Employability Skills and Professional Development

This study material focuses on employability skills and professional development. It covers topics such as skills audit, interpersonal and transferable skills, and conducting a SWOT analysis. It also provides insights into personal and professional development plans. Suitable for HR executives and professionals.

EMPLOYABILITY
SKILLS AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Conduct Skills Audit in context of roles and responsibilities with objectives of organisation1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
a) Identify some interpersonal and transferable skills along with tools to enhance...............3
b) Conduct SWOT Analysis ..................................................................................................5
c) Individual Appraisal Proforma...........................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Prepare a personal and professional development plan..........................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
TASK B.........................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Employability Skills is defined as that skills which an individual need to have so that they
become employable. These are those skills that different from knowledge or understanding of
personnel and required by employees. Professional development is process of improving
capability of employees with training (Jackson, 2015). This helps in increasing motivation,
morale and productivity of personnel which in return helps organisation to achieve organisational
objectives. Harrod of London is British retail store employing more than 5000 employees from
different culture. In this report, Skills Audit explaining roles and responsibilities of HR
Executive within organisation is explained. This will also identify interpersonal and transferable
skills and different tools by which these can be improved. SWOT Analysis will be conducted to
analyse strengths, weaknesses, learning and development opportunities in this assignment. Al
last, individual appraisal and Professional Development Plan will be prepared which will be
based on organisational objectives.
TASK A
TASK 1
Conduct Skills Audit in context of roles and responsibilities with objectives of organisation
There are some skills that are needed as an HR executive in Harrod and on basis of which skills
audit is conducted as well. Some of those skills are as follows:
Communication skills: As an HR executive I must be able to communicate effectively,
in both written and oral communication. Managing human resource requires effective
communication skills so that roles and responsibilities are performed efficiently. Besides all this,
HR executive has to deals with employees by listening to issues whether they are work-related or
not. This helps to gain trust and confidence of employees, thus improves interrelationships in
workplace environment (Wolff and Booth, 2017). HR executive also produces policy handbooks
and prepare memos of meetings conducted in Harrod for benefit of employees which needs
professional writing skills.
Organizational skills: HR performs many functions including recruitment, training,
individual development plans, employee relations and performance appraisals (Jackson, 2016).
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An HR executive manages all these functions and must follow systemic way for processes. There
should be standard employee training sessions in Harrod for each job position so that it proves
out to be effective. On the other hand, HR functions involves paperwork that must be performed
systemically so that roles and responsibilities are accomplished. Business includes processes like
administrative tasks and keeping them organized will help to improve my efficiency as HR
executive so that I am able to handle multiple tasks at same time.
Decision-making skills: HR executive roles and responsibilities involves decision
making on daily basis so that routine functions are performed smoothly (Messum, Wilkes and
Jackson, 2015). During recruitment I shall be able to decide whether candidate is right for the job
position or not. Recognizing skilled and talented employees is one of my responsibility in Harrod
which is required so that objectives are achieved effectively. For this I should have skills like
strategy, experience and excellence observation power so that suitable candidate is selected.
While facing downsizing it is my responsibility to communicate efficiently even in the mid of
crisis to employees and solve dissatisfaction. This will enhance my HR executive skills as
effective decision maker to support business to achieve objectives.
Training and developmental Skills: Another important function of human resource
department is training and development of employees (Webb and Chaffer, 2016). HR executives
are responsible to identify training needs, organise sessions, prepare syllabus, communicate to
personnel and evaluate effectiveness of program. This will helps workforce of Harrod to develop
opportunities for maximising productivity and increase performance. There is need that I
organise seminars on leadership and management so that it enhance skills in employees to work
with efficiency. This allows them to assume added tasks and support their career growth at the
same time.
Empathetic skills: HR teams deals with employees and their issues like workload, salary
complaints, conflict, etc. that arises in workplace (Law, Perryman and Law, 2015). As HR
Executive, I need to have empathetic skills to ensure that I am able to understand behaviour,
attitude and perceptions of employees. This ensures that employees are satisfied and their
grievances are handled properly and this will help me to increase my patience and managing
power. In any case it is my responsibility as HR Executive to listen employees grievances and
ensure that they are satisfied so that employee turnover is reduced.
