Personal Skills Audit and Professional Development Plan Report

This report presents a comprehensive personal skills audit and professional development plan, focusing on the hospitality industry, specifically Marriott International. It begins with an introduction to personal skills audits and their importance in career development, followed by an examination of the benefits of ongoing professional development within an organization. The report investigates employer expectations regarding professional skills and standards, and evaluates the significance of continuous professional development. The author critically evaluates their own skills and competencies, assessing them using various methods, including a SWOT analysis. The report reviews learning theories and models, and ultimately constructs a detailed professional development plan with clear targets, strategies, and outcomes. The plan includes applying for a job in the travel and tourism sector and undertaking a job interview, followed by a critical reflection on the interview process. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for future professional growth.

Personal Skill Audit and
Professional
Development Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Examine benefits of on-going professional development in an organisation.........................3
Investigate employer expectations of professional skills and standards................................4
Evaluate importance of on-going professional development and associated professional skills
requirements...........................................................................................................................5
Critically evaluate own skills and competencies to meet employer expectation of professional
skills required.........................................................................................................................6
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
Assess your skills, abilities and competences using appropriate methods and techniques....6
Review learning theories or models and approaches used to explain personal and professional
development process..............................................................................................................8
Evaluate your own skills and competencies and the most appropriate developmental approach
to develop personal and professional skills..........................................................................10
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................10
Construct a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competences.....10
Provide a detailed development plan that applies underpinning learning and development
theory....................................................................................................................................12
Produce a comprehensive development plan that sets out clear and achievable targets,
strategies and outcomes of learning and training.................................................................12
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................13
Prepare and apply for travel and tourism sector job and undertake a job interview............13
Review key strengths and weaknesses of the job interview process....................................14
Evaluate the job interview process emphasising on the obstacles and the challenges to
overcome..............................................................................................................................15
Produce a detailed and coherent critical reflection of the interview process and your own
abilities during the process...................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................18
.......................................................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Personal skills audit is the best way through which particular person can identify their
strength and weakness these are necessary for further development (Cohen, 2015). It is the best
way by which individual can put them on best career track. In this, Personal and professional
development plan assist in removing weakness and more development in strength. PDP is the
procedure designed for enable thinking about as well as planning for personal, academic and
career development. This report is based on Hospitality industry organisation named as Marriott
International founded in 1927 and they are serving at worldwide level. Products offering by the
respective organisation is hotels and resorts. It will going to discuss the importance of on-going
personal development and self direction for enhancing career opportunity. By assessing own
skill, competences as well as various learning and development approaches. In the end, personal
and professional development plan will be designed as per requirement of specific industry.
LO 1
Examine benefits of on-going professional development in an organisation
On-going professional development stands for continuing professional development. It is
related to the procedure of tracking as well as documenting skills, knowledge and experience
gained by individual while working formally or informally (Coleman and MacNicol, 2016). In
simple term it can be said that, continuing professional development is the on-going process for
developing, maintaining as well as documenting own professional skills. Apart from this, on-
going professional development play important role in company because several new things get
emergence in business which require latest skills as well as knowledge for performing these.
Below mention are some role of on-going professional development :-
 Become a better employee: In an organisation it is required for management to provide
effective learning to staff member so that they can grab opportunities of business growth.
For this, it is required to identify their skills and capabilities for the effective allocation
of responsibilities.
 Accomplishing goals and objectives of company: If employees of Marriott Hotel
develop their professional skills through on-going process then it will be beneficial for
organisation. Because they can do things in effective manner that will result in
accomplishing goals and objectives of respective hotel.

