Careers and Employability: Personal Development and Reflection

This report presents a personal development plan centered on enhancing employability and achieving professional goals. It includes a reflective commentary on personal learning experiences, highlighting the importance of aligning actions with professional development requirements and addressing gaps to attain career ambitions. The report features a gap analysis identifying desired and current situations related to leadership skills, openness, and critical thinking. Action plans are outlined for each area, focusing on specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely objectives. The plan aims to improve leadership abilities, cultivate openness to new experiences, enhance critical thinking skills, and foster effective teamwork. The document concludes with a discussion of the knowledge gained and its impact on developing employability in a specific field. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments and past papers to support student learning.

Planning Careers and
Employability
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TOC
Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................3Reflective commentary................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
16 Personality Test.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
CPD Plan/Personal development plan...........................................................................................................................................................................................11
Personal Development Plan.......................................................................................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Personal development refers to the actions taken by individuals in order to improve the capabilities potential and human capital of an individual.
Personal development of an individual helps enhances employability and reach higher quality of life where the professional and personal ambitions of the
individual are attained (Anderson, 2021). This report includes a personal development plan along with reflective commentary on personal learning
experience.
Reflective commentary
It is important to reflect on the future actions taken after the completion of personal development plan to determine if the actions are related to
various professional development requirements and gaps which need to be fulfilled in order to attain career ambition (Farrell, 2020). This reflection helps
understand the knowledge gained from learning experience and its impact in context for developing employability for specific field. I have completed my
gap analysis below which includes connecting the future actions to the gaps identified.
Gap Analysis
Desired Situation Current Situation Action Plan
The desired
situation for
leadership skills is to
be able to develop
high performing
team which has the
ability to inspire
others and direct
them effectively.
This desired
situation in terms to
my leadership skills
will help me move
upwards in my
professional career
and help me secure
leadership position
in the project
management field.
The current situation of my
leadership skills is very poor.
This is because I not able to
create strong bonds with
others due to introversion
and insensitivity as per my
ISTJ personality. This is an
important aspect of
employability as business
firms offer new joiners
promotion opportunities only
if they are able to handle
subordinates under their
supervision (Guberman and
Mcdossi, 2019). In addition to
this, developing leadership is
essential for gaining
recruitment at reputed firm
because it will set me apart
from other candidates as I
have quality to manage
others effectively.
 Specific: The specific objective to enhance leadership skills is to develop leadership
knowledge in order to gain the ability to manage others and inspire them to attain desired
outcome from team efforts.
 Measurable The leadership skills and betterment in my leadership skills will be measured by
determining positive influence on others and enhancement in my power to direct a co-
ordinated team towards timely attainment of goals. In addition to this anther criterion for
measuring improvement in leadership skills is to gain the ability to motivate and encourage
others during team activities to gain the best performance out of every team member.
 Attainable: This is an easily attainable objective as knowledge of leadership styles and
theories can gained freely from the internet along with online classes on the subject. In
addition to this the action plan can be attained by participating in team activities and
assignments to develop teamwork skills. The primary constraint I face in development of
effective leadership skills is my conciseness affecting individual relationships with
subordinates.
 Relevant: This is relevant action plan because progress in leadership skills will not only allow
me to gain employment at reputed organization but will also help me make quick progress in
my career as employees with effective leadership skills are given more responsibilities
compared to other employees.
 Timely: The time period for imping leadership skills and gain the ability to manager other
effectively is 6 months.
The desired
situation in relation
to my openness is to
become more
The present situation in case
of openness characteristic of
my personality has the lowest
score ion the personality test.
 Specific: The objective of improving the current level of openness in personality is specific in
nature as it focuses on building imagination, creativity and acceptance towards
experimentation. This specific objective helps improve risk taking abilities and develop
personality which is suitable for working in groups.
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experimental and
risk taking
individual. This is
the desires situation
because a risk
taking and
experiential
personality gains
personal as well as
professional
development.
