BSc (Hons) Travel and Tourism Employability Report

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Employabi
lity Skills
Report
C19 SEMESTER
EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
MODULE LEVEL 5 EMSK5012
TUTOR:
STUDENT NAME: Dallet Reid
STUDENT ID NO: 48673

Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4
SECTION 1- KNOW YOURSELF.................................................................................................. 5
1.1 OVERVIEW AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS..........................................................................5
1.2 CLIFTON GALLUP STRENGTHS AND JOHARI WINDOW RELATED TO CAREER
DEVELOPMENT.....................................................................................................................5
1.3 KEY STRENGTHS FOR DESIRED CAREER CHOICE.............................................................6
1.4 APPLICATION OF ELEMENTS TO ATTAIN CAREER ASPIRATIONS.....................................7
SECTION 2- KNOW YOUR SECTOR..........................................................................................10
2.1 COMPARING AND CONTRASTING TWO COMPANIES...................................................10
2.2 ALIGNMENT OF THE VALUES AND ETHICS OF COMPANIES WITH YOURS....................11
2.3 RESEARCH ON A JOB DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONAL MANAGER AT BRUNT HOTELS.11
2.4 DEMONSTRATION OF THE ESSENTIAL AND DESIRABLE SKILLS FOR THE RESEARCHED
JOB DESCRIPTION WITH YOUR CV AND LINKEDIN PROFILE................................................12
2.5 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION ACQUIRED TO INCREASE THE CHANCE OF BECOMING
A CREDIBLE PROFESSIONAL................................................................................................12
SECTION 3- LET THEM KNOW YOU.........................................................................................13
3.1 ROLE OF NETWORKING TO BECOME COMMERCIALLY AWARE OF YOUR SECTOR.......13
3.2 NETWORKING EVENT ATTENDED AND ADVICE TO OTHERS TO MAXIMISE THEIR
NETWORKING POTENTIAL..................................................................................................13
3.3 REFLECTING THE PERFORMANCE IN THE MOCK INTERVIEW.......................................14
3.4 REFLECTING THE LEARNING DURING MODULE AND SKILLS NEEDED TO BE DEVELOPED
TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL AS AN EMPLOYER......................................................................15
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 17
APPENDIX............................................................................................................................... 19
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Johari's Window Model 56 Adjectives.......................................................................6
Figure 2: Clifton Strengths elements........................................................................................7
Figure 3: Johari Window four elements/ quadrants.................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are defined set of the behaviours and the skills which form a vital base
for every job and career opportunity. Employability skills involve soft skills, work-readiness
skills, foundational skills and job-readiness skills. This report aims to boost self-awareness
and develop the employability skills to attain a job in the desired hospitality sector. The
emphasis of this report will be laid on mainly three themes that will help in knowing myself
and my sector in a better manner and will also provide an opportunity to reflect on my skills
by developing my employability portfolio.
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SECTION 1- KNOW YOURSELF
1.1 OVERVIEW AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS
Hello, my name is Dallet Reid and I am studying BSc (Hons) Travel and Tourism at GSM
London which helps me in gaining a high degree of focus on key areas of the travel and
tourism industry. Through this degree of study, I will develop better prospects for the job by
developing strong business management and excellent communication skills which will help
me to aim for a job in hospitality management or tourism and operations. This degree,
therefore, helps me in meeting my career aspirations by gauging an understanding of the
international tourism businesses that will help to seek an aspiring position in the hospitality
business in future.
One of my key strengths is that I am an enthusiastic individual with a high determination
that is driven towards success. I am unique because I have various experiences in customer
services and be a part of a team at leading roles. In this competitive environment, my
proactive attitude helps me to deliver my best even working under the pressure.
1.2 CLIFTON GALLUP STRENGTHS AND JOHARI WINDOW RELATED TO
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Clifton Gallup Strengths is an online assessment tool that is the culmination of nearly 50
years of working of Dr Donald O. Clifton. It is a tool that allows the people to discover,
identify, understand and maximise their strengths. Through Gallup Strengths an individual
can gain access to their strengths which can later be applied in their daily lives to attain the
desired goals and ensure excellent quality of life (Soria et al., 2019).
Gallup Clifton Strengths connotes that the individuals that focus on their strengths are likely
to be six times more engaged in their jobs and three times more likely to attain an excellent
quality of life. Thus this renders benefits to individuals to match their strengths with that of
their job roles and work environments which help in better career development (Soria et al.,
2019).
