Employability Skills Assignment - (Solved)

Employability skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
KNOW YOURSELF.......................................................................................................................3
Brief overview of business management and carrier aspirations ..........................................3
Appraisal of Clifton Gallup Strengths and Johari’s Window theories with respect to career
development...........................................................................................................................3
Identification of key strengths in my carrier based on the above theories.............................5
Application of these elements in achieving career aspirations...............................................6
KNOW YOUR SECTOR................................................................................................................6
Comparison of two companies of retail sector.......................................................................6
Extent to which elements of these companies align with the elements of my company........7
Job description and person specification................................................................................7
CV...........................................................................................................................................9
Identification and analysis of professional qualification that could be acquired along the
degree...................................................................................................................................10
LET THEM KNOW YOU.............................................................................................................10
Importance of networking in increasing awareness in retail sector.....................................10
Reflection on the networking events....................................................................................11
Reflection of performance in mock interview based on the STAR method.........................11
Reflection of learnings through this module........................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills may be defined as a skill that need to be possessed by a person while
doing a job. These skills are very essential because employers at the time of recruitment pay
especial attention on them. These skills comprise of skills such as communication, team work,
hard work and problem solving (Collet Hine and Du Plessis, 2015). The study will include a
brief overview of career aspirations as well as Clifton Gallup strengths and Johari's window
theories. Apart from that, comparison of 2 companies of the same sector and analysis of
professional qualification would be done. Moreover, importance of networking in the sector and
reflection of performance in the interview would also be discussed.
KNOW YOURSELF
Brief overview of business management and carrier aspirations
The skills that are grabbed through studying the business management course contribute a
lot towards taking the business to new heights. The course prepares to take a step forwards in
carrying out a business, which may be of others or personal. The basic motive behind studying
business management is to get a deep insight of the realities of managing a business. It is
essential to have intense knowledge about managing a business in order to achieve the objectives
of the business efficiently and effectively. This course not only helps in grooming the skills and
knowledge in business functions but also helps in understanding how the organisation works
(Devambatla and Nalla, 2015).
My carrier aspiration is to have my own business. Basic motive behind my idea to start
my own business is that; I would be own boss. This would not only give me the freedom to carry
out the business in the way I want but would also eliminate the frustration of working as per the
wish of the superiors. Hence, in order to start a new business and run it smoothly; I am working
very hard to groom my business management skills by studying this course.

Appraisal of Clifton Gallup Strengths and Johari’s Window theories with respect to career
development.
Appraisal of Clifton Gallup strengths with respect to career development
 Consistency – Consistency is concerned with treating people equally, having stable
routines and clear rules or procedures which could be easily followed by all the
people of the organisation. Consistency play a very important role in carrier
development because changes are not easily accepted in the organisation. Thus, it
helps in increasing the comfort by maintaining consistency and avoiding changes.
Furthermore, consistency helps in keeping our carrier organized which in turn helps
in achieving the objectives of the company effectively.
 Empathy – It is very important for carrier development to understand the feelings
and emotions of workforce. If the feelings are understood, then if becomes easy to
sympathize with the people which in turn is helpful in creating of sense of
belongingness in the mind of the customers. Thus, this will help in retaining the
workforce in a company for a longer duration of time (Lim and et.al., 2016).
 Harmony – another important strength of Clifton Gallup is harmony. This helps in
reducing the conflict and creation of job satisfaction in the mind of employees. This
in turn helps in motivating the employees so that they work better towards achieving
the goals of the company smoothly.
 Responsibility – Responsibility is very essential for carrier development as it helps in
building up the confidence by taking the responsibility for their own actions. This in
turn helps in improving the productivity.
 Includer – a person can grow in his/ her carrier if and only if it makes each and every
worker of the company work hard and make efforts to combine them properly so as to
get maximum results.
Appraisal of Johari’s Window theories with respect to career development
It is a theory that is used in order to understand the relationship between self and others.
This theory has 4 elements:

Open free area – It is that element in which what a person know about himself/herself is
known to others. This helps in carrier development as it acts as an motivational factor.
Blind area – It is that area in which what others know about us is not known to us. It
helps in carrier development because if others know about our strengths then it becomes easy to
identify our hidden areas of talent and then work on them.
Hidden area – Another area is hidden area in which what is known to self is not known
to others. This helps in carrier development as it is easy to defeat competitors as they are
unaware of our strengths.
Unknown area – It is that area in which all those things which are not known to us , is
also not known to others. It helps in carrier development as we can work on finding out our
hidden capabilities.
Identification of key strengths in my carrier based on the above theories
Key strengths that are required in order to carry out my own business are:
As per Clifton Gallup Strengths, the major strengths that are required in order to carry out
my business successfully is responsibility and harmony. Since responsibility contributes towards
building up confidence, it would be very helpful for me in establishing and growing my business.
Furthermore, maintaining harmony at the workplace would help me in keeping my workforce
motivated and happy which in turn would contribute in retaining them in the company for a
longer duration of time. Thus, my employee turnover rate will be low which will not assist in
Illustration 1: johari window model
Source : <Johari window model, 2019>

