Employability Skills and Reflective Practice

This report discusses the significance of employability skills and reflective practice in academic and professional settings. It highlights the various types of skills required to perform a single activity and the importance of teamwork. The report also uses Gibbs' Reflective Model to evaluate personal experiences during an activity and formulate an action plan for future improvement.

Study and Employment Skills
Audit Report and PDP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
2.0 AUDIT AND EVALUATION OF KEY SKILLS ...................................................................1
2.1 Key skills required to examine the employability skills for an organisation........................1
2.2 Individual contribution and overall team performance.........................................................2
2.3 Reflection on experience using Gibbs Reflective model......................................................3
2.4 Qualitative and quantitative evidences..................................................................................5
2.5 Areas for development and avenues for improvement.........................................................6
2.6 Areas of development with regard to Skills..........................................................................7
2.7 Opportunities to learn and develop whilst at University.......................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Employment skills may be defined as the skills which are needed by individuals in order
to be employable for an organisation. Employment skills are considered as essential
qualifications which is needed for a job and these skill are also important for an individuals
success (Gallagher, 2016). Employment skills are a set of skills and behaviours which are
necessary for every job, theses skills are also called as foundation skills, work readiness or job
readiness skills. Present report discusses about group activities for fundraising for Teenage
Cancer Research trust of UK, which is charity providing organisation for young people
diagnosed with cancer in UK. This report discuses about development of skills which is required
for fundraising activity and what is the contribution of an individual and overall team
performance in the activity. This report also makes reflection on the experiences in team project
process by using Gibbs reflective cycle. Present report also discuss areas of development
regarding to skills needed to perform fundraising activity.
2.0 AUDIT AND EVALUATION OF KEY SKILLS
2.1 Key skills required to examine the employability skills for an organisation
Skills forms an important part for an individual to perform the activity of fund raising.
By developing skills in a team participating in fund raising will enhance cognitive skills,
technical skills and interpersonal skills of the team members involved in fund raising activity. By
developing a skills in members will make such tasks easy to be completed. By examining and
evaluating development of skills a team involved in the activity will help me to identify the key
areas of development and how can these areas can help in making fundraising activity a success.
A key skills to be examined during activity are as follows:
Communication:Communication is the first step to start an activity by properly communicating
with a team members. Effective communication is important for an activity as we have to
communicate within a team and outside the team (Hepworth and et.al., 2015). It helps in sharing
of information, ideas and knowledge within a group. Communication forms a basic part for an
activity. A key communication skills developed in me during an activity were listening skills,
friendliness, empathy, understanding and clarity of message, these were the skills which
developed in during fund raising activity. Due to better communication skills we were able to
communicate easily within a team and helped in accomplishing a task.
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Teamwork: To perform any kind of a job or task working as a team is important. Working well
in a team means working with a different group of people in order to achieve out come in an
effective way. During activity we able to build a strong team and work as an effective team. I
worked as a team member and performed various tasks during activity and I used to support
others when ever they needed my help during activity. My contribution in team was really good
and I worked as an effective team member and also other team member performed their task
effectively which was assigned to them and we worked as a complete team.
Research and Planning: For raising funds from different sources requires proper research and
planning, I was able to make effective research to identify different sources of funds from funds
has to be acquired. But lack of proper planning made fundraising activity difficult for me and
form my team. I lacked proper planning skills which created some problem during activity.
Decision making: During fund raising activities I faced many situations where I have to take
decisions but to take an effective decisions requires a skills of proper judgement and experience.
But during activity I lacked the skills of decision making which led to wrong judgements and
created problems during fund raising activity (Wheeler, 2017). Decision making skills forms an
important part for any activity to be performed.
Problem solving: Due to lack of proper planning and decision making skills resulted in arise of
many issues and problem during activity but I was able to deal with the problems and provide a
effective solutions to the problems that arose during an activity which enhance my problem
solving skills in me.
Time management: I had to face time management problems as I was not able to make effective
planning and I took lot of time in taking decisions which resulted in time management problem
in me. It also resulted in delay of tasks and took long time to get task completely done. So this is
also a skill that lacked in me during activity.
2.2 Individual contribution and overall team performance
I worked as team member during fundraising activity and my contribution in team was
as a team leader so I had to perform many activities like I had to build a team and motivate them
for performing various tasks as per their abilities. I had to make proper research for an activity I
collected research data from various sources to identify different source of funds which can be
availed from. After research I formulated a plan for performing an activity and I assigned tasks
to my team members what is to be performed by them. I also had to take various decisions
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related to different tasks and address issues from my team mates. I was also working as a
communication centre during activity as I was chosen as leader so I communicated with different
team members during activity and shared information and kept them informed regarding actions
to be performed. I also maintained a proper collaboration in a team as my team scattered to
different places for the purpose of raising funds and kept the motivated during activity. When
any issue arose during activity It was my duty to check what are the causes of such issues and
tried to provide a effective solution to the problems. I also participated in different tasks with my
team members and provide support to them at each level during activity. I used to collect money
for charity made by volunteers which were collected by team members.
