BMS502 Work Learning: Reflective Assessment on Career Prospects

This reflective piece assesses key competencies, career prospects, and progression opportunities for a student in a Foundation Degree in Business & Management program. It includes a personal SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relevant to career development. The report justifies specific career pathways in the short, medium, and long term, considering the student's competencies and potential progression activities, while also acknowledging associated barriers. The Gibbs reflective model is used to analyze progression opportunities and barriers, providing a structured approach to self-assessment and improvement. The analysis covers gaining experience, pursuing higher education, and leadership development. The student aims to leverage training and development programs to enhance skills and overcome weaknesses, ultimately achieving career goals.

REFLECTIVE PIECE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Key competencies........................................................................................................................3
Career prospects- Specific career pathways................................................................................4
Progression opportunities.............................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Skill audit refers to the structured or the systematic assessment of the research skills and
the knowledge of the students. This report is a type of reflective piece that shows the key
competencies such as the personal key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, attributes and the
attitudes that directly contributes or help for the growth and the development of the career and
also for the future success (Chang, 2019). This also shows the career prospects which includes
the pathways or the right path for the career development on the basis of the short, medium and
the long term. However, in this report the potential progression activities as well as the
progression barriers will also be discussed.
Key competencies
Strengths refers to the quality or the state of being strong and it includes knowledge,
skills, talents and the proficiencies of an individual. Whereas on the other hand the weaknesses
refers to the qualities or the skills that are lacked in an individual and also that have to be learned
or focused for the career progression. There are various skills that are required or needed for the
for the growth or the development of the career such as communication skills, management
skills, leadership skills, etc. In order to understand the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and the threats one of the great tool that is helpful for analysing oneself is the personal SWOT
analysis (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019). It includes the following steps-
Strengths- I have the knowledge of the management functions such as planning, organizing,
staffing, controlling, etc. as I completed my graduation from commerce field and also did
masters in business management. I am creative and also have the effective and good
communication skills that are helpful for impressing the clients as well as the team members. I
also have the ability to ask right questions and also have the confidence in order to put my
opinions and the thoughts in front of others. My decision making power is also very strong and I
take the decisions after analysing each and every point of view. I also have the leadership
qualities that will help me in the future for the growth and the development of the career. I can be
able to manage the team work and the team members with the help of the leadership qualities
(Sirbu, Popa and Pipas, 2019). I am fully or completely committed towards my desired goals and
the objective that will ensure my success.

Weaknesses- I have the bad habit of getting stress and panic very frequently. This also gave a
negative impact on the performance of my work. I also have a strong or the compulsive need to
complete or finish my work quickly that will affect the quality of my work. Sometimes I also
gave emphasis on the speed rather than quality. I have the fear of the public speaking so I am
lacking in the presentation skill that I have to improve for the development of my career. One of
the major weakness of mine is the emotional side of my personality that will affect my work as I
am very emotional and very lenient .
Opportunities- There are many ways or forms through which an opportunities can come and an
individual can grasp them for the self growth and development (Lyon and Kirby, 2020). Also,
there are various new and advanced technologies introduced that will help me in my career
development. These new technologies such as the online and the social media platform will
assist me to gain the overall knowledge about the current trends in the market. It is also very
helpful in shaping my career needs and requirements and also provides me training for the self
betterment. I can be able to learn the presentation skills by attending seminars as well as the
debate this will helpful in overcoming my fear of public speaking.
Threats- It refers to the fears of an individual or the obstacles and the challenges that creates
hurdles in the path of their success. My threats includes the problem of over thinking on a
particular topic. I focus on the completion of the task rather then the quality of the work so this is
one of the biggest threat for me. The advancement and the introduction of the new technologies
day by day is also becoming a threat. Sometimes I got nervous in answering the question that
will create many issues that I have to face at the time of interview. Now a days many
organizations are hiring the candidates through online interview so this is also one of my threat
as I face difficulties in exploring my thoughts and the ideas at the time of interviewing online
(Jackson, 2019). This will distract me and I prefer one on one interview as the eye contact with
the other people boost my confidence.
Training and development refers to those educational activities within a company created
to enhance the knowledge and skills of employees while providing instruction and information
on how to better perform specific tasks. Training and development will be helpful in enhancing
the performance. The training will be also helpful for strengthening individual confidence
because of deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities to even perform better and think
of new ideas. Training offers a major chance to nurture the knowledge base one have, but many

