Identifying Career Paths and Professional Development Methods

This assignment delves into the realm of career development, offering a comprehensive overview of how to access and analyze career-related information. It begins by identifying various sources of career information, including family, friends, newspapers, online platforms, and networking sites like LinkedIn. The assignment then outlines a four-step process for career selection: self-assessment, exploring options, decision-making, and taking action. It further explores sources for developing a career path, such as career advisors, family, networking, libraries, recruitment companies, and online research. The document emphasizes the importance of evaluating labor market information and understanding professional development methods, including induction training, performance appraisals, and on-the-job and off-the-job training. The goal is to equip students with the knowledge and tools necessary to make informed career decisions and pursue professional growth.

Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
NOTE ON PLAGIARISM
Projects must be all your own work and must not have been copied partly or entirely from any other
source, such as books, the internet or from other students’ work. If you wish to use another
author’s exact words in a short quotation this must be clearly marked up in inverted commas with
the exact source given, including page number, so that your assessor can clearly see which words
have been copied and are not your own. Just quoting references used at the end is not sufficient.
Please refer to your Learner Handbook to read the centres plagiarism policy
LO1 – Know how to access career related information
P1/M1/D1
Identify sources of
information related to
your
career path
{P1}
You can find a new job through your family and friends help because they
know you, your skills and your interest towards work. Friends and family
might help you because they care about you and they can help you by
telling you new opportunities.
You find new jobs in newspapers, professional magazines and industry.
Also agency can help you to find what you wish or online websites you can
find information about new jobs and apply online.
Here is a wealth of information on different careers that can be found
throughout the examples above. You can use this resource to find out
about different job roles, skills required, working hours, etc.
This research will give you a good idea of which career path best suits you
and what potential progression is like.
You can find information about different jobs on websites for example,
idees.uk.
When you plan your career you must continue the process that helps you
to manage your learning and development in a way that you will touch
your goals.
How to find advertised job vacancies:
You must spread your job search as quickly as possible because there are
a lot of places to look. Online you can read about the many sources of
advertised vacancies.Also, many jobs are not advertised at all and
because of that you must use networking to find out about them by word of
mouth.
When we are looking for an online job we need to make sure that we
check the closing date for application. Also we must beware of
recruitments sites with different jobs that seems to be good and true or to
ask for money. The most and least important step is to be sure that the
site is secure before you to post your personal information.
Example of good networking sites would be: linkedin and spoke. This
examples are good because here you can tell them your skills and
development relationship which might help you to find unaderted
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
vacancies.
Here we have 4 steps that might help us to choose a career:
Know yourself- Before looking for the career or selecting best possible
option one needs to be familiar with their interest areas along with their
likes and dislike because it can help to get the larger image by which one
can opt their career and follow their dreams effectively. So before exploring
any vacancy or job sites such as LinkedIn you need to analyse your likings
for which SWOT analyses can help. Along with that focused vision and
better clarity can assist the individual to gain desirable position.
Explore your options- With the constant advancement and emergence of
digital media has offered the enormous options to the individual where they
can establish their career. For which you need to remain attentive and
enhance your knowledge on continuous basis in order to accomplish better
position in lives. Further, gather of relevant information regarding the
career arer and proper knowledge of changes can lead an individual to
explore various options and take the guidance with their professor for
better understanding.
Make a decision- Once you find out different options and take the advices
from the knowledgeable ones then it will help you to better understand the
difference and which options suits your interest area. As decision is a
process of selecting best course of option amongst the various
alternatives. Thus, in the similar way it can help an individual to arrive at
most desirable conclusion. Hence, discussion and deep understanding can
only lead in making effective decision making.
Take action- After decision making process comes implementation
process under which an individual takes action and follow their final
decision. Thus, at this stage instead to confusion you need to stick at one
field and upgrade your knowledge as well as competencies. Moreover,
authentic job seeking sites and vacancies updated in print media can direct
the individual to take most desirable course of action.
Sources to develop career path
Career adviser: They are responsible to guide the people regarding the
choices they can make in terms of their education and selecting the
suitable career for themselves. The client of the career advisor comprises
of unemployed, youth, adult and students that gain the guidance from
advisor and gain the suitable position in their lives.
