Crown Hotel: Personal Skill Audit and Professional Development Plan

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of personal skills and professional development within the context of the Crown Hotel. It begins with an introduction to the concept of skill audits and the benefits of continuous professional development for various stakeholders. The report investigates employer expectations of skills and competencies, particularly in the hospitality industry, and assesses the author's own abilities, skills, and competencies for a human resource manager role using a SWOT analysis. It then explores different learning theories and approaches applicable to personal and professional development, followed by the construction of a detailed professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies. Finally, the report includes a simulated job interview experience and a review of key strengths and weaknesses observed during the process, concluding with a summary of findings and recommendations for future development.

Personal Skill Audit and
Professional Development Plan
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders...........................3
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies..........................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
P3 Assess own abilities, skills, and competences for a specific job role.....................................5
P4 Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
processes......................................................................................................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P5 Construct a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies......7
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
P6 Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role.............................................10
P7 Review key strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview process..............................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Skills are the different abilities within an individual which facilitates person to do particular
tasks. Everyone has distinct expertise and accordingly they perform the work. In order to
evaluate own skills personal skill audit is conducted which present the summary of various
strong and weak points of an individual (Filipe and et.al., 2014). After the areas of improvement
are identified development plan can be made which further aids in overcoming the areas in
which a person is weak at. Crown hotel, Nantwich is a timber framed hotel which is built with
black and white theme. It was designated in 1948 on 19th April. The following report will discuss
the importance of continuous professional development. how a person can prepare
himself/herself for the different jobs will be highlighted along with the development plan for
individual. In context of same skill audit will be done which will help in understanding how self-
evaluation is done.
LO 1
P1 Benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders
Crown hotel is a big brand and has a significant name in the hospitality industry. It is
crucial for this enterprise that it focuses on the growth of professionalism in the firm as it will
benefit both employees as well as the employers. The advantage of the ongoing skilled
expansion are as follows:
Confidence and credibility – It is widely said that knowledge is power. If the
management give focus on raising the understanding of its workforce, then it will further develop
their confidence which will help in the growth of their business . A confident employee works
more efficiently and take risk which may lead to better results. Hence it would be beneficial for
both employee as well as employer.
Achieve career goals – In an enterprise professional growth is a part of growing up in
the occupation tree. Therefore, no matter whether it is required or not for business growth it will
lead to encouragement in the work force which will result into improved employee engagement
in the business operations (Kermis and Kermis, 2010).
Encourage new talent – Those enterprises who provide competitive platforms for
individual ongoing growth influence the other people also to become a part of it. It is because
they find themselves worth and hence organisation can be benefited with better talented
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personnel. This way the existing employees also get chance to learn something new from the
fresh talent and the employees are benefited by the overall hike in s a result of full capacity
utilisation of recourses.
Improve total retention – High turnover by the workforce is one of the most negative
activity in Crown hotel or any other enterprise. By providing the ongoing professional
development programs employees feel worth and valued (Knechel and Salterio, 2016). They get
the assurance that the management is thoughtful for their future growth and hence work as a
team with them. It also helps employees in holding the work force for longer duration which
result into much saving of the training and development cost to the employees. On the other
hand, the human resource will be benefited with opportunities of growing skills that will help in
the career development.
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies
Every employee working at Crown hotel gets enough remuneration in return of the work and
service deliver by them. In return of same the employees do expect different expertise and
proficiencies from the work force and it is necessary that these demands are fulfilled as only then
expectations can be met and hence the et goal of enterprise will be achieved. some of the most
common skills desired by the management are as follows:
Self-reliance- This is the most common and required skills to be possessed by the
employees in the hospitality industry. It says that person working with the referred to brand must
be focussed and should be willing to work in a team. They should have skills of doing planning
for the future and know how to rank their work according to the priority so that the overall
objective of the firm is achieved.
People skills – This is a combination of another set of skills which are expected by the
employer. It includes most importantly the communication ability of an individual. Crown hotel
experiences footfall of many customers on daily basis and it is necessary that those who are
working here has proper skills to interact with them as this has great influence on the total sales.
The work force must communicate effectively and make the service user comfortable with the
organisation. It should just not limit to the oral but also written communication as both the type
of communications are necessary (Crawford, Helliar and Monk, 2011). People skill also include
the ability to lead and manage in an individual as number of employees work under the same
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roof and hence the employer expects that the work force is capable of leading one another and
manage their operations so that together they can achieve the goals of the firm.
