Buckinghamshire New University: Career Action Plan and Self-Reflection

This report presents a comprehensive career action plan and self-reflection exercise tailored for a retail management career. It begins with an introduction to career viewpoints and the retail sector's growth, highlighting key responsibilities of a retail manager. The report then delves into personal analysis, assessing the author's skills, abilities, and knowledge, emphasizing strengths in communication, problem-solving, and retail experience. A detailed career action plan is outlined, including specific goals, strategies, resources, and timelines for skill development, such as analyzing company policies, attending seminars, and identifying store problems. The report also includes a sample CV and a LinkedIn profile, showcasing the author's qualifications and experience. The conclusion summarizes the importance of personal skill development and utilizing tools like action plans and professional profiles for career advancement. The report references several academic sources to support its findings.

Carrer action plan
and
self reflection

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PERSONAL ANALYSIS................................................................................................................3
CAREER ACTION PLAN..............................................................................................................4
CAREER ACTION PLAN..............................................................................................................4
CV....................................................................................................................................................6
LinkedIn Profile...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Career view point is basically a tool that helps in enabling individual to take certain actions
in their lifetime with objective of becoming successful. Career, is something that consists of
different job roles that are achieved by a individual by use of their skills and competence to
achieve a certain position (Cargill, 2019). Based on the research that has been conducted in CW1
it has been identified that the retail sector is tremendous growth in the present times and is
creating lot of opportunities in different sectors specially in case of retail segment there are many
opportunities of job. Retail Industry is one of the largest private sector Industries that is
providing employment to approximately 3 million people across UK there has been a total sale
of 381 Pounds that have been generated in the year 2018.
For execution of role of a retail manager there are certain key responsibilities that have to
be performed and it consists of providing Customer services, online merchandising, Logistics
management, supply chain management, virtual merchandising warehouses and supply chain
management (Godward, Dale and Smith, 2019). These are some of the major key Areas where a
retail manager has to focus and perform functions. Apart, from this there is requirement of
significant amount of knowledge for formulation of different strategies so that effectiveness can
be laid down in performing the job responsibilities and certain necessity skills are also required
by a individual that can help in increasing their strengths and reducing the negative impact of
their weaknesses. In present report, further a career action plan is also been developed to
understand and achieve effectiveness in overall job objectives and responsibilities.
PERSONAL ANALYSIS
To perform different roles it is important for an individual to have various skills, abilities
and knowledge so that they can execute different roles as per their area of interest and course
which they have procured. In UK, the Retail Industry has been emerging and providing a large
number of employments to the people I found it interesting for I am graduating in marketing
stream which enables to serve customers better by analysing their needs. On the basis of the
primary and secondary analysis it is identified that there are various opportunities for an
individual in retail sector with the expansion of the entire industry (Tang, 2018). For efficiently
undertaking the role of retail manager I have to analyse the behaviour of the customer as well as
the supply chain so that availability of the material on the store can be ensured. To support this I

have to analyse my ability, skills and knowledge so that comparison can be done what is required
and what I possess. I have significant understanding of various concept logistic and supply chain,
better understanding of the technique for management of inventory, analysing the behaviour of
the customer, etc. I have better communication skills as I have been participating in various
activities organised in university and college. While participating I have to communicate with the
other participants so that better understanding with them can be established and due to this I
could develop a significant level of confidence in me. As a part of my academic program I
attended various workshops with the help of which I analyse the trends that are prevailing in the
retail industry along with the emerging technologies that are used by the managers to deal with
various issues and problem faced by them. So with this I developed significant level of problem
solving skills and an understanding of existing technologies for managing the retail store. In
some of the activities I was given responsibility to manage the teams with the help of which I
could develop team management skills that will help me in meeting my role professionally
(Mehrmann, Scholz, and Vergara, 2018). To support myself I have been working in a retail store
where I have to perform various task the developed various abilities which is required as a retail
manager such as to analyse behaviour of the customer, various interpersonal skills so that better
services can be offered to the customer, computer skills with the help of which the billing is
managed, as well as management of the documents such as purchase order, sales order etc. With
the help of all these skills I can efficiently perform the role of retail manager but on the basis of
analysis I have to develop various skills such as ability to manage the customer loyalty, adoption
of better technology, knowledge and understanding of sustainable issues etc.
CAREER ACTION PLAN
The career action plan that is to be used by an individual to develop various skills for the role of
a retail manager is given below:
CAREER ACTION PLAN
GOAL: To develop various personal skills which include stability to solve the problem,
flexibility and dependability for managing the resistance of the employees and the changes in the
business environment. Also to have knowledge and expertise of various for improving the
services to the customer as well as computer skills with the help of which record can efficiently
manage. This will improve the ability to perform the role of a retail manager and to improve the