It was not only me who contributed to fundraising activity my but my team members
contributed too. Our overall team performance was really good and performed our tasks with
dedication. Although we have to face certain issues during various tasks but we worked as a
team and supported each in order to complete entire activity successfully. Each and every team
member performed their tasks very well which enhanced our team performance. To raise fund is
not an easy tasks but they were dedicated to their jobs used their skills and knowledge to raise
funds from different sources. Different teams formed their individual goals and worked towards
it which made their job much easier. We had clear goal for helping needy youth who were
suffering from cancer and had to raise funds for them which motivated us and we were able to
achieve our goal. We as a team has to face many problems during activity but we worked with a
team spirit and always supported each in different ways during activity. We were formulating
different strategies what will be different sources from were funds would be collected from?
even though we faced many hindrances during activity but we were able to achieve our goal
successfully. We shared our responsibilities in order to get job done we were able to set proper
communication with each and never led any member to lack behind. When ever any problem
arose during a team we tackled them as a team and framed a proper solution. So overall our team
performance was really good which resulted in success of an activity.
2.3 Reflection on experience using Gibbs Reflective model
Gibbs reflective model is the best model for making description, evaluation and analysis
of experience which helps a practitioner to make sense of experiences and examine their
practices. It is used for various situations and is useful in evaluating past experiences (Gibbs
Reflective Model, 2018). With the help of this model an individual can improve its understanding
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and proof of practice. It allows an individual to think systematically about the different phases of
its activity and can frame a reflection of it. It includes five phases starting with description and
ends with conclusion and then returns to description again (Husebø, O'Regan and Nestel, 2015).
In order to reflect on my experience I have chosen Gibbs model which will help me in
developing evaluating my skills during activity and developing my skills in future. A reflection
on my experiences can be structured in six different phase such as:
Illustration 1: Gibbs reflective model
(Source: Gibbs Reflective Model, 2018)
Description: We formed a team for raising funds for Teenage Cancer Trust which is the only
fund raising organisation helping youth suffering from cancer. After forming a team a brief
description of activity was given to a team what kind of an activity is to be performed. After
knowing the reason of activity entire team got enthusiastic about the activity. During activity I
was chosen as a team leader which was job of great responsibility. I made a research for raising
funds from different sources, what would be the possible sources of fundraising. With the help of
my team formulated a plan and set a goal for raising funds during activity. During activity ideas
came from different members in a and each one of them contributed towards an activity. We also
faced certain problems during activity like I could not formulate a better plan and I had face
problems in decision makings which long time for me to take proper decision. Due this I failed to
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manage time but with effective team work and better team performance we were able to
complete entire activity of fundraising successfully.
Feelings: While performing activity our feeling my feeling as I was contributing to kind work
and I was chosen a leader for such a kind activity so I felt really great and fortunate to be part of
particular activity. Even my team members were excited during entire activity and they
contributed towards activity with high emotions.
Evaluation: My overall experience during entire activity was really good as I contributed to
team and I have to face certain challenges during activity but were able to complete entire
activity successfully. During activity we worked as complete team and supported each other, I
always kept my team motivated and maintained proper collaboration while performing activity.
My communication skills were really good during activity and I communicated effectively with
all the team members during activity. But I could not formulate a proper plan which led to
problems of decision making in me and which also effected my time management skills.
Analysis:While performing activity of fundraising I learned many things about myself. I learned
that I am a good team leader and I have good communication skills and I can build a good team,
I can also give solution to the problem. But I also learned that I lack the skills of decision
making, time management and proper planning skills which I need to work on in future.
Conclusion: Entire activity was a positive experience for me I can to know about skills which I
have and which I lack in me. Entire activity went well but I could have developed a proper plan
which led to the problems of decision making, and time management skills in me which raised
certain problem during activity.
Action plan: My action plan is to improve my planing skills, decision making skills and time
management skills in me so that I should not face such problems in future. I will enhance and
improve my skill which is required to perform different activities in future.
2.4 Qualitative and quantitative evidences
Different qualitative and quantitative evidences can be provided from peer and team
targets. While performing activity I got feedbacks from 8 peers and team mates that I worked as
an effective leader in an activity as they said that they were happy to work under me and I
supported them at different levels of activities (Eddy, Eddy and Doughty, 2015). Also they said
that due to better communication skills they were able to perform different tasks easily and due
to my motivating skills they were equally enthusiastic during whole activity. They also said that I
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also worked as an effective team member and equally contributed to the team. They also
believed that I was not able to formulate effective plan due they faced some problems during
activity and I was not confident in making decisions but in-spite of that I provided solutions to
many problem which resulted in success of an activity. They also believed that my plan of
setting individual targets was not good which could have been much better. I set a total target of
2000 euros to be collected within 22 days and sub-divided entire targets individually. They
believed that target was too high which created them problems in raising funds. They also said
my solution to problem help them to achieve their individual targets but it took very long to take
a decision. But over all they were satisfied with my performance as a team leader gave me a
feedback of improvement decision making skills and time management skills.