General employment skills – Due to diversity at the work place it is expected from the
employees that they have the ability to solve different issues that arise at Crown hotel. It is
because if the issues are not resolved on time then this will directly affect the smooth functioning
of the work place which will further give a negative impression to the visitors about the brand.
Apart from this an individual must be flexible in their working as different operations are carried
out in business at the same time which demands personnel to be adjustable according to the
current demand. Along with it skill of being committed towards the work is also needed as it
further develops the employee relation and also assist in getting the desired results with full
capacity utilisation of the various recourses.
Critical thinking – It is the competency of an individual to evaluate both positive and
negative aspect of any situation. It is expected out of the employees that they are able to critically
analyse any situation as this will help them in accordingly taking the write decision making
which is crucial for handling the situation in an appropriate manner (Lee and et.al., 2016).
LO 2
P3 Assess own abilities, skills, and competences for a specific job role
Crown Hotel has different job roles to offer and each demands different skills and
competency. In order to apply for the role of human resource manager assessment of own
abilities, skills and competency is done below with the help of SWOT analysis:
My own strength weakness threat and opportunities are as follows:
Strength – The most important skill required for an effective HR is of communication
and I am excellent in it. I know how to deliver the message clearly to the other person and can
deliver effective service accordingly. I am comfortable communicating in both written an oral
way which further add more worth to it. Thereafter, another major strong skill that could benefit
the firm is my critical thinking skills. I know how to evaluate the situation and accordingly offer
the best possible solution which can help in dealing with the complex situation. It will help the
firm in avoiding the inconvenience caused due to uncertain issues that may take place at working
area. My competencies are that I am well committed towards my job and whenever any new task
or project is allotted to me I assure the management that all the possible efforts will be given by
me to the work (Sargeant, Bruce and Campbell, 2013).
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Weaknesses – To perform at the position of human resource manager it is most
demanded that a person has leading skills as it keeps the work force focused towards a common
goal which is important to get the desired results. I am not able to influence people to behave or
work in a particular way and hence it may affect my overall performance. Also my time
management skills are poor. Though I do the work allotted to me in an effective manner but fail
to achieve the targets which affects the quality of work done. It is most expected from the HR
that he/she does the work within the time allotted for same and report to the management but as I
fail to plan the priorities my tasks according to the time limit as it always exceeded. Along with
it over the period of time I have also realised that I am not good enough in multitasking. When
more than one work is allotted to me at the same time I get confused and find it difficult to
understand what work should be done before and what can be performed along with the other.
This effect much to the final output and hence need to work on it.
Opportunities – It includes those skills which if I develop can help me in my future as a
HR executive at Crown hotel. I should start participating in the group activities and take different
duties to perform. This will help me in building my skill of multitasking which is very much
required for future endeavours. Also another opportunity for me is to take more of the
assignments that are time bound. It will further guide me to work under pressure and will help in
developing the skills to do proper time management skills. This way I have many chances to
work on so that I will get more options to grow in the future.
Threats – It consist of those factors which may act as a barrier in my future growth.
There is continuous growth in the work atmosphere and performing well in business scenario is
becoming more and more challenging. To compete in the race of excellence the biggest threat is
of being multitasking. In order to out shine in crowd I have to be able to multi-tasking and this is
my weakness (Campbell and et.al., 2010). It could be a threat to me as I may fail to perform
equally or better in comparison to those who are good at doing different works at the same time.
Thereafter the other threat to me is of my failure in meeting the targets. I find it difficult to work
in time bound situation and in case if any such project is given to me which has to be complete in
the specific time limit then I would be in danger.
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P4 Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
processes
In the above text different weaknesses and treats are identified which needs to be
developed and in order to do so there are various learning theories and approaches which can be
applied. some of the most common one re discussed as below:
Behaviourist theory – It is one of the most widely used learning theory. It is designed through
some special actions which influence a person to behave or response in a particular situation. If it
is observed from the perspective of the behaviourists, then it can be said that it has a significant
role. It was initially tried on animals and once when it got the success the leaders started
applying in context of business too. With the help of this study one can change the way he does
the work by learning from the external factors and hence can grow to another level in
comparison to the present one (Manghani, 2011).
Cognitive theory – This is another philosophy of learning which defines how an individual
set of mind operate while he is in his learning process. During the alterations in the way a person
behaves this learning style controls the mental process and overall modification that take place in
behaviour can be measured and raised to the maximum possible level.
