Career Viewpoint: MG410 Career Action Plan and Self-Reflection Report

This report is a comprehensive self-reflection on a management student's career aspirations and development plan. It begins with an introduction to the importance of self-introspection in professional development, emphasizing the need to identify strengths and weaknesses. The student identifies Business Management as their chosen profession, detailing the reasons behind this choice, including opportunities for personal and professional growth. A thorough personal analysis, including a SWOT analysis, is conducted to assess the student's strengths (entrepreneurial skills, critical thinking leadership abilities) and weaknesses (lack of resource management capabilities, multitasking). The report outlines opportunities, such as placement possibilities and technological aids, and addresses potential threats like slow economic growth. A detailed career development plan is presented, specifying skills needed, actions to be taken, and timeframes for improvement in areas like multitasking and resource management. The report concludes with a LinkedIn profile bio, showcasing the student's skills and aspirations.

Running head: CAREER PLAN
CAREER PLAN
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Introduction
Self introspection is an important part of a student/ candidate’s life as it helps him/ her to
develop himself/ herself both professionally and personally by identifying his/her shortcomings
and strengths and thereby, rectifying them (Travers, Morisano and Locke 2015). Self
introspection has become an important part of a student’s life in the present business world.
Employability of a candidate is nowadays; highly dependent on how much self introspective he
is in his professional life so that he might identify his core competencies and the area of his
weakness. Therefore, rectifying such weaknesses and enhancing his core competencies would
allow him to effectively manage and increase his talent pool, thereby, increasing his
employability. The respective paper is a reflective essay that talks in details about my
professional outlook, a personal analysis of me as a professional desiring to offer the employer
my skills, competencies and capabilities and also identify my faults and shortcomings. At the end
of the paper, I would also upload a curriculum vitae of myself as well as a linkedin profile bio-
data in details that would enable me to get the chances and opportunities to get employed in the
reputed corporate sectors.
Discussion
My chosen profession
As a management student, I have identified my core competency, which is Business
Management. I have chosen the field of business management for my future professional
prospects because of numerous reasons. First of all, business management has and will always
provide me with a wider paradigm to develop in both professional and personal arena in me.
Through business management, I would be able to learn how to manage the employees as well as

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the business. With the help of the experience that I would gather by managing the employees, I
would be able to imbibe the skills and capabilities about how to interact effectively and
efficiently with other people in order to manage conflicts. Thereby, I would also learn different
negotiation skills as well. I strongly believe the fact that the path of Business Management would
help me to grab the opportunity of getting into teamwork where I would be working together
with other people in order to achieve the desired business goals. Entering into a teamwork as a
part of team enables a person to foster creativity and learning, sharing and building
complementary strengths and talent, build trust, learn conflict resolution skills, get encouraged to
imbibe the ability of healthy risk taking and possess a wider and greater sense of ownership.
Thus, I believe that Business Management would be the best profession for me in future.
Personal analysis
Personal analysis and introspection is an important path of building a career for a student
or an ametur professional. Before beginning with a job search, it is important to evaluate and
understand the transferrable skills within an individual, which includes strengths, weaknesses,
priorities, values, passion, and interests. An exercise and practice of self- analysis always helps
an individual (student or an aspiring professional) to gain clarity, precision and lucidity and also
focus on their drawbacks and positive points. Personal analysis can be carried out in numerous
ways, such as through psychometric tests, also with a deeply introspected and speculated SWOT
Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), PESTEL analysis (Political,
Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) and personality development tests
and examinations. In the respective essay, I would be introspecting, analyzing and intensely
evaluating my capabilities with the help of psychometric tests and SWOT Analysis hereafter.

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SWOT Analysis of me as a professional
Strengths:
Entrepreneurial skills: I believe that as a management student, I have an outlook of what
businesses might be. I have entrepreneual abilities that I have imbibed by attending the
university classes and performing in the semesters of my coursework. Entrepreneual abilities
have provided me with a wider paradigm in understanding the statics and dynamics of business
environment in the contemporary global world. The two main entrepreneurial skills that I possess
are: communication and focus. Communication skills would enable me to efficiently deal with
the stakeholders for the success of the company or the management of the business I will be
responsible of. Focusing is another important skill an entrepreneur is bound to have because it is
through proper focus that the target is met and the business objectives are fulfilled. I have also
acquired the ability to learn, which is another skill that is important for carrying out a profession,
such as business management. A manager who is in charge of a business must be an
unprejudiced observer. He would always be in a constant endeavor to learn and imbibe new
ideas, approaches and viewpoints from external and internal environment. As there is no end to
learning and acquiring knowledge, I believe that such skill and attitude would make me
successful in my profession (Carnevale and Smith 2013).
Critical thinking leadership abilities: As the job of business manager demands a high- end critical
thinking capability, therefore, I believe that my critical thinking abilities would be leading me to
a better position in my profession as a business manager. Critical thinking leadership abilities are
important for a manager or a leader in order to develop and execute complex problem solving