Along with this, there are several advantages for employees and employers of on-going
professional development. Because effective staff development, competent,employees become
more capable as well as confidence (Gordon, 2016). All these result in improving performance of
employees and have direct impact on enhancing productivity of Marriott Hotel. Explanation of
these are as follows :-
Employees Confidence and credibility within employees will be develop by providing them
on-going professional development training. It will also assist in building
credibility because they continue to gaining new skill sets as well as
certifications. Apart from this, employees get job satisfaction when their skills
will enhance and company is investing money for their development.
Commitment for individual development also lead in reducing employees
turnover and it also result in satisfaction as well as motivation.
Employers On-going professional development result in increasing employees retention
because Along with this, manager of Marriott reenergize their staff members by
providing them periodic professional development which help in gaining
required latest skills and knowledge. This help employees in approaching their
job as well by on-going professional development Marriott will accomplish their
goals also through reenergize their personnels.
Investigate employer expectations of professional skills and standards
Organisation and employer have some expectation related to skills and competencies
while hiring an employee. Because everyone is hiring with the motive of fulfilling requirement
of company as well as accomplishing goals and objectives. Within hospitality industry
expectation of employer related to skills and competencies are as follows :- Building Connections – Hospitality industry is all about comfort and services which is
provided by the organisation working under it like Marriott. Such is gained only
employee have ability of making positive connections with clients, guest, vendors as well
as other staff members (Irvine and Irvine, 2018). Although, it is employers expectation

skill that candidate have ability to build connections with guest, vendors and other team
members. Multitasking - At each and every levels, careers in hospitality need staff members to
handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. Employers want multitasking skills and
competencies in the candidate hiring by them such as enhance customer experience, keep
kitchen and working area clean, welcome client's with kindness (McAllister and Hauville,
2017). Because employers want to know that you can perform several activities within
same duration. Technical and language skills - Knowledge of computers and different language are the
two effective aspects that make employee stand out in hospitality sector as well as
necessarily required. Employers want these skills because guest come from several
culture and have different nature. For handling them in proper manner there is
requirement of good command on languages such as English because it is understandable
by every customers. Along with this, for searching past visit data of any guest in the
Marriott it is important for an staff member to have computer skills.
 Flexibility – Hospitality industry is full of several task and flexible in nature so it is
required by employers that candidate must be flexible in nature. Because while working
in an organisation individual should be ready to switch gears at the movement when any
unexpected situation rise. In simple term, expectation of related to flexible skills and
competences is necessary due to dynamic nature of business environment several
modification take place in that situation it is necessary to be flexible and easily adopt
things.
Evaluate importance of on-going professional development and associated professional skills
requirements
It is very important for employees to have professional development skills in order to run
their business in effective manner. Some of the significant of on-going professional development
are:
 It helps in keeping capabilities with current standards and maintaining and enhancing
skills and knowledge for delivering professional service to community, consumers,
clients.
 It helps in advancing body of knowledge and technology within professionalism.

There are various professional skills requirements for different job profiles:
For marketing job role- communication skills, market analysis skills and others
For human resource job role- communication skill, recruitment and selection skills,
decision making skills, innovative skills and others.
Critically evaluate own skills and competencies to meet employer expectation of professional
skills required
Skills and competencies that I have in order to meet employer expectation of professional
work are flexible nature, technical and language skills and multitasking. By these skills I able to
conduct my work in more proper and effective manner. Through flexible nature I able to adopt
new things in appropriate manner and able to do work in every condition. But due to this nature I
feel pressurised because my senior authority think that I can do each and every work in each
situation which is not possible. Along with this by technical and language skills I able to able to
adopt new technology as well as by language skill I able to with all type of clients communicate.
But sometime it will develop gap because my perspective get vary form others. I also have
multitasking skills that help me in conducting various work at a time in effective and appropriate
ways which leads to attainment of goal as well as objective. Whereas due to this skills sometime
I feel pressurised and burdened of work.
LO 2
Assess your skills, abilities and competences using appropriate methods and techniques
Personal audit is necessary to be conduct by each and every person because it assist in
identifying strength and weakness (Parker, 2017). Along with, future opportunity and threats are
also determined as well as it is necessary for gaining better position within market area. With the
help of personal audit particular person can take advantages of career development. I am
conducting my personal audit for Human Resource manager in Marriott Hotel. Rating will be
given to every skill is out of 10. Description of these are as follows :-
Skills Rating by me Rating by others Remarks
Flexible nature 7 9 Flexible nature is my
strength
Technical and 5 8 Technical and