Friends and family: As friends and friends are the closest references of
an individual who remain in constant tough and can facilitate to build the
right career. Like, they are aware about the strength and capability of their
ward so based on this they can communicate with them and pass on their
right values to develop the individual and gain better position.
Networking: Networking refer to building the connection with the employer
or employees of the organisation that provide valuable opportunity in order
to developing the strong career path. This is mutual beneficial process
which one can build by exploring various sites like LinkedIn and get the
opportunity to participate in the evaluation process.
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
Libraries: It consist of the collection of various information material in form
of books, magazine , newspaper and so on. So exploring different books
an individual can gain the interest on different subjects that help to
regenerate clarity regarding the field they find suitable enough to establish
the career.
Recruitment companies: They are responsible to hire the best potential
candidate for the vacant positions. So large pool of aspirants one after
other by clearing different rounds become the part of company. Hence,
recruitment company help the candidate to offer the desirable position by
making them a valuable part of an organisation.
Online research: Supporting career development basically encourages
the researcher to offer valuable consideration in order to maintain the
future path of career. This enable the individual to achieve the goal by
fulfilling the skills of an organisation.
Analyse the different
sources of information
available related to
the
career path
{M1}
The prominent advantage which an individual has is that there is no end of
information which simply mean there are various sources of information
such as personal contact, books and world wide web that can assist the
individual to select best suited career path. Therefore, the relevance of
each sources is defined below:
Personal Contact: It include the involvement of family and friends who
can provide the filtered or relevant information to the seeker on the basis of
their past experiences and knowledge. This is one of the most reliable
sources that can assist and advise the person by offering viable
information.
Internet: Internet carries immense information regarding the job which can
be effectively used by job seeker while searching for career. This also
carries the reviews of other job holder who are posted in the sector on
which the seeker has interest upon. So it is used to gain deep insights
regarding the career path.
Evaluate labour
market information
related to your career
path
{D1}
Labour market information is the significant area that cover information
regarding the demand as well as supply. This demand means number of
vacancy or job available in the market whereas supply refer to the
information of people who are more likely to work on the specific field.
Here, an individual can organised the whole information on the basis of
time period, industry, sector and geographical area. So such information
can be generated by vision the website of company on which an individual
is keen to establish their career. Also the statistical data can help to
determine rough data so in order to establish the career and overcome
competitive pressure the job seeker need to enhance their skill and
develop their career successfully. Therefore, this include both quantitative
and qualitative data which need to be adequately analysed in order to
make the informed decision regarding career.
LO4 – Understand methods of professional development and
training
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
P6/M3
Discuss
methods of
continuing
professional
development
and training
relevant to
your career
plan
{P6}
Professional development
method
Description
Induction training Within induction or orientation training programme
the new aspirant are made familiar with the
organisation as well as their roles and
responsibility so that they generate the idea
regarding their work and adjust ass per the
environment. Along with that time is given to the
new employee so that they can understand the
work and gain better understanding regarding the
work. It basically include the training programme
which differ from one job to another depends on
the basis of magnitude of job.
Performance appriasal The appraisal programme is run after a fixed
duration on the basis of the existing performance of
internal employee as well as their capability to
achieve the overall objective effectively. It leads to
the salary hike, promotion, increase in invention,
appraisal and so on depending upon the growth
opportunity and achievement of target. So the
employee need to be focused in their career path
and enhance their skill by filling up the gap
successfully.
On and off the job training As the name suggest within on the job training the
new employee gain all the skill and competency
within the working area. It simple means they gain
the advance skill and understand the culture by
working and gaining training within the workplace.
On other side, as per off the job training the trainee
is supposed to provide training outside the working
area which include the career path of pilot or army
training.
Coaching and mentoring This is a crucial training programme that help to
enhance the skill of an individual in order to
perform the work effectively by gaining clear
supervision that improve the current skill required
for specific career path. Additionally, as per
coaching the mentor pay attention to specific skill
required to achieve the objective which rest for
short duration. Along with that mentoring refer to
combing the experienced and non experienced
works in order to establish the relation which is
likely for long duration. Thus, such guidances
assist the people to carry forward their career and
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
shoulder responsibility effectively.
