Work-Based Learning: Skills Audit, Personal Development Plan, and Future Career Role

This report includes an individual portfolio of evidence showcasing skills development, personal development plan, reflection on progress on work role and identification of skills and knowledge gaps in a specific organization. Understanding of the business environment is included in this report along with evaluation of progress with leaning logs and journals.

Work Based Learning

INTRODUCTION
Career progression and planning for future employment is a challenging task because
most individuals and aspiring professionals have low knowledge of the labour market
environment and are not able to plan activities in context of career development (Aldosemani,
2019). This report includes an individual portfolio of evidence showcasing skills development,
personal development plan, reflection on progress on work role and identification of skills and
knowledge gaps in a specific organization. Understanding of the business environment is
included in this report along with evaluation of progress with leaning logs and journals.
Main Body
Skills Audit and Personal Development plan
Skills Audit
This is defined as systematized evaluation of current skill set of an individual in context
of future career aspirations (Brion, 2020). Conducting a skills audit helps individuals identify
their best skills and weakest skills and determine scoring for each professional skill. This can be
used to create a personal development plan for improving the identified weak areas in skills
audit.
Skills Personal Audit Questionnaire 1 2 3 4 5
Team work skills Good in providing knowledge to employees *
Good in collaborating and co-ordinating with
others
*
Interpersonal skills Good in confronting others *
Good in conflict management and resolution *
Good in creating positive environment through
attitude
*
Communication
skills
Good in verbal and non-verbal communication *
Good in using technology for communication *
Industry awareness Knowledge of current hospitality trends and
changes
*
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Knowledge of established best hospitality
management practices
*
Time management
skills
Good in completing work under deadline *
Good in prioritizing and goal setting *
Attention to detail Ability to create and implement detailed plans *
Personal Development Plan
Skills Time
period
Action plan Evaluation parameters
Communication
skills
4 months In order to improve
communication skills the
action taken will include
learning about currently
used communication
technology (de Alwis
Jayasuriya and et. al., 2021).
In addition to this reading
literature on effective
workplace communication
will support enhancement of
professional communication
skills.
The main measurement
parameters for improvement in
communication skills is to gain
the ability utilize latest
technological communication
channels such as social media
in a professional manner. In
addition to this the ability to
confidently communicate
verbally and construct accurate
non-verbal communication
messages for the workplace is
another parameter for learning
communication skill.
Time
management
skills
3 moths Pomodoro netiquette and the
4-d time management tool
will be utilized for
prioritizing daily tasks and
following time management
schedule (Kimble and et. al.,
2020).
The measurement parameters
for development in time
management skill is the ability
to strictly follow planned time
schedule and prioritize tasks in
a way which ensures timely
completion of significant tasks.
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Team work
skills
6 months This skill will be improved
by participating in team
workshops to become
familiar with team working
environment. In addition to
this learning about team
dynamics behaviour and
theory will also help
improve team work skills.
The main measurement
parameter for learning this skill
is the skill to effectively
collaborate and co-ordinating
with others without negativity
affecting team or solo
performance (King and
Therrien, 2020).
Reflection on progress in planning and undertaking work role in any organization
Undertaking work in a business context is challenging because it requires understanding
the external environment and other variables at play in order to make effective decisions (Körkkö
and et. al., 2020). In context of the hospitality industry the external environment at the workplace
is continuously changing which increases challenges of providing high quality performance at
the workplace. I have been able to make progress in case of undertaking role in a hospitality
organization as I am now able to understand the various intricacies of the external environment at
a hospitality organization and the interrelation of various business activities at a hospitality
company. This knowledge has positively affected my performance in undertaking hospitality
business role as I am now able to gain an effective understanding of my role in the company. My
good interpersonal skills plays a chief part in this progress in undertaking work role in the
hospitality establishment because I was able to gain compete understanding of the goals and
culture of the organization by developing interpersonal relationship with my colleagues. This
helped me smoothly adapt to the working environment ad improved my progress significantly.
The main area which did not make any progress while undertaking role in the hospitality
organization is related to time management and teamwork. In context of team work I performed
effectively solely but as a part of the team I was not able to make huge contributions to
improving synergy of the team. This made a huge negative impact on my overall performance at
the working role as daily operations in the hospitality industry require collaboration and
coordination between employees to provide bets results to the consumers. In context of time
management skills I am not used to following a strict time schedule which reflected on my
workplace performance. I was not able to handle the stressful situations at hospitality
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organizations and ensure that the important tasks with deadline given to me are completing a
timely manner. This not only had poor impact on my individual performance but also negatively
impacted my overall team performance at the company. I need to work on my time management
skills because it is a basic employability skills but is also essential for gaining in the competitive
labour market. In case of team working skills, I need to improve this skill in order to gain success
in the hospitality industry because team working skills are needed to become part of synergetic
team.
Short Report which identifies skills and knowledge for the required work role
The role of front desk employee in a hospitality organization is considered one of the
most important role in the hospitality establishment because this employee role is the first to
contact a potential employee at the establishment (Martin and et. al., 2019). The skills and
knowledge needed by a front desk employee include both hard skills as well as soft skills. The
skills and knowledge needed for the role of front desk employee at a hospitality establishment are
provided below:
Skills needed for front desk employee
 Interpersonal skills: This is an essential skill needed by front desk employee because it
provides the front desk employee ability to persuade the consumers into purchasing
additional services of the Hotel by connecting with them on a emotional level. In addition
to this, effective interpersonal skill also helps improve consumer service and helps handle
