Professional Development Portfolio: Self-Assessment and Plan

This portfolio presents a student's self-assessment and professional development plan, focusing on the automotive industry. It begins with an introduction to employability skills and professional development, followed by a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The student then details a continuing professional development log and plan, outlining short, medium, and long-term objectives, along with the resources and activities needed to achieve them. The portfolio includes a reflection on key learning experiences at university and their impact on individual development, as well as an identification of milestones and future plans. The analysis reveals a need to develop customer service, communication, and technical skills. The student plans to pursue further education and training to advance their career in the automotive field. The document provides a comprehensive overview of the student's journey, highlighting their self-awareness and commitment to professional growth. The portfolio also provides a detailed plan for gaining new skills to achieve their career goals and to deal with the challenges in the automotive industry.

Portfolio- self assessment

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Analysis.......................................................................................................................................3
Continuing professional development Log and plan...................................................................5
Identify key learning experience during time at university and analyzing the significance of
same on an invidual development................................................................................................8
Identification of the key milestone in the journey and reflection on own experience while
planning for future.......................................................................................................................8
Evaluation of development throughout unit and the competencies which has been gained as
well as its impact on individual future and behavior.................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are those skills which are required by an individual in order to get
themselves employed. It can also be defined as group of important abilities which includes
creation of knowledge base, expertise and mindset which is important in order to achieve success
in career. Professional development plan can be defined as formal means through which an
individual set goals, strategies and accomplish outcomes of learning as well as training.
Professional development is very much essential in order to foster career growth. The purpose of
professional development is to assist an individual in increasing their knowledge as well as
development of knowledge (Jackson and Oliver, 2018). Professional development can also be
defined as the document which consists of goals, skills which an individual is required to
developed within specific time period. It is the professional development plan which assist an
individual in identifying the skills which they are required to developed in order to accomplish
desired objectives. It provides the guidance related to the activities which can be executed in
order to develop specific skills set (Messer, 2018). Professional development plan assist an
individual in identifying the resources which will be needed for accomplishment of desired
objectives. By developing the professional development plan an individual can get the assurance
in context of career success. It is the professional development plan as well as employability
skills which can help them in improving their performance at workplace.
The report will include the implementation of personal development plan. Reason for
developing the professional development plan is to get the direction in order to foster career
growth.
It will also include critically review on personal as well as professional development plan.
TASK
Analysis
Swot analysis is considered to be as a strategic technique which can be utilized by an
individual for analyzing their internal strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. It is the swot
analysis which also helps an individual in formulation of an effective professional development
plan. I have conducted swot analysis in order to analyze my own strength, weakness,
opportunities and threat against the job role. I am working in garage and my job roles are to fix
cars and also prepare invoice for clients. My strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats are:

Strengths:
I have good written communication skills.
I am confident.
I have leadership skills.
I can easily adapt to change.
I possess good analytical skills
I also have mechanical skills
Weaknesses:
Lack of an effective customer skills.
Lack of an effective oral communication skills
Lack of technical skills and depth technical
knowledge.
Lack of knowledge about industry.
Lack of electrical skills.
Opportunities:
I have opportunity to foster my career growth
in particular field.
I have a chance to develop those skills as well
as core competencies which I lack.
I have an opportunity to get promoted within
an organization.
I have critical thinking.
I have good diagnostic skills
I have good leadership skills.
Threats:
Increase in intensity of competition at
workplace.
Threat of losing job due to lack of specific
employability skills.
From the above swot analysis, I have found that according to my job role which I am
planning to perform in the future I need to develop the following skills these are an effective
communication, customer services and technical skills which is very much important in order to
perform my roles as well as responsibilities in systematic manner. I have also found from the
Swot analyze that I need to increase my knowledge about the industry as it will assist me in
making by significant contribution in accomplishment of desired business objectives. Gaining
more knowledge about the field in which I am working will help me in improving my

performance at workplace. By analyzing the skills audit I found that I lack interpersonal skills
which is very much crucial in automotive industry in order to provide high level of satisfaction to
customers. Interpersonal skills are also required for dealing with client in an effective manner.
Continuing professional development Log and plan
Date Title of
professional
development
Amount of hours Locations Notes
13.5. 2019 Development of
customer service
skills
4 hours Organization
15.5.2019 Development of an
effective oral
communication
skills
1 hour Coaching class
18.5.2019 Development of
technical
knowledge
Two hours Organization
25.5.2019 Development of
electrical skills
One hour daily Organization,
practical and
theoretical
classes at
college
30.5.2019 Knowledge about
industry
One hour Seminar
Professional development plan
My short term professional objectives is to enroll myself for Diploma in mechanical
engineering. Long term goal is to work as supervisor or manager in reputated garage or

automobile company. In addition to this, my medium term goals is required to develop the skills
which are required to perform, job roles as well as responsibilities within automobile industry.
I have created the personal as well as professional development plan based on the lack of skills
which I have found during the time of Swot analysis.
Skills required to
be developed
Resources or
support required
Activities
required to be
executed
Time duration Assessment
criterion
Effective oral
communication
skills
Internet, books I will attend
language as well
as personal
development
classes.
I will seek
support from
tutor, friends and
family members.
Within three
month.
I wil seek
feedback from
tutor
Self- assessment
Customer service
skills
Internet
Support from
seniors
I will seek
support from
seniors.
I will attend
training program.
I will observe my
colleagues
delivering
services to
customers.
.
Six months
Feedback from
supervisor
Positive
comments from
customers

Technical skills
and knowledge
Training
Internet
I will seek
support from
technical
department in an
organization.
I will attend both
theoretical as
well as practical
classes at
college.
I will also attend
training
programs as well
as seminars.
Eight months Feedback from
colleagues
working in
technical
department
Self -evaluation
Lack of depth
knowledge about
industry
Internet
Books
I will attend
Lectures at
college
Within six
months
Self -assessment

