Personal Development and Career Goals in Professional Settings Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of personal development within professional environments. It begins by outlining the student's career goals, identifying potential roles such as a Human Resource Specialist, Entrepreneur, and Department Manager, and analyzes the skills and qualifications required for each. The report then moves on to a self-assessment, incorporating a SWOT analysis and feedback from peers to pinpoint strengths, like time management and communication, and weaknesses, such as self-management and leadership skills. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to identifying skill and knowledge gaps, and proposing actionable steps to bridge them, including seeking guidance from mentors, leveraging academic opportunities, and gaining practical experience. The report concludes with a SMART action plan, detailing specific steps to be taken to achieve career goals, such as professional training and skill enhancement, ensuring a structured approach to personal and professional growth.

Personal Development
in Professional Settings

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1: CAREER GOAL..............................................................................................................1
PART 2: CURRENT REALITY.....................................................................................................2
PART 3: OPTIONS FOR PROGRESSION....................................................................................3
PART 4 WAY FORWARD.............................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
APPENDICES.................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Present essay is focused with personal development of the individuals. The process of
making improvements in own skills is known as personal development. This essay covers
various topics such as career goal, current reality, options for progression and way forward.
PART 1: CAREER GOAL
Career is one of the key elements that are focused by all the students so that they can
attain success in future. It is very important for all the students to enjoy what they are doing as it
is the way to accomplish all the goals successfully. When all the individuals will be able to
analyse their own skills and capabilities then it will be very easy for them to find the best suitable
job for themselves. The jobs that I have selected for me on the basis of my qualities are Human
Resource Specialist, Entrepreneur and Department manager.
First career which is selected by me is human resource specialist. It is one of the most
attractive jobs for me because it is based upon human factor and it is related to my interest area.
The main responsibilities of this job role are to place, recruit, select and hire the individuals
according to requirements of the organisation, conduct interview so that best individual could be
selected for the vacant position etc. As a girl, it will be very easy for me to find a job of human
resource specialist because entities give preference to females for this job as compared to male.
The average salary for this job role in UK will be around 31400 pounds per annum (Banwell and
Kerr, 2016).
Another career which is selected by me is entrepreneur in which I can start my own
business and become my own boss. In order to adopt this career, it will be very important for me
to work harder and take risks. For all the entrepreneurs it is very difficult to start from zero base
and attain success. In order to establish my own business, I have to formulate an effective
business idea which can help to attain success in long run. Apart from this, I will also be required
to be focused with innovation and social conditions while developing the idea.
The last job profile which is selected by me is department manager which could be found
I different industries. The main responsibility of this job role is to assure the satisfaction of the
clients, guide the staff members to work productively and ensure effective execution of all the
operations. I have management degree which will help me to find this type of job and my skills
in management are also very good that can help me to work effectively in future.
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PART 2: CURRENT REALITY
For all the individuals it is very important to make sure that they are able to understand
all their strengths and weaknesses because it can help to make improvements in skills and
capabilities. While planning to meet all the long-term career goals it will be very important for
all the learners to assure that they are able to overcome all their weaknesses. If they will not be
able to deal with weaknesses then it will be very difficult for them to meet all their goals and
objectives. On the basis of personal SWOT and ask from 5 people activity I have determined
different strengths and weaknesses of mine. I asked a group of five people to tell me some of my
strength, weaknesses, good qualities and the abilities that should be improved. The ask from five
people activity is attached in appendix (Carbonie, Guo and Cahalane, 2018). According to the
activity and person SWOT all my strengths and weaknesses are as follows:
Strengths: These are the capabilities that can help an individual to meet the expectation
of all the future roles and responsibilities of the job which will be selected to work in an
organisation. One of the key strengths of mine is proper time management. I always try to
complete all my work on time by making proper schedule for the same. I have abilities of critical
thinking and problem solving which help me to deal with all the negative situations which may
affect my ability to work effectively. I am also very good in interaction with other because my
communication skills are very good. With the help of them, I will be able to interact with all the
individuals working within the organisation. I have effective listening skills which can help me
to evaluate all the situations properly and work efficiently. Some of my good qualities are
honesty, patience, creativity, loyalty and flexibility. All of them are beneficial for me to work
effectively in an organisation and meet the expectation of the job role (Chen and Huang, 2017).
