Career Development for Professionals

This document discusses the importance of career development for professionals and provides insights on how to enhance employability through extracurricular activities and student governance. It also explores job opportunities and strategies for securing a desired job. The document concludes with a plan to fill the gaps in employability skills.

Running head: CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 1
Career Development for Professionals
Name:
Institution:

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 2
Career Development for Professionals
With just a year to graduation, a preferable extracurricular activity to indulge in will be
sports clubs and the music club. The sports club entails sporting activities with different sporting
games like basketball football, athletics, and baseball, while drama club is an extracurricular
activity designed for students passionate in learning theatric aspects which include music, acting,
and music festival activities. The eligibility aspects required for sports club and music club
include self-discipline, time conscious, and determination (El Mansour, and Dean, 2016, p.6).
Participating in the sports and music club will enhance my targeted KSA proficiency because,
through the sporting club, one can gain leadership skills, which, will impact my curriculum vitae
and improve my employability. Music club enables one to acquire creative skills which are
essential for every basics KSAs for better proficiency (Mislevy et al., 2017, p.9). Joining
extracurricular activities allows a person to impact lives and their institution through recruiting
more members by that one leaves the extracurricular club a better person than he or she was. By
recruiting more members one can be a leader and be able to gain the leadership skill by
mentoring other members, establishing new activities and coordinating projects (Oliveri,
Lawless, and Mollo, 2017, P.2).
The UNISA site provides student governance, where one becomes a student representative,
which will assist in building a graduate for future employability. Eligibility for participation in
student organizations includes previous experience in leadership in secondary school, church,
and any other. An aspirant must be a performer; failures are not allowed to vie. Through
participating in student governance, a student will attain confidence, problem-solving skills,
communication skills, and analytical skills to diversely handle different individuals from varied
cultural prospects as well as leadership skills (Oliveri, Lawless, and Mollo, 2017, P.5). And in

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 3
every employment opportunity, the listed skills are essential; for instance, the leadership skills
acquired in college will be used as stepping stone whenever one is seeking for employment.
Previous leadership skills provide a better chance of landing in an employment opportunity
quickly. Therefore students should know that extracurricular activities are essential
(https://i.unisa.edu.au/students/experience-unisa/unisaplus/participating-in-unisaplus/leadership-
and-enterprise/2019).
Since web scrapping is too rampant in different companies, it is vital for an applicant to ensure
he or she submit a hard copy of the application even if he or she has applied through a website so
that if web scraping occurs their data isn't detracted but remain enhanced. Because the online
application data can be scraped off due to data scrapping to be on the safer side, hard copy
submission will be the most reliable idea (Wilson, ETAL, 2016, P.8).
Q2
In Australia, several job advertisements websites are making it easy for graduates to access
diverse opportunities in their practice field. Since we can't explore the various sites at once, I will
narrow down my examination to "Grad-Austria" job website. It's among the providers of these
jobs more so the job hunting category of graduates. What catches the eye under the category is
that the qualification seems to be universal in that the stringent necessities that push away
graduate job seekers seem to be kept aside. By this, the environment welcomes all without
discrimination. In spite of the above, they also offer some enticing promises like gaining
knowledge, stipends accompanied by bonuses. For example, IBM Client Success Associate
(Early Professional) seems to be eyeing for personnel whose aim is to build a career for

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 4
him/herself, focusing on the requirements they seem to be lenient for the applicants in that they
catch one's eye straightforwardly (GradAustralia 201,9).
My educational completion keeps me on par with all graduate job seekers. In comparison to the
institutions in need of graduate trainee, their main aim is to assist one to attain the required
practicality having achieved the theoretical knowledge (Cui, 2015, p.81). Comparing each
organizations necessity, I qualify. All the recruiting establishments agree to the primary
qualification as being either graduated or awaiting graduation where I bracket myself. This
automatically classifies me as competitive, like any other in search of practical experience.
The first avenue of finding a job is through volunteering. For a volunteer, I will build a resume
about my career and the skills I possess to be able to secure the opportunity at the organization.
Because one might have been frustrated looking for a job without any success volunteer can
efficiently work since it convinces employers that one is determined. The second avenue is
through job advertisements on social sites, websites, and social media advisements are the most-
effective way to promote yourself to work in a company. What I would need is to surmise my
resume and highlight the potent strengths and skills I possess. The other avenue is direct
marketing, and this is done by targeting few highlighted organization and noting the officials in
charge of decision making positions, the approach I will take for the avenue is to research all the
organizations carefully and know the influences. Networking is the other avenue, which implies
one need to build close relationships and rapport, which can lead to job opportunities. The step I
will take for this avenue is to join vast occasions and make several friends. As a result, I will
have diverse knowledge in various fields (Wilson, ETAL, 2016, P.10).

