Reflective Report on Employability Skills and Career Development

This reflective report delves into the development of employability skills, examining the importance of these skills in the professional realm. The report begins with an introduction to employability skills, highlighting their significance for employers and employees alike. The main body of the report presents a detailed reflection on the author's experiences, including a project undertaken during high school and subsequent feedback received from a senior. This section analyzes the author's strengths, such as knowledge of the topic, effective presentation skills, and ability to connect with the audience, while also addressing areas for improvement, such as organization, vocal delivery, and time management. The report then discusses the author's experience as a Business Manager, emphasizing the development of coordination, IT, and problem-solving skills. The Gibb's reflective cycle is introduced as a framework for self-assessment and continuous improvement. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of employability skills, the value of feedback, and the strategies for continuous improvement, including the use of Gibb's model to enhance skills such as vocal delivery and time management.

Reflective Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Reflective Report........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills can be defined as a set of skills that are expected by the employers
from potential employees like good communication skills, time management skills, confidence
and technological skills (Abas and Imam, 2016). Employability of a person depends on a
person's knowledge, attitudes and skills, how he/she makes use of the skills they possess etc. The
report is a reflection of how learning helps an individual in developing employability skills based
on the feedbacks that he/she receives from seniors.
MAIN BODY
Reflective Report
Employability skills are important for employees as they are the core traits need in every
job and make a person desirable for a particular job. These skills can also be seen as transferable
as they can be applied in the industry as well as the workplace (Clokie and Fourie, 2016). I was
assigned to work on a project during my high school where I learnt a lot about what
employability skills are and what is their importance. While undertaking the project I received
feedback for my performance that helped me in understanding my strengths as well as
weaknesses. I was rated as very good for my performance in the project. Also, I realised the
skills I'm good at, like my senior felt that I was knowledgeable about my topic and the issues
related with it while giving presentation, I maintained eye contact while I spoke and maintained
an appropriate body language which my senior felt was a positive thing. I was clear while
introducing the topic and had knowledge of what I was speaking as I had prepared properly for
the presentation and contributed in the project. The leader felt that the topic I gave presentation
on was interesting and both the examples cited in the presentation as well as the content were
good, relevant and easily understandable by the audience. Also, the presentation was relevant to
the module that we were being taught in class which made it easier for other students in the
audience to understand and absorb it.
Employability skills serve to be the building blocks of a person's career as they act as an
indicator of performance for employees (Suleman, 2016). Today employers want their
employees to possess certain skills of employability that help them gain competitive advantage
over their competitors and also help the company in its overall growth. Employers look for
employability skills in candidates as through this they can fulfil the needs of both the company as
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well as any requirement in their teams. The skills also help the company in coming over the
challenges and addressing them so as to sustain in a highly dynamic environment. The skills also
act as shield during times of uncertainties and adversities, helping the company in addressing any
problems that it may face.
Although I was given a positive feedback for my performance, I was told about certain
areas where I lacked and needed to improve myself in order to be efficient. My senior told me
that although I had proper knowledge of the topic I was giving presentation on, I could have
delivered the same more clearly and in a structured manner, I could have made more efforts to
maintain the interest of the audience. I realised that I was not very enthusiastic about the topic
during the presentation and could've been more organised and prepared. Though I effectively
used the time that was allotted for giving presentation, I exceeded the time limit. I referred to my
notes sometimes during the presentation and should have avoided that as it did not seem
professional. The senior told me that I was not audible to the back benchers and should work
upon my vocal skills. Also, that my introduction was better than my conclusion and can be
improved. The senior felt that my overall presentation was concise, informative and relatable to
the audience. In all, I realised that a little more preparation can help me be more confident in my
future presentations.
I have an experience of working as a Business Manager of 8 years which gave me a
chance to interact with customers, understand their needs and expectations. I also helped them by
listening their feedbacks, suggestions and addressing their complaints in order to provide them
the best possible service and gain their loyalty. I also got a lot of opportunities to develop new
skills and work on my existing skills to enhance my overall performance in the organisation.
During my course of job, I realised that I am good at coordinating things and have good IT skills
that helped me stand out in the company. Also, I'm a confident and friendly person and don't
hesitate while interacting with other people. I got many opportunities to work on various tasks
that helped me in improving my problem solving as well as planning and organising skills as we
had to stick by a time table in order to get the tasks done, manage our time around the work
when additional tasks were assigned, organising various community related events. To enhance
my problem solving skills, I had to do various research assignments as a part of my learning at
the organisation, interacting with seniors who had experience regarding how can certain issues
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be addressed and how did they do that. I developed the skill of self management and learned to
complete my job without having someone else to help me.
I recently saw an advertisement by Reed Specialist Recruitment for the post of Centre
Manager and wanted to apply for the same. I think that I possess the skills that are necessary for
the job like management and administration skills. Also, I pay attention to even he small details
and ensure that high quality work is delivered on time. Having excellent written as well as verbal
skills have always helped me in interacting with people at all levels and I do not hesitate while
communicating. I have always been a seeker for learning various new skills that have proved to
be beneficial for me in all my life endeavours as I have learnt something or the other from them.
