Professional Career Development

This article discusses the skills and knowledge needed for working effectively in professional career development. It also explores how to demonstrate readiness for employability and personal advancement through an understanding of personal strengths and areas for further development. The article focuses on the retail industry and the role of a marketing manager within it. It provides insights into the skills required for this role, such as multi-tasking, decision making, leadership, motivation, and market trend understanding. The article also emphasizes the importance of personal skill audit and self-improvement for career development.

Professional Career
Development
1

CONTENTS
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LEARNING OUTCOME 1.............................................................................................................3
Understand the skills and knowledge needed for working effectively........................................3
LEARNING OUTCOME 2.............................................................................................................6
Demonstrate readiness for employability and personal advancement through an understanding
of personal strengths and areas for further development.............................................................6
Learning Outcome 3........................................................................................................................9
Establish employment goals and personal action plan...........................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
2

INTRODUCTION
Professional Career Development (PCD) is a 2 hours program intended to create a rather
early night to the employment preparation and growth cycle. The method includes careful
personality-assessment, job discovery, preparation, and tentative work plans being followed out.
Professional development includes of research, assessment, and training that will continue to
strengthen the organizational workers. Obviously, how want to approach professional growth
based on priorities career aspirations and desired preferred approach. Professional called an
adult, who performs his or her roles independently with the aid of personality-knowledge and
abilities. In this report consist of define all the skills as well as knowledge in regard of the work
in which effectively working. Along with, employability and personal advancement helps to
understand all the strong point of the personal behavior and also key audit skills to know about
strong and weak skills. On the basis of this skills prepare personal action plan in order to
improve these skills in particular period of time. Moreover, set goals for the development that
categorize into short, middle and long term plan in detailed manner. There is effectively
indenting field those areas where required to improvement in particular manner.
LEARNING OUTCOME 1
Understand the skills and knowledge needed for working effectively
Professional development plays a significant role within one’s life by making advancement in
their expertise area and improve their learning in order to make them prepare for a better career
growth. The professional development is considered as a process where an individual seeks
toward determining the skills or capabilities they are having or required to improve so that a
particular path way can be set up to identify the range of actions that can eb taken to develop the
skills for approaching a particular profession (Yarbrough and et. al., 2017). In order to get a job
an individual is required to have certain skills and knowledge as the combination of all theses
support them in achieving a better job role and provide them a confidence to perform their work
effectively.
The retail industry has experienced a tremendous growth within past few years which bring
up several opportunities for the aspirants with the new skills and talent to join the organisations
and support them with their new ideas to reach up to new heights. But at the same time, it also
brings up several challenges to new aspirants as they required to develop a range of skills,
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knowledge and expertise in their field in order to get job over other people (Mayer, 2014). These
challenges are relatively higher for the role of marketing manager within the retail industry. This
is so because in retail sector the trends and market dynamics fluctuates so frequently that it
makes lead an organisation to either rise up by taking right action or it can take it to the bottom.
Therefore, the marketing managers are required to have certain set of skills and knowledge
which support them in determining the requirement of the market and aligning these changes
with the current strategies of the company that leads to the accomplishment of organisational
goals. The aspirants bundled with such skills and expertise are highly being in demand within
retail industry that provide a direction to company’s efforts and leads them to reach to new
heights (Mokhlis, 2014). Hence, in order to grab these opportunities an individual must focuses
toward their professional development by making their skills and knowledge advanced to the
level that are required for the job role of marketing manager within retail industry.
There are certain range of skills and knowledge that are required by an aspirant in order
to become a marketing manager within retail industry that help them in performing the working
efficiently are mentioned below:
Multi-tasking: - A good manager is one who have the capability to perform a range of task
consistently so that they get accomplish in effectively manner over the time assigned to them.
These kinds of people are one who are specialised in one field but have a keen to learn some
other additional roles. The marketing manager is required to be multi tasker so that they can
handle a range of responsibility all together at a time (Schenk, 2017). This is so because a
marketing manager have to perform several tasks such as studying the market trend, formulating
the strategies or action plan, coordinating the team, maintain an interaction among customers
with the help of promotional activities. These all are the actions that a marketing manager have
to perform conjointly, so a multi-tasking could be an advantage that help an individual to
perform their job role effectively.