Professional
body
Professional body is the organisation where teh individual member are
responsible to participate in the organisation and maintain the certain knowledge,
practices and skill which are considered as an valuable practice. Most of the
organisation have professional body which can eb joined by the people with
particular qualification and background that is required by an organisation. Like,
the main benefit being a manner of professional body for CPD is that as various
institution uses the website whose password is shared to the member. They can
access the survey, report or news such as chartered management institution
consist of research facility so that the member can download the document and
review the answer successfully.
Sector
service
council
These are the employer led organisation that support the industries by bridging
the gap between the upcoming demand as well as skill required to achieve the
demand effectively. The aim of it is to sup[port the workforce by enriching their
skills and accomplish the standard set by the different companies. It play a
prominent role in CPD as boost up the enthusiasm of employees and motivate
them to enhance the productivity via training programme. Further, they have build
their own portals where they can engage in 360 degree interface to connect the
candidate as well as training partners.
Differnt
training
provider
Private training provider: These are the part of independent training provider
that offer study programmes, vocational courses, apprenticeship to the trainee.
Although these training cantered are neither controlled or managed by the state
but still large amount of the work is being funded by the local authorities. For
instance, Eclipse training Ltd that offer apprenticeships in customer services,
shaping skill and so on.
Public training programme: On contrary, it is the classroom training that take
place on the scheduled dates. The public as well as organisation can register for
the session and pay the desirable amount. Here the training takes place at a
dedicated training hall which way from the workplace in order to reduce the
chances of distraction.
Differnt type
of
qualification
Academic qualification is gained by the student of university after the
successfully completion of particular course. It is used to ascertain the adequate
learning of the course by completing the education effectively.
Vocational qualification offer wide career opportunity which is designed to
acquire the potential skill to carry out the particular job. The purpose of such
qualification to meet the recognised standard by availing the particular course for
the specific job career.
Different
modes of
study
Classroom: Within classroom study the teachers are allowed to direct as well as
guide the whole students of the class. This technique helps to keep the student
focused and gain the potential knowledge of different subjects so that they can
select the best subjects and flourish their career in that field.
Distant learning: This is different from the class room learning as within this
mode is not necessary for student to be physical present in the class. But they are
required to clear all the assessment which depict that they have gained required
knowledge of the subjects.
Blended learning: This approach includes the online platform which act as an
opportunity for the wide students to virtually attend the class and ask the required
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
queries. In comparison to the above defined modes this is the most effective ones
as it allow the opportunity to cover immense students within specific duration.
Full-time: Full time means the student need to spend the full required hours on
the study programmes in order to avail the course. This bind the student to allot
full time in order to carry out programme.
Part-time: On contrary, within part time study the programmer are required to
spend the fewer hours per week for the particular study. So this is bit flexible for
the people who work outside as they can utilise the night or weekends to avail the
course.
Evening classes: This is basically the type of part time under which the student
basically join the evening classes instead of day. Such classes spread the
education specially during the hours when most of the students remain free.
Importance of
feedback
Feedback are basically the reviews which are offered by the employer or
colleagues to the employee so that they can retain their strength and work on
shortcomings in order to progress. I gained various constructive feedbacks from
family and mangers on which I worked upon to develop my career successfully.
The main purpose of the feedback is to continuously enhance the performance of
an individual by minimising the chances of variance or performance gap. Being
working within the XYZ company within marketing department I gained the
feedback that i need to work on my persuasion skill in order to gain the trust of
company and work for the welfare of company. Along with that I work on my
confidence skill by constantly working on my abilities gained through constructive
feedback.
Analyse
different
methods
of continuing
professional
development
and training
relevant to
your career
plan
{M3}
The role of different training method include different procedure but their specific
aim is to enrich the skill of an individual and help them to achieve the business
objective successfully. Like, the role of induction training is to make the trainee
familiar with the environment where they have conduct the business. The main
advantage associated with it is to make the new aspirant comfortable and
introduce them towards the work. Thus, it is beneficial for the new employee to
practically apply the knowledge and work affirmatively for the chosen career path.
