Essential Study and Employment Skills Assessment Report

This report presents an assessment of essential study and employment skills, focusing on an audit of key skills developed through a group presentation. The report evaluates communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities, highlighting areas for improvement, and includes the application of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to analyze experiences and identify learning outcomes. The author discusses the challenges faced in teamwork, the development of a personal development plan (PDP), and the importance of confidence, critical thinking, and positive attitude in professional settings. The report also outlines an action plan for future skill enhancement, emphasizing the need for authentic data sources and effective team coordination to achieve professional goals and improve interpersonal skills.

Essential Study And
Employment Skills
Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
AUDIT AND EVALUATION OF KEY SKILLS..........................................................................1
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE AVENUES FOR IMPROVEMENT TO PURSUE
IN PDP.............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
To perform the work in effective manner it is require to have sufficient skills which are needed
to achieve the targets (Button, Harrington and Belan, 2014). Employability skills are important to
develop so that I can perform better at the work place and for that purpose it is require to develop
various skills such as: communication, positive attitude, team work etc. While making
presentation there are distinct skills are developed which help me in future to perform better and
achieve my targets. With the help of personal development plan it is easy to find the areas of
improvements. SWOT analysis is helpful to know the strength and weakness in the individuals.
This report also discuss about Gibbs Reflective Cycle model which is helpful towards systematic
work.
AUDIT AND EVALUATION OF KEY SKILLS
Evaluation is known as a discrete and systematic process which helps us to determine the
relevance, efficiency and effectiveness, sustainability and impact of any activity or element of a
performance in a program (Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic and Kaiser, 2013). Evaluation is the
process in which one can identify the advantages and disadvantages to find out the actual
performance to carry out a program or task.
Audit is the examination of an individual skills which can be seen in a particular given
task. The main purpose of audit is to identify the main key skills which can be examined in a
group or individual while performing a particular given task. It is a process which helps an
individual to identify his personal skill and develop it in order to achieve success in business and
in life.
Following are various key skills which are identified in this group task. This group task
of giving a presentation helped me in developing various skills which can help me in growing in
my career this activity has helped in growing my Communication skills, Confidence, Team
work, Critical thinking, Problem solving and positive attitude. With the help of this formative
excessive I got an opportunity to enhance my communication skills after this presentation I can
now communicate more confidently and make my points clear to the audience, this development
of communication skill will help me in the future and make my career. As in future
communication skill is an necessary employment skills. This formative exercise has also help me
to develop a positive attitude and my problem solving capabilities. After this exercise I can feel
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that I can easily solve a problem and my developed a positive attitude towards every situation in
life. It will be an additional benefit in my employment skills as in business one has to face many
problems and challenges and how to deal with it.
This activity also helped me to find out the problems which I have while working in a
team the key problems which me and my teammates faced are team work, team coordination,
confidence and critical thinking. All individuals in my team are from different background it was
very difficult for us to coordinate amongst us and take effective decisions. I was not able to
develop a feeling of team work amongst me and my teammates. Due to the lack of team work
and coordination maximum decision taken in my team was not properly analysed. I need to
develop a proper critical thinking to take necessary decisions. These skills can help in enhancing
my employment skills as in future I need to present my thoughts and also have to give various
presentation such as sales presentation to my top level authorities. The lack of coordination has
affected my team presentation in various ways such as the amount of time which was wasted in
taking decisions, solving problems, planning.
My individual contribution to this formative assessments was to collect the relevant data
on the topic which was presented. Me and my teammates have divided the complete work as per
our area of specialisation. I took the charge of collecting all the relevant data whereas one of us
took the responsibility of sorting the relevant data and other had the work of compiling the data
in one presentation. I contributed in collecting data, sorting of relevant data, carrying out further
research on the topic and presenting the final presentation to respective authorities. I developed a
skill of carrying out research and presenting data with confidence, this activity has improve my
communication skills and vocabulary.
Gibbs Reflective Cycle: It is a model which was developed in 1988 by Graham Gibbs.
This is a model which gives a proper structure to the learning which an individual gains through
experience (Höglund, 2012). This model provides the framework which helps an individual to
examine its experience and give it a cyclic nature which will lend itself particularly well.
Basically this model consists of six stages which helps to reflect experience.
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Following is the Gibbs Reflective Cycle along with its various six stages:
Description: We had a task to present on a topic assigned by our seniors, in this
presentation I had to work with a group to present my topic. While preparing for this
presentation we divided the work as per the area of interest, in which had to collect all the
relevant data from various sources and sort only the very relative data from that other members
in the team were given the task to prepare the presentation and other members were given to task
to conduct the research in order to find out the authenticity of the data and research work which
was carried out. While working together we faced many problems in coordinating with each
other. Initially the team was working individually later we all started coordinating amongst each
other. I face various problems working in a team such as low confidence which was later
improved.
