Report: Academic and Professional Skills for Career Growth

This report delves into the development of essential academic and professional skills crucial for career advancement. It begins by examining the components of a professional email, highlighting the correct structure and format, and providing an example of a well-written email. The report then analyzes the process of writing a formal email to a colleague, providing detailed information about a specific course. Furthermore, it outlines the key steps involved in preparing an effective project report, including understanding the scope, conducting research, and outlining the project work. Finally, the report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of 'off-the-job' training methods, using UNICEF London as a case study, and how this training approach can be used to enhance the skills of fundraising staff. The report emphasizes the importance of effective communication, project management, and training methodologies in fostering professional growth.

ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The academic as well as professional skills are required to be developed in an individual
in order to make that person competent enough to face growing competition in the present
scenario. These skills include communicating skills, writing abilities, capability to solve a
particular problem, thinking critically, working in accordance with the ethics and the most
important skill that a person needs to have is working in a team. All these skills together leads to
overall development of an individual, thus, leading to career development. The present report
includes a brief explanation of how an individual should write formally in the context of diverse
situations.
TASK 1
A professional email to be drafted must be in accordance with several guidelines that
have been issued in respect of writing an email at professional levels. A well written mail has a
positive impact over its readers and assist them in understanding the message that is being
carried by that email (Beckmann, 2017). According to the guidelines, the structure of a mail
should be divided into five parts, namely, contact information, salutation, letter body, closing as
well as signature. A brief explanation of these parts in accordance with the email sent by the
supervisor of Funeral Director to Ms Charlie Oakley is presented as under: Contact information: The very first requirement of a professional letter or mail is
providing information about themselves by the sender of the message. This information
should be presented at the end of the letter rather than at the top. The present mail
contains information, but that information is more concise, rather it should include a little
more information. Salutation: This part deals with the greeting section of a letter or mail. Mail written to
Ms Charlie, had a salutation of “ yo” , which is a highly informal way to greet clients. Closing: A formal letter should be closed with a thanking regard to the reader, which is
missing in the mail drafted by appointed supervisor at funeral director.
 Signature: The signature of an authorised person clarifies the authenticity of a formal
letter or email. The present mail drafted lacks a signature of authorised personnel, which
is highly unacceptable in the context of a formal letter.
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Other than these structural errors, there were many more mistakes that were made in
drafting of the present mail received by Ms Charlie. The paragraphs are too short which are to be
avoided in case of a form,al letter. Also, the language used by supervisor is highly unsuitable for
the situation for which the mail has been drafted (Sarikoc and Kaplan, 2017). There were also
numerous spelling mistakes, with grammatical as well as punctuation errors, which are needed to
be strictly avoided in case of professional letters or emails.
The actual structure or format of a professional mail in the context of present scenario is
presented as follows:
To
Ms Charlie Oakley.
Subject: Funeral arrangements
Dear Madam,
I show you a serious gratitude towards the loss that has occurred to you. May the soul
of your beloved husband may rest in peace. Although, it is difficult in your situation to discuss
all these matters relating to the arrangements to be made for your husband's funeral, but, we
need to discuss it with you in order to ensure proper delivering of our services to you and
accordingly, avoid any last minute rush at the funeral ceremony.
On the arrival of guests at funeral, there is an arrangement of serving them with
sandwiches as well as tea at Blackfair's bar. These sandwiches and tea will be provided after the
funeral gets over. The dress code for the funeral is decided to be black, as everyone dressed in
black will address their sorrows for the loss of a pre-eminent soul of your beloved husband.
The timing for the funeral activities is scheduled at 10.30 am sharp, where everyone
should be requested to arrive an half before, i.e. around 10.00 am. Coming before the funeral
will allow everyone to see as well as spend some last few minutes with the deceased. Kids
should be avoided for arrival at the funeral. The body will be buried in the ground after 12 'o
clock in the noon. There are certain matters which are to be decided yet, i.e. please inform us
about the number of flowers that you wish to put on your husband;s body and if you wish to
carry the coffin on your shoulder and accordingly, arrangements would be made.