language skills language skills are my
strength
Multitasking 8 9 Multitasking is my
strength
Building connection 8 5 Building connection is
my weakness
Time management 6 4 Time management is
my weakness
Problem solving skills 4 7 Problem solving skills
is my weakness
Along with, strength and weakness it is important for an individual to identify future
opportunities as well as threats. For determining all these there is requirement of conducting own
SWOT analysis it stands for strength, weakness opportunity and threats (Pike And et.al., 2016).
It is a strategic planning techniques utilise for helping individual in conducting their own
analysis or specific project. Explanation of these are as follows :-
Strength -  One of my strength, flexible nature that is necessary while working in
Marriott Hotel because business environment is dynamic in nature
several modifications take place in it. This require that individual
should be flexible in nature.
 I have proper knowledge about technical and language skills this is
necessary for handling customer from different culture. Along with
this, it have proper knowledge about computer and can easily work on
it. This is required because in some cases customer want their past
record which can be only possible when I know how to operate
computer.
 I am multitasking person and can manage various task within
particular time period. This is necessary while working in organisation
because several uncertain things can happen without any before

warning.
Weakness -  Building connection is my weakness, I am not able to easily get
connected with anyone it may create problem for me while working in
an organisation. Because connection building is necessary with
customers, suppliers and other team members.
 Time play important role in everyone life while working in an
organisation it is required to manage time in proper manner for
accomplishing goals and objective. But it is my weakness that, I am
not able to manage time properly as per different activities.
 Problem solving skill is my weakness I am not able to handle issue
because it get afraid of situations.
Opportunities -  With my flexible nature I can gain better career opportunity in future
because it is in my nature that I am capable of doing any kind of work.
 I can start my own business with strength of multitasking because
owner of company should have nature who can mange various task
within specified time duration.
Threats -  My weakness in time management will become major threat of my
life. Because it is necessary to do things in proper manner within
required time duration for gaining career opportunities in the area of
Human Resource.
Review learning theories or models and approaches used to explain personal and professional
development process
Kolb's learning theory is introduced by the David Kolb in 1984 from which he developed
his learning style inventory as well as it is one of the best known and used learning theory
(Kolb's Theory of Learning Styles, 2019). Moreover, as per the theory it is believed that learning
styles are emerge because of individual genetics, life experiences as well as the demands of
current environment. In the respective experiential theory, learning is viewed as four stage cycle
i.e., The Converger, The Diverger, The Assimilator and The Accommodator. Explanation of
these are as follows :-

 The Converger - Individual with such type of practices have assertive capabilities in the
field of Abstract Conceptualization as well as Active Experimentation. Such peoples are
highly skilled within the practical implementation of thoughts or ideas (Provan, Dekker
and Rae, 201 Evaluate own
 skills and
 competences and
 the most appropriate
 development
 approach to develop
 personal and
 professional skills for a specific job role 7). The Diverger – These are the people who tend to be emotional, creative as well as
brainstorming for coming up with latest ideas or thoughts. Divergers are mostly
musicians, counsellors, Artists as well as people who have strong interest in the area of
humanities, fine arts and liberal arts tend to have this learning style. The Assimilator – They are the people who get skilled in the area of Abstract
conceptualization as well as Reflective Observation. Their greatest strength is
understanding and creating theoretical models. Apart from this, particular person who
work in maths as well as also the basic sciences influence to have such kind of learning
style. Work enjoyed by Assimilators is that which involve planning as well as research.
 The Accommodator – Individual having respective learning style are strongest in
Concrete Experience as well as Active Experimentation. Accommodator learning style is
opposite to the Assimilator style. Apart from this, they are the doers because of that enjoy
performing experiments as well as carrying out planning within the real world. From the
all four learning style, respective is the greatest risk-takers. In the situation of an problem
trial-and-error approach is utilise by them for solving it (Rattan, Wakley and Chambers,
2017). People who are having Accommodator learning style often work in technical area
or in action-oriented jobs like sales as well as marketing.
From the above mention theory it has been analysed that, Kolb's learning theory is
suitable for Marriott Hotel to implement for personal and professional development skills of their

