Academic and Employability Skills: SWOT Analysis and Reflection Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of academic and employability skills, focusing on self-assessment and personal development. The report begins with an introduction that highlights the importance of identifying areas for improvement. The main body of the report includes a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Based on this analysis, a personal development plan is created, outlining specific skills to be developed, activities to be undertaken, resources required, and timelines. The report also explores the understanding of the world of work, emphasizing the importance of employability skills and adherence to workplace guidelines and employment law. Finally, the report includes a reflection on the learning experiences from the module, including the application of tools like SWOT analysis, time management techniques, and the personal development plan, concluding with the impact of the module on the student's skill development and future career prospects. This report is a valuable resource for students seeking to enhance their professional development.

ACADEMIC AND
EMPOYABILIY SKILLS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Swot Analysis and Personal Development Plan..........................................................................3
Understanding of world of the Work...........................................................................................7
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Analysis of the academic and professional skills that an individual possesses is instrumental
in their own development as an individual where they can clearly identify the areas win which
further development should be undertaken (Bull and et.al., 2016). In the present report, the
SWOT analysis will be conducted followed by Personal development plan based on the analysis
done. Further, the report will also include a reflection on the learning throughout the module.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Swot Analysis and Personal Development Plan
Swot analysis is crucial in the identification of the different strengths, weaknesses, threats
an opportunities that I possess. It is necessary to identify the skills that I already possess and the
skills that I need to further develop so that I can work on improving them and increasing the
overall development of myself as a professional:
Strengths
The major strengths that I possess can be
evaluated in the following major points and
categories:
 My analytical skills that I have
developed with time are very extensive
and well formulated making me
capable of analysing any data that I am
presented with quickly due to the
logical methods with which my brain
performs tasks thus analysing most of
the data easily.
 My risk perception skills are also
developed exceptionally well where I
can easily perceive the potential risks or
threats that might arise in the near
future. This is mainly because of my
habit of constant analysis of the
Weaknesses
Despite the variety of strengths that I
seemingly possess, there are many weaknesses
of mine as well which are inherent with the
strengths of mine. These can be enumerated as
follows:
 My time management skills are not
developed very proficiently. In my zeal
to complete things or tasks given to me
as effectively and optimally as possible,
I often tend to stretch the deadlines that
have been allotted to me (Baldauf and
Luchinskaya, 2019). This can affect my
career in the future seriously if I am not
able to develop a proper balance.
 My management skills are also very
weak where I find it extremely difficult
to manage multiple skills and people at
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environmental trends, the observation
of the shift in consumer habits or
perceptions etc. are the major causes
due to which I am more perceptive of
the risk (Abdel-Basset, Mohamed and
Smarandache, 2018).
 Another strengths that I can
acknowledge is that my communication
skills are also very well developed
where I can develop and maintain
relations in the industry extremely well
thus making me capable of being more
comfortable while working in a team or
while developing collaborations.
the same time. This is a major
weakness in terms of skills as
management skills are important in
order to gain position and work in a
coordinated manner in any
organisation.
Opportunities
On the basis of the regular analysis of external
trends and environment, I can identify certain
skills which, if I develop, will present wider
opportunities before me in future. These are:
 My ability as a problem solver are
developed very well and I can further
develop these in order to improve
myself further and evolve as a
professional problem solver. This will
help me in deriving correct and relevant
solutions even in complex situations
and professionally I can be assisted
through this mechanism heavily in my
professional career as well. Therefore
the opportunities in this field are very
wide (Stewart, 2016).
Threats
There are some major threats also that can arise
before me in the professional environment and
these can be enumerated as follows:
 If I regularly do not update myself with
newer and trendier skills then I might
become redundant in the constantly and
very quickly changing environment.
There are new skills which are being
developed almost on a daily basis and I
need to keep up with as many skills as I
can develop so that I do not become
redundant at any given point of time.
 Further, I might become incompetent in
future if I am not adequately skilled as
well in the terms of basic skill
requirement which is necessary in the
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 Development of Information and
communication technology skill is the
need of the hour where it is almost a
must for a budding professional to
develop this skill adequately. In
whichever field I may get employment,
acknowledgement of the ICT skills is
inherent in the development of a person
as an individual. Therefore
development of these skills in myself
will assist me immensely in my future.
present context of shifts in the job
descriptions.
 Therefore, collectively I can say that I
need to develop myself continuously so
that I can be employable and
resourceful at all times (Bull and et.al.,
2016).
On the basis of the Swot analysis that I did for myself above, there are certain skills that I
have identified which I should develop as soon as possible in order to minimise the future
troubles as much as possible. Therefore, on the basis of this, I can make a personal development
plan which is as follows:
Skills to be
developed
Activities undertaken Resources
required
Time
period
Feedback
ICT skills I need to get updated
regularly about the
changing trends in the
technological
environment and
therefore I can develop
this skill my getting
enrolled in workshops,
online lectures or
activities etc. and these
can help me in
effectively developing
such ICT skills that I
will utilise.
Workshops,
online classes,
activities
4 months For evaluation of the
skills that I have
developed, I will take
regular feedback from
my supervisor who
will guide me
regarding my
development. They
will show to me what
are the areas in which
I need further
improvement and what
are the areas where I
have developed
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adequately
(Phadermrod, Crowder
and Wills, 2019).