Looking for career
development in
project management
field ability to
experiment with
different ideas to
provide the firm high
quality unique
results is an
employer
expectation.
This is because of my
logistician personality as I
always focus on following
conventional wisdom and am
reluctant to trying new things.
I It is essential to develop this
personality trait in order to
perform effectively in the
current corporate world
(Holzweiss and Parrott,
2017). This is because in
need to collaborate with
others and accept their ideas
in order to provide the best
results to my seniors and
clients. It will support my
career progression and the
demonstration of this
personality trait during
interviews will also enhance
the possibility of my
selection. This is because
employees in the project
management department
need to be highly imaginative
and creative to use digital
technology to build
successful project
management strategies.
 Measurable: The criteria used to measure this development in personality is the ability to
reduce hesitant towards unique and experiential ideas and leave traditionalist daily routine by
adding some variety in daily task. In addition to this more effective risk calculation and ability
to imagine future results so that all my decisions are measured and lead to positive
outcomes.
 Attainable: This is an attainable action plan as imagination can be expanding by analysing
abstract art pieces and risk calculation techniques can be learned to understand risks
associated with various ideas. This will help me improve my level of comfort with accepting
and implementing new ideas at work. In addition to this I can easily demonstrate openness
during interviews for employability by improving my creativity in answering questions. This
can also be easily attained by using online resources to answer questions creatively and
confidently
 Relevant: This action plan is relevant to my career development. The primary reason for this
is that openness and imagination support determining effective solutions to business
problems. In addition to this, open personality also helps avoid conflicts in team settings. This
is suitable for enhancement of my employability and will support me in gaining unique ideas
for team members and reducing team conflicts.
 Timely: The time period for improving openness to achieving improvement in aspect of
personality which is centres around openness to new experiences is of 4 months.
I have to improve
my critical thinking
skills to the desired
level of being able to
critically assess the
implications,
consequences and
impact of different
reasoning. In
addition to this I
have to build my
critical thinking skills
The current state of my
critical thinking skills is
mediocre and does not help
me stand out as a candidate
in this highly competitive
corporate world. My
arguments and statements
are not rooted in logical
reasoning which reduces my
ability to examine and
interpret data effectively. I
am able to think and observe
 Specific: The focus on enhancing critical thinking skills with the aim of gaining the ability to
form well-reasoned conclusions is important is extremely specific. This objective is specific as
it provides detail about the task to be achieved and the reason for achieving specific tasks.
This helps take suitable future action which supports attainment of the objective.
 Measurable: This specific objective will be measured by determining the betterment in
collection of relevant information, ability to raise important questions and logical issues, skill
to form conclusions and provide solutions with justified reasoning. In addition to this another
criterion for measuring improvement in critical thinking skills is the ability to figure out
solutions for various problems without facing undue influence from others opinions on the
specific topic. This is suitable measurement criteria as it will support improvement in my
critical thinking and also increase my self-management ability and expand my independent
thinking skills.
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to reach clear
conclusions and
collect and evaluate
data logically. This
is essential for my
career development
because effective
critical thinking skill
is not only helpful in
finding quick
solutions for various
problems but also
contributes to better
leadership
(Mohammedain and
Omar, 2021).
Individuals who
demonstrate critical
thinking skills are
taken more
seriously by
employers. This fact
increases my
inclination towards
improving my critical
thinking skills to
reach desired state
as soon as possible.
various topics but not form
logical arguments. Currently
the usage of data in the
corporate world is increasing
which has also increased the
significance of critical thinking
skills (Muhammadiyeva and
Ibrohimova, 2020). I need to
improve the current state of
my critical thinking skills to
increase the opportunity of
my employment and progress
swiftly in my future career.
 Attainable: I can easily attain this action plan because it involves improving logical reasoning
and critical thinking skills. There ae various resources which I can use for timely attainment of
this objective. I will utilize feedback from the faculty to understand the gaps in my critical
thinking abilities so that appropriate action can be taken for their improvement. This will
provide me guidelines throughout my journey for personal development and help me take
proactive measures to ensure timely development of my critical thinking skills.
