Professional Skills: Self-Assessment & Development for Graduates

This report presents a comprehensive self-assessment of graduate employment skills, focusing on identifying personal strengths and areas requiring further development. It begins with an introduction to self-awareness exercises and their importance in professional success, followed by a detailed exploration of personal vision, mission, values, attitudes, and interests. The report highlights key personal attributes and employability skills, emphasizing the significance of innovation, responsibility, leadership, temperament, and competitiveness. The author identifies communication skills and knowledge of Australian and International Accounting Standards as areas needing improvement, proposing specific strategies such as communication courses and continuous learning. The document also includes a professional resume and cover letter, showcasing the author's skills and experience. The report concludes that self-assessment is crucial for professional success and outlines a plan for continuous self-improvement.

Graduate Employment Skills
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Table of Contents
Summary- Self Awareness Exercises............................................................................................................3
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
Self reflection exercises...........................................................................................................................3
Part One-Fixation of personal vision, mission and goal.......................................................................3
Part Two- Values and Attitudes...........................................................................................................4
Part Three- Interests............................................................................................................................4
Part Four- Personal Attributes and employability skills.......................................................................5
Identified strengths.................................................................................................................................6
Requirement of professional development.............................................................................................7
Summary.................................................................................................................................................8
Professional Standard Resume....................................................................................................................9
Statement Addressing Selection Criteria...................................................................................................11
Cover Letter...............................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................14
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Summary- Self Awareness Exercises
Introduction
Self awareness exercises are those exercises which can turn human being to the ideal perfectness
by assessing own strength and weakness analysis. Self awareness exercises are primary exercises
to make a human being successful by following regular process of systematic approaches. These
exercises can make a human being assess his ability with the identification of different areas of
development required for different parts of life. (Adele, 2015) As a graduate student, the
highlight of individual’s study is to fix the vision and mission of future professional life with the
fixation of objective for short and long term period. (Chtena, 2013) There are certain processes
of these exercises which can systematically escalate a graduate student to a successful
professional through understanding, implementing and assessing the outcome of the exercises
taken up by an individual. (Shores, 2006)
Self reflection exercises
During the study of graduation level, an individual gains some skills, which can be exploited for
professional success. There are different types of self reflection exercises, which can enhance the
level of skills of a student for his professional success. (Australia, 2017)
As per the book ‘Your Career and You’ published by Graduate Careers Australia, there are
certain steps to be followed to make a perfect self assessment process. The steps are defined
below as per numerical preference focused by Bronwyn Duncan for GCA:
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Part One-Fixation of personal vision, mission and goal
When an individual is studying in graduate level, he is proved to be matured enough to take his
own decisions for his professional life. For this purpose, the individual has to fix his vision,
mission and objective related to his professional life. These factors should not be fixed as per the
theoretical aspects, but are to be fixed with the practical aspects of skills gathered from the study
and the ability to successfully execute the same in the professional life. (Doss, 2016) While
vision represents the destination where an individual likes to see him after a reasonable time,
mission represents the way to accomplish that vision. The objectives are set for long and short
term for an individual and the same are to be monitored on regular periodical basis to assess the
success percentage of the individual to accomplish those set targets. This self reflection process
can make the individual realize where he is lacking. This process can make the individual able to
rectify his professional strategies to accomplish professional goals. (MSW, 2011)
Part Two- Values and Attitudes
Individual values and attitudes play a vital role in professional success. Being a graduate student,
strong level of values and positive attitudes are to be complied with commitment for professional
life mandatorily. Values and attitudes attract rewards which are divided into external and
internal. There is clear definition of desirable reward, which can meet essential reward for the
effort of an individual in professional field. Rewards may be defined as the accomplishment of
any job with subsequent recognition of the same. (Sims, 2012)
Part Three- Interests
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Interests are the driving forces for any individual to be successful in every sphere of life.