Decision making: - An effective manager is one who has the ability to analyse the situation,
issue or any effective effectively, weight the alternatives on the basis of potential outcome and
take up the best possible decision which help in performing the operations effectively. Retail
often means that actions must be taken much quickly and often as changes are so frequent, but it
also requires that the right decisions must be taken without undertaking any mistake. Therefore, a
marketing manager is required to be having a better decision-making skill who have the
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capability of critical thinking where they can analyse the situation and available information
effectively and make up the decision quickly (Holton and Dent, 2016). As it is one of the
significant skills of a marketing manager that help them in performing their work effectively and
take up the organisation toward success.
Leadership: - It is considered to be one of the significant skill that each manager must have
as they have to deal with a team having group of people to whom they require to guide them in
right direction toward the accomplishment of particular goal. The marketing manager has to
handle a team of sales persons to whom they have to guide so that targets can be achieved.
Therefore, a marketing manager must have good leadership skill who can motivate its team
mates, guide over their work, make them work in certain pattern, resolve their issues etc. so that
their efforts can be directed in right direction. Hence, a marketing manager must have the
knowledge of several leadership styles that can be adopted for dealing with team in effective
manner and make them work effectively.
Motivation: - This skill goes hand in hand with leadership practices as in order to become an
effective manager an individual must have a basic knowledge and understanding regarding the
set of tactics they can use in order to keep the employees motivated so that they can perform
effectively with full dedication that brings up high quality outcome (Crawford and Bailey, 2018).
Hence, in order to become a successful marketing manager an individual is required to keep its
employees motivated toward the goals of an organisation and remain adaptive to changes by
keeping them inspire as retail industry experience changes so frequently. Therefore, to perform
their job effectively the marketing manager must have the capability to keep people motivated
toward their work and perform task more efficiently.
Organisational skills: - A manager must look over the areas within the organisation where
the set of rules and procedures can be improved so that best possible outcome can be extracted.
The marketing manager must know how to effectively utilise the available resources, skills nad
knowledge in best possible manner by improving the rigid practices so that targets can be
achieved (Broadbridge and Fielden, 2015). The organisational skills will support the marketing
manager in organising all the available resources and skills all together to deal with the
challenges present in front of them so that work can be perform within best possible practices.
Effective communication: - It is one of the skills which is must for a marketing
manager, as this field require a direct interaction between the organisation and its stakeholder. So
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the marketing team is consider as the face of company who represent it in front of its customers.
Therefore, a marketing manager must have a good communication skill so that they can use it in
order to improve the perception of target market toward the organisation. On the other hand,
effective communication also support the manager in explaining the strategies to its team
effectively so that work can eb performed as per planned without any kind of error or mistake
that may ruin the plan. Hence, a marketing manager must be excel at communication skills in
term of spoken, written, body language and many more so that right message get conveyed
among eth audience as decided to get maximum result.
Market trend understanding: - Being a part of retail industry it become crucial for a
marketing manager to have an understanding regarding the trends within retail industry so that
right set of strategies can be developed to deal with the threats present in market and at the same
time exploit the opportunities in the market for experiencing greater growth and success
(Duemmler and Caprani, 2017). Therefore, a marketing manager must have good knowledge of
trends within the industry and at the same time have the capability to decide the changing trends
as well as consumer behaviours so that current strategy can be mould in order to match up with
the market requirement.
Legal consideration of industry: - As the competition is increasing and the sector is also
getting wider there are range of legal implication has been set up by the authorities in retail
sector for ensuring that actions can be perform in ethical manner within eth favour and welfare of
people associated with it (Jackson and Wilton, 2016). Therefore, a marketing manager must have
basic understanding about these legal considerations so that strategies can be formulated by
keeping all these in mind in order to avoid any kind of legal compliances.
LEARNING OUTCOME 2
Demonstrate readiness for employability and personal advancement through an understanding of
personal strengths and areas for further development
With the growth of the retail industry the challenges for the retailors has also being
increased which make it difficult for them to maintained with their customers base. This is so
because there are number of players who are entering within the industry by positioning
themselves with new technology or concept in order to deal with changing consumers needs
quickly (Jain and Sharma, 2019). Hence, this in turn has in creases the demand of retailers to hire
the candidate who are excel in numerous of skills and capabilities so that they support an
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organisation to proceed further and achieve competitive edge at marketplace. Therefore, it
become very crucial for an aspirant who want to develop his/her career as a retail business
manager within marketing field to prepare themselves from certain set of skills and knowledge in
order to get a successful career as a retail business manager in marketing field (Oreopoulou and
et. al., 2015).
Hence, in order to determine my readiness for the employability within marketing field
related with retail industry, I decided to perform my personal skill audit which not only help me
in determining the strength or weakness that I have for the future employment with marketing
field, but also help me in determining the area of further development. This means through this
audit I would be able to determine the area of further development over which I can work to for
my professional career development by preparing an action plan that support me in developing
my readiness for becoming capable of working as a marketing manager within retail industry.
