Graduate Area Manager Employability Skills and Competencies Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the employability skills and competencies required for a Graduate Area Manager position at ALDI. It begins by identifying essential skills such as communication, leadership, decision-making, and teamwork, and then assesses a graduate's current skill level...Read More

Developing and
Demonstrating Employability

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Competencies and skills needed to get job in ALDI as a Graduate area manager................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Rating skills and competencies acquired by graduates for the job of Area Manager of
ALDI...........................................................................................................................................3
2.2 Development of skills possessed by Graduates....................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Reflection on Learning..........................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Personal Development Plans to improve the skills and abilities of Graduate Area manager
.....................................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills and competencies refers to the requirements needed in an individual
for performing specific job and responsibilities in an organisation in an effective and efficient
manner which helps in achieving future growth in career. The general skills which are required
on the basis of types of activities performed such as good communication skills, Team working
and written skills etc. Main purpose of preparing this report is to provide the competencies
needed to be present in an individual in order to perform job roles and responsibilities. Aldi, one
of the largest supermarket chains with more than 10,000 stores in 18 countries, is selected for the
purpose of preparing this report and all skills and competencies required to get job in this
company are described here (Haroun, 2015).
TASK 1
1.1 Competencies and skills needed to get job in ALDI as a Graduate area manager
In this report, an individual is looking for a job position in ALDI as a graduate area
manager and in order to perform this job related roles and responsibilities, they must need to
have following competencies so that they can achieve future growth in his career (Blaszczynski,
and Green, 2012).
Job description: The roles and responsibilities of Area Manager of ALDI is to maintain
store warehouses and supply quality products to targeted customers on time which build a strong
and positive image among them. Therefore, communication and decision making skills are
essentially required to have in them so as to perform their roles in an effective manner.
Person specification: An individual must be graduated and should be at least 2:1 in order
to qualify for the job position. He must be passionate about their roles and activities as well as he
should be a hard worker in order to achieve desired target within limited period of time.
Generic competencies: It refers to the competencies which are outlined standards and
behaviours that are helpful in giving guidance and direction to all employees (Rao, 2010). It
helps in identifying the expectancies at workplace to perform tasks in an effective and efficient
manner. Following are some competencies required by company for the job position they
offered:
2:1 Degree: An individual must be qualified with having any graduated degree and
should be required to achieve benchmark i.e. 2:1 set by the company.
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Good communication skills: It is important to have this skill in area manager which
helps in understanding others and maintains a healthy relationship. Communicated properly will
allow manager to make an effective decision by collecting feedbacks and suggestion from their
employees which increase the speed of work progress (Cottrell, 2015).
Driving License: It is also important for an individual to have a driving licence so that
they can reach products from manufacturing company to company's store without facing any
difficulties so that they can fulfil the needs and demands of targeted customers.
Team working skills: Working in a team brings motivation and self-confidence among
workers which increases the chances of getting positive results. Therefore, it is important to have
such skills which also give a platform to understand the skills and knowledge of group members.
Written skills: Maintaining records of products received from suppliers and sold to
targeted customers will help in identifying the actual cost and revenue. Therefore, it is important
to have good written skills so that they can keep records of import and export.
Good knowledge about local areas: Knowledge about the process of completing work in
given working environment is essentially required in order to bring efficiency in work and
achieve positive results to company. It is important to have knowledge about local areas
Strong leadership skills: As an area manager of ALDI, it is important to have such skills
in order to direct and guide its employees to perform in the right direction so as to achieve
desired targets within limited time period.
Strong listening skills: It is also important to have listening skills in order bring
confidence and motivation among employees. As an area manager, he must need to provide an
opportunities to their employees to give them feedbacks and suggestion regarding competing
task and accordingly implement an effective decision (Patton and McMahon, 2014).
IT skills: It is important to have such skills which are helpful in getting outputs by the
team at all times. Various methods and techniques implemented in the execution of work in an
effective and efficient manner require good IT skills in order to achieve the best possible results.
It is also important to have knowledge of computer system so that they can share, search an
effective solution on internet. Therefore conducting training programmes on computer will help
employees in performing their task using computer system which also helps in reduction of
errors as well.
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Decision making: As a graduate area manager of ALDI, it is important to have good
decision skills which are required in grabbing opportunities in order to compete with their rivals
(Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010).