building the image of my business but would also help in reducing the cost of employing new
employees (Johari window model. 2019).
As per Johari’s Window theory, the most important strength is hidden area. Hidden area
is that area in which what is known to me about myself is not known to others. This will create
difficulty for competitors in beating because they would be unknown about my strengths.
Thus, all these are major strengths which are essential in running my business smoothly.
Application of these elements in achieving career aspirations.
In order to be responsible I will take responsibility for my own actions rather than
blaming others. This step will make me think twice before taking any action or decision. Apart
from that, in order to create harmony at the workplace I will focus on solving the problems that
may arise at the workplace. This would be done by actively listening to the problems of the staff
member and then taking the best decision that may be appropriate in that condition.
KNOW YOUR SECTOR
Comparison of two companies of retail sector
I want to start my own business in a retail sector. Two chosen companies in the retail
sector of varied sizes are Sainsbury and Iceland food ltd.
Basis Sainsbury Iceland food ltd
History Sainsbury was founded 150
years ago in the year 1869 in a
partnership. The company
initially started as a retailer of
fresh food at fair prices. It
even provided quality product
such as fresh milk while its
competitors used watered
milk. This was the basic
reason behind its growth and
success. In 1882, company
came up with their own brand
Iceland food ltd was founded
49 years ago in the year 1970
with a small grocery shop. The
company initially specialized
in loose frozen food items and
slowly it started expanding and
now the company has included
meats, vegetables and other
grocery items as well but still
the market share of the
company is very limited.

products and with the
changing time they kept on
expanding. Currently,
Sainsbury is the second largest
retailer in the retail sector of
UK.
Ethics Ethical step taken by
Sainsbury was that it used
fresh milk as an ingredient in
the manufacturing of the
products of their own brand
rather than the watered milk.
Apart from that, company
charged fair prices
000(Riggio, 2017).
The ethical step taken by the
company was that it stopped
using palm oil as an ingredient
in the manufacturing of the
products of their own brand.
Values The values of the company is
to provide healthy products as
well as to provide wide range
of choice to the customers.
The values of the company is
to provide environmental
friendly products.
Extent to which elements of these companies align with the elements of my company
Similarly like Sainsbury and Iceland food ltd, I have decided to provide health and
environment friendly products to the customers rather than focussing on reducing the cost by
using any other cheap ingredient as a substitute. This will help in building the image of the
company as my company would be viewed as a socially responsible organization from the
societies point of view. While on the other hand, initially I will focus on the core area that is
providing food products and later on depending on the situation I will plan to expand.
Job description and person specification
Job description
Job title Retail store manager

Roles Dealing with customer queries, stock control,
overseeing pricing, setting sales target and
motivating the staff.
Responsibilities Monitoring financial performance of the store,
ensuring that staff provides efficient customer
service. While other responsibilities comprises
of recruitment, training, supervising and
appraising the staff members
Person specification
Basis Essential Desirable
Qualification
 Bachelors in
accounting and
business management
 Higher national
diploma in retail sector
Yes
Yes
Experience
 1 year of
experience in any
field
 1 year of
experience
particularly in the
retail sector
yes
Yes
Skills:
 Work well under

pressure
 strong leadership
 good communication
skills
 multitasking skills
 hard working
 ability to motivate its
team members
 cooperative
 good interpersonal
skills
 ability to manage
efficiently
yes
yes
CV
Curriculum vitae
Career objectives
Seeking for a challenging job position of retail store manager in Sainsbury; where my skills and
qualification could be utilized towards the achievement of the objectives of the company.
Education and qualification
Bachelors degree in Accounting and Business management
Experience
Fresher
Skills
 good communication skills
 ability to motivate team members
 patience

 ability to work in team
 patience
Personal details
Name: Andre Filiep
Gender: male
Email id : [e-mail]
Identification and analysis of professional qualification that could be acquired along the degree.
Training and course from the National Retail Federation would be of great assistance in
my career development. This course has been especially designed in order to bridge the gap
between job seekers and job providers by making a person ready to work in the retail industry.
The course comprises offering a national certificate program, access to the latest retail research
or news and networking opportunities (Greenhaus, Callanan and Godshalk, 2018). This course is
of great importance as it will help me in grooming my skills in retail sector which in turn would
help me in rising in the long run. This course will especially focus on grooming the skills of
advanced customer service and sales training. Apart from that, a proper guide and sales
curriculum would be received.
LET THEM KNOW YOU
Importance of networking in increasing awareness in retail sector
Networking is an opportunity to grow up the business. Networking is very important to
grow and rise in retail segment in order to find out the potential suppliers or partners. This would
help us in finding those suppliers of retail sector which are ready to supply us material or
products at a comparatively lower price (Pal, 2016). This in turn would help in increasing the
profit margin of the company and thus growing and surviving in long run. On the other, finding
the partners so that the financial burden and risk can be shared out between the partners which is
in the benefit of both the parties to the contract.
Apart from that, networking also play a huge role in having a deep awareness of the
competitors in the retail market. It is very essential to have a deep insight on the competitors so

