Building Effective Search Skills for Students

This assignment focuses on teaching students how to develop effective search skills. It emphasizes the importance of critical thinking, questioning techniques, and evaluating sources when conducting online research. The goal is to equip students with the tools necessary to find accurate and credible information for academic and personal purposes.

Running Head[Personal Development Plan]
[TYPE THE COMPANY NAME]
Personal Development
Plan
[Type the document subtitle]
Student’s Name
[Pick the date]
Submitted To:-

Personal Development Plan 1
Contents
Overview......................................................................................................................................................2
What is Personal Development Plan?......................................................................................................2
What are my current strengths and skill sets?.............................................................................................2
Goal Setting.................................................................................................................................................2
Short Term Goals:....................................................................................................................................2
Long Term Goal:.......................................................................................................................................2
What do I need to do in order to get there?................................................................................................3
Communication Skills:..............................................................................................................................3
IT skills.....................................................................................................................................................3
Professional skills.....................................................................................................................................3
Awareness of opportunities.....................................................................................................................3
Preparation of transition.........................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................3
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................4

Personal Development Plan 2
Overview
The purpose of this report is to plan a course of action to achieve my long term goal of becoming
a qualified and employable professional. In this report I will first list the strengths and skills I
possess currently. I will then break my goal into small medium and long term goals. I will then
list the skill gaps and weaknesses I have which might obstruct my action plan of achieving my
goals. Finally, I will list the course of action needed to be taken in order to accomplish set goals.
What is Personal Development Plan?
In order to excel in modern working environment, approaching learning in a structured way is
important if one wants to make most of his/ her time. A Personal Development Plan is a tool to
map self-development, career and academic progression. Building a development plan requires
an individual to reflect on his/her past achievements and contemplate on strength, weakness and
opportunities he/she might have (Dearing, 1997). Organizations employ personal development
plan to develop action plan for an individual and its success is his/her primary responsibility.
What are my current strengths and skill sets?
1) Critical analysis and judgment: Ability to collect and analyze information and make
decision based on it is a skill I have acquired during this course. While attending classes
and seminars we were encouraged to share our own opinions and develop arguments.
Critical thinking is one of the most sought after qualities by employers (Browne &
Keeley, 2001).
2) Good at research: I have been using different sources both on internet and library.
Research has been vital in my approach to learning. Conducting Research has been
important aspect of all my assignments. Performing research on various topics has
exposed me to different perspectives and has developed and clarified my own ideas and
reflections about the topic. My research skills have also helped me to make evidence
based arguments (Bergson-Michelson, 2012).
3) Determined: Determination is another highly sought after attribute by recruiters of
graduates. Determination is the drive to make things happen and find better ways to do
things. This is a behavioral trait which has helped me in various walks of life. Active
participation in sports events at college and summer job where I was responsible for Sales
I earned bonuses for overachieving the target are some instances where I was able to
identify this trait in me (Haden, 2016).
4) Individual and group assignments and projects: Team work is a skill which will help
an individual in any job he/she does/. I have demonstrated this skill in various group
assignments where I have worked with my team to deliver solutions by applying the
learning outcomes. I have also worked individually on various assignments and delivered
quality solutions on time. Working in teams encourages brainstorming which results in
more productivity and ideas. Working individually has polished my decision making

