Personal Skill Audit & Professional Development Plan at Hilton Hotel

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a Hilton Hotel manager's skills and competencies, focusing on the importance of continuous professional development in the hospitality industry. The report begins with an introduction to the benefits of ongoing professional development for stakehol...Read More

Personal Skill Audit
&
Professional Development
Plan

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO.1.................................................................................................................................................1
The key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders in Hilton
Hotel............................................................................................................................................1
Employer expectation of professional skills and standard in Hilton,.........................................2
Importance of Ongoing professional development and associated professional skills needed
in Hilton hotel.............................................................................................................................3
Critical evaluation of own skills and competencies to meet the employer expectation of
professional skills needed for employment of manager role......................................................3
LO.2.................................................................................................................................................3
Skills, abilities and competencies using appropriate model and techniques...............................3
Learning theories and approaches to explain personal and professional development process..4
Evaluation of own skills and competencies and most suitable developmental approach to
develop personal professional skills for manager.......................................................................5
LO.4.................................................................................................................................................5
Professional Development Plan to enhance the skills and competencies of manager at Hilton
Hotel underpinning learning and development theories.............................................................5
LO.4.................................................................................................................................................8
Job interview in a controlled environment..................................................................................9
Key strength and weaknesses of the job interview process......................................................10
Evaluate the job interview process focusing on the obstacles and the challenges to overcome.
...................................................................................................................................................10
Reflection of the interview process ..........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Continuous professional development plan is widely recognised as fundamental to the
improvement of standards and skills for individual and their industries. Continuous professional
development exists to ensure that an individual raise their skills and abilities once they have
formally qualified (Knechel and Salterio, 2016). In an ever increasing globalised and
competitive society, the significance of continuous professional development cannot be
overstated. Further, it also ensures to continue to be competent in the profession and it is an
ongoing procedure throughout the profession.
In this present report, Hilton Hotel is being chosen for assessment. It operates in
hospitality industry and was founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton. It is one of the internal brands of
full-services and resorts. This purpose of this project is to assess the learner's ability to
demonstrate the role and importance of continuous professional development and its advantages
to both employees and employers.
LO.1
The key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders in Hilton Hotel.
Ongoing professional development is now become highly important for the organisations
operating in hospitality industry because of high competition in the business environment. It is
the procedure of tracking as well as documenting the skills, knowledge and experience which is
gained by an individual both formally and informally (Bowman and et.al., 2016). It is fact that
employer and employees are the main stakeholders of the company as they manage the entire
organisation functions and operations. So, it is very important to focus on continuous
professional development of both the stakeholders.
There are various benefits of continuous professional development for employer and
employees of Hilton Hotel which are as follows-
For Employer:
Enhance Growth: Continuous professional development enhance the growth of the
organisation as through ongoing professional development company remains competitive in the
market place. Gaining competitive advantages company can become highly competitive that
automatically enhance the growth.
Increase Retention: In an era where employers are cutting costs for opportunities like
training in the organisation by which firm can stand out from the rest of promoting and offering
1

some options for professional development (Jackson and Wilton, 2016). Thus, it shows that
employer care for their employees career development and growth that results in increasing
retention in the company.
Improve Efficiency: Ongoing professional development is not only develop bunch of
skills bit it creates opportunities for staff to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills that
bring productivity and efficiency in the work.
For Hilton:
Build Confidence: Confidence is very important for the success of the organisation as it
is very important to work in the multinational organisation. By taking opportunities for ongoing
professional development employees gain confident to handle any complex situation ad work
pressure (Trorey and Cullingford, 2017).
Aids to get promotion: Ongoing professional development also helps in getting
promotion within organisation as employees get chances to get high position within organisation.
Personal Development and Growth: This is the main benefit that employee gain from
ongoing professional development as through training and development progarmes that gain high
knowledge and skills.
Employer expectation of professional skills and standard in Hilton,
The workplace becomes better when employee work well within organisation and for
this, the ability to work in a team in highly expected by the employers. The employer of Hilton
Hotel expect following professional skills and standards which are as follows-
Communication Skills: This is one of the most important skill that is very important in
hospitality sector because it is depended on the services and offering services required good
communication skills.
Multitasking Skills: Hospitality sector requires skills and standard that handle multitask.
It is because Hilton is one the biggest hotel and they have to handle hundreds of customers in a
time, juggling several task while still remain personable and organised (Wareing and et.al.,
2017).
Flexibility and Ability: Organisations in hospitality industry works on seasonal factors
as at the time of seasons there is high work pressure so, it is very important that employees
should have flexibility and ability to do work more than daily working hours. Employees should
ready to work in unexpected situation.
2

