Professional Development, Skills, and Interview Report for Travelogue

This report, focused on professional development, examines the benefits for stakeholders at Travelogue, a UK-based hotel. It assesses personal skills, competencies, and abilities relevant to an F&B manager role, including a SWOT analysis and application of the Belbin model for team characteristics. The report also explores various learning theories and approaches applicable to professional development, such as behaviorism and cognitivism, and discusses the social learning theory and Kolb's learning cycle. Furthermore, it includes a constructed development plan to enhance specific skills and competencies, and concludes with a job interview simulation and review of its strengths and weaknesses. The report aims to improve individual performance and contribute to organizational success through continuous learning and skill enhancement.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
AND PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1 The key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders in the
organisation.................................................................................................................................1
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies in the
organisation.................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P3 Assess own abilities, skills and competences for a particular job role..................................3
Abilities:......................................................................................................................................4
P4 Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
processes.....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................6
P5 Construct development plan to enhance chosen skill and competencies...............................6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................8
P6 Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role..............................................8
P7. Review of key strengths and weaknesses of the job interview process..............................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Professional development is a continuous process of increasing the skills and capabilities
of the employee’s working in the organisation. This is usually done by providing them training
and education at the workplace. Professional development is basically used increase and
maintain the morale of workforce. Major focus of this is to improve overall performance of the
organisation. The major motive of professional development is keep the employees up date about
the recent trends going on in the market(Achacoso and et. al, 2011). The organisation chosen for
this report is Travelogue which is a private hotel majorly operating its business in UK. This
report will majorly cover benefits of ongoing professional development for the stakeholders, own
abilities, skills will be analysed for a particular job role. Job interview will also be prepared for a
service industry role and reviewing of strength and weakness for the interview process. With the
help of this individual will be able to make necessary improvements for achieving its goal and
objectives.
TASK 1
P1 The key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders in the
organisation.
Professional development is considered as the important factor for improving the career
of the individual working in the organisation. With the help of professional development plan
goals and objectives can be easily achieved by the employee’s working in the organisation.
Professional development can be attained by the individual by attending seminar and other
training programs.
Hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing industry in the world and the industry
demands skilled workforce. This is because skilled and talented employee’s help the company to
achieve goals and objectives in the best possible manner. It is essential for Travelogue to make
plans and strategies for improving the skill and knowledge of its employee’s. This can be done
by preparing professional development plan in the systematic manner(Castells, 2013). If the
management of Travelogue is successful in doing than competition can be faced in the best
possible manner. Professional development will not only help the employees in achieving their
goals but it will also help the employer to sustain in the market for longer period of time. The
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importance of on- going professional development for the employee and employer are discussed
below-
Benefits of employer
 Skilled workforce- With the help of professional development employer will be able to
get skilled and talented employee’s for this hotel. This is because employer will know
what measures and steps can be taken to enhance the skills and capabilities of its
workforce in the best possible manner(Zuber-Skerritt, 2013).
 Up to date knowledge- Professional development will lead to increase in knowledge of
the employees working in Travelogue. If the workforce has appropriate set of knowledge
regarding the operations of hotel than they will contribute in the achievement of goals
and target of the hotel.
Benefits of employee
 Intrinsic motivation- It is considered as the positive change in behaviour of the
individual which helps in achievement of internal reward. With the help of professional
development the satisfaction and motivation level of employee will be increased. This is
because individual will be able to work in a more better manner. The performance level
of the employee will also be increased(Croft and et. al., 2010).
 Add value on CV- Professional development will also help in adding value on the CV of
the employee. This is because employee will be able to get wide range of opportunities
for its overall growth and development.
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies in the organisation.
Professional skills and competencies plays a important role in the company as they are
contributing to enhance employee performance and ultimately result in organisational success. In
context of Travelogue, it is operating in the hospitality industry so their employees must have
different skills and competencies through which are organisational goals can be accomplished. It
also helps their management to interact with customers who come in their hotel and want to
enjoy their services. There are detailed of some skills which are mentioned below -
 Self-confidence – Every employee must have proper self confidence as this help them in
achieving their goals. The manager of Travelogue must have self confidence because he
has to deal with their subordinate. Without self confidence manager of this company is
not able to convey their message and goals to the subordinate(Dana, 2012).
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 Communication skills – It is perhaps the most important part of all skills. In the case of
Travelogue, the manager have to communicate with their team member regularly so he
should be able to give information to them accurately, clearly, and effectively. If manager
communicates information properly to the employees about their work then employees
are able to perform well and support to achieve the organisation goals.
 Creative thinking and initiative - Organisations are required to have creative and
innovative employees in their companies. The manager of the Travelogue should be
creative because it helps to keep business moving forward in the marketplace. A creative
person is able to produce creative ideas which makes interest of the employees in the
work.
