Reflective Journal: Skills Audit, Career Progression & Feedback

This reflective journal provides a comprehensive self-assessment of an individual's performance and skills within the workplace, focusing on identifying weaknesses and areas for improvement to enhance future performance. It includes a detailed career and progression plan aimed at improving employability skills and creating awareness in the chosen field of carpentry. The journal also features a skills audit, analyzing strengths and weaknesses through a skill matrix review and skill gap analysis, particularly highlighting the need for improvement in calculating, measuring, and designing skills. Furthermore, it incorporates a self-appraisal and action planning section, evaluating self-worth and identifying accomplishments and challenges, leading to a skills development record with work-based feedback to track progress and learning experiences. The journal concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous self-reflection and development for career success.

Reflective Journal

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Career and Progression Plan...................................................................................................1
Skills Audit.............................................................................................................................2
Self Appraisal & Action Planning..........................................................................................4
Skills Development Record & Work-based Feedback...........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
References:.......................................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
For an employee it is very important to build the reflective journal in order to analyse their
current performance within the workplace thereby finding the weaknesses that are required to be
mitigated for the better performance and in order to improve their skills (Portman, 2020).
Reflective journal is a self assessment of current work in progress which essentially is an
opportunity for the learning experience in order to identify the personal experience and learning
which leads to increasing in a critical thinking to represent individual’s preferred learning style
and independent research focus. The reflective journal that will focus on the performance of
current employment open employer and also analyse the principles of organisational theory by
identifying the strengths achievements and experience during the work area there by highlighting
career and progression plan, skill audit, self appraisal and action planning and skills development
record.
MAIN BODY
Career and Progression Plan
The career progression plan is a process by which employee or staff member of an organisation
undergo into an advanced action plan to improve their occupational status for achieving career
growth and success (Bhopal, 2020).
I have decided to develop my Career development plan in order to improve my employability
skills and create a deeper awareness related to my chosen field of employment in order to grab
future opportunities in the field of carpentry. Firstly I will recognise my abilities in order to make
sure that whether I am ready for career and progression plan the analysing my underperforming
employability skills so that I can get a benefit from the improvement plan to enhance my
employability skills for which I will recognise my strengths and weaknesses. Analyse that I have
good measurement skills but lack in calculating skills therefore I need to improve my
mathematical skills in order to accurately perform my carpentry in future job role. I will
determine my short term and long term career goals which are smart goals. Because gods must
be realistic so that I could challenge myself to attain those objectives and feel confident after
reaching my target of accomplishing great mathematical skills for my carpentry career. After
accomplishing my short term and long term goals I will build my milestone which is essential to
move forward in the career and progression plan because their time bounded in help me to
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become an accountable and responsible employee in an organisation there by gaining time
management skills (Armitage, I., 2018). As career and progression plan a personalized as per my
interest skills and experience of 7 years in the carpentry therefore I will pursue some additional
resources such as additional classes of advance carpentry or seminars of famous experts in
carpentry to add certificate or to gain extra skills and knowledge in my field. This will help me in
identifying the opportunities to take new projects. Finally in the end I will re-evaluate my career
and progression plan because it is an ongoing process and keeps on changing therefore I will
check whether I am progressing in my career and towards my goals for Career development and
this will also help me in creating new goals. During my career progression plan that it is very
important to understand the vital aspects of career in order to derive the career development plan
for which are required to look for the opportunities in the external environment thereby creating
a plan that is time bounded (Stadler and et. al., 2020).
Skills Audit
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Carpentry
Responsible to: Director of FDL
Job Summary: To assist lower-level carpenters during the carpentry project
thereby by developing all the furniture’s and other products of wood related
elements in the organisation thereby ensuring proper quality of woods and
other materials are utilised to develop furniture. The Carpenter has duty of
creating beautiful models to provide the customers best service in timely and
efficient manner.
Main duties and Responsibilities:
 To repair the stairs of the building
 Installation of trims in all the varieties
 Install new doors and windows as per the interior
 Create insulation
 Comply with the safety rules and regulations regarding employee.
 Calculate and measure the different sizes and amounts of materials
needed for the project.
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 Understand and recognise the blueprints sketches and drawing
samples provided by the interior designer in order to understand the
specifications of the project.
SKILL MATRIX REVIEW
Skills 1 2 3 4 5
Calculating and
Measuring skills
*
Accuracy skills *
Blueprint reading skills *
Designing skills *
Wood cutting skills *
SKILLS GAP ANALYSIS
Skill gap analysis is a strong tool to analyse the weak skills that can provide a threat to
the development of career the four skill gap analysis assistant analysing the skills so that they can
be mitigated by improving and developing them through strengths and through learning process
that will help an individual to gain opportunities in career development.
By analysing through career and progression plan and skill matrix review I have analysed
the gaps in my skills that are required to be mitigated in order to gain success and growth in my
carpentry career. Analyse that I have very low calculating and measuring skills which is
affecting my accuracy in my work and also leading to inappropriate structure during my project
in some fields such as imbalance in door and window fitting etc (Plant, Barac and Sarens, 2019).
The lack of calculating and measuring skills is affecting the quality and finishing of my products
during my project which is also risking my carrier and other employability skills as for carpentry
it is very essential to have outstanding calculating and measuring skills because in this a small