various problems of the guests at the Hotel more easily. Active listening: This is another essential skill for front desk employees as it helps them
clearly understand consumer information and also determine the consumer expectations
through interactions (Pariente and Tubin, 2021). This helps improve consumer experience
as such information can be used by other staff and management at the Hotel to ensure that
the consumer gains the best experience with the Hotel.
Knowledge needed for front desk employee
 Technological knowledge: The front desk staff needs to be acquainted with ICT
knowledge as well as ability to use latest communication technology to handle front desk
operations. This is because a large part of front desk responsibility is to use digital
technology for keeping record of employees and providing them products such as their
hotel room cards as per their requirements. Digital technology is also used by front desk
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employees to communicate with other staff at the Hotel and co-ordinate to provide
exceptional experience to the consumer.
 Attention to detail: This is important knowledge for front desk employees as it supports
exceptional consumer service (Rubens and et. al., 2018). It helps front desk employees
build a proper connection with the consumers and understand their specific needs. It
supports in personalizing the consumer experience so that each guest is satisfied with
their Hotel stay.
Evaluation of learning progress with work role with reflective logs and journals
I was able to develop various skills and improve my employability for job role in the
hospitality industry. My learning progress with the work role in the hospitality industry included
developing knowledge about team working and communication skills needed for working in a
group setting. I was able to understand my strengths and weaknesses in relation to becoming an
active part of a workforce in the hospitality industry. I have learned that my weak skills include
communication skills, time management skills and team working skills. I need to learn these
skills in order to become an effective part of the hospitality industry workforce. I was also able to
understand the interconnected relationship between various departments of the hospitality
industry which helped me increase by frequency of my interpersonal skills. I also made progress
in context of my industry awareness as I was able to understand the best practices employed by
various staff in a hospitality organization to gain successful results. In addition to this, I also
understood the current industry tends in the hospitality sector which affect various daily
operations in hospitality organization. This is important for succeeding in the hospitality industry
because it helps improve decision making by understanding the impact of external environment
changes on this activity hospitality establishment.
Short report planning for future career role
The future career will be just suitable for my skills and competencies is the role of a front desk
manager. this is because I have the industry awareness and interpersonal skill needed for
becoming a front desk manager. The skills which you need to develop in order to work
effectively in the role of a front desk manager involve time management skill team working skills
and active listening skills. Apart from this I also need to improve my communication skills in
need in order to make improve my professional skills for the role of a front desk manager in a
hospitality organization.
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I also need to enhance my management knowledge and improve managerial skills in order to
perform effectively as a front desk manager. This It's because front desk manager role involves
communicating and collaborating with different staff members of the hospitality establishment to
provide exceptional guest experience for each consumer. In order to improve my management
skills I will learn about management theory and different management styles so that I am able to
apply appropriate management style in specific circumstances and perform effectively as a front
desk manager. The parameter for success as role of front text manager and improvement
effectively delegate rule and organize daily task to perform effectively.
In addition to this I also need to gain ICT knowledge in order to perform effectively at the work
role of a front desk manager in hospitality organization. The actions that I will take for improving
my ICT skills involved undertaking online courses on digital technology and information
technology system used in the hospitality organizations. In addition to this I will also learn about
new technologies being used in the hospitality sector by regularly updating myself with the
changes in the hospitality industry. This will not only improve my industry awareness but will
also help me you intermediary with the latest technology used in the hospitality sector. This is a
essential for improving my employability as a front desk manager because I will be able to easily
utilize the latest technology and adapt my technological skills according to the changes in the
hospitality industry.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report is concluded that it is important top understand personal strengths
and weaknesses in order to move forward in career development. Skills audit and personal
development plan helps determine the suitable pathway towards achieving career ambitions.
Conducting refection on specific job role also helps determine professional competency.
Completing reflection logs and journals help look at personal progress and understand ways in
which personal progress can be continued and improved. All these activities help recognize
personal competence and areas which require immediate attention so that appropriate action can
be taken to make progress in employability.
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References:
Books and Journals
Aldosemani, T., 2019. Inservice Teachers' Perceptions of a Professional Development Plan Based
on SAMR Model: A Case Study. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-
TOJET, 18(3). pp.46-53.
Brion, C., 2020. Learning transfer: The missing linkage to effective professional
development. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 23(3). pp.32-47.
de Alwis Jayasuriya and et. al., 2021. Library Employees Perspective of Capacity Building
through Continuing Professional Development in the Republic of Maldives. Journal of
Education for Library and Information Science, p.e20200002.
Kimble and et. al., 2020. The capacity professional development model for community-based
primary care nurses: Needs assessment and curriculum planning. Nursing
Economics, 38(3). pp.110-148.
King, A. H. and Therrien, K., 2020. Professional Development in Organizational Behavior
Management. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 40(3-4). pp.153-169.
Körkkö and et. al., 2020. Developing teacher in-service education through a professional
development plan: modelling the process. European Journal of Teacher Education,
pp.1-18.
Martin and et. al., 2019. Transforming Schools: The Power of Teachers' Input in Professional
Development. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 9(1). pp.179-188.
Pariente, N. and Tubin, D., 2021. Novice principal mentoring and professional
development. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education.
Rubens and et. al., 2018. Self-awareness and leadership: Developing an individual strategic
professional development plan in an MBA leadership course. The International Journal
of Management Education, 16(1). pp.1-13.
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