TASK 2
2.1 Rating skills and competencies acquired by graduates for the job of Area Manager of ALDI
Competencies Poor/Average/Good
2:1 Degree Gap
Communication skills Average
Driving license Good
Team working skills Good
Written skills Good
Good knowledge of local area Poor
Strong leadership skills Exceed
Listening skills Average
IT skills Poor
Decision making skills Average
2.2 Development of skills possessed by Graduates
Skills/Competencies Current level Best current examples Ways to improve
Communication Average Communication
regarding assigning
task
Conducting group
discussion and training
programs
Listening Average Identifying new ideas
and suggestion from
employees
Conducting seminars
and meetings for team
Problem solving Average Solving problems with Proper utilisation of
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the mutual support
rather than efforts
individually
information
technology in order to
find correct ways to
resolve the problems
Leadership Average Required to provide
right direction and
guidance to employees
Allocating leader’s
responsibility for short
period and after that,
evaluating the
experience in meetings
conducted for team
Professional
knowledge of area
Poor Need to acquire
knowledge about
process of work.
Conducting
development programs
for employees help in
acquiring sufficient
knowledge about the
process of work.
Team work Good Supporting each other
in completing work on
time.
Motivating employees
to take participate In
the discussion and
implement team target
stratagem in order to
improve the
participation of
employees.
IT skills Poor Should have
knowledge and skills
of using computer for
file saving, sharing
and solution on
Compute course
should be provided in
order to improve their
computer skills.
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internet.
Time management Poor Some workers fail to
complete tasks within
pre-determined time
frame.
Proper communication
and coordination
among employees help
in saving the time in
conducting research
process.
TASK 3
3.1 Reflection on Learning
There are various competencies or skills an individual can obtained from their learning
experiences and what their employer want from them. Some of them are as follows:
Communication and interpersonal skills: It is considered as an effective skills which is
helpful in maintain good relationship with others and creating healthy environment at workplace.
Communicating and coordination regarding plans and policies help employees in getting right
direction to perform in order to achieve desired goals and objectives. Creating communication
channels for the customers to collect feedbacks and issues related to product of Aldi will help in
implementing changes in existing products according to the needs and requirements. This will
help in maintaining healthy relation with loyal customers (Lovett and Ockwell, 2010).
Problem solving skills: As there are lots of issues or problems arises at workplace due to
which the performance of employees are much affected. Therefore such ability helps in
understanding the problems and divided it into different parts on the basis of their complexity
and accordingly implement corrective measures to overcome such issues which damage the
performance of ALDI.
Team working: Working in an a team ensures in bringing positive outcomes to company.
Therefore having skills of working in a team will help manager to understand the skills and
capabilities of their employees so that they can utilized them in an effective and efficient manner.
As there are different employees having different skills and knowledge therefore combining all
together and motivate them to with in a team will help leader to analyse each member's skills and
abilities and accordingly assign them roles and responsibilities so that the positive outcome
achieved in future will be better.
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Decision making skills: As the business environment is complex in nature due to which
the problems or issues may arise which need to be resolved on time otherwise it will damage the
performance of company. Therefore Graduate Area manager need to have problems solving skill
so that if any problems are occurred while transmitting quality products to one place to another
then it must be required to take an effective decision regarding removing barriers (Maclean,
Jagannathan and Sarvi, 2012).
There are some theories related with decision making skills: Casual decision theory: It refers to determining the rational and effective choices among
alternative while dealing with complex situations in order to achieve bet possible
consequences (Coetzee, Ferreira and Potgieter, 2015). Evidential decision theory: It refers to taking best option on the basis of conditions of
happenings due to which the chances of getting positive outcomes will be more. Game theory: It refers to making decision relating to solving problems and conflicts
occur between intelligent rational decision makers. It generally focuses on how group of
people interact with each other (Game theory, 2012).
Leadership skills: Understanding other's skills and knowledge and direct them in order to
achieve best possible outcome is known as leadership skills. There are different leadership styles
which need to be followed by Manager which help in directing and guiding their employees in an
effective and efficient manner. Therefore it s considered as an effective skills which need to be
present in Graduate Area Manager so that hey can perform their roles and responsibilities and get
work done from others (Gravells, 2010). There are different leadership theories out of which
behavioural theories which need to be applied in order to provide direction and guidance to their
employees which are described as under:
Behavioural theories: This theory is focus on identifying the behaviours and attitude of
employees and accordingly assign them roles and responsibilities in order to maximise the level
of satisfaction of employees. This will help in maintaining healthy relationship with employees
as well as bring positive outcome to company (Leadership Theories, 2017).
