
 A presentation should not have detailed information it should be prepared with key
points.
 While delivering the PPT I analysed that the speaker should be good in communication
so that the information which is going to be delivered to the viewers could be understood
by them easily.
 My learning regarding posture and gesture is also being enhanced because for an
individual who is responsible to deliver a presentation should stand properly and move
hands appropriately so that other can relate with him or her.
 As in the class I have delivered a PPT presentation which has helped me to reduce my
fear of public speaking and going on stage in front of different people (Collet, Hine and
Du Plessis, 2015).
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All the above described learning were acquired by me while preparing and delivering
PPT in the class room. With the help of all the above learnings I will be able to work effectively
in the organisation in which I will be working in future (Deeley, 2014).
SECTION 2: SKILLS EVALUATION
Identification of the skills which are required for successful HE learning and employability
HE learning: Higher education learning can be defined as the activity in which
individuals try to gain knowledge and skills by studying, experiencing something and other
processes. With the help of it various skills are acquired by individuals which will be beneficial
for them for the attainment of career goals. Following are the skills which are required for HR
learning:
Note taking: For higher education like business management it is very important for an
individual like me to take notes while studying. This quality can help to revise the content which
was taught by tutor in the class. It is also a solution for different doubts which could be cleared
by analysing the notes that are taken in the class.
Critical reading: It is an ability of reading which guides individuals to present reasoned
arguments by analysing positive and negative sides of the content which is being read. With the
help of it answers for all the queries could be figured out by individuals as they will be able to
find reason behind every fact studied in classroom.
Sourcing information from various websites: While persuading a higher education
course it is very important for individuals to sources information from different resources so that
knowledge could be enhanced. It is beneficial for individuals such as me to resolve all the
queries related to the course which are creating issues for me (Jackson, 2012).
Employability: It can be defined as the elements which make an individual to acquire the
desired job. In order to attain the dream job it is vital for individuals like me to gain different
skills. There are various employability skills which are required for successful employability
which are described below:
Leadership: It is an ability which is required for an individual to lead a team so that all
the tasks which are allotted to them could be accomplished successful. A person who is willing
to work on a job profile of a leader in an organisation is required to acquire this skill so that all
the long term business goals could be achieved successfully (Pârvu, Ipate and Mitran, 2014).
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Time management: This skill is required for all the individuals who are willing to work
in an organisation so that all the tasks which are allocated to them could be completed on time. If
a person is not able to develop this skill then it can affect their ability to achieve their career
goals.
Team working: In order to acquire a good position in an organisation it is very important
for individuals to be able to work in teams so that organisational goals could be accomplished
successfully. Without this ability it will be very difficult for individuals like me to work
effectively.
Planning: As currently I am studying business management so for me and other students
like me it is very important to be good in planning so that all of us can get the desired job which
we are willing to acquire in future (Rosenberg, Heimler and Morote, 2012).
Conducting a self evaluation exercise to discover strengths, weaknesses, personality type and
suitable career suggestions
Self evaluation exercise: It can be defined as the process in which individuals conduct
self assessment to determine their strengths and weaknesses. It is also conducted by me to
analyse all my weak and strong skills. With the help of it I will be able to form PDP for myself
so that I can overcome all my weaknesses. A self evaluation exercise is conducted by me which
is as follows:
Personal Skills Good Average Bad
Note Taking ✓
Critical reading ✓
Sourcing information
from various websites
✓
Leadership ✓
Time management ✓
Team working ✓
Planning ✓
From the above table it has been analysed that there are various skills which are required
to be enhanced. These are Critical reading, sourcing information from various websites,
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leadership and team working. The strengths and weaknesses which are determined with the help
of above table are as follows:
Strengths: There are various strengths of mine these are note taking, time management
and planning. With the help of all of them I will be able to grab the career opportunities which
are beneficial for my career growth (Howard, 2012).
Weaknesses: The self evaluation exercise has helped me to determine different
weaknesses of mine which are required to be improved. My weak skills are team working,
critical reading, leadership and sourcing information from different websites. In order to develop
all of them I am required to take professional training and guidance from my tutor.
Personality type: By analysing strengths from the self evaluation exercise I have
determined that my personality is similar to a manager. As manager is responsible to complete
work on time, plan everything and keep track record of all the activities and I am also having
same qualities so it shows that I have manager personality.
Suitable career suggestions: There are various suitable career suggestions for me these
are working as a manager, supervisor, management consultant etc. in an organisation of my
choice (Tymon and Batistic, 2016).
Comparison between Initial description and self evaluation exercise:
There are various similarities in my initial description and self evaluation exercise. These
are some of my strengths such as time management, planning etc. and weaknesses such as
leadership and team working. The difference between both of them is that my initial description
was not able to determine my HE learning weaknesses which were identified by me with the help
of self evaluation exercise.
One thing which is being learned by me from this exercise is that self evaluation is a
technique which can help to determine weak skills regarding HE learning and employability.
SECTION 3: ACTION PLANS
Short term and long term goals:
Short-Term Goals:
 Increase reading time
Long-Term Goals:
 Provide small task and increase team spirit
 Assign easy targets for each employees
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 Increase web related activities and enhance accessibility to different websites
Action Plan for the Academic and Personal/Professional Skills:
Required Skills Objective Action Required Measures Time
Sourcing
information from
various websites
To enhance
quality of works
within
organization and
provide
differentiation in
organizational
operations.
Increase web
related activities
and enhance
accessibility to
different
websites.
 Identify exact
sources of
web contents
used by
personnels to
assess
whether
content are
authenticate
or not.
 Determine
whether
information
are consistent
with
organization's
norms and
policies.