Personal Development Plan 3
skills and has invoked sense of ownership, as the responsibility of delivering quality work
lies solely with me (Doyle, 2017).
5) Making and justifying decisions: Decision Making is the process of choosing the best
alternative to achieve desired result (Lunenburg, 2010). Decision Making in college has
improved my learning by helping me in choosing the right streams and subjects to pursue
for career betterment. Potential employers look at decision making as key to independent
and successful behavior. Decision Making has also helped me in taking up leadership
roles in group activities.
Goal Setting
Goal setting is the most important aspect of Personal development plan. It is the process of
deciding what is to be accomplished, how and what time frame. To ensure that the goals are
accomplished they should have 5 characteristics:- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and
Time bound. Goals with all these characteristics are called SMART goals (Ward, 2017).
To achieve the long term goal of becoming a Professional I have developed an action plan by
breaking it down into intermediate, short and long term goals. Following is the detailed action
plan to achieve my career goal:
Intermediate Goals:
Intermediate goals are those goals which may take 6 months or more to accomplish. My
intermediate goal is to gain a variety of skills and knowledge at college which will help me
professionally later on. Following are a few activities I will pursue in order to achieve my
intermediate goal:
1) Take additional classes other than the core subject: I plan to take some extra classes
on subjects other than my core subjects. This will help me in identifying my weaknesses.
2) Join a club: I plan to join a club or activity which will give me an opportunity to be with
people who have new and different ideas and opinions. This will help me in broadening
my horizon and help me think out of the box.
3) Meeting the faculties and career advisor at college: I will try to meet the professors on
regular basis. This will help me grow my knowledge beyond classrooms. Staying in
touch with the career advisor can give me an opportunity to access the resources which
can help me in transition from student to a working professional.
4) Working towards improving grades: I will also concentrate on improving my grades
with each assessment. For this I will read my texts, submit my assignments on time and
attend all the classes regularly (Sahlfeld, 2011).
Short Term Goals:
Short term goals take little longer than intermediate goals to get accomplished. Most short term
goals are set 1 year or more in the future (Connick, 2017). My short term goal is to find summer

Personal Development Plan 4
internship where I can firsthand experience of working culture. Detailed below is the course of
action I plan to take in order to find a suitable Internship:
1) Gaining essential back ground knowledge: before starting an Internship it will be
beneficial to obtain the necessary background knowledge about what will be expected out
of me as an intern and how will I do it. For this I plan to read books and trade magazines
about the field.
2) Finding a Mentor: It will very helpful if can find a mentor on campus who can help me
find an organization where I can pursue my internship and can provide guidance and
support before, during and after the completion of internship. Mentors are important if a
student wants to make the most out of his/her internship.
3) Enroll with Placement cell: Another important activity is enrolling with placement cell
at college. Many organizations looking for interns directly contact the placement cells at
the college. For freshers, with no prior experience finding an internship via placement
cell is the easiest way.
4) Preparing resume and cover letter: For a fresher it is important to develop a strong
resume where skills and achievements are nicely highlighted, because in absence of
experience these details will help me in giving recruiters an idea about my professional
capabilities.
Long Term Goal:
Long term goal is something which is planned to be achieved in future. Long term goals
require lot of time and planning. My long term goal is to find a suitable job after completion
of this course. My aim is to find a job which is professionally fulfilling and I can put the
knowledge and skills acquired during the course to use. To achieve the long term goal I will
do following things:
1) Create a list of target companies: Create a list of 10-12 target companies and direct the
effort to research and apply at these companies instead of randomly applying to each and
every job which I’m eligible for. This will save time and energy invested in researching
the companies while applying for job.
2) Networking: Using the contacts developed during internship or with the help career cell
at college try to find links at these target companies. This exercise will help in setting up
interviews and these links can also act as references.
3) Update the resume: Update the resume and cover letter to add the experience at
internship. An updated resume makes positive impression on the recruiter and helps in
presenting all the skills and experiences in one place. Now the resume should also have
an updated career objective which must be different from what it was at the time of
internship.