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and decision making. Critical thinking enables a manager to also understand the impact of their
decision on the business they might be leading or managing in order to ensure that the
organizational goals are strictly aligned with the accountability and responsibility. Critical
thinking accelerates the skills such as strategic thinking, introduction to change, ability to create
vision, inspire and understand the dynamics of the organization (Pardey 2016). However, I
believe that since I possess the respective critical thinking leadership skills, which I have
imbibed from my course readings, classes, internships and semesters of the university course, I
am confident that I would be able to provide the best service to the organization where I might be
recruited. The employer would like to hire me because I would be possessing the essential
qualities which a manager should be possessing.
Weakness
1. Lack of resource management capabilities: Resource management is an important phase
of an organization. Resource managers are responsible for assigning the appropriate
people for the appropriate projects at the right time. They manage employees currently in
the workplace and determine the hiring needs based on the requirements of each projects.
Managers who are in charge of business management need to possess research
management skills in order to identify, allocate and utilize the respective resources
available in his team to extract maximum efficiency from the alignment of the resources
with the workforce (Goetsch and Davis 2014). As an aspiring manager, I believe resource
management is the area where I am not prolific and I need certain training and
development programs in the respective field to become efficient in it.
2. Multitasking: Multitasking is essential for a business manager in the new and
contemporary world of lean management. Lean management can also be defined as an

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approach towards management that avails the concept of continuous improvement, long
term approach to work that seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in
order to improve efficiency and quality. A manager in today’s corporate world is
bestowed with plethora of tasks, such as resource management, problem solving and
decision making, leadership and record keeping. Therefore, a business manager in the
contemporary corporate sector needs to acquire the knowledge and skills of conjuring up
different activities in a given span of time to become more productive and efficient in the
workplace (Christensen and Schneider 2015). Lean management is in vogue in today’s
corporate world and therefore, for grabbing the opportunity of getting employed into the
corporate sector, I have to practice the skills of multitasking to attain it.
Opportunities
1. Possibility of placement: As the corporate industry is blooming and developing due to
neo- liberalization and free market economy, therefore, I believe that chances of me
getting placed in the reputed corporate sectors are moderately high. As I am prolific in
terms of basic entrepreneurial abilities and critical thinking leadership abilities, therefore,
I assume that I would be recruited or hired by the best companies functioning in the
market. Since the companies nowadays look for critical thinking leadership abilities and
entrepreneurial skills among the prospective managers, apart from the basic managerial
and organizational skills, therefore, I believe I have a separate competitive advantage in
this case. With the help of my outstanding critical cognitive functional abilities, I would
be able to make myself get placed in reputed or above average companies in future as a
business manager (Stuetzer et al., 2013).

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2. Technological aid: Technological development in the present world is also called “Fourth
wave industrial revolution”. Technologies have helped the civilization reach at its zenith.
The technological availabilities around me also might help me to build my professional
potential and competency. A plethora of technologies are available in the market (offline
and online) that guides the individuals in the areas such as time management,
multitasking and competency optimization. Dime- a- dozen technologies, software and
applications are available in the internet that aids the managers to deal with resources
(identification, allocation and utilization). Such technologies might be useful for me in
my professional life (Oldham and Da Silva 2015).
Threats
1. Slow economic growth: The current slowing down of economy of the United Kingdom
due to the political phenomenon of Brexit has caused an unnecessary and undesirable
slow growth in the corporate sector. Such sluggish growth in the business sector of the
UK has also resulted in slowdown of employment. Thus, many corporate firms are
thinking of laying off their staff and employees. Therefore, I believe that such
phenomenon might as well adversely affect my job prospects in the near future (Hunt and
Wheeler 2017).
Career Development Plan
Serial Number Skills needed Action Time frame
1. Multitasking For formal training
and education in
multitasking, self-
10 months
(approximately)

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help books that are
available in the
market, which
discusses intrinsically
about how to manage
work- life balance
might be consulted.
Academic journals
and articles from
different magazines
and newspapers that
discusses about
multitasking also
should be consulted.
Short term soft skills
training on
multitasking that are
available in the UK
business training
institutes can also
assist in imbibing
multitasking skills as
well. For personal

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practices, to develop
multitasking skills, I
have to learn to
prioritize my work by
making a To-do list
for the day. To carry
out multitasking
effectively, effective
time management
should be carried out
with regular
journaling and
recording the progress
of task
implementation and
execution.
2. Resource
management
Myriads of academic,
professional and do-
it- yourself
management books
that are available in
the market/ libraries/
book stores can be
1.5 years
(approximately)

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consulted to learn the
basics of resource
management.
Different business
training institutes of
the UK also provides
certified courses (long
and short term) in
resource allocation
and management that
can also be availed to
get skilled in the
respective field. Other
activities such as
internships in any
organization as
assistant resource
manager might prove
beneficial as it would
provide a pragmatic
idea of what resource
management actually
is.