Written skills: Recording all details and information of buying and selling products on
regular basis will help in analysis the cost and revenue for company. Therefore it is important to
have good written skills so that it can easily identify the buyers and sellers which help in
maintaining healthy relationship with the customers. Misrepresentation of any data or
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information will bring huge loss for company therefore it is important for records actual and
accurate data in order to bring actual result and perform accordingly
Time management skills: Completing work on time will definitely bring positive result
to company therefore directing employees to focus on target and achieve within limited period of
time will help in bringing efficiency in work. So it is important for manager to make proper
communication and coordination to employees and inform them about the plans and activities to
be performed in near future with an effective and efficient manner (Hinchliffe and Jolly,2011).
Driving License: Reaching products to targeted customers on time will help in bringing
good image and reputation of company towards customers. Therefore it is important to have a
driving license with their workers so that they can deliver goods and services to customers
without facing any difficulties. Sometimes it may find difficulties or problems while transmitting
goods from one place to another such as goods ceased by police as the driver is not have driving
license due to which the company and customer both suffered losses. Therefore it is important to
have proper documents of transportation vehicles so as to reach company's quality products to
customers on time (Leoni, 2014).
Good knowledge about local areas: Having good knowledge about local areas will help
in grabbing lots of opportunities due to which they can achieve competitive advantage among
their rivals. Distributing goods and services to different locations on time will help in gaining
loyalty and reliability of customers. Therefore it is important for employees and manager to have
sufficient knowledge about local areas so that they can identify the needs and requirements of
local people and accordingly order company to supply them demanded goods to them in order to
meet the needs and wants of targeted customers (Harms and Brummel,2013).
Technology skills: It is important to have advanced and updated technology which help
in resolving problems and issues in an effective and efficient manner. Some employees are
having lack of knowledge that how to operate computer system due to which they are failed to
storer, share and searching crucial information through internet. Therefore it is important to
provide them suitable training programs on computer so that they can acquire knowledge of
using computer system in an effective and efficient manner. It will also help inn tracking team
performance so that they can implement corrective measures on time if any deviation found.
Kolbs Theory:
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TASK 4
4.1 Personal Development Plans to improve the skills and abilities of Graduate Area manager
It is important to prepare a personal development plan which helps in identifying the
under-developed skills and accordingly formulate plan to develop cheese skills along with the
time period so that they will contribute more in achieving desired goals and objectives. Therefore
in order to analyse the existing skills present in an individual, Personal skills analysis help on
improving the personality and professional career in an organisation (Ramli, Nawawi and Chun,
2010). There are various theoretical and practical approaches which are used in development of
personal skills. Evaluation of personal skills are explained under this table:
Colum
n 1
Colum
n 2
Column
3
Column
4
Column 5 Column 6 Column 7
SKILL
S
CURR
ENT
PROFI
CIE
NCY
TARGET
PROFICI
ENCY
DEVELO
PMENT
OPPORT
UNITY
CRITERIA
FOR
JUDGING
SUCCESS
TIME
SCALE
EVIDENCE
PRIO
RITY
No 1.
Comm
unicati
on
skills
Difficu
lt in
unders
tandin
g local
langua
ges
Conduct
ing
training
program
mes to
learn
local
languag
es
Working
with
employe
es from
different
backgro
unds.
Level of
satisfactio
n and
relationshi
p with
employees
.
15 days in
removing
communica
tion gap
between
the
employees
and
manager.
See Self
Assessment
Template-
communication
skills”
PRIO
RITY
No 2.
Team
workin
g skills
Failed
to
provid
e
motiva
tion to
Adopt
various
motivati
onal
program
s so as
Groupin
g
employe
es
having
different
Problem
solving
skills and
finding
new and
innovative
At least
2month is
required to
understand
the skills
and
See “Self
assessment
template-
Teamwork”
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its
team
memb
ers in
order
to
perfor
m
well.
to
achieve
target in
limited
period
of time.
skills
and
abilities.
ways. abilities of
team
members.