The skill audit is mainly defined as the written document which clearly represent the set of
skills that are required for a particular profession that support in determining the range of skills
that an individual currently have and what it supposed to be improve by presenting the gap
between current expertise as well as expected for the future job role (Mihalcea, 2017). As I want
to become a marketing manager within retail industry, so in order to determine my readiness to
that employment and areas of improvement I perform my personal audit. In this I place up two
columns od rating where in column one I rate over the skills which I consider to be and in
column two the rating is given by my friends out of 10. Other than this in variance that present
negative value are required to be work on as these are the area of future development which I
required to consider in order to get better job. My skill audit is mentioned below:
S no. Skills & Knowledge Rating by
friends
Rating by me Variance
1 Communication skills 6 8 -2
2 Leadership skills 5 7 -2
3 Decision making 7 6 1
4 Multi-tasking 8 7 1
5 Organisational skills 8 6 2
6 Market trend
understanding
5 7 -2
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7 Legal consideration of
industry
5 6 -1
8 Motivation 8 7 1
The above-mentioned table represent about my strength and weaknesses related with the
skills which are required for becoming a marketing manager within retail industry. This will help
me in determining the strength that help in performing well within the job and weaknesses that I
require to overcome. Other than this it also helps in determining the area of improvement or the
opportunities for further development which I can avail in order to improve my current skills and
overcome the weaknesses to develop my readiness for getting into a job of marketing manager.
Hence my strength and weakness analysis for this skill audit is mentioned below:
Strength: -
 As per the audit I have analysed that my decision-making skills are quite good which
support me in taking up right as well as quick decision by considering all the aspects so
that actions can be performed toward the accomplishment of organisational goals.
 Another strength of mine is that I am good at multi-tasking which means I can perform
number of tasks at a time without compromising its quality and requirement. This is one
of the positive points of mine which support in performing range of responsibilities of the
marketing manager effectively without getting over burdened to work. This skill will
always keep me motivated toward my work and help me in performing it well.
 My organisational skills are also good as I am good at keeping track with the available
resources and assign them effectively by organising all together to perform actions
effectively. Other than this I am also good at organising all the available information and
resources so that best decision can be formulated to deal with available issues.
 I am also good at motivating people and direct them to perform their work in particular
direction, which is one of the most significant skills that is required by a marketing
manager. This is so because the marketing manager is mainly assigned with a team of
people which they required to lead and motivate them to perform in certain manner so
that desired target can be achieved.
Weaknesses
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 By biggest weakness is my lack of understanding toward the marketing trends of retail
industry as the changes within eth retail industry are so frequent it updates the trend
quickly which make it difficult to remind. But these are required to improve for
performing well as a marketing manager.
 Another weakness is my communication skill where I lack behind, but being a marketing
manager, it is one of the significant skills to have as they have to interact with numerous
of people and provide them a message of company where lack of communication skills
may affect the brand image.
 My leadership skills are also required improvement as I lack behind over there. But it is a
crucial skill which require by marketing manager in order to keep their team directed
toward goal, keeping problems resolved, motivating them etc.
 I also require to improve my knowledge in term of legal consideration related with the
retail sector in order to perform well.
Learning Outcome 3
Establish employment goals and personal action plan
Employment goals usually identify the particular fields that you plan to undertake. Using
business related tools, it can find unique training programs or learning to achieve and
qualification assessments to follow. Goals are not just items that every day plan to accomplish
they're items they've carefully discussed and found the time to memorize in a systematic way.
When they have potential job aspirations, the best way to make sure that you'll achieve them is to
develop a strategy to put them into action. That involves evaluating abilities, studying in
regard about the job and then carrying out a sequence of actions to make fantasy come true.
These goals are based on the different categories that achieve by people such as:
Short term goals: A short-term target, in the immediate future, is something need to do.
Nowadays, next week, this quarter, as well as this period may indicate the immediate future. A
quick-term target would like to reach soon.
 Improving work life balance
 Improving networking and communication skills
Midterm goals: Short term targets are stuff that you will reach in much less that a year.
These are the kinds of targets I set each Every Era. Because need mid-term targets to fill the
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difference around quick-term goals and lengthy-term goals. Mid-term targets are stuff wll be able
to reach in 3 to 5 quarters.
