Academic and Employability Skills: A Reflective Review (BMSK4001)

This report provides a reflective review of academic and employability skills acquired during a module. It details the student's learning journey, covering employability skills, time management, paragraph writing, referencing, reflection, CV and cover letter creation, and research methods. The report identifies strengths, such as effective communication and interpersonal skills, and weaknesses, including difficulties with memorizing referencing styles and conducting secondary research. Strategies for improvement are proposed, including creating presentations for referencing styles and focusing on authentic sources. The assignment emphasizes the importance of self-analysis, identifying skill gaps, and developing strategies to enhance overall academic and professional capabilities, including communication, time management, and research skills. The report also reflects on the process of writing a CV, cover letters and the different types of research methods. The student also reflects on the strengths and weaknesses in each of the skill sets learned during the course, including communication, time management, writing, and research, along with strategies to overcome any gaps.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Student Number
Module Title
Assignment Title
Module Lecturer’s Name
Name of the University
Author Note

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The necessity of the academic skills and employability skills in the modern world of
business is increasing in a notable manner and the urge amongst the individuals regarding the
achievement of these skills is portraying the absolute proof of the fact. In addition to this, the
development of the individuals as a professional is seen to be largely dependent on the ability
of the individuals regarding the achievement of these skills. The skills such as the efficient
time management, academic references, paragraph writing, curriculum vitae writing or cover
letter creation have become major requirements for an efficient individuals. Other than this,
the ability to manage the various aspects of the employability skills such as the
communication, interpersonal skills, numeracy skills, general awareness and the literacy
skills are expected to be developed by the individuals for becoming an efficient professional
in the modern world of business (Shomos and Forbes 2014). Apart from this, it becomes
important for the individuals to summarize the output of their learning in the above
mentioned aspects, hence, the ability to reflect on what went well and what did not, becomes
crucial for the individuals. The paper provides such a reflection of mine after learning these
skills with precise inclusion of the strengths, weakness and gaps that I have in learning these
skills. Along with the identification of the gaps, the paper provides appropriate strategies for
the effective management of these gaps.
Term 1:
During the term 1, I learnt the skills such as the employability skills, references, time
management, paragraph writing along with the referencing. Considering the employability
skills, I was able to understand the importance of the effective communication with the other
employees or individuals and the need of the interpersonal skills. Other than this, the term is
significant for me in gathering the knowledge regarding the numeracy and literacy which
helped me in a notable manner in the improvement of my literacy and numeracy skills. From
the learning of the employability skills, I have gathered the knowledge regarding the

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importance of the listening and letting the other individuals complete their part in exchanging
the information. Other than this, I understood the fact that the establishment of the effective
communication plays a crucial role in the efficient management of the conflicts inside the
work groups. Apart from this, the achievement of excellent literacy skills play a significant
role in the improvement of my ability in managing the communications with the other
individuals. Having said that, the achievement of the numeracy skills help me in a significant
manner in conducting the numerical analysis (Windisch 2015). The learning has the potential
to help me in developing the ability of logical arguments with the other individuals. Along
with this, the learning from the term was significant for me in gaining the idea regarding
appropriate interpretation of the information which has the possibility of helping me in
successful achievement of the efficient communication with the other individuals.
Communications:
Considering the aspect of the communications, the learning of the term is notably
helpful for me in creating a better bond with the other individuals. The role of communication
in the development of the strong interpersonal relationship is considered to be significant and
under such situation, the importance of achieving the skill of efficient communication
becomes one of the top most priority for me. Along with that, I am able to understand the fact
that the achievement of the idea of the grievances and happiness of the co- workers are
notably important for me to work in an effective manner. Under such situation, the
communication skill play a crucial role in improving my ability to understand the grievances
and happiness of the surrounding individuals.
Time Management:
With a precise focus on the increasing urgency in the life style of the employees, it
becomes important for the individuals to improve their awareness regarding the effective

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management of the time. The learning in the term helped to improve my awareness regarding
the improvement of my efficiency. The need of managing the time for the effective
management of my operations is crucial for my success and with the improvement in the
consumption of the time for effectively managing my operational activities, I believe I will be
able to improve my efficiency. Other than this, the term helped me to have the knowledge
regarding the limited investment of time in the unproductive events and at the same time, the
learning of the term regarding the time management also portrayed the need of learning the
basic time management skills for improving my work rate. Other than this, the learning from
the term influenced me for the formation of some strategies such as the allocation of the time
for the study and the establishment of a perfect balance between the requirements of the
different aspects of life. In addition to this, the formation of the list of priority is also one of
the important techniques that I am inclined towards in applying. Hence the main objective is
to make sure that I reduce the waste of time.
Paragraph Writing:
With a precise focus on the learning of the term, I have gained the ability of writing
the paragraphs. The major concern for me in this section is the significant gathering of the
resources as that has the potential of creating considerable amount of confusion for me in
writing the paragraphs. Apart from this, the follow up on too many university courses also
can affect my success in writing an effective paragraph. Having said that, I consider that the
patience is an important factor for me in gaining the ability of writing the paragraphs in a
flawless manner and under such situation, the strong vocabulary and the knowledge of the
grammar have the capability of improving my skill in writing the paragraphs (Graham,
Gillespie and McKeown 2013). However, one of the major need for me in writing the
paragraphs will be appropriate identification of the resources that can be used in writing the