Motivation – It is found to be one of the most effective learning approach that triggers the
speed of learner and hence growth can be assured. Under this practice the needs and wants of
individual are first identified and then they are linked with the areas of learning. This way the
person is influenced more to work on those sections and indirectly the goals are fulfilled. Under
this approach there are different options which can be adopted by the management like following
the two factor theory, Maslow’s need hierarchy model etc. (Lee, 2011).
LO 3
P5 Construct a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies
In the above discussion some areas of improvements are identified which need to be
worked on so that overall self-development can be done. Given below is the development plan
following which I can improve my weak areas.
Learning and
development
need
Type of
development
Timescale Who is responsible Further comments
Time Project 4 months In order to raise my As I am at learning
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management development total time management
skills, the different
parties who will be
liable are my project
head. I will be
participating in
different tasks and in
same my leader will
have to check my
performance that
weather I have done
the work allotted in
the given time limit or
not. Every time a
deadline is missed
must be treated
accordingly may be
by giving more hard
targets to achieve next
time.
stage management
must ensure that at
initial level easily
achievable targets
are given to me as
this will motivate
me to continue
working on this
skill. On the other
hand, if from
starting tough
limits are given
then this might
demotivate me and
I give in starting
itself.
Flexibility in
work
Self-
development
6 months In order to work at
different roles and
duties it is my own
duty to improve my
flexibility of working.
I will have to make
sure that I do
participate in different
tasks at the same time
and do not hesitate
from taking the
As building the
flexibility is a
tough task there
can be some
chances where I
resist to take
different
reasponsibites at
the same time. In
such situations I
would require a
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responsibilities. My
seniors will also play
an important role in it
as they can guide me
in case when I am
stuck. They can help
me with the solution
of how things can be
managed by
prioritising the work.
push from my
team mates and
mentors so that I
do not give up in
between.
Leadership Self-
development
8.5 – 10
months
This is a tough skill to
raise and cannot be
developed without
having the external
assistance. I will have
to be very careful with
this learning and need
to assure that I do
learn from my leaders
as what skills and
competencies they
have so that the same
are adopted by me too
to further lead my
team members.
I may fail to lead
properly in the
starting as it is
difficult to manage
a group of people.
But management
by correcting me at
every stage can
improve my
leadership as to
how to react in a
particular
situation. In this I
will also require
the support of my
team mates that in
case they find that
I am not leading in
appropriate
manner then
instead of
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opposing they
must show some
understanding and
try to cooperate.
LO 4
P6 Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role
Given below is a sample CV for post of HR to be applied in Crown hotel. A face to face
interview was conducted by the recruitment panel which consists of three members.
During the interview I was asked with these different questions:
Q1. Why I choose my career in the HR field only?
Q.2 Why do you think that you should be selected?
Q.3 If given with an opportunity to choose from monetary growth or growth in the profile what
you will choose?
Q.4 What are your core competencies?
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P7 Review key strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview process
A direct face to face interview was taken and the different strength and weaknesses of same
are as follows:
Strength:
Accurate screening – When both the interviewer and interviewee are sitting in personal
then a better screening can be done. It eliminates the chance of false information like
misrepresentation of age or giving answers from external assistance.
Capture emotions and behaviours – In such type of interview parties are in personal
contact and therefore more effective decisions can be taken observing the body language
(Griffiths, 2016).
Weaknesses:
Create mental pressure – In case of such methods person giving the interview might give
wrong answers out of the nervousness and can lose the job.
Limited sample size – As taking such interviews is a time consuming activity it limits the
opportunities for many candidates to apply for the job (Mitchell, 2013).
Reflection:
It was a nice experience of giving my first interview for the post of HR executive. I was
interviewed by 3 people and the moment I entered in the room I got nervous. But I somehow
managed to look assured and thereafter answered all the question with full confidence. I found it
difficult to manage equal communication with all as most of the time I was getting nervous and
ignored having the eye contact. My ability to convince the other person helped a lot to me in
supporting my points.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussed report this has been concluded that the continuous learning is a
crucial process for growth of an individual and organisation as whole. Till a person is part of the
corporate world specially they should not get satisfied with their current competencies and must
work on them to grow in future. Different skills and attributes are identified which are must for a
human recourse executive to possess which includes communication skills, leadership,
multitasking etc. Thereafter it was found that how applying learning theories like cognitive,
behavioural etc. one can improve the various weak points and can develop convert those in their
competencies. Finally, a development plan was made which is inclusive of smart objectives and
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criteria of how the areas of weakness will be develop. It shows that continuous efforts are needed
to raise the areas of improvements and can be developed if the plan is followed as per the
designed manner.
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