Johari Window, on the other hand, is a model developed by Joseph Lutt and Harri Ingham in
the year 1955 that addresses the issue of underestimating and overestimating the
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competencies and strengths (Morgan, 2019). Through this simple process of selecting 5 to 6
adjectives from a given list of 56 adjectives, the participant can choose the ones that best
describe their personality. This process is a step ahead from Gallup Strengths as under this
the peers of a participant are also asked to select 5 to 6 adjectives that describe the
participant which leads the participant to improve and learn. Similarly, Johari Window
allows the participant to gain information about self and others which helps to lead towards
success in future (Soria et al., 2019).
Johari Window has certain advantages for individuals for career development as it helps to
render a better understanding of their interpersonal relationships and communication. This
also helps in building self-awareness through the means of feedback and disclosure
(McLaughlin et al., 2019).
1.3 KEY STRENGTHS FOR DESIRED CAREER CHOICE
Top five strengths that came out by applying Gallup Strengths by the rank include the
adaptability, relator, responsibility, ideation and significance (See Appendix a). These five
strengths that the Gallup Clifton Strengths have laid out will help me in matching with the
job role choices and then applying for the same to attain the desired job role (Soria et al.,
2019).
On the other hand, when I assessed my strengths based on the adjectives that best describe
me through the Johari Window I choose adaptable, friendly and independent. All of these
three acts as strengths towards my desired career choice in the hospitality sector (Oliver
and Duncan, 2019).
Figure 1: Johari's Window Model 56 Adjectives
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(Source: Week 2 Lecture Notes, 2019)
1.4 APPLICATION OF ELEMENTS TO ATTAIN CAREER ASPIRATIONS
The key elements of Clifton strengths theory are sorted under four domains namely strategy
thinking, executing, influencing and relationship building. These domains can be applied to
attain the career aspirations.
Figure 2: Clifton Strengths elements
Source: (Morgan, 2019)
Strategic thinking
As strategic thinking domain strives for better thinking and analysis regarding the situation
and the information and takes a rational decision (Morgan, 2019).
For instance, under strategic thinking, I am talented in Ideation theme that allows me to find
a connection between seemingly dissimilar phenomena and helps me to view the ideas from
a new perspective.
Executing
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Executing however helps to make the things happen and helps to take a step closer to the
desired career (McLaughlin et al., 2019).
I have a strength of responsibility which allows me to take psychological ownership and get
committed towards particular actions.
Influencing
Influencing forms another element which guides how to influence others to get recognised
(Morgan, 2019).
I have a significance theme under influencing domain that makes me different from others
around me as I am independent which helps me to prioritise projects based on the influence
level.
Relationship building
The last element falls under relationship building which leads to nurture the strong relations
at a workplace and drives the desired goals and career aspirations.
Under this domain, I have adaptability and relator theme which helps to attain my career
goals as I prefer to go with the flow and discover the future. Similarly, under relator themes,
I work hard even under pressure and attain the desired goal by building close relationships
and being friendly growth others (Morgan, 2019).
The key elements of Johari Window are categorised under four quadrants which allows the
participants to attain their desired goals related to career.
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Figure 3: Johari Window four elements/ quadrants
Source: (Oliver and Duncan, 2019)
Such as the first quadrant that is an open area which allows sharing information based on
mutual trust and respect boosts the cooperation with others leading to effective goal
attainment (Oliver and Duncan, 2019). The second quadrants that are a blind area are filled
by the feedback provided by others which will help me in gaining insights leading to better
improvement and learning. The third quadrant of Johari Window is the hidden area that is
mostly the personal aspirations and motivations of the team member in a team. The last
quadrant is the unknown area due to the lack of suitable opportunity and thus remains
unexplored by the organisation as well as employee (Oliver and Duncan, 2019).
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SECTION 2- KNOW YOUR SECTOR
2.1 COMPARING AND CONTRASTING TWO COMPANIES
Hilton Hotel & Resorts
History
Hilton Hotel came into being in the year 1919 in Texas which was followed by a new opening
in EI Paso, Dallas, Waco and Abilene with core values of providing cold running water and air
conditioning. In 1949 it became the first international hotel chain across the world and then
in 1959, it opened San Francisco Airport Hilton. It has implemented a central reservation
system in 1973 and in late 2010 it re-branded with a new logo and new dining concept in
2013. Till date, it has more than 540 hotels and Resorts and is across 6 continents and 78
countries (Maffei, 2018).