employees. Because it is necessary to enhance skills of their staff members so that goals and
objectives can be accomplished.
Evaluate your own skills and competencies and the most appropriate developmental approach to
develop personal and professional skills
There are three main skills and competence such as time management, problem solving
skills and building connection which need to be developed by individuals. Here, given role is
human resource manager for that skills should be improved. For time management, proper plans
and procedures should be made and work accordingly to complete it on time. In order to improve
problem solving skills, individual need to participate in each and every activities so that all arise
problems can be solved instantly. Similarly, for building connection among each other, there
should feeling of cooperation among staff and work together for their result achievement.
LO 3
Construct a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competences
A professional development plan is an documents which include goals, needed skill,
competency development, objectives a staff member and so on which will be need for
achieving continuous improvement as well as career development (Roussy and Brivot, 2016). A
PDP (professional development plan) is designed by the manager who work closely with the
personnels for determining the required skills as well as resources for supporting the staff
member's career goals along with the organisations need or requirement. Professional
development for employees begins when a new member joins in the team.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVE
CURRENT
PROFICIENCY
TARGET
PROFICIENCY
DEVELOPME
NT
OPPORTUNIT
IES
CRITERIA
FOR
JUDGING
SUCCESS
TIME
SCALE
EVIDENCE
Problem
solving
skills
At present I am
not much good
in problem
solving skills.
To become
more effective
in providing
better solutions
to tasks.
Training
session
related with
this field.
Opinions of
superiors.
3 months
approx.
Judgement
of
executive.

Time
manageme
nt
I am not good
in time
management
skill
I want to be
more
productive by
proper time
management.
So thing
required task
can be
accomplish
within required
duration.
I have to
assign
duration for
each and
every task.
Thus, I can
gain skill
related to time
management.
Superiors
time
assignment
for particular
task
4 to 5
months are
required
approximate
ly
Judgement
by superiors
Building
connectio
n
I am not good
in building
connection
with people
I want to build
healthy
relation with
people by
coming out of
the weakness
building
connection
I have to talk
several
people in my
day to day
activity and
should
remain in
touch with
them.
Because all
these will
result in
enhancing
skill of
building
I have to
talk several
peoples
who are
coming in
the
organisation
or in touch.
5 to 6
months are
needed for
this
particular
skill
Superiors
of Marriott
Hotel will
judge
through
customers
and other
staff
member
satisfaction

connection
Provide a detailed development plan that applies underpinning learning and development theory
For development plan, Honey and mumford learning theory is used for underpinned
learning which is described below:
This theory was developed in 1986 which explain own learning styles questionnaire. It
consist of four learning style for development and improvement of oneself. Here, I am facing
issues in problem solving skills, time management and building connection. These mentioned
issues are solved, learned and developed with help of respective learning style. They are
described below:
Activists- It means when individual learn by doing. In order to solve my problem solving
skills, I need to develop activists learning style in better manner. This can provide help in
improving problem solving, puzzles, role play, competitions, brainstorming and group
discussions.
Pragmatists- This learning style means when individuals have capacity for perceiving
and putting the learned things into practices. In order to solve issue of building connection, I
need to apply this style for getting positive outcome. They can improve their case studies,
discussion, problem solving.
Theorists- This is learning style where individual get chance for hypothesis behind
activities. It requires truths and ideas for participating in learning process. For solving problem of
time management issues, I can learn such style for survival in market.
Produce a comprehensive development plan that sets out clear and achievable targets, strategies
and outcomes of learning and training
It is very important for organisation to make development plan for their workplace in
order to achieve goals and objectives. The manager of respective organisation need to set
strategies for their business in order to carry out task. These should be communicated to all
employees so that they can focus and work on those for achieving set target. It is very significant
for manager to conduct training and development session for all working staff. This can help in
motivating and encouraging staff to perform well in better manner. Thus, if organisation follow