University of Roehampton: Managing People and Careers Portfolio, 2020

This assignment is a comprehensive portfolio created by a student for a "Managing People and Careers" module, focusing on a job application for an Administration Assistant position at Arcadia Merchandise. The portfolio includes a targeted cover letter, a competency-based job application with answers to interview questions, and a targeted CV. It also provides reflective notes for interview and center exercise practice. The assignment demonstrates the student's understanding of the recruitment process, showcasing their skills in communication, time management, and their ability to articulate their experiences and qualifications in a professional manner. The document also addresses questions on technology, team work and management.

Target cover letter, job
application, an
appropriately targeted
CV.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Targeted cover letter....................................................................................................................1
Competency based job application and answers to the questions...............................................2
The targeted CV...........................................................................................................................4
Reflection notes for interview practice........................................................................................6
Reflection notes for centre exercise practice...............................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Managing people can be defined as a part of human resource management process as it
guides managers to make sure that they are managing all the staff members properly ad hiring
them on the basis of their skills and knowledge (Adcroft and Taylor, 2013). Career portfolios are
the documents which are generated by individuals for the purpose of meeting requirements of
employers and aware them about the skills and capabilities. This report is based up on a job of
administration assistant which is being offered by Arcadia Merchandise. This organisation is one
of the biggest fashion retailers of UK which is operating business in the country successfully.
This assignment covers various topics such as a targeted cover letter, competency based job
application with answers for questions asked in interview, targeted CV etc. Apart from this
reflective notes for interview and centre exercise practice are also covered in this report.
MAIN BODY
Targeted cover letter
Cover Letter
01 December 2020
144/145 Walleyrose, sunrise road
London, United Kingdom
56897458
Respected recruitment Team,
I have saw an advertisement regarding vacant position of Administration Assistant in your
organisation and I am applying for the same as I am willing to attain growth in future.
All the important information regarding my skills and qualifications are mentioned in my CV.
For the purpose of analysing them you can go through that document which is being attached
by me already. Based on my skills I am good in communication, time management, team
building etc. With the help of all these abilities I will be able to meet all the requirements for the
job of Administration Assistant. The skill of time management will be helpful in completing my
own tasks as well as supporting the subordinates and seniors working for Arcadia. The presence
of apt time management skills help in prioritising of tasks and fulfilling the crucial one first.
The proficiency on MS Excel will be helpful in filing up and preparation of reports. I have been
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able to establish a good conversation with my subordinate and customers. This exceptional
ability of interpersonal skills will be helpful in establishing good relations with all the staff
members working within the organisation.
I am hoping that my application will be considered by you as I am having all the skills which
are required for a Administration Assistant's post. You can contact me on the details that are
mentioned by me in my CV. I will be waiting for your call to avail the opportunity for me in
Arcadia Merchandise.
Thanks and Regards
(Name of Applicant)
Competency based job application and answers to the questions
Why are you willing to work with us?
Arcadia Merchandise is one of the largest fashion retailers in the industry and it is a well
known company in the market. The market share captured by it is very high and it is growing
continuously. There are various brands such as Topman, Perkins etc. are sold in the market
which are resulting in higher brand loyalty for the enterprise. The entity has also attained higher
level of competitive advantage which is resulting in growth of it. I have selected this company to
work in future because it will help me to grow and achieve such opportunities which will be
beneficial for my future development. I have good communication and time management skills
which will be beneficial for me to deal with all the tough tasks allocated to me while working
within the organisation (Bennet and Robertson, 2015). I see that if got selected by Arcadia
Merchandise as a Administration Assistant then I will be able to get a chance to enhance my
career. When I was deciding to apply in the company then I have considered my personal interest
in fashion industry because I am very much interested in it and I will we working productively if
I got selected.
According to you which activities are required to be performed by an
Administration Assistant and if you got selected then how will you perform them?
Administration Assistant is a person who is mainly liable to manage the individuals
working within the teams for the purpose of reaching to the organisational goals. One of the key
activities which is performed by this person is guiding all the employees top work productively
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and making sure that all of them, are having detailed information about their job roles.