Identify key learning experience during time at university and analysing the significance of same
on an invidual development
After completing my primary as well as higher secondary education, considering my own
interest in mechanical field I have planned to enroll my self for the course of mechanical
engineering. Before attending the class, I was complete unaware bout the mechanical field and
also automobile sector. On the first day of lecture I was quite exited to know about the topics
which will taught to us during the course. Before entering into class for first lecture I also felt
nervous as I have fear that due to lack of knowledge about the field, whether I will be able to
developing the understanding about the different concepts or theories or not. But ss I teacher was
expert in particular field he has taught us many of the things both in practical as well as
theoretically which has enabled us to gain the practical experience which can be beneficial for us
improving performance at workplace. The skills as well as knowledge which I gained has
assisted me in bringing the positive as well as drastic improvement in my performance as well s
behavior. It is the learning at university which has supported me in fostering success and
accomplishing desired career goals (Moss, 2018). In addition to this, core competencies as well
as skills which I have developed at workplace has assisted me in exploring as well as capturing
the career opportunities. It is the learning at college which has assisted me in gaining the
knowledge about the field which I want to enter into as it is the tactics which has helped me in
accomplishing my career goals.
The knowledge which I have gained during the course has assisted me a lot in selection
of the best field for my future.
Identification of the key milestone in the journey and reflection on own experience while
planning for future
Before planning to make plans for the future I was quite excited. I have conducted the
self-assessment in order to analyze my interest in particular field. I have conducted the in depth
research in order to find the field relevant to my interest as well as knowledge. After addressing
the variety of career option related to my interest, I have sought support from my parents,
friends, family members and tutors in order to select the best career options for the future. After
selecting the specific option, I was excited to know about the way specific career options will
help me in building bright future. For that I again conducted the research and has facilitated

discussion with tutors as well as family members. It is the research activity which has assisted
me in identifying the skills, experience, core competencies which are require for performing
specific roles and responsibility in automobile sector. During the research I found that the skills
which are required in order to get enter into the course related to the automobile field are
technical knowledge as well a skills, problem solving skills, analytical skills , customer service
as well as an effective communication skills, by analyzing all these I felt little nervous as I lack
some of the abilities. After analyzing the skills which are required to get employment in
automotive industry. I have found that there are few skills of mine such as personality, analytical
skills etc. can assist me in getting the success in particular filed. During the research I also I also
found that the instructor can remove a student from the course when an individual denied from
following the instruction. I also came to know that for enrolling my selves for the course I need
to driver’s license. Before enrolling for my selves for the Aut prefix courses I applied fort the
driving license (Lord, Babraj and Richardson, 2019).
In addition to this, I have conducted meeting with those friends who are already in the
automobile field s it is the tactics which has assisted me in getting the valuable suggestions
which has proven to beneficial in context of formulation of an effective personal development
plan. By seeking advise or feedback from the other people I found that there are many skills
which I need to improve in order to achieve success in the particular field. On the basis of the
suggestion as well as feedback from the other people I decided to enroll myself for the
mechanical engineering (Martin and Rees, 2018). I taken support from family and tutor in order
to develop my professional development plan , as I knew that they are those people who can
provide suitable guidance related to the way I can develop specific employability skills which
could help me in getting the job in automobile sector. Before preparing the professional
development plan I have set some short as well as long term objectives related to my career
based on which professional development plan has been created.
Overall my experience while development of professional development plan was good
and interesting. While developing the professional development plan I got to know about my
strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. I also gain the support from different people those
who has given be useful suggestions related to continuing my career in particular field.

Evaluation of development throughout unit and the competencies which has been gained as well
as its impact on individual future and behavior.
After the completion of the course I have conducted the self -assessment in order to
identify the skills as well as knowledge and core competencies which I have gained by enrolling
my selves for the mechanical engineering course. After Evaluation I have found that there are
many new skills I have developed such as electrical as well as technical skills which I believe
that will assist me in fostering my personal as well as professional growth. I have also found that
there is drastic change in the way I communicate with the other people. In addition to this, the
abilities which I have developed such as customer service skills will assist me in performing my
roles as well as responsibilities in systematic manner. I also found that after attending the course
I have developed professionalism which could be beneficial for me in order to explore as well as
capture career opportunities. In addition to this, I also believe that some of the abilities as well as
knowledge which I have gained during the course will help me in accomplishing my desired
career objectives. I also believe that the knowledge which I have gained during the course will
assist me in making my significant contribution in achievement of desired goals for an
organization for whom I will work in the future. By participating in the course also I gained the
technical knowledge and developed electrical skills as by utilize such abilities as well as core
competencies I could also start my own business.
During the course my teacher has make use of digital technology as well as other
teaching methods such as demonstrations, presentations etc. for each different unit which has
provided me an ease in developing the understanding about the different concepts and theories.
During the course my teacher has also provided us with written notes which I believe that will
assist me in retaining the knowledge for the long time. I have decided that I will apply
knowledge as well as skills which I gained during the course in routine activities within an
enterprise. Overall my learning experience was god and it has positive effect on my behavior as
well as future.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that employability skills are very much important
in order to get job in particular filed. The other thing which has been summarized from the above
study that both employability as well as professional development is vey much crucial in order

to foster career and personal growth. It has ben concluded from the assignment that an individual
can accomplish desired goals by developing the professional development plan with the support
of those who have expertise in specific field. The other fact which has been found during the
study is that personal as well as professional development can have positive effect on individual
behavior.
It has been suggested that an individual is required to conduct skills audit as well as
through research , as it is the tactics which will assist me in formulation of an effective
professional development plan.