Employability Skills (EMSK5012): A Critical Reflection Report

This report is a critical reflection on employability skills, focusing on three key themes: 'know yourself,' 'know your sector,' and 'let them know you.' The student analyzes these themes, exploring personal strengths and weaknesses, career aspirations, and the importance of networking and self-presentation. The report incorporates insights from career development theories, such as the Development Theory and Transition Theory, and includes practical elements like a CV, LinkedIn profile, and a professional development plan. It reflects on the student's experiences, including job search challenges and interview preparation, providing a comprehensive overview of the student's journey toward professional development and career goals. The appendices include confirmations of events, a CV, a LinkedIn profile, and a detailed description of the student's aspiring job role.

Running head: EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
Employability Skills
[A Critical Reflection on Three Themes]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
A short background..........................................................................................................................2
Themes.............................................................................................................................................2
1. Know yourself.........................................................................................................................2
2. Know your sector.....................................................................................................................3
3. Let them know you..................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9
1) Confirmation of Events...........................................................................................................9
2) CV.........................................................................................................................................10
3) LinkedIn................................................................................................................................12
4) Aspiring Job Role..................................................................................................................14

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A short background
This study is a reflection of three themes such as ‘know yourself’, ‘know your sector’ and
‘let them know you’. The study also describes what I have learnt from these three themes and
how have I managed these themes so far. Moreover, the study is a good guide to understand that
life is divided into different stages and that a transition from one to another stage is very natural.
Themes
1. Know yourself
One can know him or herself if he or she is able to identify the ways to follow to reach
their dream destination. I am very good at working with kids; however, my dream destination is
the retail sector. I want to become a store manager; however, I will be needed to travel through
the number of junior posts and also gain the relevant experience to actually become a store
manager.
I am aware of the fact that it will take time for me to reach my dream destination.
However, I am aware of it that modern-day procedures of achieving the dream job won’t alone
work. I must also have to learn something from the list of suitable and relevant theories. One
such theory is the “Development Theory”.
The development theory says that careers unfold over different stages in life. Every single
stage demands the execution of different strategies. Therefore, it is important to identify the
needs of every single stage and plan the career accordingly. The theory assumes that life can be
divided into multiple stages where each stage has its specific needs. Moreover, such needs
should be accomplished with useful strategies. It further makes the assumption that if an
individual has effectively accomplished a specific stage that the individual will also be eligible

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for the next stage. In the otherwise situation, individuals will face the challenges in the later
stages to come (Dik et al. 2015).
The theory helps me to learn that to become a successful store manager, I must also know
the areas in me which are still underdeveloped or not yet touched. Hence, I will take the bits of
the help of the available resources to know the stages I am supposed to follow to become an
effective store manager.
“Transition Theory” has also helped me to learn a few important things. The theory
says that life is known for the changes and the ongoing series of transitions. A transition is a
gateway to the later stage of the career. The success will entirely depend on the individuals'
ability to cope effectively with transitions and the changing stages of life (Hughes and Gibbons
2018).
The theory has helped me to understand a fact that transition to different stages is a
universal fact. It is the individuals’ desires for a better life that compels them to look for a range
of career opportunities. I have also thought of becoming a successful store manager; however, I
must pursue the abilities to counter any barriers to a successful career.
2. Know your sector
It is generally very challenging to know the appropriate jobs and to become commercially
acquainted with the sector of choice. Professional degrees or certificates are alone not sufficient.
There must be some robust plans to lead a successful career. Such plans can be made by
following the modern-day concepts of getting a job.
Networking: This can be of various types each having a different degree of superiority in
terms of fetching the most appropriate job for those who are in the networking. Examples include

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social networking sites, online job portals etc. Social networking sites like LinkedIn are a good
resource to know about the target job sector. With LinkedIn, one can create its own community.
Online job portals like Monster.com are one of the best networking sites to get the relevant jobs.
Aspirants or the applicants are just needed to register to the site. After completing the profiling,
aspirants will be asked to upload their latest resume. In a very less period of time, they will start
getting the relevant job offers. Jobs can also be searched as such portals contain hundreds of
relevant jobs. Online job sites such as the government websites do also educate the same thing
(Akkermans et al. 2015).
Networking in the context of my awareness of the job sector: I was personally benefitted
from networking. I had an account on LinkedIn and that had helped me immensely. From there
only I got to know about the child care jobs. This will add up values to my job related
experience. Hence, in future recruiters will come to know about my diverse skills and this will
nothing but will leave a good impression on recruiters.
Networking experiences: I was not initially very sure of the path to follow to get a good
job. It all started with when one of my friends had suggested me to create a profile on LinkedIn
and join the different & relevant communities. I joined a few communities and got to know as
well a variety of things like top firms to work with and the number of potential job opportunities.
It helped me to know the two nurseries with which I worked in past.
Skills set for my desired career: As mentioned in the CV (Appendix 2), I am passionate
to help children who are socially challenged. I am currently pursuing a Bachelor in Enterprise
and Small Business Development. However, I will definitely look for some professional courses
to add up values to both my career and the personal dream to serve the children.