Feelings: At the time when I was divided in a group I was very nervous and did not have
any confident that even I can prepare and complete the task but later on I develop my skills and
over came my fears and enhanced my communication skills and problem solving skills. I feeling
very nervous at time of assigning groups and deciding the work that which part is to be done by
whom. But later working with team I developed a new skill of team work and leading my team
to achieve the desired task. I also have the feeling of nervousness while I was presenting my idea
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in the team that whether my team will like that idea or not. I was also very nervous while
presenting my final work to the allotted authority as I lacked self confidence.
Evaluation: While working in the team I realised that it can lead to various good
experience and bad experience which one can face. Good experience which I faced in while
working in this team to achieve the formative exercise was that every one was confident in his/
her work. It also helped me to boost my confidence and improve my communication skills in
order to complete the task. I also had a good experience after some time that my team was
developing some team work and helping other in the achievement of their task. With some good
experience I also had some bad experience while working in a team, bad experience includes
team conflicts arise due to different background of team members. I had conflicts various times
with my team members regarding the work to be distributed amongst each other. The conflicts
arises as one work was done by two members and other work not even started by anyone. This
conflict was raised due to the problem of understanding each other and working in a team. My
team also lacked proper coordination in the beginning of the project but later on it was developed
amongst my team members.
Analysis: It has been analysed that while making presentation I had faced many issues
like proper coordination and conflicts with the team improper management of work which is to
be allotted to the team. I had faced various conflicts regarding the collection of data. The team
was not properly managed which lead to the various conflicts, mismanagement of work. Due to
this conflicts various wrong decisions were taken while preparing the presentation about the
topic and conducting research. In order to complete the task I took some of the data from
unauthentic sources and later it was realised that the collected information which is collected
should be taken from authentic source. I also faced the problem of improper communication
amongst my team as every individual was from different background and had different mind set
it was difficult to communicate with each other and express my thought and action plan for
carrying out my research.
Conclusion: From this activity I have learned that it is important to work in a team and
take your team along with you. It is also very important to gather data from various authentic
resources. I could have done better if I have developed team coordination in the beginning itself.
I would have completed my task on time if I would have taken the initiative to resolve the
conflict in the beginning. Team performance would also have been improved if there were
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proper management amongst the team member. I could had performed better if my team would
have helped me and supported me while taking important decision to achieve the task on time. I
would have also improved my interpersonal skills which will be required in an organisation
while working as a sales executive.
Action plan: To make action plan is important because it help in future to perform the
task effectively by considering all criteria which is helpful to achieve the goals. To make action
plan I will first set the objectives for the work and after that make the strategies which are helpful
for me to achieve the goals. After that I will arrange the resources which are helpful to complete
the work. After that performance is require to be monitor so that it can be analysed that how the
work is going on and in which areas further chances of improvement is require so that
predetermined objectives can be accomplish. It help me to perform better and enhance the skills
in order to accomplish the goals.
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE AVENUES FOR
IMPROVEMENT TO PURSUE IN PDP
PDP is the procedure of making an action plan and it is based on awareness, values,
career plan and self improvement of an individual (Jackson, 2015). With the help of PDP I can
develop my skills and knowledge which are helpful for me to perform better. To make this plan
it is require to clear out the vision which is required to achieve the goals. The second step is to
outline the strength & areas for the improvement so that I can know what are the skills which are
needed to be develop so that I can perform better. The third step is to build personal development
plan for the improvement of skills and for that purpose specific time period can set. The fourth
stage is review and adapt so that individual can analyse the skills which are developed as per the
plan or not. There are various areas in which development is require and it is mention as below:
Professional Development Plan
Serial
no.
Learning
objective
Current
proficiency
Target
proficiency
Development opportunities Time scale
1 Confidence 3.5 5 As the confidence is require
so that task can be perform in
effective manner and it
15 months
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motivates to take initiative to
complete the work in order to
achieve the goals and targets.
2 Critical thinking 3 5 To think critical is important
because it is helpful to present
the work in effective manner
and find the solutions of the
problems so this skill is
require to be develop in order
to perform better.
12 months
3 Team work 2.5 5 To perform in team is the
requirement because it is
helpful to accomplish the
task in more effective
manner. To develop team
work skill it is require to
make better coordination so
that targets can be fulfil as per
the need of corporation.
18 months
So these are the three skills which are identified by me while developing PDP and these
skills are confidence, critical thinking and team work. I have to emphasis to improve these skills
so that I can prepare better presentation which can communicate relevant message. I get
feedback from tutors which is helpful for me to develop the skills and for that purpose there is a
specific time period has been set so that I can develop the skills which is helpful in future while
making presentation. Through it employability skills can also develops such as: team work,
critical thinking, problem solving skills etc.