 Waste less time during working hours:
 Earn a new degree or certificate
 Change course
Long term goals: A lengthy-term target is something that want to accomplish in the
potential. ... A long-term target is something that wish to achieve in the potential. It takes time
and preparation for the hard-term goals. In the week, as well as this period, they are not
something can do. Lengthy-term targets are typically a few years or more ahead.
 Improve efficiency rates with completing projects
 Acquire a new job
 Gain management experience
Personal action plan: Developing a Personal Implementation plan a plan of action that is
what it looks such as a strategy to bring a specific goal or mission into action. Action plans may
apply to targets set for themselves (or team) or they might be aimed at certain fields of
personally or professionally advancement. The key to developing an effective action plan that
based on the break down the goal into a particular series into specific, measurable and sequential
steps. A effective written goals will be articulated and will be improved through how much and
by when. This action plan prepare by an individual to improve their skills that are weak and
average in audit skills. It helps to demonstrate and prepare logical plan for following with
particular perception. It is a learning a simple method for developing successful action plan.
Current skill Skills to work on My goals My resources Action plan
Communication
skills
To do effective
communication
required to
improve this skill
that helps me
My goal to
improve this skill
to gain high
marks in my
career.
Online English
channels, discuss
with professors
For this discuss
with classmates
and take parts
different
activities and
contact with the
different people.
Legal skills For this skill I
can learn
To improve it in
set period of time
Read law books,
take knowledge
To conduct test
on daily basis
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different
concepts and
terms in regard
of legal
activities.
to get good rank
in class.
from professors
Leadership skills To take part into
different events
and analysis all
the conditions
effectively.
To become good
leader and handle
big projects.
Learn different
techniques
It is required to
learn different
skills that
improve n better
manner.
Along with action plan also prepare a development plan in regard different skills that must occur
in an individual for present himself as professional manner such as:
Skills Measurable Activities need to
be undertaken
Resources Attainable
goals
Time period
Willing
to learn
The
research
ultimately
provides an
action plan
along with
realistic
ways to help
persons
achieve a
productive
opportunity
to
enhance job
prospects.
The managers
demand that those
who wish to learn
valuable skills
together with these
administrators will
have to overcome
disputes to a well-
defined way with
the aid of which
cost savings can be
improved in a
well-defined
method effectively
include important
developmental
Organizations
keep well-
efficient
individuals with
relational
expertise and
skills as they
efficiently
evaluate steps to
address dispute
circumstance
into a well-
defined way.
Through
delivering
education,
workers can
better make
strategic
decisions
which further
lead to
expanding
company
functions.
Therefore, it
helps to
improve
workers
3 Month
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instruction to their
workers.
awareness and
expertise.
Capable
to solve
problems
Successfully
, the
supervisor
tests the real
source of
the
circumtance
s and
determines
the
explanations
needed.
Organization is
necessary to
develop plans by
relevant personnel,
which allows to
efficiently solve
issues that occur in
a well-effective
business activities.
In order to do this
in the best possible
way, there is a
prerequisite that
producers and
consumers have
the most efficient
communication
channel (Walther,
Miller, and
Sochacka, 2017).
Workers keep
the management
expertise along
with expertise
that will also
help direct that
educate staff in
the best way to
solve the
challenges.
Executives are
expected to
accurately
monitor the
output ratios of
personnel on a
routine basis to
evaluate the
way they
handle
problems in a
logical fashion
and to better
support them in
solving the
very same
circumstance.
12 days
Positive
and good
behaviou
r
Workers
throughout
the
company
can be
The number of
employees can be
improved into a
well-defined way
with either the aid
In addition to
efficiently make
required
changes in their
actions,
Through thos
achieve all the
set goals and
requirement
that are based
Daily basis
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maintained
successfully
for a
number of
years with
the aid of
positive and
safe actions.
of positive
reinforcement.
different types
of learning
interventions
have to be
provided.
on the
particular
activities. It is
required to take
right action at
particular
period of time.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report it has been concluded that personal career development is
required to increase personal activities. Continuing participation in this cycle should be
demanding, exciting and rewarding. Looking to take benefits of the choices in this PCD program
will assist in the transfer from university to qualified workers and provide a more clear path to
lengthy-term life goals through predicting and gaining the necessary skill sets, lessons and
opportunities for an exit-level job that would be the best resource on the career trajectory
selected. Through audit skills identify market trend skills, legal, communication and leadership
skills to improve through action plan. It helps to become strong in career development take right
action to become successful. It further assists in the successful development of knowledge and
expertise by means from which company practices can be carried out. Eventually, this study
contains an action plan together with practical measures to help individuals obtain an efficient
chance to improve career prospects.
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REFERENCES
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