Thanking you!
Yours well wisher,
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Supervisor
Funeral Director
TASK 2
As discussed earlier, writing a professional email is required to be in accordance with
several guidances issued by different professionals, in order to undertake an effective
communication of messages to be shared to the concerned receiver of that mail (Novakovich and
Shaw, 2017). The present scenario stated requires an email to be written formally to one of the
colleagues giving information about the course of BSc (Hons) Business and Human Resource
Management at Anglia Ruskin London.
To
Mrs. XYZ
Subject: Enhanced information about BSc (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management
Dear Sir / Madam,
This mail is being written to you as you requested to provide enhanced information
about the course that you have been interested to involve with, i.e. BSc (Hons) Business and
Human Resource Management. Generally, the mentioned course is provided for 3 yers. The
subjects that are to be studied in these three years are
 1st year:
◦ Business environment
◦ business skills
◦ Business economics
◦ Business finance
 2nd year:
◦ legal aspects of a business
◦ human resource management
◦ principles of marketing
◦ resourcing organisation.
 3rd year:
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◦ development of human resource
◦ business strategy
◦ management of employment relationships
◦ major project
Interested candidates need to submit necessary documents with Anglia university. List of
documents required include
 leaving certificate from past university: BBCCC.
 Scottish Highers: BBCCC.
The scope of this course is widely related to providing following prescribed job
opportunities for you in the future:
 Human resource manager
 Office manager
 Training as well as development manager
 Career adviser
 Management consultant
 Recruitment as well as selection manager or consultant.
The teaching faculties are efficient in providing necessary knowledge to an individual.
But, in order to gain this knowledge in an effective way, you should ensure accomplishment of
your assignments as and when prescribed by your faculties.
Hope, this mail fulfil all your requirements relating to the concerned university as well
as desired course details.
Thanking you!
Mrs. XYZ
Anglia Ruskin London
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TASK 3
A project is comprised of a group of statements or guidelines to be followed by an
individual or an organisation in respect of accomplishing a particular task or a job. An effective
project is backed up by an appropriate project report. This report involves detailed explanation
of the various objectives as well as goals of the project that have been undertaken. A project
report should include a proper introduction of various facts to be considered as well as goals to
be achieved, review of the evaluations that has been made,discussion that has been made as a
result of a project report and lastly, providing conclusions as well as recommendations if
required (Murray, 2017).
In order to undertake an effective process of preparing a project report, the following
necessary steps are needed to be followed: Understanding the scope of project: The very first step that is being involved in
preparing a project is to determine or understand its scope, i.e. the approach that is to be
achieved with the planning of a project. This helps in understanding the major benefits
that the prepared project can offer and also, the guidelines on how these objectives can
be achieved within the given deadline. Writing an effective and attractive tittle: In order to pre[are an effective report, an
individual is required to reflect the topic that is to be covered in that project in an
effective way. Using of subheading: The project or essay must highlight the important learning
outcomes with a sub header, which enables the reader to focus on the main part
(Ertman, 2018). Use of guidance: The report must include a clear reflection of guidance that has been
provided by the tutor.
 Conducting research: Researching is an essential component in the context of
preparing a project. After understanding the scope of a project, necessary research
should be undertaken to develop strategies to achieve the same (Ertman, 2018).
 Evaluating research: The research conducted must be evaluated in an effective manner
in order to generate alternative ways.
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 Outlining the project work: After evaluating the research conducted and selecting the
best alternative way, the next step is to develop an outline of project work, which cle3alt
defines the framework within which the project related activities are needed to be
undertaken. Discussing with team members: Outlining a project needs to be followed by discussing
that framework wit other members that play a crucial role in the activities involved inn
undertaking a particular project plan. Drafting the project plan: After the consideration of all the above mentioned facts or
steps, there is need to draft the project plan in accordance with the research generated
and the objectives that are needed to be achieved with the project undertaking. Execution of the project plan: Once the plan is prepared as well as written
effectively,i.e. Drafted effectively, there is a need to execute the same project plan in
order to generate desired results of the project. Publishing the project report: For undertaking effective execution of a particular
project plan, there is a need to publish the details regarding the project work undertaken. Sharing with other members: Publishing of a plan, is generally associated with sharing
the details of the project report with the team members.