High Level of Cultural Awareness: This is one of the standard skill that is expected by
employer within organisation as it is very important to that employees should have knowledge
and understanding of different culture and knowledge.
Importance of Ongoing professional development and associated professional skills needed in
Hilton hotel.
Ongoing professional skills are very important for the success of the organisation because
of high competition in the market. It enhances the growth of organisation, retain employees for
longer period and improved the efficiency of the entire organisation. If employer of Hilton hotel
ignores to organise professional development within organisation than it is not possible to gain
competitive advantages and enjoys all the discussed benefits of continuous professional
development (McConnell, Delate and Newlon, 2015). There are various skills which are
associated with the professional skills that are essentially required like communication skills,
interpersonal skills, multitasking abilities, flexibility and abilities and many others.
Critical evaluation of own skills and competencies to meet the employer expectation of
professional skills needed for employment of manager role.
I am working as manager in Hilton hotel and I am meeting the needs and expectation of
employer. My employer expect from me that I should handle all the customers in a desire way
and make hem fully satisfied and with my professional communication skills I am managing all
the customers. Further, I have to manage the operations of the hotel like laundry and make
available other raw material to that all the functions can smoothly done. But, I feel I am lacking
behind in understanding the different culture of the customers so at that time I fall in trouble.
LO.2
Skills, abilities and competencies using appropriate model and techniques.
Skill audit is one of the best technique to assesses the skills, abilities and competencies of
manager.
Strength:
 Communication skills as I interact with the customers, seniors, juniors, subordinates and
al other stakeholders in a designated manner.
 Technical Skills as I have knowledge and ability to operate computers and other latest
technologies used in the organisation.
3

 I am playing the role of multi-tasking in my organisation I handle the operation
department, food and beverage departments along with admin department of the firm.
 Hospitality industry requires complete knowledge about the recent trends, consumer
demand, protocols related to security and safety (Chambers, 2018).
 I take right decision at right time at right situation that shows that I have good decision
making skills. Employees working under me as well as my superiors are all happy and
satisfied as well as my decision as they know it will bring better results.
 Self managed leaning habit makes people more sound, intelligent and competent which
increases their performances which ultimately helps in achieving greater overall
productivity of the company.
Weaknesses:
 I am legging behind in understanding different culture of customer as when any other
customer from any other region visit our hotel, I cannot handle them nicely and it is my
biggest weakness that I lose my confidence (Cottrell, 2015).
 Lack of patience is one another weaknesses as I get panic when there are more absentees
in the organisation which is not at all good for me and my career growth.
 Lagging behind in motivation skills as sometime as during implementation of any
change, I cannot motivate the employees who are resisting as I take harsh decision which
is not at all good for me along with my company too.
 I am legging behind in public speaking skills as I feel shy speaking in crowd. In
organisation functions and event I cannot able to speak.
From this skill audit, it becomes quite clear that what are abilities skills and competencies
present in me to play my role of manger in effective way and I am also fulfilling the expectations
of employer. On the other hand, I am also legging behind in some areas like lack of culture
awareness, lack of patience, frustration, panic.
Learning theories and approaches to explain personal and professional development process.
Kolb learning theory is one of the best theory to review a range of learning that helps in
building professional development process. With the application of this theory the employer of
Hilton can build better workforce within organisation. There are four types of leaning style
according to David Kolb leaning model are as follows-
4