 Relevant: The objective of improving critical thinking skills to form reasonable solutions is
relevant to my career development skills because the business firms in the current corporate
world seek to recruit employees who are quick problem solvers. I have effective problem
solving skills and the lack off my critical thinking skills affects my ability to provide practical
and long-term solutions for various problems. Improvement in my critical thinking skills will
help me determine logical and long-term solutions for various problems and will also enhance
my communication skills. This is because I will be able to form logical arguments and follow
reasoning of others easily. In this way betterment of my critical thinking skills not only
improves my employability but also adds to my existing employability skills.
 Timely: The time period for improving my critical thinking skill is of 4 months.
I aim to improve my
teamwork skills to a
level where I am
able to so that I am
able to become an
effective member
with and understand
my role to offer
positive contribution
to team activities. In
addition to this I also
want to take my
level of collaboration
The current level of my
teamwork is low as my
communication skills are
good but I am not able to
collaborate with others
effectively. This is reflected
by my ISTJ personality
results as I aam insensitive to
others emotions and am not
able to quickly connect with
new people. This leads to
distress and conflicts during
team tasks. This affects team
 Specific: The specific objective of this part of the action plan is to enhance teamwork skills
with main focus on improving collaborative skills and co-ordination with team members. This
specific objective will help me become part of synergetic team and ensure that task given to
every individual is attained in a timely manner.
 Measurable: The measurement criteria for this objective are improvement in ability to
collaborate with others to jointly perform a single task. In addition to this, betterment in ability
to co-ordinate with other members of the team so that each part of the task is completed in a
pre-determined schedule is another important measurement criterion. These are suitable
criteria for understanding the development in teamwork because they also help enhance
leadership skills.
 Attainable: This is an easily attainable skill as I can utilize various methods of collaborative
practice to enhance my teamwork skills. I need access to academic works on collaborative
practice. This can be accessed digitally and will help me improve my knowledge on different
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and co-ordination
during team tasks
so that I am able to
become part of a
synergetic team and
deliver high
performance
individually.
performance negatively and
leads to gaining low quality
results. Collaboration and co-
ordination are key elements
of high performing teams
(Schad and Smith, 2019). I
need to improve my
teamwork skills so that I can
use my communication skills
during team tasks and gain
excellent results. It is
essential to develop
teamwork skills so that I am
able to work effectively in
team environment in
business firms. Teamwork is
essential for working in the
current corporate
environment because
employees in different
departments have to
collaborate with each other to
support attainment of
organizational objectives in a
timely manner.
aspects of collaborative practice. In addition to this, I can achieve the goal of enhancing my
teamwork skills in given time by continuously monitoring my behaviour in team activities. This
will allow me to take proactive measures for improving my co-ordination and collaboration
with other team mates so that I am able to contribute to my highest potential. In addition to
this I will also take continuous feedback from the team mates about my level of collaboration
and if my actions are negatively affecting team behaviour. This process of taking feedback
will ensure that will also support quick attainment of my objective in context of teamwork
skills. It will also help me avoid team conflicts and ensure that every team members in the
team is satisfied so that they are able to perform to their best level.
 Relevant: This is relevant skill and will help me improve my employability by increasing my
ability to perform effectively during team tasks. I will be able to collaborate with others in a
corporate environment which will support my career progression. Employers in the current
time are looking for team players who are able to take everyone with them in the forward
direction for the success of the company (Pariente and Tubin, 2021). The teamwork skills will
help me demonstrate my suitability to employers in team setting. In this way improvement in
team work skills will help me achieve my career ambition and is highly relevant to my
professional development goals.
 Timely: I will be achieving this skill in the time period of 3 months.
