MG408 The Graduate Challenge: Reflective Report on Skills & Growth

This report reflects on the skills and knowledge gained through participation in three major challenges: apprentice challenge, presentation challenge, and t-shirt challenge. It analyses the business angle of each challenge and reflects on the personal skills developed, such as communication, teamwork, creativity, and time management. The report also includes an action plan for continuous improvement, outlining methods and timelines for developing specific skills like teamwork, business competencies, time management, and communication skills. The conclusion summarizes the challenges faced and the skills demonstrated, emphasizing the importance of continuous development. Desklib offers similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

The graduate challenge

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................2
The challenges...................................................................................................................................2
The skills...........................................................................................................................................4
Action plan........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The graduate challenge are the activities which are designed for students to get
actively involved in every challenges beside the business knowledge which they have gained
from processes. There are various challenge such as challenges related to apprenticeship or
something else which students face for development of their knowledge and skills. Students
needs various skills to overcome the challenges various skills such as communication skills,
business competencies and management skills are needed (Dhakal and et.al. (eds), 2018). The
purpose of developing graduation challenges is to prepare the students for their future and
face the future challenges with confidence and appropriate skills. It also teaches the students
the skill of working in a team and makes them able to apply the theoretical knowledge into
real world.
The report will aim to analyse the challenges which students face during the education
in the university, the skills needed to handle challenges as well as an action plan to attain the
required skills in an appropriate required time.
The challenges
There are various challenge which are created for the students in Universities. These
challenge enables the individual students to development their skills such as analytical skills,
critical thinking and time management so that they are prepared for their future (Bhattacharya
ed., 2018). The challenges I find important are as follows:
Apprentice challenge
Apprentice is a form of education in which a person learns a particular skill from a
skilled person who have appropriate knowledge in the same subject. It is a process in which
an individual agrees to work for other person who is skilled for a certain time period and for a
low amount of payment in order to learn that particular skill. The apprentice challenge is
aimed towards enhancement of communication skills, management skill and creativity skills
through inspiring individuals and teams to come up with new and unique ideas (Huamán
Huayta and et.al., 2020). Apprentice challenge is considered as a great method to enhance the
team work skills as an excellent way to identify leaders in a team. It helps in promoting the
collaboration and teamwork in a working environment. The challenge focuses on the
operations business angle as in order to perform daily tasks and activities, teamwork and
cooperation is necessary. It also helps in learning leadership skills as well.

Presentation challenge
Presentation skills are the essential skills which students require in order to represent
themselves and give their opinions and views. However, Presentation challenges in business
refers to the issues a business have about how the consumer views the product as well.
Presentation skills require effective leadership skills and communication skills. Through the
effective communicate only, an individual is able to represent themselves (Razzaque and
Rahman, 2019). I have learned that presentation require not only just verbal communication,
but non-verbal communication such as body language and eye contact. In business context,
the marketing must be able to represent the product in such a way that consumers feel the
need to buy it. For presenting ideas to others in university, the use of power point is made.
Power point helps in effective and easy representation of products and services.
T-shirt challenge
Nowadays, competition is so huge that it needs business to constantly introduce new
ideas and innovations to attract customers. Creativity is another skill which is needed by the
students as well. The shirt challenge is creative strategy initiated by a business. Creativity is
very essential, especially when a new business is starting up a new business. Now social
media is a huge platform to market the products. The t-shirt challenge was initiated on one of
the social media networks. It invited people to join the challenge and post their videos and
pictures doing the same. Through this strategy business was able to create huge awareness
about the products. Similarly, creativity is the key is to reach audience (Aguiar and et.al.,
2019). It also involves communication skills as it is related to the marketing function of the
companies.
The skills
Every challenge was different. So, I have used different skills and techniques to attain
the goals of these challenges.
In the apprenticeship challenge, I had to display skills such as emotional intelligence,
decision making, constant learning, communication skills and team work skills etc. As in the
apprenteship everyone was divided in the teams, cooperation and the skill to work in team
was displayed. Working in team require huge cooperation and patient as well the ability to
represent amount others (Vieira and et.al., 2020). Here in this activity, leadership skills were
also analysed in order to identify the leader of the team. While working in a team, it is very

