Reflective Report: Analyzing Employability Challenges at University

This reflective report analyzes four key challenges designed to enhance employability: an apprentice challenge focusing on SWOT analysis and time management, a presentation challenge emphasizing business and presentation skills, a T-shirt challenge promoting innovation and business acumen, and a hotel challenge highlighting emotional intelligence. The report details the challenges faced, themes explored, and action plans created to improve skills such as teamwork, communication, and presentation abilities. It also includes an evaluation of the challenges and the skills acquired, culminating in a comprehensive assessment of the student's development and the application of these skills in a professional context. The challenges aimed to develop essential skills for securing and maintaining employment after completing the educational journey. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of reflection and the creation of SMART action plans for continuous improvement.

Reflective
report
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Apprentice challenge..............................................................................................................3
Presentation challenge............................................................................................................5
T-shirt challenge.....................................................................................................................7
Hotel challenge.......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REERENCES.................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Employability is defined as the ability of an individual in securing initial employment,
maintaining employment and finding suitable new employment if required. It is important for
student to build employability in order start moving towards their professional goals as soon as
their educational journey is ended (Coelen and Gribble, 2019). The present report is in the form
of reflection and analyses several challenges created by the university and their role in shaping
employability. The four changes which form the basis of the report are apprentice challenge,
presentation challenge, T-shirt challenge and Hotel challenge. In addition to this a SMART
action plan is also provided in this report.
MAIN BODY
Apprentice challenge
Explanation of the challenge: The apprentice change is cantered around completing
SWOT analysis and using the results of the SWOT analysis to understand the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This framework is useful and is used in business context
to conduct internal analyses of a business enterprise effectively (Hajizadeh, 2019). I gained
knowledge of the SWOT analysis with the help of this challenge as my team produced a concise
SWOT analysis covering relevant information. In addition to this I understood various
drawbacks. The primary challenge I faced during the completion of this Task was related to
Time management and meting skills. This is because I was not able to coordinate my with my
teammates in relation to discussion meetings which affected my time management skills. I was
not able to coordinate my schedule according to my teammates which delayed various takes
derailed the team from following the pre-determined time schedule.
Deliberation of themes: The primary theme of this challenge is centred on team work
and coordination with other team member to produce an accurate SWOT analysis. In order to
complete this task in timely manner I and my team members focussed on ensuring that each
member coordinates with each other for team meeting or other activities and focuses on time
optimisation to reduce further delay.
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Action Plan
Objective Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time bound
To build time
management
skills
This is a
specific
objective as it
focuses on
building time
management
skills to
complete
significant
tasks in given
time and high
quality.
This skill can
be measured
by
determining
ways to
complete
each task as
per the given
time.
This
objective can
be attained
easily with
the help of
ALPEAN
method. This
encourages
scheduled
work and
prioritising
important
tasks (Shove,
Trentmann,
and Wilk,
2020).
This objective
is relevant as
it is an
essential
employability
skill.
3 Months
To improve
coordination
skills
This is specific
objective as it
involves
building
coordination
skills to
effectively
work in a team
setting.
The
measurement
criteria for
this objective
is enhanced
effectiveness
in group
setting due to
coordination
skill.
This
objective can
be improved
by
participating
in group
activities and
increasing
collaboration
with others.
This is
relevant
objective as
coordination
skill plays an
important role
in ensuring
excellent
performance
in group
setting.
3 months
To build
meeting skills
This objective
focuses on the
This objective
can be
This
objective is
This objective
is relevant as
3 months
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area of
improving
meeting skills
which includes
ensuring
meetings are
conducted in a
democratic
measured by
the ability to
conduct
accountable,
democratic
and planned
meeting
which
provide
effective
results.
attainable as
it can be
developed by
gaining
consensus
building
skills.
Consensus
building
plays an
important
role in
smooth team
collaboration
(Sullivan and
et. al., 2019)
.
meting skills
are essential
in securing
employment.
Presentation challenge
Explanation of the challenge; The focus of this challenge is on building an effective
power point presentation which provides information in an attractive manner while covering all
the necessary points. In addition to this the power point presentation completed in this challenge
needs to ensure that the message of the power point presentation can be easily understood by
annoy with effective use power point tools to build creative presentation. I coordinated with my
team members and we divided various parts of the power point presentation and created a
schedule in team meetings to ensure that the power point presentation is completed early to
analyse the final result and make changes before submission to provide exceptional presentation.
I was not able to communicate my ideas with the rest of the team members effectively and faced
barriers in use presentation tools effectively.
Deliberation of themes: The primary theme of this challenge was related to business
skills which include presentation skills and usage of various tools to build an accurate and
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creative presentation. This skill is highly important as daily takes on business firms require
making presentation and usage of other ICT tools (Felicia, 2021). The knowledge abut various
ICT tools such as presentation tools, usage of excel sheets helps preparing business information,
concepts and ideas which are communicated to senior staff of enterprises.
Action Plan
Objective Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time
boun
d
To develop
presentation
skills
This is
particular
objective as it
requires
increasing
knowledge of
presentation
tools.
This objective
can be
measures by
understanding
the ease with
which creative
presentation
are created.
The
attainability
of this
objective is
high as it can
be developed
by
completing
online course
on ICT tools.
This objective is
relevant as building
an effective
presentation which
is appealing and
easily
understandable is a
daily employment
activity (Ochoa and
Dominguez, 2020)
. In addition to this,
presentation skill is
often a prerequisite
for gaining
employment.