Concrete Learning: This is the first stage of learning which states that individual learn
from getting experiencing. Such as field work, lab session etc. In this a person cannot learn by
reading or watching any particular things (Lee and Daugherty, 2016).
Reflective Observation: This is the second stage of the kolb learning cycle where
individual consciously reflect back on that experience. Individual discuss various question at this
stage to clear the confusions.
Abstract Conceptualization: This is the stage where individual start attempting the
learning in the previous stage. Learner put his/her knowledge into action.
Active Experimentation: This is the last stage where individual consider how they are
going to put what they have learnt into practice. At this stage, individual plan for future
improvement by refining the current knowledge, skills and experience.
From the above David Learning theory, it becomes clear that how a person can develop
their knowledge and understanding in a systematic way
Evaluation of own skills and competencies and most suitable developmental approach to develop
personal professional skills for manager.
From the above learning theory and skill audit, I have evaluated my own skills, as there
are many skills that I have developed through my experience at workplace working as a manager
as by interacting customers, vendors, superiors and many other people, I have developed my
communication skills (Goldman, Scott and Follman, 2015). Further, my decision making skills
are developed by observing others who are my seniors that how they take decision and by
evaluating the situations at workplace. Working in multinational firms, I have to handle many
tasks which is an amazing experience for me and it is very fruitful for me to handle multi-tasking
activities within organisation.
LO.4
Professional Development Plan to enhance the skills and competencies of manager at Hilton
Hotel underpinning learning and development theories.
Professional development plan is one of the best way to raise the skills and competencies
of a person playing any role within organisation. It is a formal means by which a person set out
goals, objectives, strategies and outcomes of training and learning. In this present section, I am
going to create a professional development plan to raise skills and competencies working as a
5

manager. Professional development deals with continuous development in the personality and it
is very important for career growth and development.
SKILLS NEEDS
TO BE
DEVELOPED
STRATEGIES TO
DEVELOPED
PRIORITY TIME
DURATION
CRITERIA
FOR SUCCESS
Communication
Skills
This skill is
developed but still
it required further
improvement. This
skill could be
developed by
watching videos
and films that
model conversion.
Using technology,
reinforce active
learning and always
asking for open
communication
(Collins and
Collins, 2015).
Moderate 3 months Take feedbacks
from friends,
seniors as well as
from customers.
Technical skills This skill could be
developed by
attaining classes.
Further, it can also
be developed by
watching videos on
U-tube.
High 5 months Feedback from
my manager and
mentor.
Problem Solving
Skills
Face to face
communication to
Moderate 3 months Outcomes from
current situation
6

clear the
understanding of
the tasks and being
concise, straight to
the point to help to
amend
communication
skills.
handling or my
performance.
Decision Making
Skills
I want to develop
this of taking
rationale decisions
at workplace. This
skill could be
developed by
evaluating the
information from
various people and
seeking guidance
from seniors,
mentors (Fu,
Carson and Simnett,
2015).
High 4 months By handling
some critical task
at workplace.
Cultural
awareness
I am working in
hospitality sector
and it is very
important to be
aware of different
cultures. For
developing this
skill, I would search
Extremely
High
6 months Taking
feedbacks from
customers
through social
media and any
other medium.
7

on internet, keep
my knowledge
about the recent
trends of different
region.
Patience The best way to
develop this skill is
to always giving
time to think about
any situation arise
at workplace or any
other. Further, it
could also be
improved by
practising delaying
gratifications.
Low 2 months Taking feedback
from peers,
friends and
subordinates.
Motivational
Skills
This could be
developed by
staying and always
thinking positive
and keep positive
attitude. Meeting
more people, spend
time to ask
employee issues
(Berman and et.al.,
2019).
Moderate 4 months Taking feedback
from employees
and peers.
8

LO.4
Curriculum Vitae
Summary
Hospitality manager with high level of understanding and knowledge business needs. Highly
effective of integrating innovative leadership skills to achieve goals and objectives of business.
Skills:
Communication Skills
Public Speaking Skills
Highly Motivated
Positive Attitude
Multitasking Ability
Decision making Skill
Creative Person
Interpersonal skills
Achievements:
 Improve paperwork process by 45 percent by streamlining the process of submission.
 Increasing the customer base by 15 percent through interpersonal skills.
 Saved $1,00,000 per year by reorganising structure to reduce unnecessary job roles.
Experience:
 3 years experience of working as a Housekeeping Manager in Qbic Hotel.
 1 years experience of working an admin in Travelodge.
Education:
2007: Bachelors of Commerce: Event Management, Oxford University.
20011: Masters of Commerce: Event management, Oxford University.
Job interview in a controlled environment.
Mock Interview: it is an emulation of interview for job used for the purpose of training.
Mock Interviews Question: These are the question which are asked from me on job interview.
1. What do you know about our company?
2. Tell me something about yourself that not on you resume.
9