On contrary, it is bit time as well as cost consuming along with that it can motive
the employee if they does not find the work as per their interest area. Moreover,
there are certain other effective training tool like on/off training method or
performance appraisal where the effort of an employee is encouraged on the
basis of their monetary and non monetary benefit.
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
LO2 Be able to develop a personal career development plan
P3/P2/P4
{P3} Self-Assessed Skills Audit
A = Good B = Fair C = Poor
To get the most out of this activity you should answer the questions as honestly as
possible
The resulting self-assessment can be also used as a basis for students’ discussions with
tutors where gaps in understanding and knowledge can be identified.
Self Assessed Skills Audit Form
Team Working
A B C
● I am able to build and develop working relationships with
colleagues
x
● I work effectively with others to complete tasks and achieve
results
x
● I encourage others to work together as part of a team or
group
x
● I recognise and understand when compromise and
accommodating others is necessary
x
● I interact well with others and work cooperatively as a team
member
x
● I understand how to gain the attention of others in a team or
group when required
x
● I understand how to contribute effectively and cooperatively
with others even if they do not share the same ideas and ways
of working
x
● I express myself effectively in a group and in one to one
situations
x
● I have an understanding of team roles x
TOTAL 8 1 0
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
Problem Solving
A B C
● I use an appropriate approach to questioning in order to gain
information from which to draw conclusions
x
● I am able to find creative solutions to problems x
● I explore more than one solution in order to solve a problem x
● I consider the ideas of others to help solve problems x
● I demonstrate resilience and lateral thinking abilities when
applied to problem solving
x
TOTAL 4 1 0
communication
A B C
● I understand the differences in presenting types of
documents, e.g. reports, essays, dissertations, summaries
x
● I check written work for errors before submission x
● expressing and conveying ideas appropriately and accurately
in writing
x
● expressing and conveying ideas appropriately and accurately
verbally
x
● I can successfully give a presentation or demonstration x
● I know how to check information I am giving someone is
understood by using a range of verbal and non-verbal signals
x
TOTAL 6 0 0
Planning and Time Management
A B C
● I can plan my day in order to manage time more effectively x
● I apply suitable approaches and put in extra effort if required
in order to meet tight deadlines
x
● I know how to prioritise my own work x
● I can identify resources required to complete a set task x
● I can motivate myself and work hard to assist in the
completion of work objectives
x
TOTAL 3 2 0
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
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Functional Skills
A B C
● I am confident performing calculations involving addition and
subtraction
x
● I am comfortable performing calculations involving
multiplication and division
x
● I am comfortable performing calculations involving measure
e.g. weight, volume, length
x
● I am comfortable performing calculations involving ratios and
percentages
x
● I am comfortable surfing the internet and using it to find the
information I need
x
● I am comfortable using email to send and receive messages x
● I understanding how to use Word Processing Software x
● I understanding how to use Spreadsheet Software x
● I understand how to use Presentation Software x
● I am comfortable writing an email or letter in English x
● I am comfortable reading a newspaper or magazine that is
written in English
x
TOTAL 9 2 0
Personal Development
A B C
● I am able to apply knowledge I have gained from experience
to everyday life
x
● I have developed the communication skills I need to help
apply knowledge gained from experience
x
● I actively work towards developing skills needed to work
effectively in my line of work
x
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
● I am able to apply theory to practice where appropriate x
● I find opportunities to enhance and develop
transferable skills
x
● I set goals for myself and review them regularly x
● I recognise my personal successes x
● I can establish a course of action for myself and
evaluate my own performance
x
● I find opportunities to enhance and develop
transferable skills
x
TOTAL 9 0 0
Consider what the results says about your
ability in each of these sections.
Are they strengths or weaknesses?
What do you think the results say about you?
How can you improve in each area?
Teamwork Teamwork is a particular strength for me and I find working in a team
very easy,i contribute very well, i encourage other and my colleagues
are always next to me to help them completing tasks.
This is good for my career path because i am very good to work with
other people and for that reason I need to maintain building contribution
skills and to develop much better my English writing and speaking skills.
The type of work that I am doing it is very important to have teamwork
as a team and that's why i made a conscious work. I find out working
with other people as being more easy to complete task, to come with
new ideas because we have different minds and different type of
thinking. It is easy to approach people and people approach easy
because of that I have the intention of keeping and maintaining that
strength.