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Skill Audit is process of recording and measuring skills of individual and its main purpose is to
identify area of scope in which skills are enhanced according to requirements of organisation.
This determines needs of training so that improvements can be made and it is self evaluation
done by me so that scope for future development can be evaluated (Zacharopoulou, Giles and
Condell, 2015). Tabular representation will be preferred so that skills are evaluated on the basis
of rating scale of 1-4. Scale 1 will represents Least Competitive and Scale 4 being Most
Competitive.
Skills/competencies 1 2 3 4
Written Communication X
Oral Communication X
Organising Skills X
Management Skills X
Analytical Skills X
Interpreting Skills X
Training Skills X
Mentoring Skills X
Counselling Skills X
Empathetic Relationship
Skills
X
TASK 2
a) Identify some interpersonal and transferable skills along with tools to enhance
Human resource management has to make it work in organisation which is being professional
and personal in all such levels such as guiding and providing correct disciplined skills (Simatele,
2015). Myself being in this industry needs me to provide and enhance several opportunities and
communication skills which shall give and drive me for working more passionately in the
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business. In the field of human resource practitioner one needs to dig deep in knowledge and
keeping all categorisations which turn out to be helpful at many levels. There are guiding main
resource which have to be qualitative and quantitative understandings and workings limits of
every personnel. Being an HR executive I have to enhance and accumulate all my skills and
reconstruct as strong individual to help out my organisation in need of urgency. Plus this will
treat me with several perks of learning disciplined and collaborated working methods which later
I can implement in my team and organisation. As per the correct guidelines it is mentioned in the
categorisation that their are particular skills which have to be maintained by every human
resource manger. Their are some specific skills which is needed in Harrod to be at per, explained
below:
Inter-Personal Skills: These skills are associated with emotional intelligence and personal
attributes that helps in identifying areas of motivation for an individual so that productivity can
be improved. I need to have these inter-personal skills because nature of tasks is ever changing
and jobs these days require high skills so that I can be fit into working environment of business.
Some of inter-personal skills that I have are as follows:
Communication skills: this is one of the most important and must needed skill for every
manager in the fields. Their are several barriers which can be resolved through good
communication skills and this maintains correct life spam in the market. Their are correct
potential aspects which can regain the maintained level in the organisation (Kaushal, 2016). I
personally believe that one has to guide and provide enhancement in this skill since their shall be
any disputes which can be directly resolved in this case scenario. This can be improved with with
practice and experience as writing skills need to be improve as they are average.
Empathetic skills: This will help me to improve relationships with employees so that their
motivation and morale is increased. These skills required observational skills so that I am able to
observe changes in behaviour and counsel them accordingly (Fletcher, Sharif and Haw, 2017).
This will help in empathetic relationship building between me and employees so that I find scope
for motivating them and increase productivity. For this I required to develop my skills of
counselling knowledge and techniques so that I become effective as HR Executive.
Working Collaboratively: This is one of inter-personal skills that allows individual to
work with others and deliver positive results for organisation. This skill will help me to
successfully collaborate with other team members and colleagues of Harrod. This will result in
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cooperation and respect for each other. This will help me as HR Executive to work effectively
with other employees and maintain good relationship with them. For this I required to work with
teams and develop team dynamics so that I can effectively work with other members and
understand their needs as well.
Transferable Skills: These skills are also known as portable skills as these can be transferred
from individual to another. These are organisations, adaptability, teamwork, etc. which are
gained according to job position in organisation. I need these skills so that I can use this for
current and future roles for HR Executives in Harrod. Some of inter-personal skills that I needed
as HR Executive and I have are as follows:
Decision-making skills: most of the major management skills includes this will at the
highest (Bratianu and Vatamanescu, 2017). I believe that the decision making procedure shall
neither be rapid or very slow, both have their own repercussions which are faced by Harrod
employees. In this field one has to be quite intuitive about future issues on which such decision
are to be done and decision has to be finally taken. They have to be very integral at several parts
that there is customary decision making procedure which will follow up to become correct
solution in the method. I need to be more experience to enhance my skills with solving more
complex issues so that my analytical skills are improved.