SWOT analysis: It is a strategic planning tool which is used by the organisation in order
to identity the strength, weakness, opportunities & threat (Lee and Carter, 2012). With the help
of it I can know my strength and weakness and on the basis of it I will make plan for the further
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improvement which help me to prepare better presentation. In this analysis there four stages
which are as mention below:
Strength: It shows that in what thing an individual and corporation is more effective
which makes it different from others (Leong and Kavanagh, 2013). To know the strength is
important for me and there are various strength which are possess in me such as: communication,
problem solving and positive attitude. With the help of communication skill, I can able to
communicate the information to the team mates and it is beneficial to perform the work in
effective manner. As problem solving skill is helpful for me to find best solution of the problems
which arises while making the presentation. Positive attitude is also my strength because it
motivates me to take initiative in order to achieve specified goals.
Weakness: With the help of SWOT analysis, there are various weaknesses can be
identified and it is required for me to know it so that I can take corrective actions in order to
develop the skills which are lacking in me. As there are various weaknesses which are find in me
such as: confidence, team work and critical thinking. As the confidence is lacking in me as a
result I can not perform better and feel pressurise and can not take initiative. To complete a work
it is require to perform in a team so that work can be done more effectively and timely. As I can
not perform in a team as a result it affect my overall performance. To think critical is require but
this skill is lacking in me as a result I can not make better decisions related to a specific task. It is
required to overcome from the weakness so that performance can be enhanced.
Opportunities: To analyse the opportunities it important so that work can be performed
in better manner (Lievens and Sackett, 2012). I have opportunities to develop the skills which are
lacking in me and restrict to work better as per the requirement. There are various opportunities
which are available in front of me such as: to develop critical thinking, team work and
confidence. It is helpful for me to make presentation in effective manner by considering all the
important factors which can enhance the quality of work.
Threat: To analyse the threat is important for me so that I can make better action plan
which is helpful to maximize the performance. As the main threat is team work and time
management because it hamper the performance of me and my team mates. Due to it work can
not be completed within stipulated time frame and as per the requirement.
So SWOT analysis is beneficial for me to identify my strength and weakness and on the
basis of it I can make further plan for the improvement in future which assist to develop
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employability skills. As a result I can perform better in future and achieve the goals of
corporation.
CONCLUSION
As from the above report, it has been analysed that it is require to study about the
employment skills so that work can be done in effective manner. It is require to make audit of
skills so that evaluation can be done and it provide help to the individuals to know about the
skills which it possess. With the use of Gibbs reflective cycle individuals can encourage to think
systematically in context to the experience or activity. PDP is made so that person can know the
areas in which it have to work to enhance the skills so that it perform better and accomplish the
goals. With the help of SWOT analysis an individual can know about its strength and weakness
and on the basis of it can make corrective action plan for the further improvement.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Bridging the gap between theory and reality. Industrial and Organizational
Psychology.6(1). pp.3-16.
Höglund, M., 2012. Quid pro quo? Examining talent management through the lens of
psychological contracts. Personnel Review.41(2). pp.126-142.
Jackson, D., 2015. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
best practice. Studies in Higher Education.40(2). pp.350-367.
Lee, G. K. and Carter, E .W., 2012. Preparing transition‐age students with high‐functioning
autism spectrum disorders for meaningful work. Psychology in the Schools.49(10).
pp.988-1000.
Leong, R. and Kavanagh, M., 2013. A work integrated learning (WIL) framework to develop
graduate skills and attributes in an Australian university's accounting program. Asia-
Pacific Journal of cooperative education.14(1). pp.1-14.
Lievens, F. and Sackett, P. R., 2012. The validity of interpersonal skills assessment via
situational judgment tests for predicting academic success and job performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology.97(2). p.460.
Rosenberg, S., Heimler, R. and Morote, E.S., 2012. Basic employability skills: a triangular
design approach. Education+ Training.54(1). pp.7-20.
Sisson, L. G. and Adams, A. R., 2013. Essential hospitality management competencies: The
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145.
Tims, M., Bakker, A. B. and Derks, D., 2012. Development and validation of the job crafting
scale. Journal of vocational behavior.80(1).pp.173-186.
Travis, T. A., 2017. From the classroom to the boardroom: The impact of information literacy
instruction on workplace research skills. Education Libraries.34(2). pp.19-31.
Wilton, N., 2012. The impact of work placements on skills development and career outcomes for
business and management graduates. Studies in Higher Education.37(5). pp.603-620.
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