Administration Assistant is an in charge of monitoring, evaluating and controlling performance
of workforce working under him so that it could be assured that all of them are contributing in
the development of enterprise or not (Bromiley and Rau, 2016). Apart from this, an
Administration Assistant is also responsible to make sure that all the strategies which are
implemented at the organisation are properly managed, planned, formulated, controlled,
organised well diversified. It will be beneficial for future development of the entity. If I got
selected by you for this post then I will make sure that all the activities are performed by me
properly. I will try to fulfil all the requirements of job role with the help of my skills and
capabilities. As I am good in communication therefore I will assure that I interact with all the
employees properly so that they can share their issues with me and appropriate solutions could
be figured out by me for them. Since last few months I was looking for this type of opportunity
where I can achieve growth and enhance my skills by making contribution in the development of
an organisation (Valverde, Scullion and Ryan, 2013).
Tell us you will be able to manage your time and priorities while working within the
organisation. If yes then how?
Yes, I will be able to manage priorities and time properly because I give preference to the
work first and make sure that I complete it in the predetermined time so that I can manage the
time properly. When I was studying in the college then different projects were assigned to me as
well as other classmates. At that time I managed all the work and my priorities which are my
studies properly by preparing a time plan. It has guided me to make sure that all the activities
which are planned are performed on time (Deuze, 2016). In my previous organisation I have
handled different tasks in which the management planned to extend the working hours of
employees by providing them appropriate compensation amount. In this situation I was
responsible to make sure that all the staff members get agree to this policy. Various conflicts
were taken place due to this strategy of management I have handled this problem effectively and
responded to it properly by communicating with staff. It was the main example of managing time
and priorities at workplace and I can assure you that in future I will work in same way.
Can you share your views on advance technology and the way in which it can create
addition for Arcadia Merchandise?
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Advance technology is a type of innovation in current technologies. Main purpose of it is
to reduce time which is taken by organisations as well as individuals to perform easy tasks. In
my opinion it is very important for companies to adopt the latest technologies that are launching
in the market as it will help to attract large number of customers and meet their requirements. By
using it Arcadia Merchandise will also be able to perform critical tasks such as advertisement
easily as it will provide different platforms to advertise all the products that are sold by it. I think
that it plays a vital role in creation of value for an organisation as with the help of it time taken
for performing different activities could be reduced (Kulkarni, 2016) . When an entity will be
able to supply products to clients in less time then it may create value for that enterprise. With
the help of it the competitive of the company will also be increased and the profits will be high
as compared to other major players in the industry.
We would like to known about your past working experience when you worked in
teams and managed different tasks?
I have worked as a plumber in different organisations and I have completed all my work
on time as I want to keep my supervisors happy. I have decided to change the sector as I like to
explore the job of Administration Assistant will be beneficial and turiong point for my career as
well as it will be a great opportunity to show my creativity (Rosemann, 2015). I can definitely
employ my skills and knowledge that I have gained in the past to fulfil my responsibilities as an
administrative assistant at Arcadia. Considering my past experiences I have been successful in
queries which were put forward by my senior and that too in a calm and composed manner. The
time management skills that I possess will be helpful in multi-tasking and fulfilling need of the
hour when working for Arcadia Merchandise.
The targeted CV
Curriculum vitae
Name:
I am such type of individuals who prefer to perform all the tasks effectively and make sure that
these are completed in a specific time limit. I havce studied Business Management Extended
Degree from Liceul Agricol Marcel Guguianu Zorleni during the years 2004 and 2008. The
course which was attempted by me was Turism si Alimentatie Publica & Comert. I am willing
to get a job which is right for me according to my current skills and abilities. I am a hard
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working person who can work under pressure. I take interest in learning new and creative things
so that I can form innovative ideas for the development of an organisation where I will be
working in future.
Education and Qualification
2000 – 2002 High school Laukuva’s Norbertas Velius Gymnasium, UK
2002 – 2004 Penn Foster, High school, (5 gsce’s), Balliol Primary School,
Kempston
2004 - 2008 Business management Extended Degree, Liceul Agricol Marcel
Guguianu Zorleni
Former Post:
June 2016-August 2017 Pipe fitter / plumber
Being store assistant my roles and responsibilities are stated below:
 Complete all the tasks that are allocated by the top management of the organisation so
that all the issues which are affecting functionality of the business could be maintained.