5
Mont
hs
To build
communication
skills
This
objective is
centred
around
specific area
increasing
communicati
on skills.
This objective
can be
measured by
determining
improvement
in ability to
present ideas
verbally in a
This
objective is
attainable.
The method
of attaining
this objective
includes
attending
This is relevant
objective. The
reason behind this
is that effective
communication is
required in every
business roles
(Kelly, Tarshis and
4
mont
hs
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way which
understood by
everyone.
seminars on
social
interaction to
enhance
verbal
communicati
on between
peers.
Meringolo, 2019).
Communication
skills are used to
send message to
senior staff,
subordinate and
interact with clients
to attain business
objectives.. Every
recruiter focuses on
gaining employees
with high
communication
skill (Chikeleze
Johnson and
Gibson, 2018).
T-shirt challenge
Explanation of the challenge: The T-shirt challenge includes creation of a T-shirt with
original ideas. In addition to this, various aspect of the T-shirt such as logo of the T-shirt factors
which provide the T-shirt produced by my team which provide competitive advantage and
pricing of the T-shirt also need to be constructed. I was exited for this challenge as the main
focus of this challenge was on original idea generation instead of usage of analytical framework
or technical tool. I quickly realized that my innovation skills are effective as I was able to come
with completely unique ideas for T-shirt- design and logo. Innovation skills are a crucial
employability skills and increase the suitability of candidates ( Aliu and Aigbavboa, 2021). In
addition to this my team struggled with effective teamwork as even had different ideas. The
positive aspect of this challenge was that all the team members used their business acumen to
produce original idea with suitable financial information for the T-shirt.
Deliberation on themes: The primary theme of this challenge was related to original
idea generation and using knowledge about various business concepts such as pricing strategy to
formulate original T-shirt design with accurate information. I was able to learn about the concept
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of logo building and it’s important in constructing a product. This task helped me understand
branding as logo creation is an important part of branding.
Action Plan
Objective Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time bound
To develop
teamwork
skills
This is specific
skill as it
involves
increasing the
ability to
perform
effectively in
group
performance.
This skill can
be measured
by the ability
to maintain
synergy
within the
group and
formulate
exceptional
results in
group
settings.
The skill is
easily
attainable by
participating
in team tasks
and
understanding
every point of
view to make
democratic
and collective
decisions.
This skill can
be measured
by ability to
create high
perfuming
tem and
maintain team
synergy
throughout
tasks.
7 Months
Hotel challenge
Explanation of the challenge: This challenge included working as an intern at Hotel. I
learned the importance of emotional intelligence through this tasks as I had it deal with
consumers and this included emotional intelligence to calmly handle consumer complaint and
work with other to provide exceptional guest experience.
Deliberation on themes: The main theme of this challenge was to understand emotional
intelligence by participating in business situation which involves dealing with consumers. I was
able to understand basics of emotional intelligence but I have to enhance this skill in order to
enhance my employability.
Action Plan
Objective Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time bound
To develop
emotional
intelligence
This is specific
objective as it
involves
This objective
can be
measured by
The objective
can be
attaining by
This objective
is relevant to
8 Months
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building
emotional
intelligence to
deal with
consumer’s
directly and
use in other
business
contexts.
ability to
calmly
interact with
consumers
and
employees
and
understand
their
viewpoints.
participating
in emotional
intelligence
training
courses.
employability.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that reflection is an important activity which helps
in understanding the benefits gained from an experience. The apprentice challenge, presentation
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challenge, T-shirt challenge and Hotel challenge provide information about functioning of
enterprises from different business angle. In addition to this every challenge transfers essential
employability skills which assist in securing and maintaining employment after completion of
educational journey. It is important to construct a SMART action plan after completing assessing
an experience in order to create effective steps for progress which can be implemented
immediately. SMART action plan includes time period, measurement criteria and relevance of an
objective which leads to creation of an attainable and useful plan of action.
REERENCES
Books and Journals
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Aliu, J. and Aigbavboa, C., 2021. Key generic skills for employability of built environment
graduates. International Journal of Construction Management, pp.1-19.
Chikeleze, M., Johnson, I. and Gibson, T., 2018. Let's Argue: Using Debate to Teach Critical
Thinking and Communication Skills to Future Leaders. Journal of Leadership
Education, 17(2).
Coelen, R. and Gribble, C. eds., 2019. Internationalization and employability in higher
education. Routledge.
Felicia, O. K., 2021. Evaluation of ICT tools accessibility to business education lecturers and
students. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 15(1). pp.64-69.
Hajizadeh, Y., 2019. Machine learning in oil and gas; a SWOT analysis approach. Journal of
Petroleum Science and Engineering, 176, pp.661-663.
Kelly, A., Tarshis, N. and Meringolo, D., 2019. Talkabout: A social communication skills
package. Routledge.
Ochoa, X. and Dominguez, F., 2020. Controlled evaluation of a multimodal system to improve
oral presentation skills in a real learning setting. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 51(5), pp.1615-1630.
Shove, E., Trentmann, F. and Wilk, R. eds., 2020. Time, consumption and everyday life:
practice, materiality and culture. Routledge.
Sullivan and et. al., 2019. Consensus-building workshops to uncover new market entry decision
factors for the sheet metal engineering and construction industry. Journal of
Management in Engineering, 35(2). p.04019001.
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