Organizational skills: these are maintained and enhanced with time and one can become
skilful in the working environment of this fields there are several opportunities where one has to
describe the correct methods and techniques in the environment. Their are many issues which are
created because of loose techniques of organising work in the team. It can also lead to heat up
discussions in the team (Asonitou, 2015). I personally believe that being in this position I have to
enhance this skill with the help of training and development so that I m able to organise
resources effectively.
Training and developmental Skills: This skills are important to increase performance and
efficiency so that overall productivity of organisation is improved (Osmani and et. al., 2015). I
am effective in mentoring skills that helps me to train one employees respectively but in case of
team or group of personnel I lack in training skills. There is need that I take up online courses
and programs so that I become effective in this skill as well. This will help me in training and
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development process for employee in organisation and make staff effective in performance and
productivity.
b) Conduct SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis of individuals represents strengths and weaknesses that they have and possible
opportunities of improving skills so that professional development is achieved. This creates base
for Professional Development Plan (PDP) so that improvements plans and techniques are
identified (Taylor, 2016). Following are strengths and areas of lacking that are been revealed by
my personal skill audit plan:
Strengths:
 As far as management knowledge is concerned I am having proficiency in this. So far I
have all management skills and knowledge related to my area of work so that I perform
all my roles related to HR Executive.
 I am quiet flexible and adaptive that forms my major area of strength. This skill of mine
helps me to mould my behaviour, strategy and working style as per giving condition.
Thus, I am able to mentor employees according to situation so that they are motivated to
work.
 Good mentoring skills helps me to build relationship with other employees which is
necessary to have empathetic skills. This helps me to increase their morale and direct
efforts in direction of objectives.
 My skill of working with other employees are good which helps me to build relationship
and work collectively in the direction of achieving organisational objectives.
Weaknesses:
 I lack skills in the aspect of decision making skills wherein I score average. It is due to
the fact that my analytical skills are poor which creates challenges for me to make
decisions according to situation. This leads to delay in decision making on my part due to
delays in work on deadlines.
 My written communications skills are average which I need to improve so that there are
no errors in notices, memos or any other document prepared by me.
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 Also there is scope for me to improve my training skills where I have score average.
Development Opportunities: Weaknesses always create base for opportunities that need to be
improved so that it can be turned into strengths (Cottrell, 2015). There is scope for me to
enhance my skills so that I can perform my roles and responsibilities effectively. Here are some
on points on which I need to focus on:
 Written skills are required to prepare important documents which are essential according
to my job position of HR Executive. There is scope for development in this skills to
improve it and enhanced by writing skills to overall improve my communications skills.
 Analytical skills are related to research and statistical ability which is required while
making decisions and as I am poor in these skills I need to improve this so that decisions
taken by me as effective in business scenario as HR Executive.
 Training skills are required to train new and existing employees so that gap present in
skills and abilities can be filled and they perform with efficiency. I am average in this
skills which serves as base for opportunity to develop and be effective.
c) Individual Appraisal Proforma
Individual appraisal is measurement of performance in context with set standards. In
order to effectively perform a job role in an organisation, there are some important skills and
competencies which are required for the successful completion of the tasks provided in the
organisation (Kinash and et. al., 2016).
Skills Criteria Assessor Benefits
Written skills Evaluation of
important document
like Notice, Memo,
Formal Letter, Job
Description, etc. Less
grammar errors,
proper proforma, Use
of professional terms,
HR Manager of
Harrod and my
superior will be the
assessor for this skills
This will increase my
communications skills
and assist me in
improving my
professional career
inside and outside the
organisation.
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etc.
Analytical skills Effective decisions,
critical thinking,
logical solutions, long
sightedness, etc.
Efficient use of
resources and proper
evaluation of research
information.
Management head of
Harrod will be the
evaluator.
This will help me to
increase effectiveness
of decisions that I am
taking and improve my
interpreting skills as
well
Training skills Positive change in
employees,
development in skills
and improve
performance of
personnel will be the
criteria for evaluating
my training skills.
