Nelson College London: Professional Identity and Practice Report

This report delves into the realm of professional identity and practice, focusing on the key aspects of career development within the hospitality industry. The report begins with an introduction to the concept of professional development, particularly in the context of the Hilton Hotel chain. It emphasizes the importance of ongoing professional development and its benefits, such as staying updated with industry trends, fostering personal growth, and increasing opportunities. The main body then explores the skills and competencies expected of an Operations Manager at Hilton Hotel, including leadership, accountability, and strong management skills. A skills audit is conducted to assess the author's current capabilities, using the Brunel skill audit to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Various learning theories, such as social and cognitive learning theories, are examined, along with development approaches like personal and professional development. A personal development plan is then outlined, detailing current skills, goals, and strategies for improvement. The report also includes an analysis of a job interview process, identifying its strengths and weaknesses, followed by a reflection on the interview experience. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reinforcing the importance of continuous professional development for career advancement.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
AND PRACTICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Key benefits and importance of ongoing professional development...........................................3
Skills and competencies expected by employer..........................................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Skill audit.....................................................................................................................................5
Learning theories and development approaches..........................................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
Personal Development Plan.........................................................................................................7
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
Job Interview.............................................................................................................................10
Strengths and weaknesses of interview process........................................................................10
Reflection...................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Personal and professional development is basically associated with the development of
these professional skills and talents that are necessary in order to develop a comprehensive
portfolio (Gould, 2017). The Hilton Hotel was founded in the year 1919 by Cornard Hilton and is
an international brand of hotels that have their hotels, restaurants etc. in multiple countries. The
current report will evaluate the importance of the ongoing professional development and then
compare the required skills and competencies by the employer against the actual skills for a
particular job role. The report will further present the different learning and development
approaches and theories that can be used and the personal development plan will be prepared
accordingly. Lastly the report will undertake an interview process and identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the entire process along with the detailed reflection evaluating the interview
undertaken.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
The chain of Hilton Hotels has been in operation all over the world and the excellent quality
of services that they provide makes it difficult to hire employees that match up to the level of
skills and expertise that are mainly required.
Key benefits and importance of ongoing professional development
The concept of ongoing professional development basically indicates that the development
activities pertaining to skulls and knowledge are being carried out and adopted by the individual
so that the overall process of learning and development does not get disrupted (Fleming and
Daw, 2017). It also assists in improving the quality of work that is being done and the
development of the personality as well. The importance of the ongoing professional development
can be identified as:
 Latest Trends and Standards: The engagement of an individual in the ongoing
professional development helps them in getting trained according to the latest
developments that have occurred regarding the skills and techniques that are to be
developed (Waters and Craske, 2016). This helps in increasing the competitiveness and
also enhances the overall skill development process. The changes and modifications in
these skills are at an extremely rapid rate and it is necessary to adopt and integrate the
latest standards with which the process will be improved overall.
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 Fosters personal growth and encouragement: The practice of ongoing professional
development also helps in the encouragement of the personal growth factors where the
individual themselves feels empowered. This also increases the overall contribution that
the individual is able to give while working in the teams or in the organisations (Vetere
and Stratton, 2016). Additionally, the experience that is amassed in the development of
different activities helps in the increase ability to deal with the critical challenges and
situations as and when they arise.
 Increased Opportunities: The enrolment in the ongoing professional development also
increases the number of opportunities that arises before an individual not just in the
professional work place but in the overall attitude as well. Additionally the development
in such a manner also improves the individual’s capability to lead others, manage things,
incorporate multi skilling and also influence or coach others by keeping them under the
individual. All these are the new opportunities that are given to the individuals with
developed professional skills.
Therefore these are the points above that help in illustrating the different benefits and the
key importance of engaging in the ongoing professional development.
Skills and competencies expected by employer
Since the job title being sought is of the operation manager in the Hilton Hotel, there are
certain skills and competencies that will be inherently expected by the employers while selecting
a candidate for this particular job role (Pritchard, 2017). These skills and competencies can be
classified as follows:
 Strong leadership skills: As the operation manager in the Hilton hotel, there will be
numerous departments that will need leadership as the role of operation manager is
significant specifically in the front office department. it is therefore necessary to take
effective decisions and implement them firmly and quickly gaining the confidence and
trust of all the subordinate employees as this is the key aspect in developing leadership
skills.
 Increased accountability and responsibility: An operation manager is tasked with the
duty of handling all the operation related activity such as monitoring the housekeeping
department, the facilities that are being given, security aspect, checking up on the
availability of the rooms and their cleanliness etc. i.e. overall the duty of operations
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manager at the Hilton hotel are bound to be multi fold and in different areas of operation.
It is therefore necessary to ensure that the operation manager has proper justification for
all the decision that are being made and if held accountable, can ensure that the work has
been completed in a responsible manner.