 Use of technology - Technology has played a substantial role in achieving business
objectives and goals. In case of Travelogue manager should know how they can use
technology to increase their productivity and profitability. The manager should be aware
for developing new technologies in the organisation so that they can improve the quality
and accuracy of the employees work. Furthermore, they can serves their customer in a
better manner when they are familiar with various online services, reservation systems,
mobile communications, and many others(Dominick, 2010).
 Accounting – It is extremely crucial part for recording all the financial transactions of the
business. The manger of the Travelogue must know that how to do accounting for
keeping all the business transactions. With help of various accounting terms manager can
manage revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities of the business.
TASK 2
P3 Assess own abilities, skills and competences for a particular job role.
The personal skill audit is very much essential for analysing and evaluating the
competence of the individual. As with the help of my skill audit I will be able to apply for the job
role of F&B manager in Travelogue. My strong and weak points can be easily known and plans
can also be made for converting my weakness into strength. Various improvement points can be
known before applying for the job position of Food and beverage manager in Travelogue.
Personal skill audit of my own is discussed below-
Personal Skill Audit
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Learning Skills Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency
Skills:
Communication skill
self confidence
10 5
10 7
Abilities:
Customer service
Decision making
Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency
10 7
10 8
Competencies:
project management
Use of technology
Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency
10 9
10 8
These skills are very much essential for the F&B manager as with the help of these skills
manager can easily guide and encourage its subordinates to work in a better manner(Dozier,
Grunig and Grunig, 2013). By making some necessary improvements in the skills manager will
be able to achieve its goals in the appropriate manner. SWOT analysis for improving my skills
and knowledge are discussed below-
Strength Weakness
 My project management skill is
appropriate and up to the mark. With
the help of this skill will be able to
handle complex task of project in the
appropriate manner.
 I can also take quick and logical
decisions for the effective functioning
of the F&B department.
 I also have good technological skills.
This means with the help of this skill I
can easily handle latest technology in
 My communication skill is not proper
and due to this I am not able to transfer
important information in a sequential
manner.
 My confidence level is not up to the
mark and due to this I am not able to
take responsibilities for completing the
task in the appropriate manner.
 I am also not good at providing better
services to the customer of the
organisation. Due to this dissatisfaction
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the efficient manner. level of the customer is increasing
rapidly.
Opportunities Threat
 With the help of decision making skill
will be able to take decisions for the
growth and development of the
department in the efficient manner.
 Appropriate knowledge of latest
technology will help me in
implementing new ideas and strategies
for achieving the targeted goals.
 Improper communication skill is one of
the biggest threat for me. This because
being a manager I need to communicate
various important information to my
subordinates. This directly affects the
working of department in a negative
manner.
 Providing inappropriate services to the
customers will directly lead to decrease
in sale and profitability of the hotel.
Identifying team characteristics using Belbin model- This model is basically divided into
different stages. Each stage plays a vital role in improving and enhancing the skills and
characteristics of the team members. With the help of this model management of Travelogue will
be able to extract better work from its employee's in various departments of the hotel. For
example- Members with good coordinating skills will help the F&B manager in contributing to
the growth and success of the department.
P4 Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
processes.
Personal and professional development can directly help Travelogue in using new and
innovative practices for increasing the skill of employee’s. With the help of this plans ans
strategies can be made for achieving the goals. Skills and capabilities can be increased by using
various learning approaches and models in the systematic manner. Some of the major learning
approaches which can be used in travelogue are discussed below-
 Behaviourism approach- With the help of this approach any change in the behaviour of
employee’s can be easily noticed by the management of hotel. Change in behaviour is
usually due to negative or positive experience of the individual(Gordon and Campbell,
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2013). With the help of this approach major changes can be made in the behaviour of
employee’s working the hotel.
 Cognitivism – It is known as the mental activity which is generally used for increasing
the ability of employee. This is generally done by providing them proper experience and
motivating them to perform even better.
These learning approaches can be used in Travelogue for increasing and enhancing the
capabilities and skill of employee’s. Various kinds of learning theories can also be used by
Travelogue for extracting better work from the employee’s. These include-
Social learning theory- As per this theory individuals in the organisation can learn by
observing behaviour and attitude of other employee’s(Hennessy and London, 2013). With the
help of social learning theory individuals can make changes in their behaviour by observing
others. The F&B Manager of Travelogue can make plans for working with its employee’s. As
with the help of this complex work can be understand in a simple manner.
Kolb learning theory- This type of theory is divided in four different stages and each
stage is inter- connected with each other. This include- Experience, reflection, conceptualise and
test. As per this theory individual can learn various things by experiencing and observing new
things in the best possible manner. By analysing and evaluating current situation in the
department F&B manager can make plans for overcoming future problems in the best possible
manner.
There are also various development options which can be used by the F&M manager of
Travelogue hotel. These include- on job training, shadowing, workshops, conferences, etc. with
the help of these methods skills and knowledge of the employee’s can be easily increased. This is
because these methods will provide appropriate measures improving the current situation in the
systematic and coordinated manner(Kreuter and et. al., 2013).
