Employability Skills for Sales Executives: A Reflective Report

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EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Reflection on employability skills...................................................................................................4
ESD (Education for Sustainable Development)..............................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference list.................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Employability skills help to increase the employment opportunity of an individual in future. In
order to work in the venture, it is necessary to have required skills for the specific designation.
Hence, employability skills should be developed from the study course for enhancing the career.
In this study, I have chosen the role of sales executive, and I will provide reflection on the skills
related to the chosen designation that I have learned in my class. In time of writing the reflection,
I have considered using Gibbs reflective cycle. Throughout the paper, I will identify my skills,
gaps so that I can improve this skill in future, and get good opportunity related to employment.
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Reflection on employability skills
As commented by Gibbs (1988), Gibbs reflective cycle is the effective tool that can be used in
order to conduct the reflection. Six steps are found in this model such as description, feeling,
evaluation, analysis, and conclusion and action plan. Description highlights the entire situation,
based on which reflection is conducted. In the feelings, the situation related feeling is described
and evaluation reflects the good and bad experience related to the situation. Learning from the
specific situation is analysed under the analysis portion and alternative ways are mentioned in
the conclusion. Thus, as per the indentified issues from the entire situation, action plan will be
developed.
Figure 1: Gibbs reflective Cycle
(Source: Gibbs, 1988)
Description
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From the class, I have learned various skills such as academic writing skill, time management
skill, research skill, communication and organising skill. In the class, professor has discussed
on the various skills that are required in order to get employment in the eminent venture in
future. My professor has provided us various assignments related to the job role, sales executive,
and I have to write on it. Thus, it not only improves my theoretical knowledge, but also increases
my academic writing skill (Maund et al., 2017). Moreover, my professor provided the time limit
and I have to submit the assignment within the deadline and thus, time management skills have
been learned. For example, in time of working in the sales executive, I have to communicate
with many customers and in this context; time management skill helps me to complete it
accurately. Moreover, in the class, group discussion was conducted and it improved my
communication skills. In time of working in the venture as a sales executive, communication
skill has assisted me to convince the customers. I am able to increase the satisfaction rate of
customers in an appropriate manner by communicating with them accurately.
Feelings
As I am efficient in the communication, I am able to communicate with my professors. In this
case, I can express my issue to them at any time and I have received their guidance properly.
Thus, I have developed my employability skills from the class in an efficient manner. On the
other hand, Morgan (2016) commented that time management is the important part in order to
work appropriately. From my class, I have to complete many assignments on the job role of sales
executive and I have to submit it within the deadline. Therefore, I have learnt how to manage
work in a busy schedule. In addition to this, it also improved my academic writing along with
research skill. It is evident that in time of preparing the assignment, I should take information
from various books and journals. Thus, eventually I have developed my research skill. However,
during discussion of organising skill, I was confused about its implementation and it provided
me the bad feeling. Due to managing the assignments within deadline, I have made effective
plan based on which, I have developed my organising skill (Cottrell, 2008). According to the
assessment of the paper by my professor, I am able to evaluate myself related to my
employability skill. When I scored poor marks in assignment papers, it provided me bad feeling
related to my development in career (Greetham, 2013).
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For example, during working as a sales executive, I have to handle numerous customers and
need to convince them for purchasing the product. My communication skill works as a boon in
this context. Moreover, I communicate with my higher authority related to the items, which
should be sold as soon as possible. Thus, I have helped the company to increase their profit in the
market. It provides me a good feeling in time of my working period. I have also researched on
the requirement of the customers and so that I can convey it to the venture for increasing their
sale. In addition to this, I have tried to make plan related to the number of customers, whom I
handle in a day. My planning capability on only helps me to complete work, but also it assists me
to do it in a systematic manner.
Evaluation
In my class, my professors always provided me the attention in my queries and they tried to
solve it as quick as possible. This initiative of them gave me a good experience related to my
learning. During class, professors conduct group discussion and I have participated in this
discussion. This not only improved my confidence power, but also it helped to develop my
communication skill. On the other hand, for writing many assignments, it has improved my
academic writing skill along with knowledge. I have submitted the assignments within time and
thus my time management skill has been enhanced. These are the good experience during my
class. For example, in time of working as a sales executive, I have tried to follow my learning
from class related to time management, organising skill and communication skill. Thus, with
patience, I have communicated with the customers and tried to solve their queries related to
products. Thus, I have contributed to increase the sale of the company in the competitive market.
On the other hand, I have also experienced the bad things also. In time of group discussion, first I
could not understand how to communicate with the team. However, my friends were able to do it
efficiently. In that time, my feeling related to learning about the employability skill was
negative and it provided me bad experience. Moreover, in time of writing the assignments when
I scored bad marks, it de-motivated me. However, my professors have suggested me to learn
about human psychology so that I can convince customers as a sales executive. As mentioned by
Mackevic (2014), employees should understand the human psychology so that they suggest
accurate products to the customers. Though effective lectures were provided in class on human
psychology, I did not enhance my understanding about this subject. Moreover, my classmates
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never supported me to acquire this knowledge. This is another bad experience during my
learning. For instance, due to lack of this skill, I, as a sales executive, cannot easily understand
requirement of the customers and few times, it is the reason of reducing the sale of venture.