Linkage with future Action with gaps identified in gap analysis
The main skills identified in the gap analysis are teamwork skills lack of open personality leadership skills and ineffective critical thinking skills. The
actions taken for improvement in these identified skills add reliable and attainable. In addition to this, the time period taken for attainment of these skills is
specific. The actions taken for developing leadership skills include understanding theoretical aspects of corporate leadership. This is a suitable action as it
will support improvement in employability and career progression in the future. I need to improve my leadership as an ISTJ because my introversion,
insesnitvity and lack of patience will affect career progress to leadership roles. The action taken for enhancing openness in personality is also related with
my future. The linkage is that improving openness in my personality will enhance my ability to work in a corporate environment and embrace innovative
ideas provided by others we challenge conventional wisdom and are experimentation in nature. I will be able to use this imaginative personality in future for
developing unique solutions and building creative plans to eliminate barriers in success of my future employer. In case of my poor critical thinking skills, the
actions included in the gap analysis are to utilize feedback given by the faculty and develop understanding about different reasoning methods. This action
will help me improve my critical thinking skills end make me a better problem solver. This is related to my future action because employers are seeking to
recruit individuals who are quick problem solvers and provide solutions which help the company eliminate the problem from the root and gain long term
stability. Another skill gap identified with the help of analysis is lack of hi teamwork skills. The action included in the gap analysis for improvement in
teamwork skills is to increase knowledge of collaborative practice and use feedback from teammates to cope with conflicts. This is an effective process for
maintaining harmony in a team and ensuring that every member of the team works to their highest capacity. This action will also support improvement in
my teamwork skills as I will be able to formulate and maintain high performing teams to attain objectives of the company. The relation of this with my future
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action and employability is that it will help me perform effectively in a corporate environment and ensure that all the goals of my team is achieved in a timely
manner.
The evaluation of recent employment development and employment requirement
The recent development in recruitment is introduction of online recruitment and usage of digital channels to connect with employers. The positive
impact of this development is that it increases the accessibility of individuals two large number of employers. The negative impact of this development is
that digital channels can also be used for fraud and to spread misinformation (Schlein, 2017). Leadership skills are an important employment requirement in
the current corporate environment. I will utilise feedback from video telephone and other channels to understand which areas of leadership I need to
improve this feedback will help me develop effective leadership skills to gain quick recruitment. The positive impact of emphasis on leadership skills is that
employees recruited by corporates have the potential to become successful leaders while the negative impact is that it increases pressure on introverted
employees. Another development in employment requirement is that business firms are looking for employees with effective critical thinking skills
(Schwoegl, Rodgers and Kumar, 2020). The positive impact of this development is that individuals are improving their critical thinking to be an effective part
of the company while the negative impact is that it increases the complexity of recruitment process. This is because determining critical thinking skills often
individual in context of a specialist area is difficult process. I will be utilising feedback from video and telephones to understand if my critical thinking skills
are effective enough to gain quick recruitment. This will help me form logical arguments and use my thinking ISTJ personality as strength in the workplace. I
will use this feedback to take action in learning more about critical thinking critical reasoning and logical reasoning. This will help me improve my critical
thinking skills and expand my employability. I will be able to gain recruitment quickly as employees with leadership skills communication skills and critical
thinking skills are preferred over other employees. Employers currently are also looking for employees with effective teamwork skills. The main reason
behind this is that remote working has increased the importance of team working and collaboration. The positive impact of increased emphasis on
teamwork skills is that team working employees are able to increase the efficiency of businesses while the negative impact is that it is not beneficial for
introverted candidates. Business firms are looking for team players who are able to create high performing team and collaborate with others effectively
even in the situation of remote working. I will utilise feedback from my team mates through call and video calls to understand any gaps in my teamwork
skills and work on them. This type of direct feedback will help me understand how my behaviour affects teamwork and what changes need to be made to
ensure that I contribute positively to the team.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that individuals need to build a suitable personal development plan which involves the tasks which need to
be completed, the actions, resources, measurement criteria and time period for achieving the task which facilitates personal development. In addition to
this, completing reflective practice to determine skill gaps and current employment requirements helps individual identify their strengths and weaknesses
and gaining the knowledge needed for securing employment in specific field.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, T., 2021. Keeping the workforce healthy and safe during COVID-19 at Woodside. The APPEA Journal, 61(2). pp.357-361.