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Analysis of a professional qualification: My career ambition is to serve the children. To
serve this purpose in long-term, I will go for “Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) degree”.
This will help me to have my own nursery centre (Dik et al. 2015). Along with the degree
course, I will also enrol in a 6 months Certification course in Retail Management. This is just to
open up a wider opportunity for me.
Discuss: I am currently pursuing a Bachelor in Enterprise and Small Business
Development. My plan is also to pursue a 6-months certification course in ‘Retail Management'.
The business development and the retail management capabilities will certainly open up ways for
a variety of jobs like ‘Store Manager'. Employers need someone at the ‘Store Manager’ post who
does not only manage the operation but is also able to generate new business. Moreover,
communication skill is what they also look for (Litano and Major 2016). Hence, employers will
have a very minimal or probably no clues for rejecting my application.
3. Let them know you
Describe: The current job is about a ‘Store Manager’ at Soho Home at Selfridges. The
company is a reputed name in the Home and Furniture industry. The job will be to drive the sales
and meeting the daily targets. Experienced professionals will be preferred for this post.
Professionals must also know how to manage the budgets. Inventory management should also be
a part of the expertise to ensure that stocks are well maintained. The job also needs someone as a
store manager who is able to manage and motivate the sales team. Sales reporting will also be
required (Waddell et al. 2015).
Reflect: I was not able to successfully execute the STAR method during the interview.
This is due to the lack of industry-specific experience. A STAR method can be used to frame the

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different situations and consequently the most suitable responses in the form of three other faces
of STAR such as task, action and result (Tate et al. 2015). I did have the preparation for a set of
few such situations; however, I forgot that I can be screwed for no job specific experience. This
is where the recruiter was able to exploit me. The recruiter has created a situation where I could
not do anything. However, the experiences will teach me how to prepare effectively for an
interview. The task was expectedly challenging as I did not have any specific experience and
hence, was clueless about anything delivered by the recruiter. The task could have become a lot
easier if I had possessed the relevant experience.
Question: Do you have any job-specific experience?
I did take the action and answered that I will cope with the job as I have already done
with child caring at the two different nursery centres. Expectedly, this was not going to repair the
damages as they were looking for experience specific to the retail industry only. The result was
expectedly a rejection. I myself was aware that I won’t be able to crack the interview. This is due
to a fact that I have no experience in the retail industry.
Reflect: After covering the whole module, I have learnt that to become a successful
professional I am needed to design my career in an effective way. Effectiveness would be
attained by both implementing the suitable theories and also follow the mainstream concepts of
career planning. The list of suitable theories will help me to remain strong during the transition
period and would also consolidate my thought process for the career.
Conclusion
In summary, this can be said that it is important to follow three simple strategies for an
effective career such as ‘know myself’, ‘know your sector’ and ‘let them know you’. ‘Know

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myself’ will be better attained by taking the useful guidance from relevant theories such as
‘Development Theory’ and ‘Transition Theory’. ‘Know your sector' can be attained by being
into a network, reflecting on the network experiences and planning an effective career. ‘Let them
know you’ will be attained by identifying a current work that interests me. STAR method needs
to be applied on the interview experience to know the better responses for countering the tricky
interview questions. Moreover, reflecting on what one has learnt will also inform the individual
of what is left to be learnt.

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References
Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Schaufeli, W.B. and Blonk, R.W., 2015. It's all about
CareerSKILLS: Effectiveness of a career development intervention for young
employees. Human Resource Management, 54(4), pp.533-551.
Dik, B.J., Duffy, R.D., Allan, B.A., O’Donnell, M.B., Shim, Y. and Steger, M.F., 2015. Purpose
and meaning in career development applications. The Counseling Psychologist, 43(4), pp.558-
585.
Hughes, A.N. and Gibbons, M.M., 2018. Understanding the career development of
underprepared college students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory &
Practice, 19(4), pp.452-469.
Litano, M.L. and Major, D.A., 2016. Facilitating a whole-life approach to career development:
The role of organizational leadership. Journal of Career Development, 43(1), pp.52-65.
Tate, K.A., Caperton, W., Kaiser, D., Pruitt, N.T., White, H. and Hall, E., 2015. An exploration
of first-generation college students’ career development beliefs and experiences. Journal of
Career Development, 42(4), pp.294-310.
Waddell, J., Spalding, K., Navarro, J., Jancar, S. and Canizares, G., 2015. Integrating a career
planning and development program into the baccalaureate nursing curriculum. Part II. Outcomes
for new graduate nurses 12 months post-graduation. International journal of nursing education
scholarship, 12(1), pp.175-182.

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Appendix
1) Confirmation of Events

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2) CV

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