Professional Identity and Practice Assessment - Thomas Cook

This report addresses professional identity and practice, focusing on the importance of ongoing professional development within the context of the travel and tourism industry, specifically using Thomas Cook as a case study. It explores the benefits of continuous learning for both employees and employers, highlighting the significance of personal and professional development. The report investigates the skills and competencies expected of various roles within Thomas Cook, including Sales Consultants, Assistant Managers, and Cabin Crew, emphasizing how ongoing development enhances employability and personal satisfaction. It references key aspects of the assignment brief, providing an assessment of skills and practical application, along with the importance of continuous learning for career progression. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of professional identity and practice in the travel and tourism industry.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND PRACTICE
INTRODUCTION
Professional identification is the type of social recognition and it is the sense of an
individual who have profession in specific field. It is defined as one's professional self-
concept which is based on attributes, values, beliefs and experiences.
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Personal and Professional development is the procedure through which an organisation
and individual engaged among the learning process and they are easily reach with
desired goals and targets. It is mainly related with the development needs of a person as
well as large number of group. This is essential for continuous learning and develop
their own skills and knowledge on regular basis. It will ensure about the continue work
safety, effectively and legally. In addition to this, there are various learning activities
which can be taken part that includes on the job training, courses and workshops,
volunteering and computer based learning.
Investigation of skills and competences expected by Thomas cook for different roles
and levels
Sales Consultant – A sales consultant is responsible for identify those people
who would like to travel from any specific destination. They are often having to reach
with clients, both in and out of the office where they are assigned a certain territory in
which they are travel. In Thomas cook, sales consultant work is to promote their
organisation's services and facilities related to travel and tourism sector.
Assistant Manager – The role of Assistant Manager is to helps a manager keep
a company with smoothly run by taking some managerial tasks such as providing
customer services in effective manner. In Thomas cook, they are responsible for
conducting training and development program for their employees which assist in
enhancing their skills and knowledge.
Cabin Crew – They are responsible for providing best and excellent services to
their passengers at the time of ensuring their comforts and safety during the travel. The
crew members are already train for deal with security and safety in any type of situation
and it can manage all the functions related to passengers who are travel. Thomas cook
are arranging that flight where all the passengers are feel comfortable and the role of
cabin crew is to concern about the safety and security effectively.
IMPORTANCE OF ON-GOING DEVELOPMENT
On-going learning and professional development help in gaining attention of both employee and employer as
well as job seekers. In simple terms, it is rapidly increasing the interest in further education, different
programmes, professional training, seminars and so more. As an Assistant Manager, the role of an employee
is to gain benefits from ongoing learning development within Thomas cook. There is various importance of
on-going development for both employee and employer which are described as follows:
Employer Benefits: Skilled workforce – With the help of ongoing learning and professional development,
employer of Thomas cook can easily hire skilled workforce who have ability and quality to manage all work
related to travel and tourism sector. They are able to deal with different type of people who are interested to
travel from their company.
Increased Employability – There are large number of employers who are not only seeking for skilled
and highly educated workers. They are also seeking for skilled and knowledgeable individuals who are
developed to gain continuous learning and development. Ongoing learning and professional development is
important for enhancing a person employment opportunities within an organisation.
Employee Benefit: Personal satisfaction – An employee feels good and satisfied while learn something new
and fresh knowledge. This will assist in increasing own value in the market, ongoing learning and
professional development so they are offer high level of personal satisfaction. It helps a person in developing
a more pleasant in personal and professional life.
Increased chances for promotion and higher salary – When they are taken part in the education,
certificate programmes and other forms of professional development so they can get specialised knowledge
and skills which help in increasing their value within the firm. As a results, an individual can promoted and
gain higher salary or wages.
REFERNCES
Trede, F., Macklin, R. and Bridges, D., 2012. Professional identity development: a review of the higher education literature. Studies in
Higher Education, 37(3), pp.365-384.
Wald, H.S., Anthony, D., Hutchinson, T.A., Liben, S., Smilovitch, M. and Donato, A.A., 2015. Professional identity formation in
medical education for humanistic, resilient physicians: pedagogic strategies for bridging theory to practice. Academic Medicine, 90(6),
pp.753-760