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 5
Most likely avenue for me in securing a job that interests me is direct marketing. The action for
achieving such a chance will be undertaking more profound research on my targeted
organizations. Apart from that, marketing directly will enable me to receive emails and messages
from companies other than spending time to visits the organization. Additionally, I will prefer
phone calls, which will help me in associating better and creating good relationships with the
organization.
Q2c
Ability to build strong relationships with speed Novice
High attention to detail Novice
Solid written and verbal communication Novice
Proven track record of working on multiple priorities at any given time Novice
Q3
Am a graduate of business form UNISA applying for the position of IBM Client Success
Associate (Early Professional) in your institution. I am a self-driven person destined to progress,
currently seeking employment a who wants to progress, am now looking to work in an
environment which is performance oriented and talent is not underestimated. I am obliged that

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 6
your thrilling organization is a common place for team players and hard workers like me. Who is
an accountable, critical thinker, and robust? I will work professionally to achieve the stipulated
goals of the company. Having been a student leader at the university level and participated in
various extra-curricular activities, I feel that I possess the leadership skills and creative skills
essential for this position. University being a multi-cultural institution, I managed to understand
and know how to relate with individuals from diverse cultures. Therefore it will be easy to create
sustainable relationships and rapport, which will diversify the workforce regardless of cultural
differences. My greatest strengths are self-confidence and determination, which enhances me to
deliver under any circumstance irrespective of the pressures. With my analytical skills being able
to detect, improve, examine, and restructure intricate work practices. Hence, securing this
position will be vital to the organization and me. It will provide me a platform to develop, gain,
and exploit my skills profoundly.
I am looking forward to your feedback.
Q6
The gaps realized that should be reinstated so that my employability can move to the desired
position include lack of confidence, office skills, behavioral skills, perception and
communication skills (Cui, 2015, p.80). These are some of the gaps I have realized I have to fill
so that by the time I graduate, my employability is at the desired state. The current competencies
I possess are too distinct that can't enhance my employability in the current competitive field and
job, market. Therefore I have to re-plan on how to improve my proficiencies to be unique to
enable me to compete favorably with fellow graduate by the time I graduate.

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The plan
Person requirement #1: Job Expectations
 Helping to maximize the value our Clients achieve from the agreement
 Contributing to client success by supporting the execution of the contract
 Gathering data, preparing draft reports, sharing insights
 Being the primary contact for administrative and software licensing inquiries from
stakeholders
 Providing administrative support and learning from the commercial, technical and sales
focused members of the IBM Client team
Goal: gaining significant practical experience and skills in preparation for after-school job
encounters.
Action: hard work
Complete by date: before graduation.
Person requirement #2: Skills are not attached to specific points or areas where one can gain
them from, in that the below skills will be achieved both from school and the job program
involved in. For my case, the abilities intended to be gained include; managerial skills,
Communication skills, Time management, Persuasive skills, Organizational,

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 8
Goal: by the end of the program, I should have achieved the requisite qualification by fully
committing myself. The state skills can as well be gained through engaging in extra-curricular
activities in school, for instance, sport and club activities, which helps one to attain leadership
skills.
Action: self- motivation and commitment
Complete by date: before graduation
Person requirement #3: Being a recent graduate: working hard to ensure I attain better grades to
help me secure a job after school since the essential requirement is a possession of a degree.
Goal: working hard and ensuring I graduate at the required time.
Action: attending my classes, sitting for exams, and following the college rules so that I am not
found on the wrong side, which can deter my graduation.
Complete by date: after graduation.
Person requirement #4: office environmental skills; they include the relationships between the
employee and the clients, fellow employees, and the employer. Since it is a vital requirement for
every job opportunity, therefore gaining it will enhance my employability.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 9
Goal: the main objective is to ensure I engage in social events and activities to boost my office
environmental skills because I am an introvert who never associate easily.
Action: engage in more extra-curricular activities to build my self-esteem to improve my
relationships with people.
Complete by date: before the graduation date.
Person requirement #5: Business and technological skills; these are acquirable as I continue with
the course.
Goal: my main aim is to ensure I am knowledgeable enough on business and technical skills
learned through the course by continuously putting into practice the learned skills in school
during the course study. Also, I can make use of the internet and websites to research and learn
or improve my skills to enhance my employability once I graduate.
Action: putting into practice the gained skills by either joining volunteer or internship programs
for a few months as I await graduation when I am done with the class work. This will help me
attain little required experience for graduate jobs. As a result, my employability will be
enhanced.
Complete by date: before graduation.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PROFESSIONALS 10
References
Cui, S., 2015. Research on the improving path of college student employability from a social
practice perspective. Journal of Applied Science and Engineering Innovation, 2(3), pp.81-
83.
El Mansour, B., and Dean, J.C., 2016. Employability skills as perceived by employers and
university faculty in the fields of human resource development (HRD) for entry-level
graduate jobs. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 4(01),
Grad Australia job advertisements site; https://gradaustralia.com.au/ibm-client-success-associate-
early-professional 2019.
Mislevy, R.J., Haertel, G., Riconscente, M., Rutstein, D.W., and Ziker, C., 2017. Evidence-
centered assessment design. In Assessing Model-Based Reasoning using Evidence-
Centered Design (pp. 19-24). Springer, Cham.
Oliveri, M.E., Lawless, R., and Molloy, H., 2017. A literature review on collaborative problem
solving for college and workforce readiness. ETS Research Report Series, 2017(1),
Wilson, M.E., Liddell, D.L., Hirschy, A.S., and Pasquesi, K., 2016. Professional identity, career
commitment, and career entrenchment of midlevel student affairs professionals. Journal of
College Student Development,