Personal Development Plan 5
What do I need to do in order to get there?
As I assess my current set of skills I find that I need to build on following skill sets in order to
achieve my career goals.
Communication Skills:
Communication skills top the list of fundamental skills required to succeed in the
workplace. Today, in the age of social media communication has become more casual.
There is need to realize the importance of proper communication at the workplace if one
seeks to be successful. Successful leaders like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos all have one
thing in common and that is effective communication skills. In order to bridge this skill
gap following steps need to be taken:
a. Complementing the verbal communication with the nonverbal: Nonverbal
communication contributes 55% to how the message is perceived so it is
important to learn the basics of nonverbal communication.
b. Be open to feedbacks: To become a better communicator be open to feedback
from your seniors and subordinates (Patel, 2017).
IT skills
Today employers look for IT skills on every resume, whether the job is IT related or not.
Since almost all the office activities are now automated knowledge of computers is a
must. In order to be selected for preferred job it is important that the resume has some of
the important IT skills like web skills (emailing and social media), word processing
skills, spreadsheet and databases and IT troubleshooting (Florentine, 2017).
Professional skills
Professional skills help employees to collaborate better with others this improves
productivity at the workplace. Hiring managers are prioritizing professional skills while
recruiting because people with softy skills are easier to work with. Of the most sought
after skills I will need to develop 2 skills: Time Management and flexibility, for which I
propose to do following:
c. Prioritizing: I will start preparing daily work lists with time bound and prioritized
activities.
d. Focus: Focus on one activity at a time Multi-Tasking can cause distraction
(Jordan, 2016).
Awareness of opportunities
Opportunity identification competence is not only limited to be possessed by
entrepreneurs. This skill is highly desired in employees to excel. This skill can be
imbibed by staying updated about the innovations happening in my functional area and
by proactively learning new skills. This will help me in staying ahead of peers and
provide career progression (Anthony, 2012).

Personal Development Plan 6
Preparation of transition
A survey Payscale.com suggested that less than 10% students believe that they are
prepared to join the work force. Today academic skills alone are not sufficient High
Impact practices which relate to real world problems to academic lessons are need of the
hour. Soft skills like creativity, collaboration and critical thinking prepare a college
graduate for the struggles of corporate atmosphere (Glazer, 2016).
Conclusion
Developing a Personal development plan is the starting point of taking a systematic approach
towards developing skills. Now that the personal development plan is ready the next logical step
will be to put it to execution. A successful execution will require timely evaluation of the
progress made towards achieving the set goals. Feedback plays an important role in monitoring
the progress of PDP. In order to make most out of a PDP it is important to whole heartedly
embrace your potential and put continuous efforts to convert the goals to reality.

Personal Development Plan 7
Bibliography
Anthony, S. (2012). The Five Cs of Opportunity Identification. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from
www.hbr.org: https://hbr.org/2012/10/the-five-cs-of-opportunity-identi
Bergson-Michelson, T. (2012). Building Good Search Skills: What Students Need to Know. Retrieved
January 26, 2018, from ww2.kqed.org: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/03/20/building-
good-search-skills-what-students-need-to-know/
Browne, M., & Keeley, S. (2001). Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking (6 ed.). Upper
Saddle River: Prentice-Hall.
Connick, W. (2017). Setting a List of Short-term Goals. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from
www.thebalance.com: https://www.thebalance.com/setting-short-term-goals-2917543
Dearing, R. (1997). National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education .
Doyle, A. (2017). List of Teamwork Skills. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from www.thebalance.com:
https://www.thebalance.com/list-of-teamwork-skills-2063773
Florentine, S. (2017). 10 IT skills that employers need in 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from
www.cio.com: https://www.cio.com/article/3164125/hiring/10-it-skills-that-employers-need-in-
2017.html
Glazer, F. (2016). These are the courses that really prepare college students for jobs. Retrieved January
27, 2018, from www.cnbc.com: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/22/colleges-grads-unprepared-
for-workforce-commentary.html
Haden, J. (2016). Be More Successful: 8 Steps to Find and Leverage Your True Strengths. Retrieved
January 2018, 2018, from www.inc.com: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/be-incredibly-
successful-8-steps-to-find-and-leverage-your-true-strengths.html
Jordan, C. (2016). 17 Essential Time Management Skills. Retrieved Janaury 27, 2018, from
www.linkedin.com: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/17-essential-time-management-skills-
carla-jordan
Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS. NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL, 27(4), 1-12.
Patel, D. (2017). 14 Proven Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills. Retrieved January 27, 2018,
from www.entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300466
Sahlfeld, M. (2011). 25 Smart Goals For College Students This Year. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from
http://enduringlearner.com: http://enduringlearner.com/2011/08/11/25-smart-goals-for-
college-students-this-year/

Personal Development Plan 8
Ward, S. (2017). Goal Setting Definition and Examples. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from
www.thebalance.com: https://www.thebalance.com/goal-setting-2948135