I am fair in working efficiently with other people to complete tasks and I
have possibilities to improve that aeria by cooperating with them through
different tasks.
Problem Solving Problem solving is another strength
I know that I am proactive and i do not wait to be told to do things
because I naturally use my own initiative to complete all the tasks in a
good time.
I am confident and I solve problems which arise and I do not solicit other
problem solutions and in that aeria i need to improve even if i have my
own ideas i still need to ask my team what should be good for me
because maybe their ideas might be much better than mine.
Communication Communication is simply transfer of the views or information amongst
the internal member of an organisation. I am good at interpersonal skill
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
where I effectively communicate with my team in order to achieve the
shared objective. Along with that I understand the importance of both
written and oral communication due to which I use both of modes while
transmitting the urgent information.
I believe in group discussion and brain storming method due to which we
the whole team member discuss and come up with innovation decision
making. Hence, it helps to enhance the inter communication skill and
lead to coordination while accomplishing the objective successfully.
Planning and Time
Management This is something where I need to work upon so time management is my
weakness. Although in order to overcome it I make the priority list and
we team member avoid the procrastination of most essential work. But
still due to dynamic environment and while conducting the multitask I
faces difficultly while making the plan and structure the whole work
effectively.
Functional
Skills(Numeracy,
Literacy and ICT)
Functional skill was initially my weakness but I developed it within few
course of time which helped me to effectively interact with other and
enhanced my skill in order to deal with the adverse situation for my
personal growth. Function skill include literacy, Numeracy as well as ICT
part. Like, literacy part include the ability of effective communication,
read as well as write. So here I worked on my listening skill along with
that I improve my logical thinking part and gain deep knowledge of the
technology which constantly upgrade. Therefore, this assisted me to fill
the gap successfully.
Personal Development Personal development is my strength because I constantly believe to
enhance my existing knowledge for which I try to achieve the objective
and help to minimise the chances of deviation. Also I set the target for
myself and make immense effort to achieve it within stipulated time
period. So in order to follow my career path and achieve self
actualisation position I take the constructive feedback from both of my
supervisor as well as subordinate. This therefore helps me to gain deep
insight and enhance my performance on the continuous basis.
{P2} Complete the career plan below to help
identify your development needs
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Unit Title:
Development Planning for a Career in Business
Unit Number:
13
:
What my current
situation career wise?
Currently I am a fresher in Marketing within XYZ business so being new to
the field I make effort to enhance my knowledge and skill. I on the
supervision of my manager anayse the behaviour of consumer as well as
their changing preferences. So I and other team member communicate
with customer and consider their constructive feedback. Analyses of
market trend is must in order to run the business effectively for which I
remain attentive to formulate the changes in order to flourish the business.
What
job/career/business
do I ultimately want to
be in?
Ultimately my objective is to be the Marketing Head where I on the basis of
my core skill can handle the day to day business operation successfully.
Also I will develop the effective strategy in order to satisfy the customer
and evaluate effective strategy for the proper functioning of business.
Hence, this will help me to take the business in new productive direction as
I will gain the opportunity to explore the business environment and
inculcate viable strategy on the basis of my past experiences which I
learner in the whole journey of company starting from marketing fresher to
marketing head.
Where do I want to be
in my career 1-2
years from now?
After few years I want to see myself as a Marketing manager and I will be
assigned to support the staff of sales team. As my strength is team work
thus this will help me to understand the perception of team member and
encourage them to participate together in order to fulfil the business
objective. Hence, this whole process will help me to build my career in the
respective field where I wanted to gain desirable position.
Where do I want to be
in my career 2-5
years from now?
As an experience helps to enrich the position within the business so
between two to five years I want to gain Marketing Executive position. By
acquire this position I will be liable to oversee the functioning of whole
department and develop the marketing campaign in order to acquire the
specific position and promote the goods and services effectively.
What are the key
things I am looking for
in a career?
I am looking for the competitive team who have welcoming attitude towards
the changes. Although my teammates are good but they try to accept the
changes. Moreover, I want the business to recognises the talent and
individual performance and offer growth opportunity.
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