For this overall
productivity of
business will be used
for assessing
improvements in this
skills.
This will benefit me in
my future plans of
pursuing my career as
Trainer in future. From
organisation point of
view, this will increase
performance of
workforce.
TASK 3
Prepare a personal and professional development plan
Professional Development Plan is document that helps in establishing career goals and make
strategy to achieve them. It includes set goals, skills required, development competency and
objectives of individuals so that there is continuous improvements for career. To develop a
professional development plan it is necessary that individual has self-awareness and complete
knowledge about oneself so that proves out to be effective tool.
Skills Activities which needs
to be undertake
Resources Time-
frame
Desired
improvements
Decision For Job designation of Major resources are 1.8 Proper knowledge
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Making HR executive, Decision
Making skills is
required to drive &
make decisions for
team group or
management through
performing activities,
practical simulation,
focusing on the real life
scenario, mind based
practices and approach
to analytical skills so
that decision making is
improved. Along with
this, regular focus is
needed so that analysis
becomes effective.
research courses and
knowledge of statistical
tools so that analysis
becomes effective and
decision making is
improved.
months of research and
statistical tools so
that analytical
skills is enhanced.
Strong use to tools
and techniques in
order to increase
and predict
business
environment.
Written
communication
To overcome any
shortage related to this
skill, various activities
need to be undertaken
into practice so that
mistakes can be
avoided. For this online
grammar and
professional courses are
available which
improves writing skills.
As being on job profile
of HR Executive it is
essential to have strong
Grammar books and
online courses materials
are available as
resources. Test books
to evaluate knowledge
of courses.
1.5
months
The ascertain
outcomes will be
appreciable along
with increased
skills of written
communication
strategy at the
higher and utilised
over period of
time.
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command on written
language so that overall
communication is
effective.
Training and
development
There is requirements
that training skills are
improved so that being
a HR Executive, these
skills are essential to
increase motivation and
morale in employees.
For this there are
different seminars and
conferences which
leads to increase in this
skills as they
communicate about
tools and methods
which are effective in
training and
development.
Effective speaker in
seminars, knowledge
about methods and
tools, booklets, etc.
1.7
month
Knowledge about
different and
various effective
methods and tools
that are used in
training
employees so that
there is
development
either in their
skills or behaviour
which brings
positive outcome
for organisation.
CONCLUSION
Employability skills is set of abilities that an individual should have so that they effective
enough in getting employee. Professional development is improvements in all such skills so that
personnel is effective enough in developing its career after identifying future opportunities. From
the above information it is concluded that skill audit is process of measuring and evaluating
individuals skills so that areas for scope are identified and respective improvements are made to
enhance those abilities. Interpersonal skills are those which are inherited by an individuals like
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communications, empathetic skills, etc. On the other hand, transferable skills are those which can
be learnt and improved with time and resources like leadership, problem solving, etc. SWOT
Analysis identifies different strengths, weaknesses and development opportunities for future
learning of an individual. Individual appraisal is critical evaluation in which different skills are
measured and improved with continuous plans. Professional Development Plan clears out aims,
objectives, development scope, activities and resources which is based on organisational and
personal objectives.
TASK B
I took this event as learning phase and tried to grab more and more information to
enhance my experience. I faced difficulties during development plan as it demands more in-
depth knowledge about different aspects of weaknesses. I felt that there is some addition to my
knowledge after completing this study which seems challenging before. After completing this
Professional Development Plan I looked back this as part of my continues learning as I gained
knowledge about different analysis tool like SWOT, Individual Porforma, etc. In last I was able
to identify areas of improvements so that in future I must have strong command and over these
skills and contribute in achieving organisational objectives. I conducted individual analysis
effectively so that process of identifying improvements scope are effective and help me in my
Professional development. To complete this project I conducted in-depth research about m,y
strength and weaknesses so that scope for improvements can be identified. With the help of
SWOT analysis I get to know about my strengths and weaknesses which will help me in future to
pursue my career as HR executive. This will also help me to enhance my skills and develop
abilities so that I can perform my task effectively and also contributes in achievement of
organisational goals as well. Weaknesses helps me to find out areas where I need to improve and
enhance knowledge so that I can have ability to complete complex task in organisation. This
study will also serves as base for professional development plan as this will identify scope and
skills where I need improvements and plan actions accordingly so that I can perform effectively
as HR executive in any organisation.
