Reflective Review on Employability Skills

This report explains the importance of employability skills like communication, time management, problem solving and more. It also covers Gibbs reflective model with 6 stages. The report uses different books and journals as references.

Reflective Review on
Employability Skills

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Description of employability skills..............................................................................................1
Gibbs model.................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are those skills which are required by an individual for their better
professional life. These skills are communication skill, time management skill, presentation skill,
critical thinking skill and many others (Sokhanvar, Salehi and Sokhanvar, 2021). It is very
essential for an individual to learn these skills because these type of skills did not only enhance
professional life but it also helps to enhance individual's personality in their personal life. The
following report covers explanation of five essential employability skills and their importance for
an individual. This report also covers Gibbs model to analyse about the past experience of task 1
to identify the performance of student.
MAIN BODY
Description of employability skills
It is very essential for an individual to analyse their strengths and weaknesses so that they
will analyse their weak skills effectively. This will further help the individual to work harder to
convert their weak skills into strong skills for their better future. Few of the employability skills
are mentioned below-
Written communication skill- It is very essential for an individual to learn effective
written communication skill. This skill include good handwriting to get easily understandable by
other individuals, proper structure of report and must include headings and sub-headings
(Holmes, Zhang and Harris, 2019). As I get the feedback from my last task that the report is not
well structured. Hence, I need to make sure that I will work harder to analyse different kind of
strictures for a report to make it attractive. Secondly, I also need to provide references for the
information which I mentioned in this report so that it will show as the evidence of the data used
in the report. It is also essential for me to analyse the effective usage of headings and
subheadings within an written content. Hence, I need to practice properly to enhance my written
communication skill and this can be only done if I write some useful content on daily basis and
get it checked by my teacher to analyse whether I am improving appropriately or not. Taking
teacher's feedback is essential for me to learn this skill.
Finding information/ research skill- This is another important employability skill
which consist of collecting information in proper manner and analyse the findings of the
collected skill. The correct way of implementing this skill is that firstly the individual must
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collect the information from reliable sources and then the individual is required to evaluate the
information to analyse productive and unproductive information related to the topic (Willison,
2018). Then the individual is required to include only useful information out of the alternatives.
It is most important for me to learn this skill because this will help me to score good marks in my
academic career and create a good habit of using reliable sources for my upcoming professional
life.
Presentation skill- This is another important skill which helps an individual to analyse
how to prepare presentation and implement it well in front of targeted audience (Fukuhara and
Kojiri, 2019). It is essential for an individual to learn that PPT slides did not contain huge
paragraphs and a lot of information about the topic. Instead of this all, it only contain short lines
and information which will describe whole topic effectively. The PPT slides must contain bullet
points and images, graphs and charts to make it attractive and easy to understand. It is also one of
the most important factor in presentation skill that the presenter must need to gain high
confidence and effective verbal communication skill to influence their targeted audience for the
idea which he is sharing through his presentation. The PPT presenter must wear formal cloths
and must use his/her body language.
Team working skill- This is one of the most important employability skill for an
individual because it will taught how an individual will work within a team and make the task
accomplished on time (Lacerenza and et. al., 2018). I am lacking behind to grab this skill which I
get to know during last task of this assessment where I get the feedback that I have not
accomplished task appropriately within a group. After this I analyse that a effective team
working skill is gained if an individual learn to allocate task as per the skills of group members.
For example, if an individual is having good ICT skill then it is essential for the group leader to
allocate computer programming task to that individual. Identifying resources for the group task is
also essential in this skill. Team working skill is fully depends upon coordination and clear
understanding of each other and tasks.
Time management skill- This skill consist of managing time properly to accomplish
each task before deadline (Watanabe and et. al., 2022). In case I am submitting my projects and
assignments after due date then I am lacking behind to gain this skill. In context of professional
career, this skill is must known by every employee because completing task is not a big deal for
anyone but completing task on time will help[ the individual to gain lot of appreciations and
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professional benefits. Hence, I need to learn this skill appropriately. For this I make sure that I
must work as per the time schedule chart where all task are mentioned and appropriate time is
mentioned to complete those tasks. Secondly, priority list is also essential tool to learn this skill
where I will make a list of tasks mentioning from top to bottom where the top most task is that
which is required to complete first then other tasks. This priority list will help me to analyse
which tasks is need to complete first and which is need to complete afterward to reduce my work
burden.
Gibbs model
Gibbs reflective cycle is one of the most known models of reflection which consists of different
stages which allow a person to explore new experiences. These stages include description,
evaluation, feeling, action plan, analysis and conclusion (Bass and et. al., 2020). It is a reflective
model which was introduced by Graham Gibbs in the year 1988. It provides a structure for
learning from different experiences. It also examines the experience of a person and also it
provides the cyclic nature of a person which allows them to learn different things and also to
plan it in an effective manner. Explanation of different stages of this model are explained below:
Description: In order to develop new skills among individuals and also for completing the
module, the teacher has assigned us an assignment. For completion of the assignment, I divided
my work with the other students included in the group. It is important in order to start the
assignment in an effective manner. We all have started to complete the work and in the end piece
it together for the completion of the work. But the group members have written the assignment in
different writing styles. Due to this, the situation becomes complicated and we need to rewrite
our work in the same writing style. We found this just before the day of submission which
creates pressure on us as we have a shortage of time. We all cancel our personal plans in order to
rewrite the assignment and also for completing the assignment on time. In the end, we completed
the assignment and also meet the deadline of the project. We also get feedback over the project
and we made the correction accordingly. Teacher also appreciates us for the work and our efforts
to attempt the feedback.
Feeling: Before starting the module, I was excited as I get the opportunity to learn something
new in the class and also, I get the opportunity to develop new skills and new experiences.
During the assignment, due to a small misunderstanding, I got frustrated as I want to complete
the assignment on time and also wants to get good grades in exams. But later I get little
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motivation and I also motivate other members for rewriting of the assignment. Due to this, all
other members also need to cancel their plans which makes me feel guilty. In the end, we have
completed the assignment and met the deadline which makes me happy. I also get satisfied with
the completion of work and also get appreciation from the teacher.
Evaluation: The things that were good in the assignment is that there are certain things in this
experience good and worked well. All these members of the group are working well in order to
improve their learning and also making efforts for purpose of meeting the deadline of the project
(Gibbs, and et. al., 2022). One of the other things that worked well is that all the members are
easily ready for purpose of completing the project on time. All members are giving their
contribution in equal manner which helps them. The thing which did not work for us is that we
have not communicated enough and have not discussed with each other about the writing style.
Analysis: There are different reasons for which our project went well like the initial division of
work which makes clear what part is to be done by whom. This work is divided among the
members of the group according to the strength of the person. It is important for the individual as
it assists them to identify their strengths. We are assuming that this approach of the division of
work will help us to save time but it will result in more stress for us. We have not planned things
in an effective manner which creates problems for us. There are different types of theories and
mode that help us in this group work like the Belbin team role. We also have developed different
skills which assist us for purpose of completing of work in an effective manner. These skills
include communication skills, presentation skills, team working skills, time management skills
and also research skills.
Conclusion: There are different things that are to be learned by me during the completion of the
assignment and also with the learning of the module. I have learned the division of work as in
this all the things need to be discussed by a person. If I have discussed all these things related to
our work, we did not need to write the whole work (Gibbs, Neuhauser and Fam, 2018). I also
have identified different strengths and also developed skills like team working skills, time
management skills, communication skills and other things. I have also learned how to overcome
of challenges to occur in the life of a person.
Action Plan: Next time, when I was involved for purpose of completion of a project, I will
communicate to team members in an effective manner. I will also identify strengths and other
things of other members in the first meeting which will helps us to allocate work to individual as
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per their interest. When next time, I was dividing the work, I will also clear the writing style as I
have learned this from this experience (Markkanen and et. al., 2020). I have also developed
necessary skills and experience which will guide me in future to act differently. I also developed
different strategies to work over my weakness and also to develop more skills.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is concluded that employability skills are important skills
for an individual which include communication skill, time management skill, problem solving
skill and many other skills. Gibbs model is one of the most popular reflective model which are
having 6 stages like description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bass, J., and et. al., 2020. Midwifery students’ experiences and expectations of using a model of
holistic reflection. Women and Birth, 33(4), pp.383-392.
Fukuhara, K. and Kojiri, T., 2019. Paper introduction presentation support environment for
reading skill and presentation skill development. Procedia Computer Science, 159,
pp.2041-2050.
Gibbs, P., and et. al., 2022. A study into Georgian universities’ approach to the national
standards of quality for teaching and learning. Journal of Further and Higher
Education, pp.1-13.
Gibbs, P., Neuhauser, L. and Fam, D., 2018. Introduction–The Art of Collaborative Research
and Collective Learning: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice and Education.
In Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice and Education (pp. 3-9). Springer, Cham.
Holmes, A.F., Zhang, S. and Harris, B., 2019. An analysis of teaching strategies designed to
improve written communication skills. Accounting Education, 28(1), pp.25-48.
Lacerenza, C.N. and et. al., 2018. Team development interventions: Evidence-based approaches
for improving teamwork. American psychologist, 73(4), p.517.
Markkanen, P., and et. al., 2020. A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a
school setting. Educational Research, 62(1), pp.46-62.
Sokhanvar, Z., Salehi, K. and Sokhanvar, F., 2021. Advantages of authentic assessment for
improving the learning experience and employability skills of higher education
students: A systematic literature review. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 70,
p.101030.
Watanabe, H. and et. al., 2022. MAI Helper: Learning Support System for Time Management
Skill Acquisition Using Learning Analytics. In Orchestration of Learning Environments
in the Digital World (pp. 263-281). Springer, Cham.
Willison, J.W., 2018. Research skill development spanning higher education: Critiques, curricula
and connections. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 15(4), p.1.
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