Weaknesses: According to appendix, ask five people activity one of the main
weaknesses of mine is lack of self-management. Dur to this, I am not able to work effectively
and sometimes create problems for myself. Due to this my confidence level is decreasing and it
is resulting in weak decision-making capabilities of mine. As my confidence level is low so I
take too much time to formulate a decision which affect my engagement in work. Apart from
this, my leadership skills are also very weak due to which I am not able to pass proper judgement
on the decisions that are formed. The key qualities that are required to be improved by me are
sensibility, motivation, versatility, consistency and thoughtfulness.
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PART 3: OPTIONS FOR PROGRESSION
In order to achieve the career goals, it will be very important for me to analyse the skills,
experience and knowledge which is required for the same. Some of the skills will be proper
communication, effective decision making, problem solving, leadership, self and time
management etc. The experience which will be required to meet the career goals will be working
as a manager or handling events where proper management is needed. The knowledge of the area
where I will be working in future is also required to meet the goals (Frunză, 2017).
Skill gap:
On the basis of SWOT analysis, I have determined that there are several skills that are
required to be improved so that I can meet the goals of my career. These skills are decision
making, self-management and leadership. This skill gap is required to be filled so that I can meet
the career goal.
There are various steps could be taken for the purpose of filling the gap in the skills. All
of them are as follows:
I can contact to the professionals with who I am already in contact. These are my tutor
and mentors in the university. They will be able to guide me to fill the skill gap and help me to
attain success in future.
I can also improve my skills through the opportunities that are created by my degree. As I
have completed the bachelors in management so it can help me to e=improve my management
skills. All the projects that will be assigned to me in university can also help me to improve the
skills.
Knowledge gap:
In order to meet the career requirements, I need to have knowledge of the sector in which
I will be working. For example, if I will be working as department manager in retail then I will
be responsible to have knowledge of customer requirements, social trends etc. There is lack of
this information and I need to bridge this knowledge gap (Howard, 2019).
In order to fill the knowledge gap following steps could be taken by me:
I can contact to the senior executive of the organisation who will guide me to get
information of the area that is required by me.
Experience gap:
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While planning to work as a department manger in a retail store I need to have experience
of task handling and proper management. This gap could be filled by taking following action:
The conferences and seminars that are attended by me during the completion of the course
can also help me to improve my experience. I have worked as a volunteer in the events and it
could help me to overcome all my weaknesses and enhance experience.
PART 4 WAY FORWARD
In future I will be required to take specific actions so that I can reach to my career goals.
Three specific steps that are SMART are as follows:
Step 1: Interacting with the senior manager of retail store for professional training.
S- The retail store is offering trainings to the new department managers so that they can
work effectively. So I can apply for the same during the completion of my course.
Step 2: Completing the professional training with retail store so that I can become
trained manager.
R- As a manager I will be required to have skills to use micro soft word properly so that I
can work properly.
T- The local authorities are conducting two months course for all the students so that they
can improve their skills. I will be signing up for the same (Tattum and Tattum, 2017).
Step 3: Scoring good marks in examination
A and M: I have scored good marks in exams and completed all the projects on time
which has resulted in attained targets and measured success.
CONCLUSION
The above essay concluded that personal development is very important for all the
students as it can result in enhancement of their skills and capabilities. For this purpose, they can
conduct SWOT analysis which will enhance possibility of making improvements in skills and
capabilities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Banwell, J. and Kerr, G., 2016. Coaches' Perspectives on Their Roles in Facilitating the Personal
Development of Student-Athletes. Canadian Journal of Higher Education. 46(1). pp.1-
18.
Carbonie, A., Guo, Z. and Cahalane, M., 2018. Positive Personal Development through eSports.
In PACIS (p. 125).
Chen, G. and Huang, S. S., 2017. Toward a theory of backpacker personal development: Cross-
cultural validation of the BPD scale. Tourism Management. 59. pp.630-639.
Frunză, S., 2017. Ethical leadership, religion and personal development in the context of global
crisis. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies. 16(46). pp.3-16.
Howard, M. C., 2019. Virtual reality interventions for personal development: a meta-analysis of
hardware and software. Human–Computer Interaction. 34(3). pp.205-239.
Tattum, D. and Tattum, E., 2017. Social education and personal development. Routledge.
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APPENDICES
Ask five people activity
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths Weaknesses
Proper time management Lack of self-management
Problem solving Lower confidence
Critical thinking Weak decision making
Good communication Weak leadership
Effective listening Improper judgement
Qualities
Good qualities Qualities to improve
Honesty Sensibility
Patience Motivation
Flexibility Thoughtfulness
Creativity Consistency
Loyalty Versatility
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