Analysis
From the situation of the class, I have learnt that positive and negative both kind of knowledge
can be developed in the class. In time of learning at the first stage related to employability skill,
it is obvious that candidate does not have enough knowledge (McMillan and Weyers, 2006).
Hence, the learners keep their patience in order to develop their knowledge related to
employability skill. I had not understood the way of managing time and it was the reason of my
de-motivation. However, my professors helped me a lot and they provided various assignments
in order to complete it within time. It assisted me to understand the importance of planning for
completing task within time. Thus, I have learnt time management skill and understood the
reason of proving me huge pressure by my professors. For example, during work as a sales
executive, I have followed this knowledge and I have made a plan for everyday. Thus, I am able
to contribute to the venture for enhancing their sale.
On the other hand, communication is the important part in order to get employment in the
eminent venture. Without effective communication, productivity or sales of a company cannot be
increased (Cho, 2015). From the class, my professors arranged group discussion once in a week
and this is nothing but the strategy of developing communication skill. At the very first time, I
faced barrier, as I did not have fluency in speaking. Moreover, I could not express my words in
an appropriate manner, whereas, my friends were efficient in this aspect. The strategy of group
discussion aided to develop my communication skill and it enhanced my employment
opportunity. Moreover, during preparing assignments, I had to conduct effective research for
writing it. As I did not have research skills previously, I was confused and this situation made
me understand to handle critical situation calmly.
Conclusion
In order to enhance my knowledge on employability skill, I could increase my research skill,
which can help to develop my insight on the job role of sales executive. It can be concluded that
effective theoretical knowledge assists to perform the work in an appropriate manner. During
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learning the subject of human psychology, I could conduct research on internet for better
understanding. Moreover, I could communicate with my team members or could arrange group
study so that good relationship with my teammates could be build. It could help me to enhance
my team working capability. In addition to this, I could research more on internet for
understanding the present required skills for employment.
Action plan
As I am learning for getting better employment in future, I should develop and update all
required skills effectively. As commented by Jackson (2015), organisations use advanced
technology and they do not provide scope to the fresher for their lack of experience. In this
context, I will prefer to update my knowledge related to technology, which is used for playing
the job role of sales executive. I will try to learn ms excel so that I can keep record about the
sales of products easily and in return, I will be able to set my sales target for developing my
performance.
On the other hand, in order to learn human psychology, I will request my professor to provide
me mock scenario for assessing my learning. Thus, I will be able to understand the psychology
of human beings. It will enhance my employment opportunity in future. Moreover, I will learn
sign language, Braille and foreign languages such as French and so that I can handle any type of
customers. As a sales executive, communication is the main part and I should develop my
confidence power by gaining good marks in the assignments (Cottrell, 2010). I will try to
improve my academic writing skills so that I can present my curriculum vitae to the venture in
an attractive manner. In order to enhance my team-working skill, I will prepare the group
assignments in a collaborative way and it will develop my employability skill.
ESD (Education for Sustainable Development)
Education can be considered as sustainable development as it not only provides the
employability skill to the learners, but also enhances their knowledge. It helps to increase the
economic status of the people as well as of the country. Using the knowledge of education,
people can lead a healthy life. From the class, learners are able to develop their behaviour, moral
values and ethics, which help them to handle the problems in the real life. Cooperative nature of
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people is also built from educational institution and it helps the employees to work in a company
successfully.
Conclusion
In order to draw the end line of study, it can be deduced that effective learning helps to enhance
the employment opportunity of the learners. The reflection has been made on the job role of sales
executives and required skills have been discussed. Gibbs reflective model is used in order to
explain my skills that I have learnt from the module. The gap, which I have not covered yet for
employment, has been identified and action plan has been made. Thus, improvement in
employability skills has been gained for receiving opportunity to serve in the venture as a sales
executive.
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Reference list
Cho, I.Y., 2015. The relationship of communication skill, communication self-efficacy and
communication related educational needs. Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial
cooperation Society, 16(4), pp.2593-2601.
Cottrell, S. (2008) The Study Skills Handbook 3rd edition. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.
Cottrell, S. (2010) Skills for Success: Personal Development and Employability (Palgrave Study
Skills) Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. London: FEU.
Greetham, B. (2013) How to write better essays. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jackson, D., 2015. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
best practice. Studies in Higher Education, 40(2), pp.350-367.
Mackevic, V. (2014) From confusion to conclusion. How to write a First-Class essay..2nd
edition. Edited by Tom Wild. United States: Createspace
Maund, A. Schriek, M. and Tinkler, P. (2017). Certificate in Higher Education: Skills for the
Workplace Student Yearbook. Sage Publications
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2006) The smarter student: Skills and strategies for success at
university, London: Prentice Hall.
Morgan, P. (2016). The Business Student’s Guide to Study and Employability. Sage Publications
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