Interests generate from personal likings or affluence of skills of any individual. Interests may
generate in professional and personal life and are considered as driving forces of success for any
individual. Interests of individual can be classified in two spectrum of life- work and leisure or
personal. The interests can also be classified into two different levels as per preference- very
highly important and fairly important. Maintenance of proper balance in these interests can be
the deciding factor for success of individual life.
Part Four- Personal Attributes and employability skills
Personal attributes of an individual is depending upon different factors out of which intellectual
capacity followed by the ability of use of innovative power is one. It is not prerequisite of every
individual; instead this feature is dominant with rare number of individuals. Innovative power
leads to creativity and this virtue makes individual special in the crowd. Projection of innovative
power differentiates individual from general as they can do things in other ways than the others
with more perfection and professionalism. This is an inherent quality which can be developed
through self realization process.
Sense of responsibility is another area of personal attribute of any individual which determines
the accountability of him. Readiness to do as per the demand of the situation to comply with the
assignment is a major factor for future success of any graduate student. Sense of responsibility
makes an individual different from others. (Toolman, 2017)
Leadership is another domain of personal attribute. Leadership forces to lead any team or group
of people for any common objective by following a well acceptable strategy. Leadership can
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contribute to the professional life by guiding the team with proper direction for accomplishment
of objective. (Watkins, 2016)
Temperament and personal style of any individual is a predominant factor for success in
professional field. Being a graduate student, the individual has to ensure that both these factors
should comply with the demand of the situation. In other words, temperament and personal style
should not dictate professional life; instead the same should be flexible in order to accomplish
the objective successfully. (urdang, 2010)
Competitiveness is another area of success for individual. In the hardcore struggle of
professional life, competitiveness is to be faced in every steps of life and is to be faced with
proper strategy.
Initiative to make decisions is another area of personal attributes of an individual. Initiative is
required to come over the obstacles faced in different sphere of life including professional fields.
Self motivation drives towards success while driven motivation leads to slow success rate.
Self confidence, persistence, flexibility, energy and health of an individual are also the basic
factors of personal attributes, which are cause of success in professional and personal life. Hence
the graduate students should exercise self realization of these areas in order to ensure success in
professional life.
Employability skills are developed through rigorous process of self realization followed by
continuous practice. Skills can be dormant if they are not exercised. Proper execution of skills is
subject to specialization of executing such skills. Graduate student should know how to cultivate
skills, sharpen it and apply it as per requirement of the situation.
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Identified strengths
Each individual is consisting of strengths and weaknesses. Strengths can be identified through
the process of application of developed skills. Weaknesses can be identified through self
assessment of demand of situation which cannot be met through owned skills. Identified
strengths can be well used for accomplishment of objectives in micro as well as macro level of
professional life. Good hold of sound communication skill can be defined as identified strength
and the same can be used for communicating with other stakeholders of the employment. (Sims,
2012)
Requirement of professional development
When an individual enters professional life, he has to depend on two factors- theoretical
knowledge and practical application of the same in job. Due to regular enhancement of
technological application, professional development is required to keep updated with the latest
technological application and support for any individual. Hence, graduate student should be
ready to upgrade their knowledge through sharing process with the experts in order to keep him
updated to meet the requirement of the profession in effective manner.
Through self assessment process, I have identified areas of professional development to be done
by me to excel in my professional career. Being accounting professional and aspirant accounting
personnel in any good organization, I have to be well aware of different aspects of Australian
Accounting Standards through the directives of AASB. The implication of International
Accounting Standard through the directives of IASB are also to be kept in mind through regular
studying and understanding the application of those standards in accounting practice. The
accounting reporting standard set by International Financial Reporting Standards or IFRS are to
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be well considered while managing financial information for preparation of financial reports.
Through self awareness exercises, these areas are to be assessed with proper application method
of those directives to make the accounting reports as per the standards set and accepted by ASX
and the Corporation Act of Australia, 2001. (Harris, 2016) There is another area of
communication skill which is to be developed by me. As communicating means expressing
myself to others through written or oral presentation, this skill is to be adopted with latest modes
so that people on the other side would understand and reciprocate in effective manner. For this
purpose, I have to undergo a crash course on communication skill for 30 days to upgrade my
communication skill. MS XL, Word and PPT are the basic criteria through which presentation
can be made. I have to undergo another short course in XL and PPT to be able to use the latest
features of these applications for good and effective presentation for the stakeholder’s benefit.