finds the development opportunity cost prohibitive. Training increases the chances of promotion
because skills and efficiency are acquired during training. It is also helpful for increasing the
efficiency and productivity of an individual. There is strong feeling of satisfaction among doing
the work if an person goes through the training .
Career prospects- Specific career pathways
Career pathways refers to the collection or the series of connected or the structured
programs of education as well as the support and also the services that enable an individual in
order to increase their work performance, for the betterment and the advancement and also for to
do the jobs and higher education and training (Tims and Akkermans, 2020). A career path
identifies opportunities for advancement based on an individual's unique skills, interests and
career objectives and details the steps that someone needs to take along the way to reach the
various milestones outlined in career path.
For the growth and development in terms of profession the career mapping is important
or essential. In this context, it requires or needed an additional level of involvement in training
and development, but it can also yield several advantages and the benefits for the individuals.
They are an integrated collection of programs and services that are designed to enhance or
develop academic education or the experience of students, technical and employability skills,
which provide them continuous education, training and also offers various types of opportunities
that can be grasped by the students (Di Gregorio and et,al., 2019). There are various types of
career pathways or the opportunities such as agriculture, business, management, education and
training, health sciences, finance, etc.
The short term career pathways that will open for the growth and the development of my
career is first to get a job on the basis of my graduation degree. This will help me to gain the
experience that can be helpful in my future and for the progression of my career. I can also be
able to learn the various skills such as communication skill, management skill, presentation skill,
etc. These skills shape my career and I can achieve the desired career goals as well as the
personal goals. The second thing is to become self employed so that I can save money for the
future and can grow the business. This will be helpful for fulfilling my dreams and also increases
my confidence. It provides benefits such as independence, control, freedom, flexibility,
recognition, satisfaction, etc (Piotrowska, 2019).

The medium term career pathways that are opened for me are to earn a professional
degree or the certificate and also to finish the higher level education in order to master or to gain
the new skills and the knowledge. This will help me for the career progression and also
strengthen my portfolio with the new and interesting projects. However, my long term career
path is to save money and to become a leader in my field and also I will start my own business
after gaining the knowledge of the various skills. This will assist me to fulfil my desired goals
and the objectives and also leads me towards success.
Progression opportunities
Progression refers to the process of gaining the knowledge and the experiences in order to
climb the ladder during the working life. It generally includes some elements such as moving
forward, finding new challenges as well as the opportunities, being promoted and also to get the
best things out of the career. The progression opportunities shows the correct or the right
direction for my success. Potential progression activities means the new opportunities that are
helpful for me to recognise or identify the resources and engage them in the activities that are
required to develop or improve the skills a s well as the knowledge. The skills can be developed
through training and development programs, community services, workshops, conferences, etc.
There are some barriers that can create hurdles in the path of the my career progression such as
lack of confidence, trust issues, stress, inability to communicate with the other people, attitude,
etc.
In order to examine or analyse the progression opportunities and the associated
progression barriers I can use the reflective model named as Gibbs model that can support me for
the research or the analysis. The Gibbs's reflective model is one of the most famous cyclical
models of reflection leading through six stages exploring an experience: description, feelings,
evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan (Adeani, Febriani and Syafryadin, 2020). By
using the Gibbs model of reflection I can be able to improve my own practice and can also
facilitates me for the self analysis. I can apply this model by using or analysing all the steps
involved in this model. Firstly there is a need of situation description which can help in
understanding the exact situation. The description stage of this model during my graduation
helps me to analyse that what I will learn and up-to what extent I gain the knowledge at the time
of my graduation. The second step is to analyse the emotions or the feelings regarding the
situation and after examining the situation it is necessary to go through the evaluation part.

During the feelings stage of this model, I feel or understand that what are the different
perspectives of the field of study which I have chosen. This will also help me to learn new and
advanced things that are required for the growth of my career. Self- evaluation help me to
understand the improvement is needed at which skill and also assist me to analysis the tools or
the techniques that can be used to enhance the lacking skills. This will also shows the challenges
that I have to face in the path of the development of my career. The next stage is analysis where I
analysed myself that what are the situations where I am lacking and how to improve that
loopholes for covering that situation. After the evaluation and the analysis of the situation it is
important to make a conclusion and also the action plan in order to overcome the situation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that how an individual is going through
different phases of learning while pursuing his graduation. In this report personal SWOT analysis
is helpful in identifying or recognising my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
However, it can also be concluded that along with the different progression opportunities I have
to face many challenges for the development or the growth of my career. Also, how I overcome
those challenges and reached my desired goals and objectives. I used many skills and attributes
which prove helpful for me in doing certain activities and I also used or apply the Gibbs model in
order to do the self- evaluation so that I can be able to overcome the problems or the hurdle in
the path of my success.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adeani, I.S., Febriani, R.B. and Syafryadin, S., 2020. USING GIBBS’REFLECTIVE CYCLE IN
MAKING REFLECTIONS OF LITERARY ANALYSIS. Indonesian EFL Journal. 6(2).
pp.139-148.
Chang, B., 2019. Reflection in learning. Online Learning. 23(1). pp.95-110.
Di Gregorio, A. and et,al., 2019. Employability skills for future marketing
professionals. European management journal. 37(3). pp.251-258.
Jackson, C., 2019. Career planning for the future. Workplace Learning in Health and Social
Care: A Student's Guide. p.112.
Lyon, D.W. and Kirby, E.G., 2020. The career planning essay. Journal of management
Education. 24(2). pp.276-287.
Neulicht, A.T., 2019. Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities, and Risks (SCOR©): A Strategic
Tool for Business, Personal and Case Analyses. Rehabilitation Professional. 27(1).
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.
Piotrowska, M., 2019. Facets of competitiveness in improving the professional skills. Journal of
Competitiveness. 11(2). p.95.
Sirbu, J., Popa, M. and Pipas, M.D., 2019. Professional Career Planning-Practice and
Results. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social
Sciences. 4(7). p.350.
Tims, M. and Akkermans, J., 2020. Job and career crafting to fulfill individual career
pathways. Career pathways: From school to retirement. pp.165-189.
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