2.5 Areas for development and avenues for improvement
Following is the personal development plan for the areas of development and
improvements:
Skills to be
improved
Activities to be
undertaken for
development
Evidence Time scale Ratings
Planning skills  Making
proper list
 Stay
focused
 Think on a
paper
Peers satisfied
with the planning
skills
3 months Curren
t
ratings
5 out of
10.
Previou
s
ratings
8 out of
10.
Decision making
Skills
 Proper
research
 Make
small
decisions
 Getting
advice
form
Taking complex
decisions in
different tasks.
6 months 4 out of
10
7 out of
10
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experts
Problem solving
skills
 Taking
initiatives
 Focusing
on targets
 Analyze
the
situation
Providing
solution to
complex problem
s
3 months. 6 out of
10
9 out of
10
Time
management
skills
 No delays
 Prioritizin
g
important
and less
important
tasks.
 Proper
planning.
Trying to
complete number
of tasks on time
5 months 5 out of
10
7 out of
10
By following performance development plan effective will help in improving skills
within given time frame. With the help of PDP will help me improving my skill sets and also
will enhance my confidence level in me. It will help me to take up huge opportunities and deliver
my performance at the best. It will help me to overcome my skill which I lack in me and make a
better person and better leader. It will also me to stand in the competition and meets the
requirements of effective employee. Based upon PDP there are various areas which needs to
improved and in need proper training to improve my skills in future. Also I need to access
different sources to improve my skills and gather knowledge how different activities can be
performed effective in order to improve my skills in future.
2.6 Areas of development with regard to Skills
By drafting my PDP I came across different areas of skills development which is needs to
be overcome in order to improve my skills and performance in future. By improving the skills
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which I lack behind will broaden my scope for future opportunities (Kiwelu, 2018). Following
are the areas which requires improvement based upon PDP:
Gallagher, 2016Planning skills:To improve my planning skills I will make proper list of tasks to
be performed during activities and I have to stay focused on the targets which are to be achieved
and make plans based upon these targets. It will take 3 months to improve my planning skills.
Decision making Skills: In order to improve my decision making skills I should try to take
small decisions first with confidence and then try to take complex decisions and if I face any
problems while performing an activity I will take advice from experts which will help me in
taking decisions . This skills will be improved within 6 moths.
Problem solving skills: To improve problem solving skills, I will analyse the situation properly
and provide solutions accordingly. I will keep practising to provide solutions to the complex
problems in limited time frame which will enhance my problem solving skills. It will take 3
months to develop this skill.
Time management skills: To improve my time management skills I will prioritise the things
first and make list of the things which are first to be completed without making any delays.
2.7 Opportunities to learn and develop whilst at University
While being in university, I learned so many things related how to develop personal skill
which will guide me in future. I learned how to manage myself while performing various tasks in
university. Many tasks were assigned to me whilst at university by I came to know about my
potentials and got an opportunity to develop my skills and knowledge of performing different
tasks in university. While studying in university I could develop a plan of improving my skills
and took guidance from my peers, colleagues and professors which help me in developing my
skill sets. I also learned how to perform in a team and how to contribute in a team. As university
kept on organising different training programs and work shops which helped me to make proper
assessments and develop action plans which could help me in future. Whilst at university have
developed my confidence level I learned how take up a tasks with confidence. Being in
university has improved my quality of work as I learnt how to take proper decisions in a given
situation. So being in university has improved my skill sets which will guide me in future so that
I can improve my quality of work.
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CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that employability skills are very important in order
to perform any job. Present report also concludes that there are various types of skills required to
perform a single activity. In order to raise funds it requires different types of skills and
teamwork. This report also concludes that in order to frame a individual reflection Gibbs model
is the best way and with the help of this model a individual can describe and evaluate its personal
experience during activity and can formulate an action plan in future. It can also concluded that it
is important for an individual to identify its areas of skill development and formulate an
performance development plan in order to improve its skills for future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Eddy, A., Eddy, D. and Doughty, J., 2015. Evidencing continual professional development:
maximising impact and informing career planning. Journal of Medical Imaging and
Radiation Sciences. 46(4). pp.361-364.
Gallagher, K., 2016. Essential Study and Employment Skills for Business and Management
Students. Oxford University Press.
Hepworth, S and et.al., 2015. Strategic Enhancement Programmes. Embedding Employability
into the Curriculum: An Evaluation of Practice in 3 Departments at Edge Hill
University. Higher Education Academy, York.
Husebø, S. E., O'Regan, S. and Nestel, D., 2015. Reflective practice and its role in
simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. 11(8). pp.368-375.
Kiwelu, G. Z., 2018. “The Effect of Employee Performance Management at Workplace: A Case
of the CAG’s Office and Tumbi Designated Regional Referral Hospita (Doctoral
dissertation).
Wheeler, H., 2017. DO LEVEL SIX EVENT MANAGEMENT STUDENTS OR GRADUATES
FEEL THEY HAVE THE SKILLS NEEDED TO ENTER THE EVENTS INDUSTRY?
(Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff Metropolitan University).
Online
Gibbs Reflective Model. 2018. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/upgrade/study-skills/reflective-writing-gibbs/>.
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