difficult to put your views fin front when there a number of people giving their opinions.
Here the leadership skills was displayed. Another skill which was demonstrated during
apprentice challenge is the skill of taking initiatives and constant communication. Constant
communication was needed to inform and communicate with every person on team. Initiative
is the skill which needs a person to take charge or be the person who comes forward to start a
new thing or creative activity.
In presentation challenge various skills were demonstrated. Through presentation
challenge the major skill which enhanced and improved was communication skills. During
the presentation I had to represent the activities in front a number of people. This helped in
learning the importance and use of different forms of communication such as verbal
communication, non-verbal communication as well as the oral communication. Presentation
itself is a skill which is very essential in business world (Ramotshwana and et.al., 2021). I
have learned the presentation skills such as use of excel, power point and publisher etc. for
representing my views. Presentation challenge have also helped me in enhancement of other
skills such as time management. As the presentation have to completed in certain time.
In the t-shirt challenge, the skills which were demonstrated involved initiation skills,
communication skills and innovation and creativity skills. T-shirt challenge was more like an
innovation and creativity test challenge. Here during the challenge I had to display creativity
and innovation in various practices and to do regular things (Dhakal and et.al., 2019). It
needed a person to think out of box and identify different and unique solutions to a problem.
It also needed the initiation skill i.e. coming forward to lead change or display their ideas on
front.
Action plan
An action plan refers to the creation if a plan which outlines the objectives as well the
direction to attain that goal. I have to create an action plan which involves development of
various skills in 3 years at university for personal development. Even though some the skills
were skills were demonstrated while performing challenges, but there is still need to improve
some of these skills (Webb, 2019). An action which will assist and direct me to attain my
goals is as follows:
Skills required to
develop
Methods to develop Outcomes/ results Timeline
Team work skills Demonstration of The result in display in my 8 months

patience, positive mind
set, active listening and
participating actively in
discussions and
meeting
cooperation while working
with a team. It will enable
me to have appropriate
guidance from team leader
to attain the goal.
Business
competencies
I have to join the
classes related to digital
technologies, computer
basics and business
management classes
It will improve my basic
knowledge as well as
technical knowledge which
is required n all the business
and career fields.
1 year 2
months
Time management
skills
I will use the methods
such as using timer to
do a task, setting time
to complete task in
advance, dividing all
the tasks into subtasks
and scheduling
deadlines in advance.
The result will improved
time management which
helps me in creating a
positive and effective work
environment. It will also
help in reducing stress as
when work is done on time,
I will not panic. It will also
help in making time to do
other things as well.
6 months –
10 months
Communication
skills
I will practice active
listening, and
participate more in
group discussions. I
will also practice
emphatic listening so
that other person is
comfortable enough to
communicate freely. I
will also practice in
front of mirrors for
improving my body
language while
communicating.
Outcomes will involves
improved communication
and better understanding of
what other person says. I
will also provide me the
ability to continence other
person as well as allow them
to communicate with a free
mind set.
2 years
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be stated that there are various which are faced by students
such as apprentice challenge, t-shirt challenge and presentation challenge etc. Every
challenge is different so it needs different skills to attain the goals of each challenge. For
apprenticeship challenge the skills which were demonstrated were constant learning,
cooperation and communication skills. Presentation challenge will involve skills such as

communication and business management skills. T-shirt challenge on the other hand will
need skills such innovation and creativity. The action plan presents a tie framework and
methods through which specific skills will be attained.
REFERENCES

Books and journals:
Aguiar, F.A.R. and et.al., 2019. Vocational training and sexual assault against women:
challenges for graduation in nursinga. Escola Anna Nery. 24.
Bhattacharya, D. ed., 2018. Bangladesh's Graduation from the Least Developed Countries
Group: Pitfalls and Promises. Routledge.
Dhakal, S. and et.al. (eds)., 2018. The Transition from Graduation to Work: Challenges and
Strategies in the Twenty-First Century Asia Pacific and Beyond. Springer.
Dhakal, S. and et.al., 2019. Challenges and strategies of transition from graduation to work in
the post-2020 Asia Pacific and beyond: A comparative analysis of nine countries.
In The Transition from Graduation to Work (pp. 241-253). Springer, Singapore.
Huamán Huayta, L.A. and et.al., 2020. Assessment of the Achievement of the Graduation
Profile in University Degrees: Trends and Challenges. RIDE. Revista Iberoamericana
para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Educativo. 11(21).
Ramotshwana, B. and et.al., 2021. New Physicians, New Challenges: The Impact of
Accelerated Graduation and Deployment Due to COVID-19. Academic Medicine:
Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Razzaque, M.A. and Rahman, J., 2019. Bangladesh's apparel exports to the EU: Adapting to
competitiveness challenges following graduation from least developed country status.
Commonwealth Secretariat.
Vieira, M.A. and et.al., 2020. NATIONAL CURRICULUM GUIDELINES FOR THE
NURSING GRADUATION COURSE: IMPLICATIONS AND
CHALLENGES. Revista de Pesquisa, Cuidado é Fundamental Online. 12. pp.1099-
1104.
Webb, J., 2019. Preparing to graduate: issues, challenges and strategies for Kiribati's LDC
graduation.