Time
Management
skills
A successful career
demands a correct and
responsible approach
towards the completion
of the tasks within the
allotted deadlines and
therefore, the lack of
this skill can affect me
severely (Rimmer,
2018). I will develop
this skill my segregating
my time effectively into
the number of activities
that I have to perform
and then stick to the
plan thus formulated.
Time
evaluation
sheet,
schedules
developed
4-5 months I will be collecting
feedback from my
mentors and my
colleagues who can
help me in evaluating
that whether my
schedule is correct or
not and whether I was
able to stick to the
schedule thus
developed without
compromising on the
quality of the work
done.
Management
Skills
The corporate
environment needs those
personnel who can
handle multiple tasks
and activities at the
same time (Gürel and
Tat, 2017). This can be
done effectively by
inculcating management
skills that will help me
in completing several
activities at the same
Observing ad
learning from
mentors and
seniors,
reading of
books written
by
management
gurus
4 months Feedback will be taken
from my supervisors
and seniors on the
basis of the
effectiveness with
which I am capable of
completing several
tasks at a time and if
required also direct
other people who are
subordinate to me
comparatively. This
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time with equal
efficiency. This will also
increase my orientation
with multi skilling
aspect that is extremely
necessary in current
environment.
will help me in regular
evaluation and
monitoring of the
skills.
Therefore, I can state that implementation of this PDP plan will help me in achievement of
the goals effectively where I can state that these will assist immensely in improving my present
career and future prospects.
Understanding of world of the Work
In my knowledge, when I will go for working in any workplace as an employee, then I
has highly required to improving my different employability skills before staring work in any
place. Reason is, currently most businesses of companies are giving high priority to only those
candidates who has effective skills, competencies and area of know ledge. In this situation, I
need to develop my various skill and knowledge beefier participating in any job interview. On
the other side, when I will work in any place, in which I will completely responsible to properly
follow those all instructions and guidelines which my upper management can provide in the
workplace (Su, Li and Curry, 2017). There are arch employee or work should gain proper
knowledge of employment law, because employment law provides some freedom to an
employee within the workplace. In this situation, I will also able to take huge advantages from
the employment law within my respective workplace. From my prospective, an employee always
needs to be loyal with its organisation, because this is one of the prime obligations of an
employees. In this situation, I will also completely responsible to be loyal within my
organisation. This step is too necessary for self-growth as well as organisation’s growth.
Reflection
I learned many skills from the class activities. Initially when I was in school time, I just
listened from my senior authorities about the employability skills but that time I didn’t what was
that. But when I came in higher class then I got to know about software skills. Initially I studied
about software skills through the module which developed interest in me because I just listened
name but did not know about these skills. In the higher education aware about software skills
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which supported to use computer program and application efficiently.Even I took class of
software skills because I did not have this skill. My senior authorities helped me to guide how to
applied software skill. The model contained number of tools i.e. SWOT analysis, time
management tools and PDP as well. These tools were new for me but I got to know it helped to
develop employability skill which would require for the job place. I was excited to read about
these tools through module. SWOT tool helped to analyse strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats of person. I applied this tool for me to determined my weaknesses, strengths. Where I
got to know I have good communicational skills and quick decision-maker which was my
strengths. While analytical skill and problem-solving was my weaknesses. I have opportunity to
participate in seminar where I could apply my communication skills to deliver my message
impactful. I could improve my strengths by plasticising on regular basis as resultant it would
improve. In addition, I have opportunity to learn new skills like leadership skills, teamworking
skills and others which would upgrade my personality and could improve my competency level.
I could face challenges in the future due to my weaknesses while working at the workplace.
Thus, I analysed myself effectively through this tool. Time management tools i.e. scoring, time
camp and others supported me to manage my time because most of the time it happened with me
that I took more time to complete a task. But by the help of these tools I enabled to manage time
effectively. Personal development plan (PDP) was quite effective strategy which supported me to
improve my weaknesses. I learned many things while preparing my PDP. The plan included
weak area of me which needed to improve, resources for improving weak area, activities for
undertaken, schedule and reviews. These were important continents of PDP in which I enlisted
number of skills which required to improve for the future. I used number of resources i.e. online
courses, training classes, books and others. These were main resources which helped me to
improve my weak skills (i.e. analytical skills and problem-solving skills} by taking into
practices. Thus, all the tools supported me to learn new skills as well as improved my weak
skills. The module was quite informative for me because in academic I just learned about number
of skills. But this module helped to practice overall skills and developed new skill as well.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the essay above highlights critically the need for personal
development and management where the report concluded that how crucial self analysis is. The
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report also concluded the importance of being aware with the external trends and environment
and preparing oneself in accordance with the changes so that maximum benefits can be drawn.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abdel-Basset, M., Mohamed, M. and Smarandache, F., 2018. An extension of neutrosophic
AHP–SWOT analysis for strategic planning and decision-making. Symmetry. 10(4). p.116.
Baldauf, B. and Luchinskaya, D., 2019. Graduate choices in post-education jobs and careers: a
literature review, May 2019
Bull, J.W., and et.al., 2016. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A SWOT
analysis of the ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem services. 17. pp.99-111
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research. 10(51).
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis based
SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management. 44. pp.194-203.
Rimmer, A., 2018. How do I prepare a personal development plan?. Bmj. 363. p.k4725.
Stewart, J., 2016. Personal development plan. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management.
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
Su, X., Li, X. and Curry, E., 2017. Understanding workplace flexibility in state agencies: What
facilitates employee access?. The American Review of Public Administration. 47(8).
pp.977-990.
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