3. What type of people do you work with best?
4. What is your management style?
5. What experience do you have with respects to this particular position of hospitality
manager?
6. Our field is always changing. As such, what have you done with regards to personal
development when it comes to our posted the position of hospitality manager in last 12
months?
7. What are the recent trends in hospitality industry?
8. Why you are leaving your last job?
Key strength and weaknesses of the job interview process.
Strength:
 I am very confident when in-front of interview.
 I have answered maximum question.
 I am very honest and have a bold expression.
 My interviewer is satisfied with my management style.
Weaknesses:
 I lose my confidence when I was unable to answer the questions.
 I am taking too much time in thinking.
Evaluate the job interview process focusing on the obstacles and the challenges to overcome.
There are various challenges and obstacles I have faced during the interview which are as
follows-
 The cross questioning of interviewer putting me in more trouble and consuming more
time.
 My interviews is somewhat difficult personality like he has no smile on his face.
 He was asking question very fast and he is not giving time to think for any question.
Thus, this are my weaknesses or we can say challenges that I have faced and it is very important
to overcome these challenges so that I cab give my best in my real interview. I will ask my
mentors to take more interview so that I can practice more. I will boost my confidence by
watching the videos of real interviews taken in multinational companies.
10

Reflection of the interview process
During the interview process, I was quite nervous but I am confident in front of
interviewer. I didn't show my nervousness to him. I was feeling very glad that I have answered
maximum questions. I was dressed formal that also creates positivity during the interview. Apart
from this, I have found that at some areas I was legging behind like I was taking time and loosing
confident when I don't know the answer.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that continuous development process is
very important for employer and employees working in the organisation. It is very important to
for organisation to focus on continuous development because of high threat of competition in the
market. This report also summarised the importance of ongoing development process for both
employer and employees. Employees retention is one of the critical advantages that organisation
gains from continuous development. Further, interpersonal skills, technical skills are important
aspects to handle the customer in hotel. Moreover, professional development plan was also
formulated that helps to enhance the skills, knowledge and competencies.
11

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Berman, E.M and et.al., 2019. Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes,
processes, and problems. CQ Press.
Bowman, J.S and et.al., 2016. The Professional Edge: Competencies in Public Service:
Competencies in Public Service. Routledge.
Chambers, R., 2018. Survival skills for GPs. CRC Press.
Collins, L. and Collins, D., 2015. Conceptualizing the adventure sports coach. In Adventure
sports coaching (pp. 17-35). Routledge.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Assiter, A., 2017. Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge.
Fu, Y., Carson, E. and Simnett, R., 2015. Transparency report disclosure by Australian audit
firms and opportunities for research. Managerial Auditing Journal, 30(8/9), pp.870-910.
Goldman, E.F., Scott, A.R. and Follman, J.M., 2015. Organizational practices to develop
strategic thinking. Journal of Strategy and Management, 8(2), pp.155-175.
Jackson, D. and Wilton, N., 2016. Developing career management competencies among
undergraduates and the role of work-integrated learning. Teaching in Higher
Education, 21(3), pp.266-286.
Knechel, W.R. and Salterio, S.E., 2016. Auditing: Assurance and risk. Routledge.
Lee, E. and Daugherty, J., 2016. An educational plan for nursing staff in the procedural treatment
unit of the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 31(2),
pp.134-145.
McConnell, K.J., Delate, T. and Newlon, C.L., 2015. The sustainability of improvements from
continuing professional development in pharmacy practice and learning
behaviors. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 79(3), p.36.
Trorey, G. and Cullingford, C., 2017. Professional development and institutional needs.
Routledge.
Wareing, A and et.al., 2017. Continuing professional development (CPD) in radiography: A
collaborative European meta-ethnography literature review. Radiography, 23, pp.S58-S63.
12