Employability Skills and Professional Development

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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