 Keeping the process of planning: The very last step is to be followed in a continuous
nature, as it involves with preparing to keep on with planning activities for a particular
project (Zheng and Warschauer, 2018).
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” (Foster, 2017)
Thus, an effective writing of essay can be undertaken in the above mentioned ways. The steps that have been
clarified in the above part clearly states the effectiveness s well as efficiency of a particular project or essay.
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TASK 4
“Off the job” is a kind of training method used to provide training to the employees, in
which they are taken to places other than their place of work to undertaken training as well as
developmental programme. UNICEF London is a voluntary organisation which raises funds as
and when required in the country. The present venture is planning to introduce an off the job
training session for its staff appointed to carry out its activities relating to fundraising. The
various advantages as well as disadvantages lags with this method of training and which may
affect the mentioned organisation (Langum and Sullivan, 2017).
The major advantage of this kind of training method is that it may ensure provision of
wide scale information being provided to the individuals working with cited firm. As per this
method, training to the fundraising staff is being provided by experts in this context, which may
further enhance knowledge as well as efficiency on the part of employees. This further assures
increasing confidence on the part of personnel for whom the training session is being provided.
All these would together lead to formation of a competent workforce for UNICEF, thus
ensuring them to serve more members of the society and achieve their objective of funding all
the needy people of the economy (Advantages of off the job training, 2018).
Along with these advantages, the cited organisation should also consider that this
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technique is associated with certain drawbacks as well. It is considered as the most expensive
method of providing training to staff as this requires outside bodies to plan a training session
for employees, which involves huge travelling as well as accommodation expenses to be bear
by mentioned voluntary organisation (McLeskey and Westling, 2017). Along with expensive, it
is also a time consuming technique of providing training to fundraising staff, which may affect
its operational activities. Even, more competent workforce may lead to t5heir turnover in
respect of seeking other opportunities.
CONCLUSION
The present report concludes various guidelines or structures that needs to be taken into
consideration while preparing or drafting professional email or letters. A formal letter must be
presented in a well concise manner, which covers all the required details in order to
communicate the desired message to its receiver. It also focuses on the procedures that are
needed to be followed while preparing an effective plan for accomplishment of a particular
project. Along with this, pros and cons of off the job training programme adopted by an
organisation are evaluated in detail as on here.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beckmann, E. A., 2017. Professional staff, professional recognition: Bringing learner support
staff into the fellowship of university educators. Professional and Support Staff in Higher
Education, pp.1-16.
Ertman, M. M., 2018. Developing Professional Skills: Secured Transactions.
Langum, V. and Sullivan, K. P., 2017. Writing academic English as a doctoral student in
Sweden: narrative perspectives. Journal of Second Language Writing. 35. pp.20-25.
McLeskey, J. L. and Westling, D. L., 2017. Inclusion: Effective practices for all students.
Pearson.
Murray, A. C., 2017. Academic, Professional, and Personal Impact of Skills Acquisition for
Nursing Students Following a Structured Process Education Experience: Learning to
Learn Camp (Doctoral dissertation, William Carey University).
Novakovich, J. and Shaw, S., 2017. Designing curriculum to shape professional social media
skills and identity in virtual communities of practice. Computers & Education, 104, pp.65-
90.
Online
Sarikoc, G. and Kaplan, M., 2017. Examining The Relationship Between The Social and
Emotional Learning Skills, Professional Self-Esteem and Academic Major Satisfactions of
The Nursing Students. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE JOURNAL OF NURSING-
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE HEMSIRELIK DERGISI. 25(3). pp.201-208.
Zheng, B. and Warschauer, M., 2018. Social Media in the Writing Classroom and Beyond. The
TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching.
Online
Advantages of off the job training. 2018 [online] Available through
.<https://getrevising.co.uk/grids/off-the-job-training>.
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