difference in calculation matters a lot. Also analyse that my accuracy skills and design skills are
also moderate and are required to be enhanced in order to succeed and enhance my other
employability skills. Carpenter it is very essential to have a designing skills in order to develop
new furniture new doors and windows and repair the existing carpentry products. The
remodelling project it is very essential to have designing skills in order to renovate the houses
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and the other officers are commercial areas as per the development plan created by the interior
designer. With the 7 years of experience in FDP I was not able to enhance my designing skills as
I used to regularly work on a significant area which kept me away from the design field.
Self Appraisal & Action Planning
Self appraisal is a process that contains the action in which an individual evaluates the self
worth, significance which leads to positive outcome in the form of motivation and confidence.
Self appraisal is also termed as self assessment and is a popular tool in order to manage the
performance of an employee thereby providing an opportunity to employ to outshine and
evaluate the performance at the time a promotions or the feedbacks (Van Praag and et. al., 2017).
After the 7 years of experience in FDP during the promotions and feedbacks utilise the self
appraisal process so that I can create a bridge between my actual performance and the
expectations set assessment help me in creating a medium to improve my interpersonal skills and
also provide me a chance to self analyse myself in order to maintain healthy work process. I self
reviewed my 7 years of performance and learning they were considering the amount of bonus
and appraisal I could have during the time of promotion I listed all my previous years’
accomplishments thereby brainstorming the key achievements that can lead to promotions. Also
self appraised main challenges which I have overcome during the course of action so that they
can be highlighted as my learning capabilities by making me proud and confident of myself in
striving the learning experience. The self appraisal help me feel empowered and build a sense of
motivation for growth also provided me with a quality to analyse myself in order to identify my
strengths and weaknesses and also made me accountable for my actions (Peacock, 2017).
ACTION PLANNING
Current skills Wood cutting
skills
Interpreting
skills
Leadership skills Observing
Skills to work
on
Measuring skills Designing skills Organising skills Planning skills
My goals To learn
mathematical and
calculation skills
and knowledge
To enhance
modern
designing
software’s
To arrange my
equipments and
to segregate my
work in progress
and completed
To learn the
developing plans
for the step by
step flow of
work for better
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work management.
My resources My notes and
books of
carpentry class
Basic modern
techniques of
carpentry
Have a work
place organiser
plan
Knowledge of
developing
schedule.
Action Plan Participate in
crash course of
mathematical
class.
To install
modern
designing
software’s and
take classes
Try to daily
arrange my work
and build
columns and
draws for
equipment
keeping and
separate room for
completed work
(Patané and et.
al., 2019).
Learn and try to
daily plans for
the project.
Skills Development Record & Work-based Feedback
Name FDP
Project Carpentry
Skills How was it used? What was the result?
Wood cutting technique I used my wood cutting skills
to build the window frames,
staircases frame, and building
doors by using the pre
constructed material and to
smoothly cut shape the lumbar
fibre glass and other materials
according to the measurement
(MacCallum and Casey,
2017).
The result was highly
satisfying as the wood cutting
were cleaned smooth and cut
with quality which was
reflected in the finishing of
window frames, staircases
doors, building frames etc.
Management skills I used my management skills Management skills resulted in
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recently for a project for
refurbishing the furniture,
installation of hardwood,
floors, drywall and cabinets.
Use my management skills to
meet the deadline of the
project.
the timely completion of the
project with accuracy and also
have in between the process to
maintain the accurate
workflow between the team
members.
Communication skills Communication skills to
communicate with the interior
designers and the project head
and client highly required
understanding their
requirements under question
then about the specific
requirements related to the
project quality of wood other
requirements.
The result of good
communication skills help me
in learning and understanding
the perspective of the client
and the project helped and
also made be confident in
talking with the client
accurately which help in
meeting the every minute
details specified by the client
related to the project.
Communication skills also
helped me to behave
professionally with the other
people (Bou Karroum, Ong
Borja and Ojaldon, 2019).
Interpreting skills I used my interpretation skills
for blueprint, sketches and
drawings provided by the
interior designer understand
the specifications about the
project.
The interpretation skills help
me in accurately analysing and
interpreting the blueprint
sketches in the drawings
provided by the interior
designer and also help me in
making the blueprint into
reality with utmost accuracy
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CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that for the employees to analyse its current competencies
reflection journal is effective way to do so. It also provides the deep insight about the skills an
individual has and requires excelling in the workplace. Hence, for an employee’s employability
skills are essentially required to succeed in career to plan for future growth. Therefore the
personal development plan is developed for enhancing and developing skills by taking several
measures and actions set within the timeframe.
References:
Books and Journals
Armitage, I., 2018. A governance skills audit. Seced, 2018(3), pp.12-12.
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Bhopal, K., 2020. Gender, ethnicity and career progression in UK higher education: a case study
analysis. Research Papers in Education. 35(6). pp.706-721.
Bou Karroum, J., Ong Borja, R. and Ojaldon, E., 2019. Supporting literacy and digital skills
development.
MacCallum, J. and Casey, S.C., 2017. Enhancing skills development and reflective practise in
students during their programme of study. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical
Sciences, (12).
Patané, I and et. al., 2019. Action planning modulates peripersonal space. Journal of cognitive
neuroscience. 31(8). pp.1141-1154.
Peacock, C., 2017. Classroom skills in English teaching: A self-appraisal framework. Routledge.
Plant, K., Barac, K. and Sarens, G., 2019. Preparing work-ready graduates–skills development
lessons learnt from internal audit practice. Journal of Accounting Education. 48. pp.33-
47.
Portman, S., 2020. Reflective journaling: A portal into the virtues of daily writing. The Reading
Teacher. 73(5). pp.597-602.
Stadler, D and et. al., 2020. Career progression through professional engagement: The impact of
MRS student-led activities. MRS Bulletin. 45(4). pp.306-307.
Van Praag, L and et. al., 2017. ‘Everyone has their own qualities’: tracking and academic self-
appraisal in Flemish secondary education. Social Psychology of Education. 20(3).
pp.601-618.
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