TASK 3
P5 Construct development plan to enhance chosen skill and competencies.
Professional development plan is used for analysing and improving current skills of the
individual. With the help of this plan can be made for achieving the goals in the best possible
manner. By using this plan I can easily make changes and improvement in the current skill and
knowledge. I will also be able to overcome my weakness and improve my strength in the
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systematic and coordinated manner(McNeil, Mitchell and Parker, 2013). My professional
development plan along with the improvements strategies is discussed below-
Skills &
Competencies
Goals Monitoring the process Effectiveness of PDP
Communication skill 6 months I will try to make plans for
attending seminars and will also
participate more and more in
debates or group discussions.
With the help of this I will be
able to improve my
communication skills and
knowledge in the best possible
manner.
After participating in
seminar, group
discussion and debates
I will be able to know
various areas of
improvements. Exact
methods can be known
for improving this type
of skill. As after the
improvement I will be
able to communicate
with the subordinates
in the effective
manner. It will directly
reduce and eleminate
the chances of
misinterpretation and
misunderstanding in
the communication
process.
Customer service 3 months To improve this skill I will
interact with the customers on a
regular basis. After this I will be
able to take decisions for
providing better services to the
customers. I will also attend
After attending various
training and
development
programmes I will be
able to serve the
customers better. After
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Training programmes which
will guide me regarding the
services which are to be offered
to the customers.
interacting with the
customers their actual
need and demand will
be known and their
satisfaction level will
be increased.
Self confidence 6 months My self confidence skill will be
increased by participating more
in the activities and operations
of the hotel. I will try to take
responsibilities for handling
complex task of the hotel. This
will lead to increase in my
confidence level.
After participating in
the activities and
operations of the hotel.
I will gain self
confidence within
myself. Better
responsibilities will be
taken to complete the
assigned task in the
appropriate manner.
TASK 4
P6 Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role.
Job interview is the process which is undertaken with the motive of hiring and selecting
the candidate for a particular job role. The major motive of job interview is to hire and recruit
skilled and knowledgeable candidates for the effective functioning of the hotel. In this several
questions are asked by to analyse and evaluate the current skill of the person who has applied for
the vacant job position(Mehrabian, 2017). There is a vacant job position of Food and Beverage
Manager in Travelogue hotel. Interview process will be performed within the premised of the
hotel. The skills of various candidates will be analysed and best suitable candidate will be
offered the job role.
(a) Job specification
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Job Specification- It is the statement which includes summary of roles and
responsibilities which are to performed by the individual(Tarrant, 2013). For the job position of
F&B Manager in Travelogue its job specification is discussed below-
JOB SPECIALISATION
Organisation Name: Travelogue
Job Profile: Food and Beverage Manager
Qualification Required: Degree in hotel management and MBA
Selection Criteria:
 Delegation of responsibilities to other members of the department.
 Proper management skills for handling team members in the efficient manner.
 Must be able to plan strategies for getting the work done in proper manner.
 Be able to know the current need and demand of customer's.
Desired Criteria:
 Must have experience of more than 3 years.
 Proper communication skill
 Must be aware about latest technologies.
(b): CV
Curriculum vitae is the written document which contains educational background of the
candidate who have applied for the vacant job position. It consist of personal and professional
information of the candidate(Wenger-Trayner and et. al., 2014). With the help of proper CV
management of hotel will be able to select best candidate for position of F&B Manager. The CV
of the candidate who have applied for the job position is mentioned below-
CURICULAM VITAE
Name- John Steve
Address- 28, Albert street , England. United Kingdom
Contact no.- 789451268
Job Experience- 3 year of experience as a F&B manager in Inter continental hotel. Intrestred to
work with the organisation which will provide wide range of opportunities for increasing and
enhancing my career.
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Specialisation-
 Can handle team
 Knowledge regarding latest technology
 decision making skill
 Can solve conflicts in the internal environment of organisation.
Qualification-
 Bachelor in hotel management
 MBA- HR
Declaration- I declare that above information provided by me is true and valid.
Date-
Place-
The interview for the position of F&B Manager is taken by Human Resource manager of the
hotel. Description for the structured interview is discussed below-
Interviewer: Tell something about yourself?
Interviewee: My name is John Steve, I am from Albert street, England. I have completed by
bachelor degree in hotel management and PG degree in MBA. I Have worked with Inter-
continental hotel for 3 years. There I was working as a F&B Manager. Currently I am looking for
the opportunity of working with organisation like Travelogue.
Interviewer: Why do you want to work in this type of industry?
Interviewee: I want to work in this type of industry because I already have experience in this
industry. I also like to interact with various kinds of people.
Interviewer:According to you what are the skills required for a F&B manager?
Interviewee:Manager must have appropriate communication, problem solving skills, decision
making and good interacting skills.
Interviewer: Okay, you may go
Interviewee: Thank you Sir.
P7. Review of key strengths and weaknesses of the job interview process.
The strength and weakness which have be analysed after the interview process is
discussed below-
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