as to beat them and gain the competitive advantage over them. In order to know them deeply,
through networking we will analyse the strategies formulated by them, prices they are charging
so that on that basis we can fix prices. This in turn is essential for smooth running of the business
towards the attainment of business objectives (Cottrell, 2015).
Furthermore, networking would help in creation of good relations with politicians so that
they do not interfere in the working of the business as well as to gain knowledge about any new
policies or rule of the political parties. This would help in avoiding unnecessary complexities in
the working. Thus, networking is very important in increasing awareness.
Reflection on the networking events.
The first networking event attended by me was happy hour networking meet-ups. I had a
wonderful experience at the networking event because I got an opportunity to meet up with the
highly professional experts of the retail industry. While talking to them I got lot of knowledge
about the current happening in the sector. At happy hour networking meet I used my
communication skills in order to interact with the professionals efficiently. The major benefit of
this meeting is that it provides an opportunity to get referrals (Fotiadis and Stylos, 2017).
Another networking event attended by me was round-table events. Even this networking
event gave me a wonderful experience as it was very entertaining because of question answer
session. The main benefit of this even was that it gave an opportunity to interact with people.
Thus, when people interact they share information which helped in improving my knowledge
about this industry.
Reflection of performance in mock interview based on the STAR method.
STAR method may be defined as that method in which those questions are asked in the
interview which helps in analysing the behaviour of the respondent such as question regarding
how a person would respond in a particular situation. In this the task element describe the
challenges at the hand and asked to applicant that what need to be done in this condition and the
possible outcome need to be given by the respondent which is required to satisfy the interviewer.
My performance in mock interview was very nice as my personality best suits the vacant
position. I behave exactly in the same manner as desirable by the company in that particular
situation.

Reflection of learnings through this module
I need to develop interpersonal skill for further growth in my career which includes
various skill such as communication skill and time management. The work assigned by my
superior would not only contribute in making me a responsible person but also contribute the
best possible efforts in terms of gaining desired level of outcome in my life.
CONCLUSION
The above study has been summarised with that the employability skills plays an
important role in the person life while performing the job. Education and experience make
eligible the person to apply for job but performing the job effectively person need various skills
which can be develop over the time such as communication skill, time management skills as well
as reading skills. Employability skill become a significant factor which helps employers to
determine the candidates and hire the best employees. The success of every company is largely
depend on its employer skills which helps them in getting the right people with the right skill and
knowledge for contributing in the success of the organisations.

REFERENCES
Books and journal
Collet, C., Hine, D. and Du Plessis, K., 2015. Employability skills: perspectives from a
knowledge-intensive industry. Education+ Training. 57(5). pp.532-559.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Devambatla, L. and Nalla, D., 2015. An Approach to Improve Employability Skills:
eBridge. Journal of Engineering Education Transformations. 28(2 & 3). pp.131-138.
Fotiadis, A.K. and Stylos, N., 2017. The effects of online social networking on retail consumer
dynamics in the attractions industry: The case of ‘E-da’theme park, Taiwan.
Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 124. pp.283-294.
Greenhaus, J.H., Callanan, G.A. and Godshalk, V.M., 2018. Career management for life.
Routledge.
Lim, Y.M. and et.al., 2016. Employability skills, personal qualities, and early employment
problems of entry-level auditors: Perspectives from employers, lecturers, auditors, and
students. Journal of Education for Business. 91(4). pp.185-192.
Pal, R., 2016. Extended responsibility through servitization in PSS: an exploratory study of
used-clothing sector. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International
Journal. 20(4). pp.453-470.
Park, H. and Hill, R.B., 2016. Employability skills assessment: Measuring work ethic for
research and learning. Career and Technical Education Research. 41(3). pp.175-192.
Riggio, R.E., 2017. Introduction to industrial/organizational psychology. Routledge.
Online
Johari window model. 2019. [online]. Available through : <https://www.businessballs.com/self-
awareness/johari-window-model-and-free-diagrams/>

APPENDICES
Personal Development Plan
Long-term goals - Seek for a challenging job position for retail store manager in Sainsbury
Medium-term goals – to develop Clifton Gallup Strengths within six months for carrier
development.
Short-term goals – to acquire training and course from the National Retail Federation within two
months
Skills required to
be developed
Resources
required
Activities
required
Time Evaluative
criteria
 Harmony
 Empathy
 Responsib
ility
 Includer
 Consisten
cy
 Books
 Magazines
 Internet
 Support
from the
profession
als,
superior
or
colleagues
 Lectures
 seminars
 workshops
 personalit
y
developm
ent classes
Within 6 months On the basis of
own performance
as well as on the
basis of feedback
from superiors,
professionals and
colleagues