On contrary Hyatt House was first opened by entrepreneurs Hyatt Robert von Dehn and Jack
Dyer Crouch in 1954 and the year 1967 it opened Regency Hyatt House in Georgia. With
time it also introduced brands such as Hyatt runs resort hotels and in 2004 it acquired
AmeriSuites and named Hyatt Place. In 2014 Hyatt Corporations is now worldwide and
includes nearly 587 properties and with time they introduced Ziva and Hyatt Zilara as all-
inclusive resort brands.
Values
The core values of Hilton Hotels & Resorts lies around providing exceptional guest
experiences in the right manner and at the right time. It is personally responsible for acting
with integrity and they are responsible for their own decisions and actions (Maffei, 2018).
Similarly, Hyatt Hotels also works on the values of integrity, respect. On the contrary, it also
shares core values like empathy, creativity and fun which makes it different from Hilton
Hotels.
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Ethics
Hilton Hotels & Resorts comes under the list of World’s most ethical companies as it is
majorly concerned with data protection and privacy that safeguard the supply chain and the
communities (Maffei, 2018).
On contrary Hyatt Hotels & Resorts follows a code of ethics that is designed to promote the
compliance with laws and the ethical standards that all the properties of Hyatt shall follow
while conducting their businesses.
2.2 ALIGNMENT OF THE VALUES AND ETHICS OF COMPANIES WITH YOURS
The values of Hilton Hotels align perfectly with that of mine as I am also independent and
take responsibility for my actions. I work with integrity and is friendly that helps me to foster
relationships with other (Maffei, 2018).
Similarly, the values of Hyatt Hotels aligned with mine include respect and creativity. I also
respect my colleagues and friends and always try to come up with new ideas and creative
outputs (Bates et al., 2019).
2.3 RESEARCH ON A JOB DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONAL MANAGER AT
BRUNT HOTELS
The job description researched for the post of operational manager at Brunt Hotel lays out
the desirable skills and essential skills and responsibilities needed (See Appendix c). The key
responsibilities required for the post of operation manager at Brunt Hotels involves effective
booking management which will help to maintain proper arrival and departure of
customers. The operation manager should have essential sills of loyalty and should be good
in communication skills (Bates et al., 2019). The desirable skills are of the negotiation which
will help to negotiate effectively with the travel agencies and tourism offices. The
responsibilities also involve ensuring control over the investments and the budgeted
allocated to enhance the performance ratios and keep on updating the same (Maffei, 2018).
The essentials for the role of operation manager are to at least have 3 years of experience in
a management position and should possess a sound knowledge of the values of Brunt’s
Hotel. The analytical skills are also highly desirable by the employer and should have
minimum a bachelor degree in hotel management (Bates et al., 2019).
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2.4 DEMONSTRATION OF THE ESSENTIAL AND DESIRABLE SKILLS FOR THE
RESEARCHED JOB DESCRIPTION WITH YOUR CV AND LINKEDIN PROFILE
According to my CV and LinkedIn profile (see Appendix d) there is a high level of extent
which matches my essential and desirable skills for the role of Operation Manager as I will
be able to maintain the high customer satisfaction and bolster the loyalty and will be able to
ensure the promotion of the new hotel through social networks and ensure effective
communication through my skills (Bates et al., 2019). I have a strong interpersonal
relationship which will help me to negotiate and influence the travel agencies and tourism
offices. I have great management skill as well which will help me in controlling the
investments and working under-allocated budget. I am friendly which will help me in
building strong team spirit and injecting positive relationships within new hotels overseas.
My LinkedIn profile gives a brief overview of my strengths and interests which will help in
gaining the attention of the Brunt’s Hotel and my education qualification will increase my
chance for selection (Fearon et al., 2019).
2.5 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION ACQUIRED TO INCREASE THE CHANCE
OF BECOMING A CREDIBLE PROFESSIONAL
The professional qualification that I can acquire together with this degree course is to gain a
National Vocational Qualification which will include my work experience. Through this
qualification, I will gain more experience in hotel management and will be able to gain
better job observations. Apart from this, I can get a professional qualification that will help
me in developing management and leadership skills to explore myself in the versatile
environment and meet the requirements of the organisation (Fearon et al., 2019). Through
these qualifications, I can effectively comply with the desirable and essentials of the job role
in the desired sector of hospitality. I will also focus on learning different languages part from
the above qualifications such as French, Hindi, Arab and Spanish that will widen the scope
and chances of mine to meet the needs of cross-cultural customers (Bates et al., 2019).
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