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LinkedIn Profile
About me: I am a polished and confident communicator and have a keen interest in Business
Management. I am eager to begin my career as a Business Management trainee. The virtues that
I have are that I am patient, caring, having a good hold in interpersonal communication and
relationships and easily understand the problems which people might be facing. I have good
intuitive skills that make me master the art of problem solving and decision making as well. I am
a thorough worker and I also believe in scrutinizing and introspecting before coming into any
kind of task implementation, execution and evaluation, which means that I am a good analyst.
Before beginning any task, I always analyze the pros and cons associated with it, therefore, I am
confident that I can be a good and trustworthy Business Manager. I also believe in kindness and
compassion in my work. I believe that if a task is to be executed, the subordinates, employees
and the staff associated with the work would be dealt with compassion and kindness. Since I am
a critical thinker, I understand that are the areas of strengths and weaknesses in a task and also
within an employee. Through proper scrutiny and evaluation, I am confident enough that I would
be able to grab the problems that the team might be going through. As I am a team player, I am
good at critical problem solving and decision making skills. I am an adaptable and enthusiastic
individual who would be ready to face any kind of challenge that the organizations might put me
in. I am assertive and have the capability to lead the team. I can be an asset to the employer who
takes loyalty and responsibility solemnly. I also have efficiency in extra curricular activities such
as music and art, therefore, I can also be serve as a help in the secondary needs of the

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organization that would hire me. The ability to learn and adopt a situation quickly and swiftly is
my proven ability and the ability to use common sense in the appropriate areas, especially in new
situations and the ability to work individually as a part of the team are certain secondary qualities
that I possess.
KEY SKILLS
1. A flexible approach to the needs and requirements of the organization.
2. Ability to communicate with people fluently and efficiently, expertise in business
communication, interpersonal communication and interpersonal relationships.
3. Patience and perseverance is the highest priority while working in the organization.
4. Expertise in teamwork and teambuilding. Can work individually as a part of the team or
without team as well, which means flexibility in the working pattern.
5. Taking eager responsibility and accountability of my own self development through self
reflection and introspection.
6. Excellent verbal as well as written communication skills in both English and Romanian.
7. Highly innovative and creative towards work
8. Have adequate experience in administrative professions and jobs in the past.
9. Always enthusiastic to learn new abilities and competency with the help of the
organization.
CAREER OBJECTIVE
The objective of my career is to get placed in the reputed corporate sectors in the United
Kingdom as a Business Manager or a Team leader in the areas of Human resource/ financial/

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general management where I would be able to provide my skills to the industry and develop my
knowledge regarding the industry in near future.
EMPLOYMENT
UG Foods
McDonalds
EDUCATION (to be filled by student)
Conclusion
The respective paper concludes to be a reflective essay that talks in details about my
professional outlook, a personal analysis of me as a professional desiring to offer the employer
my skills, competencies and capabilities and also identify my faults and shortcomings. At the end
of the paper, I have also concluded to upload a curriculum vitae of myself as well as a linkedin
profile bio- data in details that would enable me to get the chances and opportunities to get
employed in the reputed corporate sectors.

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References:
Carnevale, A.P. and Smith, N., 2013. Workplace basics: The skills employees need and
employers want.
Christensen, K. and Schneider, B. eds., 2015. Workplace flexibility: Realigning 20th-century jobs
for a 21st-century workforce. Cornell University Press.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence:
Introduction to total quality.
Hunt, A. and Wheeler, B., 2017. Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU.
BBC News, 25.
Oldham, G.R. and Da Silva, N., 2015. The impact of digital technology on the generation and
implementation of creative ideas in the workplace. Computers in Human Behavior, 42, pp.5-11.
Pardey, D., 2016. Introducing leadership. Routledge.
Stuetzer, M., Obschonka, M., Davidsson, P. and Schmitt-Rodermund, E., 2013. Where do
entrepreneurial skills come from?. Applied Economics Letters, 20(12), pp.1183-1186.
Travers, C.J., Morisano, D. and Locke, E.A., 2015. Self‐reflection, growth goals, and academic
outcomes: A qualitative study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(2), pp.224-241.

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Appendix
Bio Data
Name: DRAGALAE MONICA-GABRIELA
Address: 7 MERYFIELD CLOSE, BOREHAMWOOD, HERTFORDSHIRE, WD6 4PL.
Email- [e-mail]
Contact Number:
Educational Qualification:
Key skills:
1. Flexibility
2. Adaptability
3. Pursuit of knowledge and learning
4. Expertise in communication in Romanian and English
5. Patience and perseverance
6. Good code of conduct and mannerism
7. Expertise in extracurricular activities such as music and art.
Career goals
The objective of my career is to get placed in the reputed corporate sectors in the United
Kingdom as a Business Manager or a Team leader in the areas of Human resource/ financial/

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general management where I would be able to provide my skills to the industry and develop my
knowledge regarding the industry in near future.
Employment history:
McDonalds 2016
UGO Foods 2016