overall performance.
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES: To achieve this goal the policies of various retail organisations will
be analysed, various seminars need to be attended, the problems that are faced by the retail store
will be enlisted along with various possible solutions to them etc. The actions along with their
resources and timeline the given below:
TASK\ACTIONS RESOURCES TIMELINE
Analysis of the company
policies
I will be analysing various policies that
are adopted by the companies such as
training and development policies,
conflict management policies,
recruitment policies, customer service
policies as well as inventory
management technique. This will enable
me in sharpening my skills to perform
the role of retail manager.
It can be done during the
last semester of my
academic course which
has almost six months.
Attending seminars The experts in the seminars shares the
trends that are prevailing in the industry
and various approaches with which they
can be manage. Also they share their
experience with the help of which I can
develop the ability of managing the
trends and various situations (Sarfo-
Frimpong, Ansong and Owusu-Ofori,
2017).
During the last semester, I
will be attending more and
more seminar organised
for the retail industry so
that I can develop better
understanding of trends
and strategies.
Enlisting the problem
faced by the retail store
I will analyse all the problems that are
faced by the retail store where I am
working and will identify to manage
such issues and problems. This will
develop ability of linking the situation
and determining its cause and effect
relationship.
It can be done in the
course of employment
with the retail store so that
gradually the problems
and solutions can be
identified.

CV
Curriculum Vitae is document in which various information of the candidate applying for the job
are included such as their personal information, their skills, abilities, knowledge and experience
along with their educational background. With the help of this the employer can analyse the
abilities of the candidate performing a particular role (Gould, 2017). CV for the job role of
manager is prepared which is given below:
John David
Location: London, UK
Telephone: [phone]
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
A highly qualified professional looking for a job in retail sector as a retail manager to service the
customer with dedication and by ensuring better ambience at the retail store with an outgoing
ability and efficient capability to multi-task.
CORE SKILLS
 Problem solving skills
 Better commercial awareness and understanding of the supply chain and logistics concept
in retail industry
 Better communication skills developed by participating in various activities
 Abilities to manage the people and the inventories at the store
 Understanding of the concept of customer behaviour and their perception
 Knowledge of trends in the retail industry
 Various organisational skills such as a management of the store, billing process, purchase
and sales order etc.
 Decision making skills
CAREER SUMMARY
Store assistant in a local retailer in London, UK
Key responsibilities:
 To facilitate the customer in making selection the products, making them understand its

benefits etc.
 Billing process, preparing of purchase and sales order
 Inventory management in the warehouse and in the shelves of the store
 Ensuring the customer behaviour and better ambience at the store as well as taking
feedbacks from the customers
 Managing the people working at the store
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATION
 Business management in Marketing 2021 from Buckinghamshire New University –
London.
LinkedIn Profile
John David
Location: London, UK
Summary: I am presently working a store assistant in a retail store in London which offers
general merchandise to the people. As I am looking for the role of retail manager in retail
industry I keep my profile up-to-date and complete so that I can apply for the job as and when I
come across with any vacancy. In this profile I have included my abilities and skills with the help
of which I can perform my role efficiently.
Education: Business management in Marketing 2021 from Buckinghamshire New University –
London
Skills: The skills that I possess include problem solving skills as well as better commercial
awareness and understanding of the supply chain and logistics concept in retail industry. Also I
have abilities to manage the people and the inventories at the store. Apart from this I have
understanding of the concept of customer behaviour and their perception, various organisational
skills such as a management of the store, billing process, purchase and sales order etc.
Groups:
 Executive Suite
 Social Media Marketing
 Future trends
Companies:

 Tesco Plc.
 Sainsburry’s
 Unilever
 Associated British Foods
CONCLUSION
From above discussed points, it can be concluded that individual has to perform certain
necessary skills that can help in determination of their overall weakness and strength as a
individual personality. It is also very helpful in making a detailed analysis of which skills can be
developed for and it enables in achievement of more opportunities. Further, a career Action Plan
plays a very important part in development of skills with a step-by-step procedure in a limited
period of time by performing certain activities that are very important in achievement of certain
desired goal. Various tools such as LinkedIn profiles and curriculum vitae also helps a person in
getting a right job according to required level of competence and potential that a person
possesses. It is very helpful in identification and utilisation of actual skills and potential
capabilities of an individual.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Gould, J., 2017. Career development: A plan for action. Nature, 548(7668), pp.489-490.\
Sarfo-Frimpong, J., Ansong, D. and Owusu-Ofori, A., 2017. A Survey on Career Development
Plan among Healthcare Workers in Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
(KATH). Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 32(S1), pp.S69-S70.
Mehrmann, V., Scholz, L. and Vergara, C., 2018. Personal Career Development Plans for all
ESRs.
Tang, R., 2018, May. Research on Career Planning and Development of College Counselors.
In 2018 Symposium on Health and Education (SOHE 2018). Atlantis Press.
Cargill, J., 2019. Career development: It’s your option. College & research libraries news, 49(8),
pp.513-517.
Godward, J., Dale, H. and Smith, C., 2019. Personal Development Groups for Trainee
Counsellors: An Essential Companion. Routledge
Vondracek, F.W., Lerner, R.M. and Schulenberg, J.E., 2019. Career development: A life-span
developmental approach. Routledge.
Duboust, S. and Knight, P., 2018. Group Activities for Personal Development. Routledge.