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paragraphs. The identification of the helpful resources will be crucial for me in reducing the
detrimental impact of the confusions.
References:
The references are one of the important part of the academic writing where a writer
avoids unethical practices in an efficient manner. The concept of references enables a writer
to provide the due credit to the scholars for taking the reference of their articles and along
with that, it has the potential to avoid any sort of plagiarism issue in the academic writings
(Bailey 2014). It becomes important for me to include the important theories and the models
in my writing to increase the effectiveness of my writing. In majority of the cases, the write
ups require a strong base and under such situation, the application of the widely used theories
and models become necessary. Having said that, it is important for the academic writers to
provide the required credit to the authors of those theories and models and under that
situation, the referencing becomes one of the prime need for them. Similar to them, I also
face the need of providing the required references to make sure that I avoid plagiarism and at
the same time, I provide the due to credit to the authors. Other than this, I was able to learn
the technique of in text citations which was an integral part of referencing in the term.
Term 2:
Reflection:
The reflection of the events is one of the unique ways of gaining the idea regarding a
particular event with the limited consumption of time and money. It also enables the audience
to have the knowledge regarding a particular event or activity where they are not the part of
it. Hence, it increases the ease of the individuals in gaining the information regarding a
particular event and at the same time, it also provides the scope to the individuals regarding
the self -analysis. The self- analysis is one of the modern techniques for the evaluation of the

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own competencies where the individuals have the capability to summarize the strengths and
the weaknesses (Cottrell 2017). With the precise understanding of the learning of the term, I
was able to gather the required skills to evaluate the strengths and weakness of mine in
becoming an efficient individual. With a precise focus on the application of the self- analysis,
I identified that I have the ability to effectively communicate with other individuals which
helps me in developing a better bond with them. Hence the interpersonal skills of mine is
considered as a strength of mine. Considering the weakness, the lack of the emotional
intelligence is a major weakness of mine going forward as that has the capability to reduce
my effectiveness in building better relationship with the other individuals. Other than this, the
skills of reflection enables me have a track of the learning that I am achieving in recent times.
The learning of the incidents where I am able to apply my competency and generated a good
outcome, will certainly be a learning that can be applied I near future, however, the incidents
that did not go well will certainly provide me the learning which will help me in avoiding
such situations in the future. Hence the importance of the reflection is pretty high.
CV and Cover Letters:
Curriculum Vitae is a widely used concept for portraying the individual information
during the time of the recruitment. It requires to be framed in a professional manner so that
the recruiters get attracted by this. From the learning of the term, I was able to understand the
necessity of following the guidelines where I was asked to provide a visual presentation of
myself in the CV and at the same time, the learning helped me to identify the relevant
information that is to be provided in the sections such as the personal information, skills and
competencies along with the educational information. Other than this, I also gathered the
knowledge regarding the inclusion of the professional experience in my CV as it increases
my scope of getting recruited for a particular position. Apart from this, I was able to

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understand the importance of the cover letter as it helps me in introducing myself to the
employer in a more professional manner.
Research:
Considering the aspect of the research, I gained considerable amount of information
regarding the primary and secondary forms of research. I understood the fact that the research
conducted on the basis of the primary data, is considered as primary research and on the other
hand, the research that is conducted on the basis of the secondary data, is recognized as
secondary research. Considering the aspect of the data, it is observed to be characterized into
two different forms such as the qualitative and quantitative data (Ritchie et al. 2013).
Considering the primary research, the important techniques such as the survey, open ended
and close ended questionnaire for the interview can be used in an efficient manner.
Gap:
During the terms, I faced considerable amount of problems in memorizing different
styles of referencing and along with that, I faced considerable amount of problem in
conducting the secondary research. I was unable to identify the trusted sources of secondary
data which I can use. Other than this, the collection of the information from the various
sources for writing a particular paragraph was troublesome for me as well as I have the
tendency of getting confused with the excessive amount of information.
Strategies:
For the referencing style, I made sure that I collect the information regarding the
mostly used referencing styles and prepared a presentation file which will help me in
memorizing all the referencing formats in an efficient manner. Considering the
trustworthiness of the sources, I do practice the selection of the sources that are authentic and
in order to guarantee the authenticity, I make sure that I select the journal articles for getting

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the references to my write ups. Considering the concern of the excessive information, I
follow the strategy of searching the most relevant articles for taking the references as that
reduces the concern of searching excessive amount of information and also increases my
efficiency.

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References:
Bailey, S., 2014. Academic writing: A handbook for international students. Routledge.
Cottrell, S., 2017. Critical thinking skills: Effective analysis, argument and reflection.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Graham, S., Gillespie, A. and McKeown, D., 2013. Writing: Importance, development, and
instruction. Reading and writing, 26(1), pp.1-15.
Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C.M. and Ormston, R. eds., 2013. Qualitative research
practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. sage.
Shomos, A. and Forbes, M., 2014. Literacy and numeracy skills and labour market outcomes
in Australia. Australian Government Productivity Commission Working Paper.
Windisch, H.C., 2015. Adults with low literacy and numeracy skills.