There were many issues while preparing Professional Development Plan because I do not
have prior knowledge or understanding about my strengths, weaknesses and conducting
individual appraisal. I conducted extensive research and ensures that information is relevant
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enough to achieve objectives of Professional Development Plan. This helped me to identified
area where I need improvements and activities to achieve it. I faced negative experience while
analysing weaknesses because it is difficult to analyse oneself and findings area where I lack.
This also made me impatient while performing SWOT analysis and thus makes it difficult for me
to find out scope for improving my skills. As I does not have prior knowledge on how to prepare
professional development also created issue in completing this study. Firstly, I gained complete
knowledge about plan and then started to research about how I can improve my skills and
abilities so that it assist in performing role of HR executive in organisation. I need to gained
complete understanding about programs and tools that will help me in enhancing my skills and
apply those to professional development plan. I faced problem while preparing development plan
as applying appropriate tools and methods to increase my skills and knowledge and to evaluate
time needed was another complicated task. But in the end I had positive experience when I
purposed different resources and activities that will help me to enhance my skills to support my
career goals. This has enhanced by patience level while conducting SWOT Analysis and its
different aspects so that maximum positive results can be yield to prepare Professional
Development Plan.
There is always scope for improvements and I will use this experience in future to
enhance my learning with more qualitative study. This study will help me to improve and apply
development plan in future to increase my skills more and perform effectively as HR Executive.
There is need that I should be more patient and hard working next time so that I face less
difficulties in performing task and study like this. In order to avoid minor mistakes of poor
interpretations and analysis I need to develop my knowledge about research and related skills
more so that I am able to bring positive results in my study. As now I have complete knowledge
about SWOT analysis and Professional Development Plan I can use these techniques in future to
developed my skills as HR Manager. This is an effective approach that I should take up more
study related to SWOT Analysis and its factors to enhance my knowledge more and find out
strengths and weaknesses for future development. This study helped me find out skills and
development tools so that I can improve my weak areas and become more effective in
performance. This will also helps me to contribute my efforts to achieve organisational
objectives and enhance overall productivity. This will also helps me get rewarded in organisation
and hold future positions in HR department. There is need that in future I have more experience
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about different tools that are used in SWOT Analysis, Individual Appraisals and Professional
Development Plan so that evaluation is effective. In future I will be able to identify more
effective resources so that improvements are carried out in effective manner and help me in my
professional career. I need to improve my skills, knowledge and abilities more so that I can take
higher positions in hierarchical level of organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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generic skills for business: a knowledge-based approach. VINE Journal of
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Cinque, M., 2016. “Lost in translation”. Soft skills development in European countries. Tuning
Journal for Higher Education. 3(2). pp.389-427.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Macmillan
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graduates: An Australian case study in a global context. In Technology and
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Jackson, D., 2015. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
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Jackson, D., 2016. Re-conceptualising graduate employability: The importance of pre-
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Kaushal, U., 2016. Empowering Engineering Students through Employability Skills. Higher
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Kinash, S. and et. al., 2016. Discrepant stakeholder perspectives on graduate employability
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Messum, D., Wilkes, L. and Jackson, D., 2015. What employability skills are required of new
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Simatele, M., 2015. Enhancing the portability of employability skills using e-portfolios. Journal
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Taylor, L. ed., 2016. How to develop your healthcare career: A guide to employability and
professional development. John Wiley & Sons.
Webb, J. and Chaffer, C., 2016. The expectation performance gap in accounting education: A
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Wolff, R. and Booth, M., 2017. Bridging the gap: Creating a new approach for assuring 21st
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Zacharopoulou, A., Giles, M. and Condell, J., 2015. Enhancing PASS leaders’ employability
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