 Strong Management and organisation: The overall area of management and
organisation involves numerous organisations that are organised because of the multiple
areas of operation (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019). The operation manager at
Hilton hotel therefore needs to possess the strong management and organizations skills
where they can ensure smooth transition of activities between different departments and
also develop a managed and justified approach towards the employees as well. This is
critical in the compliance of the job role or the operation manager and hence this skill is
also expected by the management.
LO 2
Skill audit
The current skills that are actually possessed can be evaluated using the tools of skills audit
that help in ascertain hat which are the skills that are adequately developed and which are those
on which further work needs to be done. The hard skills are those abilities which can be easily
measured and taught such as reading and writing but the soft skills are basically traits such as
communication, leadership etc. that cannot be taught but these can be learnt only with experience
(Murphy, 2016). Brunel skill audit can be used to measure the current skills that I possess and
rank the accordingly:
Management skills:-
No Not Sure Yes
I am capable of managing multiple departments and people
I am able to meet the deadlines that have been allotted to me
I can integrate and monitor the performance
I can take out adequate time for the purpose of self
development
Problem solving:-
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No Not Sure Yes
I am able to develop correct solutions during critical situations
I can tackle the complex situations that might arise
I can effectively develop a group of employees who can
generate effectively solutions to the problems quickly.
I can take quick and firm decisions.
Accountability and responsibility:-
No Not Sure Yes
I have complete knowledge about the different decisions that
are being taken.
I am responsible for all the activities being undertaken.
I have the proper confidence to account for anyone and their
actions in critical situations as well.
I can manage all the aspects effectively
Therefore the preparation of the Brunel skill audit clearly indicates that the overall
development needs to be done more in the accountability and responsibility aspect where the
employee needs to learn more about the management techniques and the management skills are
also not very well developed. The problem solving skill on the other hand is well integrated and
acts as the strength.
Learning theories and development approaches
There are a multiple learning theories that can be used in order to increase the knowledge
about the job that is being performed and increase the overall understanding related to different
roles and responsibilities that are to be complied with (Langford, 2018). These can be integrated
with the role of operations manager in Hilton Hotel as well in the following manner:
 Social Learning Theory: This theory states that the learning is developed by observing
whether directly or indirectly, other person in similar work environment. This is generally
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encouraged through interactions and sessions where the experience people can share their
overall journey and experience and this helps other in understanding how the things goes
on in this particular organisation.
 Cognitive Learning Theory: The cognitive learning theory indicates that the employees
here have their own thinking and processing mechanisms and this can vary from
individual to individual (Illeris, 2018). It is therefore necessary to foster this overall
thinking in a positive direction where the positive results can be generated from the
employees of the company. At Hilton Hotel, this theory is extremely regulated and can
assist in the creation of extremely talented and productive employees.
The development approaches on the other hand are mainly of two types i.e.:
 Personal Development Approach: Here the employees are encouraged to know themselves
and understand the attitude that they have towards the management style i.e. how well they
themselves are able to integrate with each other and whether it is better to develop effective
management practices or the existing ones are adequate enough (Gould, 2017). The
emphasis here is on the creation of a positive psychology towards different managers and
people.
 Professional Development Approach: The professional development approach on the other
hand is more inclined towards the presentation and the behaviour of the employees in the
formal setting and the manner in which the overall professional development takes place
regarding the duties as well. This leads to better results in the terms of both short and long
term requirements and needs. The major emphasis here is on the feedback received and the
improvement on the bass of such positive or negative feedback.
LO 3
Personal Development Plan
Current Skills
and
Competencies
used in personal
and professional
plan
Goals Personal /
Professional Development
Plan ACTIVITY (Use
SMART targets)
Indicate how you
have monitored
your progress,
underpinning
learning and
development
theory
Evaluate the
effectiveness of your
personal
development plan
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Management and
organisation
skills
The management skills to
be utilised over multiple
departments and people
needs to be further
developed (Fleming and
Daw, 2017).
The skill is expected to be
developed completely
within 4 months.
The skill will help in
improving the overall
governance and
management of the
different fields of
operation.
The learning theory
that has been used
is the cognitive
learning and the
social learning as
well where both i.e.
self learning will
also be utilised in
the organisation
and at the same
time the by
observing the work
done by the seniors
will also help
(DeFrain and et.al.,
2016). It will
indicate how they
handle different
situations and thus
develop skill
accordingly.
This is an exhaustive
method of
developing the skills
as this will clearly
help in identifying
how the work is
being performed at
Hilton hotel and will
also help in
integrating
redundancy as
employee will be
able to integrate their
own innovative and
new ideas as well
thus accomplishing
the objective that has
been made.
Accountability
and responsibility
skills
The accountability and
responsibility is necessary
as it has helped in the
better allocation and
management of the
multiple departments that
come under the purview of
the role of the operation
manager at Hilton Hotel.
The goal is medium term
The learning and
development theory
that needs to be
used is basically the
behaviourism
theory that helps
the individuals in
learning to respond
to the different
stimuli that arise in
Again the strategy
that has been adopted
for the development
of this skills is
extremely well
developed as it will
collectively help in
the better
development of the
understanding related
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and can be achieved within
the period of 6 to 7 months.