Summary
With the above discussion, it is evident that self assessment process is prerequisite for an
individual to be successful in professional field. As a graduate student is ready to enter
professional field, he is no exception to this application. Self realization process is the best tool
to enhance individual deliverance level with proper application of different factors for self
assessment. All these factors are important and none can be denied while success is bull’s eye for
the aspirant. (Sims, 2012)
By exercising self awareness programs, I have found my strength in the areas of personal
attributes through good hold of innovativeness, readiness to adopt professional development,
cope up with the domains of sense of responsibilities, competitiveness and temperament as a
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team member. Weakness is observed in the areas of leadership exercises and personal style
which are to be developed through continuous process of self realization.
Professional Standard Resume
Amit Kumar Khurana
24/22, Fourth Avenue, Victoria, Australia. Zip Code- 3030
Contact - [phone]
Email address- amit.k@ gmail.com
Professional Summary
A keen learner of latest accounting activities, with the theoretical knowledge of handling
receivables and payables along with finalization of accounts by completing income statement
and consolidated financial position of any organization. Good awareness of latest standards as
per Australian Accounting Standard Board (AASB) and International Accounting Standard
Board (IASB) with the application of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). Well
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equipped with the application of different international and Australian Standards in the domain
of accounting are my key professional strengths.
Professional Highlights
 Basic accounting management as per AASB, IFRS and IASB with application;
 Detailed knowledge of MS Word, MS XL, PPT;
 Commanding communication skills;
 Fluency in preparation of income statement and consolidated financial position with fund
flow analysis
 Tax management including GST and Income Tax.
 Statutory compliance
Experience
 Experienced an internship program in Angel Seafood Holdings Ltd., an ASX enlisted
company with its code AS1 and GICS Industry Group of Foods, Beverages and Tobacco
for 3 months as accounts trainee with emphasis on receivables from 1st August 2017 to
31st October 2017. Basic learning objective was to handle and manage receivables
accounts with the proper analysis of good debts and doubtful debts. Basic entry level
jobs of invoicing and payment receipt was also done to ensure the fundamental
knowledge of receivable accounting management. The accounting software followed by
the company was tailor-made cloud based software developed by an Australia-based
software company.
 Experienced a freelancing service in Non- Government Organization (NGO) named Act
for Peace- National Council of Churches Australia (NCCA) as accounting personnel for
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two months from 1st June 2017 to 30th July, 2017. Basic learning objective is to
understand the flow of fund – how it comes and how it is used. Main accounting
activities included preparation of the list of donors with the amount donated followed by
subsequent tax benefit certificates to be issued and entering them in the accounting
software – Saasu.
Educational Qualification
Bachelor of Science, Accounting from Victoria College of Business Administration in 2017.
I declare that the above information is true and fair to the best of my knowledge. (career, 2017)
Place-
Date- Signature
Statement Addressing Selection Criteria
To emphasis on my selection criteria, a statement of the same is being given below:
Strengths:
 Knowledge of accounting systems (Writers, 2016)
 Knowledge of accounting standards- AASB and IASB
 Knowledge of accounting reporting standard- IFRS
 In depth knowledge of MS word, XL and PPT
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 Analytical knowledge of accounting entries
 Knowledge of proper accounting treatment of different financial information
 Knowledge of preparation of different financial reports viz., income statement and
consolidated financial position of any organization
 Experience of internship in two organizations to handle different sphere of accounting
activities with preparation of reports for management and the stakeholders (Writers,
2016)
These are my areas of expertise on which I would like to emphasize for my professional career in
accounting and so, I present them as my selection criteria. (Australia, 2017)
Cover Letter
To dated 18.04.2018
The Accounting Manager,
XYZ Ltd.
Victoria, Australia
Zip Code 3034
Subject: application for the pot of Junior Accounting Executive
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