PRIO
RITY
No 3.
Leader
ship
skills
Due to
lack of
confid
ence,
unable
to
assign
roles
and
duties
to its
emplo
yees.
Must be
have
knowled
ge of
skills
and
abilities
of its
employe
es so
that they
can
delegate
d roles
confiden
tly.
Leading
team
while
storing
products
.
Level of
satisfactio
n of
customers
regarding
receiving
products
To improve
leadership
skills, at
least one
month time
period must
be required.
See “ Self
Assessment-
Tutorial-
Leadership skills”
PRIO
RITY
No 4.
Decisi
on
makin
g skills
Lack
of
confid
ence
and
awaren
Impleme
nting
effective
decision
in order
to bring
Assignin
g power
and
rights to
handle
complex
Level of
satisfactio
n and
motivation
of
employees
1 month
should be
needed to
enhance
decision
making
See “ Self
Assessment-
Tutorial-
Decision making
skills”
9

ess
about
the
situati
on
arises I
workin
g
enviro
nment.
positive
result to
compan
y.
situation
s.
. skills.
PRIO
RITY
No 5.
Listeni
ng
skills
Not
showin
g
interes
t and
willing
ness in
listeni
ng
others
Focus
on
suggesti
on and
views
given
from
others.
Create
platform
for the
employe
es to
show
their
views
and
interest
to
manager
s.
Interest
level of
manager to
adopt
other's
thinking
See “ Self
Assessment-
Tutorial- listening
skills”
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that employability skills are
necessarily required in employees in order to be recruited in well reputed company. In the given
report, an individual need to have different skills which is required to perform specific job in
company. For this, training and development programs are some methods which is required to be
conducted to reach their skill to desired level. Personal development plan are also need to be
prepared in order to develop skills after identifying the causes of low skills and knowledge.
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Competencies such as communication skills, decision making and problem solving skills,
leadership skills etc. is essentially requirement in order to perform roles and responsibilities in an
effective and efficient manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Haroun, L., 2015. Career Development for Health Professionals-E-Book: Success in School &
on the Job. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Rao, M. S., 2010. Soft Skills-Enhancing Employability: Connecting Campus with Corporate. IK
International Pvt Ltd.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Patton, W. and McMahon, M., 2014. Career development and systems theory: Connecting
theory and practice (Vol. 2). Springer.
Lovett, J. C. and Ockwell, D. G., 2010. A handbook of environmental management. Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Maclean, R., Jagannathan, S. and Sarvi, J. eds., 2012. Skills development for inclusive and
sustainable growth in developing Asia-Pacific. Springer.
Gravells, A., 2010. Delivering employability skills in the lifelong learning sector. Learning
Matters.
Hinchliffe, G. W. and Jolly, A., 2011. Graduate identity and employability. British Educational
Research Journal. 37(4). pp.563-584.
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Harms, P. D. and Brummel, B. J., 2013. The importance of developing employability. Industrial
and Organizational psychology. 6(1). pp.20-23.
Ramli, A., Nawawi, R. and Chun, M. P. P., 2010. Employees’ perception of employability skills
needed in todays workforce among physiotherapy graduates. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences. 7. pp.455-463.
Leoni, R., 2014. Graduate employability and the development of competencies. The incomplete
reform of the “Bologna Process”. International Journal of Manpower. 35(4). pp.448-
469.
Coetzee, M., Ferreira, N. and Potgieter, I. L., 2015. Assessing employability capacities and
career adaptability in a sample of human resource professionals. SA Journal of Human
Resource Management. 13(1). pp.1-9.
Wickramasinghe, V. and Perera, L., 2010. Graduates', university lecturers' and employers'
perceptions towards employability skills. Education+ Training. 52(3). pp.226-244.
Blaszczynski, C. and Green, D. J., 2012. Effective strategies and activities for developing soft
skills, part 1. Journal of applied research for Business Instruction. 10(1). p.1.
Online:
Game theory, 2012 [Online]. Available through: <http://swapsushias.blogspot.in/2013/11/game-
theory-and-prisoners-dilemma.html#.WpP6yPF95Nw>
Leadership Theories, 2017 [Online]. Available through: <http://www.educational-business-
articles.com/key-leadership-theories/>
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