 Make sure that all the issues related to pipes and other water related problems are
resolved properly so that all the organisational activities could be perform without any
issues.
April 2018- until present Pipe fitter / plumber
Roles and responsibility as a Pipe fitter/ Plumber:
 Communicating with all the management staff to make sure that their department is not
facing any type of pipe leakage issues.
 Performing all the responsibilities of job properly so that the operations could be
executed in systematic manner.
 Forming plans in advance so that all the job related work could be completed on time.
Skill
 Good listening skills
 Problem solving capabilities.
 Effective communication.
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 Capability to perform multiple tasks at same time.
 Ability to work under pressure.
 Effectively using the technology to gain detail information.
 Eager to learn creative things.
 Hard working nature.
Achievements
 Complete one year course of IAAP and learned regarding different subjects such as
electronic communication and office management.
 Certification of computer course which is related to basic knowledge of working on
Microsoft word, excel and power point.
Hobbies
 Travelling and exploring new destinations.
 Read books and novels to improve vocabulary.
 Surfing internet to be updated about latest trends running in the market.
Reflection notes for interview practice
For all the individuals who are applying in an organisation it is very important to make
sure that they are prepared for the same because it is the main part of evaluation process. In the
process of interview different questions are asked by interviewer from interviewee. Therefore, it
is very important for me as well to be prepare while applying for Administration Assistant(Lean,
2012). My favourable as well as adverse experience in the interview process are as follows:
 I prepared for the interview properly and answered all the questions properly and made
sure that I answer quickly.
 When interviewers were asking me questions then I tried to maintain the eye contact with
them so that I I can justify my gesture.
 While answering the questions I was audible so that my answers could be listened by the
interviewers.
 When I was facing the interview I was little nervous and this nervousness affected my
ability to share my opinion with the interviewer (Lucas, 2012).
Reflection notes for centre exercise practice
The reflective notes of mine for the centre exercise practice are as follows:
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 I am having the experience in handling the teams therefore I share my previous
experience with others and make the interaction clear.
 My listening skills are very good and it has helped me to make the interaction interesting
and share my views with them (Randall, 2013) .
 In the interview process I faced trouble due to chaos while communicating with different
individuals.
 I believe in deep discussion as it can help to carry out all the team tasks properly and
accomplish them effectively.
 With the help of my time management skill I try to make a plan and perform all the jobs
according to it in future which helps to me complete all the activities in a predetermined
time limit.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that managing people is a process of
making sure that the individuals who have been hired recently or already are assigned jobs
according to their capabilities. For all the people it is very important to make their career
portfolio so that detailed information could be delivered to the employers. There are various
documents which are required to be kept up to date for getting a desired job. The major one of
them is Curriculum Vitae which helps the interviewer to get detailed data bout the applicant.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Adcroft, A. and Taylor, D., 2013. Support for new career academics: an integrated model for
research intensive university business and management schools. Studies in Higher
Education. 38(6). pp.827-840.
Bennet, D. and Robertson, R., 2015. Preparing Students for Diverse Careers: Developing Career
Literacy with Final-Year Writing Students. Journal of University Teaching and
Learning Practice. 12(3). p.5.
Bromiley, P. and Rau, D., 2016. A better way of managing major risks.
Deuze, M., 2016. Managing media workers. In Managing Media Firms and Industries (pp. 329-
341). Springer, Cham.
Kulkarni, M., 2016. Organizational career development initiatives for employees with a
disability. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 27(14). pp.1662-
1679.
Lean, J., 2012. Preparing for an uncertain future: the enterprising PhD student. Journal of Small
Business and Enterprise Development. 19(3). pp.532-548.
Lucas, A., 2012. Continuous professional development, friend or foe?. British Journal of
Midwifery. 20(8). pp.576-581.
Randall, C., 2013. Managing occupational stress injury in police services: A literature
review. International public health journal. 5(4). p.413.
Rosemann, M., 2015. The service portfolio of a BPM center of excellence. In Handbook on
Business Process Management 2(pp. 381-398). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Valverde, M., Scullion, H. and Ryan, G., 2013. Talent management in Spanish medium-sized
organisations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 24(9).
pp.1832-1852.
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