3 months
Leadership To increase
efficiencies of
workers while
effectively
utilising human
resources.
Assign easy
targets for each
employees.
 Conduct
analysis for
evaluating
current
leadership
efficiencies.
 Take
feedback and
reviews of
2.5 Months
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employees.
 Conduct
motivation
seminars and
events to
improve.
 Emphasise
towards
improving
coordinate in
management
and works,
and improve
communicatio
n skills.
Team working To enhance
effectiveness of
workings of
different
employees with
different skills.
Provide small
task and increase
team spirit.
 Classify
different
employees as
per their
unique skills
and
qualifications.
 Increase the
interactions of
employees
with each
other.
 Develop
teams and
team-spirit in
team
3.5 Months
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members.
 Selection of
skilled team
leaders with
consent of all
team
members.
 Prepare
hierarchy of
different
teams to
handle
different
tasks.
Critical reading To gain
innovative ideas
and apply them
towards
organization's
objectives.
Increase reading
time and develop
favourable
environment for
promoting
reading habits.
 Arrange
books as per
employee's
interest.
 Establish
small reading
areas and
discussion
rooms to
develop
reading skills.
 Time to time
arrange events
dedicated to
reading.
2.5 Months
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SECTION 4: APPLICATION
Back-up Strategy:
Back-up strategy is significant management action as it ensure success of organization's
current strategies and action plans. In every organization management also put their efforts
towards recognition and farming of back-up strategy. Here in this context from above discussed
action plan, management can apply backup strategy for each action plan. As if for leadership
company's action will fail than organization can appoint any outsider for improving leadership.
In case if backup plan for sourcing information from various websites fails than management
should create emergency plan of outsourcing such process.
Time skill management
This skill is related with the manner which support an individual to plan and organize
their time in a meaningful manner so that they are able to spend specific time according to the
need of work. It is observed that time management as a belief isn't very challenging, however in
practical terms it is amazingly difficult to implement these strategies. To prioritize and organize
an individual needs an investment of some specific time which help to prepare themselves to
deal with different problems. Workers those handle their time well will be more effective, more
successful and more probable to fulfill schedules. They concentrate about the most significant
and moment-sensitive functions and restrict the time spent on semi-essential tasks. This implies
functioning optimally and workers throughout every sector are looking for employees who can
make better use of the period they have on the job. Saving time saves money and increases
profits for the company. There are number of advantage of this skills such as:
 Reduces your stress level
 Help you remain focused on the task
 Minimizes procrastination
 Greater self-confidence
 Meeting your goals
 Augments your productivity
 Gives you a sense of achievement
 Provides you with 100% commitment to fun activities
 Financial Rewards
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SECTION 5: CONCLUSION & EVALUATION
Screenshot of completed PDP implementation and written explanation
Main purpose of formulating the PDP is to overcome the weaknesses which are identified
while conducting self evaluation exercise. With the help of it I will be able to develop my four
weak skills which are leadership, team working, sourcing information from various websites and
critical reading. The PDP was implemented by me in which firstly I defined my objective, then
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took action to develop the skills, afterwards success is measured and at last time limit is decided
by me to overcome the weaknesses.
Summary and conclusion
This report concludes that employability and academic skills are main requirements of an
individual who is willing to enhance the career. There are various qualities such as note taking,
critical reading, leadership, time management etc. which are required for HE learning and
employability. In order to identify weak and strong skills self evaluation exercise could be
conducted which is considered as a base of PDP that is used to overcome all the weaknesses.
Recommendations
 Business management students can select management consultant course for further
studies where they carry out a process with clients to resolve their problems regarding
business operations & finances. It required analytical as well as problem solving skills in
the individual to pursue this course.
 Management consultant will provide annual salary of $48,360 to $152,760 for the post of
management analyst.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Andrews, G. and Russell, M., 2012. Employability skills development: strategy, evaluation and
impact. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning. 2(1). pp.33-44.
Bilsland, C., Nagy, H. and Smith, P., 2014. Planning the Journey to Best Practice in Developing
Employability Skills: Transnational University Internships in Vietnam. Asia-Pacific
Journal of Cooperative Education. 15(2). pp.145-157.
Boahin, P. and Hofman, A., 2013. A disciplinary perspective of competency-based training on
the acquisition of employability skills. Journal of Vocational Education & Training.
65(3). pp.385-401.
Collet, C., Hine, D. and Du Plessis, K., 2015. Employability skills: perspectives from a
knowledge-intensive industry. Education+ Training. 57(5). pp.532-559.
Deeley, S. J., 2014. Summative co-assessment: A deep learning approach to enhancing
employability skills and attributes. Active Learning in Higher Education. 15(1). pp.39-
51.
Howard, H., 2012. Looking to the future: Developing an academic skills strategy to ensure
information literacy survives in a changing higher education world. Journal of
information literacy. 6(1). pp.72-81.
Jackson, D., 2012. Business undergraduates' perceptions of their capabilities in employability
skills: Implications for industry and higher education. Industry and higher education.
26(5). pp.345-356.
Pârvu, I., Ipate, D. M. and Mitran, P. C., 2014. Identification of employability skills-starting
point for the curriculum design process. Economics, Management and Financial
Markets. 9(1). p.237.
Rosenberg, S., Heimler, R. and Morote, E. S., 2012. Basic employability skills: a triangular
design approach. Education+ Training. 54(1). pp.7-20.
Tymon, A. and Batistic, S., 2016. Improved academic performance and enhanced employability?
The potential double benefit of proactivity for business graduates. Teaching in Higher
Education. 21(8). pp.915-932.
Online
Critical reading. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-reading.html>
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