Also, having worked as a Business Manager earlier has incorporated all the major skills that are
required for the post of a Centre Manager. I was awarded for my performance at my previous
organisation and also recognised for my efforts for getting tasks done there. I have worked with
various teams across various regions and gained an experience of how things work and how can
the challenges or certain issues be addressed in order to maintain the smooth flow of the
operations of an organisation. Also, in order to be an appropriate fit for the position Gibb's
Reflective cycle can be used which can help in identifying and being aware of actions and the
ways in which one can adjust to the behaviour of employees and the culture of an organisation
(Misra and Khurana, 2017). The application of Gibb's reflective cycle is explained below -
 Description – In this step, I can describe the situation or activity like what happened,
when did it happen, who were the people that were involved in the situation, what did I
and other people do, what was the outcome or result of the actions that were taken etc. in
detail and no conclusion should be drawn. I must keep in mind that no important detail is
left out and that all the information that is a part of better understanding is relevant.
 Feelings – This is the second stage and is all about the feelings that were triggered
because of the event or activity and thoughts of the people. The main aim of this stage is
awareness and to not discuss about the feeling in detail or directly comment on it (Nisha
and Rajasekaran, 2018). This stage addresses topics like feelings of the people who are
involved during and after the event, how do they look back on the event or activity that
happened and how do they feel now. This stage shows that the Gibb's cycle can be used
not only for individuals but also during counselling and coaching.
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 Evaluation – During this stage, I have to understand if my experience of the event was
good or bad, which approach and why and which approach did not work effectively.
During this stage various questions can be addressed like what was it that went right
during the event or the activity, my as well as others' contribution in the event.
 Analysis – This phase can help me analyse my learnings from the event, activity and
situation as this will help me in identifying the different ways that I can implement in
future as well as similar similar situations. In this stage, I will make a note of both
positive as well as negative problems that I experienced and then analyse them.
 Conclusion – This step will help me in analysing the alternatives that I could've opted for
in order to deliver a more effective output. The information that I will gather during this
phase will be very helpful and valuable as it can help me in getting to a useful conclusion.
Thus, I can ask various questions like what were my positive and negative experiences
during the event and what skills do I need to develop and work upon to myself and then
analyse the same to reach a better conclusion.
 Action Plan – This is the most important steps as during this stage, I will develop actions
for any such situations that can arise in the future. The conclusions that were made in last
step are the basis for developing an action plan. An action plan can help in addressing the
skills in which I lack in a much more effective way and also help improve my
performance. I will also develop a schedule so that I don't miss out on any important
issue that needs to be addressed.
Thus, from my past experience of working in an organisation and delivering
presentations to seniors, I have learnt that there are certain areas in which I'm good at and can
count as my strengths. But, I also lack in certain areas and should work on them in order to
improve myself and enhance my performance. All of this will be helpful for me in my future
endeavours and thus improve my chances to getting a better job with time. Also, I can make use
of the Gibb's model to measure my improvement and develop certain skills such as vocal skills
and time management skills. Tough competition posed by individuals as well as various
organisations have made it necessary for everyone to develop certain skills that will help in
gaining a competitive advantage and stand out against others in the market (O’Connor and
Bodicoat, 2017). And that I should avoid using notes while delivering a presentation as then it
may not seem professional, neither to the person to whom you're presenting nor the audience.
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During my feedback, I was also told that there are several skills that enhance the
employability of a person such as oral communication skills, reliability, problem solving, being
professional, reasoning and analytical skills, skills relating to social media, organization,
motivation, flexibility, maintaining healthy relations with the clients etc. Doing all of this will
make a person eligible for more jobs that pay good packages to their employees as well as
enhance his/her learning regarding certain topics (Trought, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that employability skills form an essential
aspect of an organisation as they help in selecting the right candidates and hiring them for
various positions that are best suited for them. Also, that students as well as employees should
build certain skills that are helpful for them in the future in standing out against others and
promote their overall growth. Also, constant feedbacks and suggestions from team leaders as
well as seniors can help in identification of strengths and weaknesses and also addressing them
in a more effective manner and making the individual confident about what he/she delivers as an
output.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Abas, M. C. and Imam, O. A., 2016. Graduates' Competence on Employability Skills and Job
Performance. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education. 5(2).
pp.119-125.
Clokie, T. L. and Fourie, E., 2016. Graduate employability and communication competence: Are
undergraduates taught relevant skills? Business and Professional Communication
Quarterly. 79(4). pp.442-463.
Misra, R. K. and Khurana, K., 2017. Employability skills among information technology
professionals: A literature review. Procedia computer science. 122. pp.63-70.
Nisha, S. M. and Rajasekaran, V., 2018. Employability skills: A review. IUP Journal of Soft
Skills. 12(1). pp.29-37.
O’Connor, H. and Bodicoat, M., 2017. Exploitation or opportunity? Student perceptions of
internships in enhancing employability skills. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
38(4). pp.435-449.
Suleman, F., 2016. Employability skills of higher education graduates: Little consensus on a
much-discussed subject. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 228. pp.169-174.
Trought, F., 2017. Brilliant employability skills: How to stand out from the crowd in the
graduate job market. Pearson UK.
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