This is necessary in order
to integrate the multi
skilling and to collectively
manage all the functions
effectively.
the workplace. This
will help in
understanding what
the key areas are
and how time has to
be divided between
all of them.
to how different
areas are to be
managed and how
every activity should
be controlled without
becoming a tyrant
(Calleja, 2018).
Leadership Skills This skill will ensure that
the operation manager is
able to lead and influence
the employees working in
the different departments
and thus increase the
overall productivity of the
employees.
This is the long term
objective and will take
time and experience both
in order to develop
(Bharwani and Jauhari,
2017). The time taken is
estimated to be around 1
year to 1.5 years.
This will help in better
performing of the duties
that are associated with the
role of operation manager
in the Hilton hotel.
The learning theory
necessary to
develop this skill is
the connectivism
theory and the
cognitive theory
where the employee
must learn how to
develop and build
relationships with
their subordinates
and at the time
encourage them to
use their own
thinking rather than
curbing their
innovative desire.
This is the key
practice behind the
development of
innovative
leadership skills.
The technique that
has been selected in
order to develop the
leadership skill is an
extremely robust one
that will help in
quickly integrating
the different aspects
that are associated
with it as quickly as
possible and also
help in addressing
the areas where the
leadership is not
quite well developed
and integrated.
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Therefore, in this manner different skills that are necessary to be developed can be integrated in
the operation manager so that the fulfilment of the different aspects related to the job role can be
completed adequately.
LO 4
Job Interview
The chosen role here is the job role of the operation manager and the organisation is the
Hilton hotel. The job interview for this role can be undertaken in following manner:
Interviewer (I): What management style do you plan to implement in the Hilton hotel if you are
selected?
Me: I plan to delegate and integrate the different employees according to their capabilities of
handling the different job roles.
I: Have you had any kind of experience prior to applying for this post in our hotel?
Me: No sir, I have not had a professional experience but I have managed multiple events in my
university events and I have also headed various departments at the same time which gives me a
sense of multi skilling abilities.
I: Tell me something about yourself?
Me: I have always been interested in completing multiple tasks at the same time where I like to
be in control of different things at the same time. I have also different hobbies of reading,
engaging in games that involve thinking and quick decision making. I am also quite a risk taker
as well.
I: Why should I hire you out of all the candidates?
Me: I am keenly interested in the management field where I can excellently manage the different
aspects that are associated with the organisations and also my problem solving skills in the
critical situations is the best skill that I possess. This will surely help Hilton hotel in better
management of the heavy traffic and also reduce the waiting time collectively.
I: Thank you. We will inform you shortly about our decision.
Strengths and weaknesses of interview process
Although the interview went fairly well and I was able to present myself in a well equipped
position, there are certain strengths and weaknesses that I personally experience during the whole
interview process:
Strengths:
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 I was able to cover all the key points that present me in the good light i.e. I was able to
present all my best qualities before the interviewer.
 I was also able to justify that why I am the best candidate for this job by giving proper
reference to the different activities that I have undertaken.
 I was able to manage my confidence level as well throughout the interview.
Weaknesses:
 I think that when I was asked to tell about myself I was not able to sound very genuine
and it sounded more of a made up and crammed up part.
 Also I became slightly nervous when I was asked the question about my previous
experience because I thought that since I had not mentioned any work experience, I will
not be asked this question.
Reflection
On the basis of entire job interview process, I can adequately state that the overall my entire
experience of giving the interview was an extremely good one where the best part was that I was
able to detail and present all the major strengths that I possess. I was also able to satisfactorily
answer the different questions that I was asked and I think that I was able to address and fulfil
the main motive behind the different questions.
However, there were various negative instances as well that occurred during my interview
where I was not able to present myself in the best light. I was not prepared for the question
related to work experience and that made me fumble as I was not very well prepared. This might
have made me a less suitable candidate also because it is not easy to get job in the Hilton hotel
without any work experience. I can also effectively illustrate that I might have sounded fake
when I was answering the question detailing about myself. Collectively I might have sounded as
someone who was prepared only for some of the questions and when I was asked something out
of context, I fumbled which might have made the interviewer think that I was overall not a very
genuine candidate.
Therefore the overall process of interview was a good one but with a few weak spots of
mine that were displayed before the interviewer very clearly.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the report above helps in concluding that the overall process of
the developing of a proper portfolio that require the developing of various skills as well is a very
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detailed and intricate process. The report concluded that there are various benefits of engaging in
ongoing professional development and the skills that are required in order to be selected as the
operation manager in the Hilton hotel was also illustrated. Further the report illustrated that what
are the current skills and competencies that are actually possessed by the individual and also
different learning as well as development approaches were discussed. Further the report also
undertook the development of the personal development plan in order to develop the skills and
competencies that the individual lacks. Lastly, an interview process was depicted in the report
where the different strengths and weaknesses of the entire process was illustrated and then the
reflection was presented.
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