Astle, A., Leberman, S. and Watson, G., 2018. Sport Development in Action: Plan, Programme and Practice. Routledge.
Boyd and et. al., 2018. Use of online media for professional development amongst medical radiation practitioners in Australia and Canada. Journal of
medical imaging and radiation sciences, 49(2). pp.187-193.
Bruni-Bossio, V. and Delbaere, M., 2021. Not everything important is taught in the classroom: Using cocurricular professional development workshops to
enhance student careers. Journal of Management Education, 45(2), pp.265-292.
Chen, M. W. and Rybak, C., 2017. Group leadership skills: Interpersonal process in group counseling and therapy. SAGE Publications.
Dinh, J.V. and Salas, E., 2017. Factors that influence teamwork. The Wiley Blackwell handbook of the psychology of team working and collaborative
processes, pp.13-41.
DOGAN, Z. Y. and ALTUN, S., 2018. The Effects of the Research Lesson Study (RLS) Model on Teachers' Professional Development. International Online
Journal of Educational Sciences, 10(3).
Farrell, T. S., 2020. Professional development through reflective practice for English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers. International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism, 23(3). pp.277-286.
Guberman, A. and Mcdossi, O., 2019. Israeli teacher educators’ perceptions of their professional development paths in teaching, research and institutional
leadership. European Journal of Teacher Education, 42(4). pp.507-522.
Holzweiss, P. C. and Parrott, K. P., 2017. Careers in Student Affairs: A Holistic Guide to Professional Development in Higher Education. NASPA-Student
Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. 1875 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 418. Washington, DC 20009.
Mohammedain, D. and Omar, M. M., 2021. Employing Simultaneous Interpretation in the Development of Public Speaking Skills, Cognitive Achievement
and Attitudes toward Speaking in English among Non-specialist Undergraduate Students. Journal of Research in Curriculum Instruction and
Educational Technology, 7(4). pp.73-124.
Muhammadiyeva, H. and Ibrohimova, M., 2020. Collaborative and individual professional development for english Teachers. Asian Journal of
Multidimensional Research (AJMR), 9(5), pp.61-64.
Pariente, N. and Tubin, D., 2021. Novice principal mentoring and professional development. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education.
Schad, J. and Smith, W. K., 2019. Addressing grand challenges’ paradoxes: Leadership skills to manage inconsistencies. Journal of Leadership
Studies, 12(4). pp.55-59.
Schlein, C., 2017. (Un) learning to teach through intercultural professional development. IAP.
Schwoegl, E. N., Rodgers, M. E. and Kumar, S. S., 2020. Reflective journaling by second‐year dental students during a clinical rotation. Journal of dental
education, 84(2). pp.157-165.Connolly, A., 2018. Public speaking skills for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
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APPENDIX
16 Personality Test
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CPD Plan/Personal development plan
NAME: Cristina Mihaela Tase
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COVERING THE PERIOD
FROM: January 2021 TO: November 2021
Personal Development Plan
Planned outcome : To gain a Graduate Scheme place with Tesco as an Associate Project Manager starting June/July shortly after graduation
Where do I want to be by the end of this period? On a one year placement at Welwyn Garden City working on the Project Management Graduate Scheme and earning
over
What do I want to be doing? Building up my skills, knowledge and behaviours alongside industry experts and taking the APM PMQ and Prince 2 qualifications
What do I want/need to learn
and why?
What will I do to achieve
this?
What resources or support
will I need?
What will my success
criteria be? how have I
implemented my learning
and what impact has this
had (at work/outside of
work)?
Target dates for review
and completion
I need to develop my leadership
skills because leadership skills
are one of the most important
skills needed by graduate.
Business firms in the current
working environment need
employees with this leadership
skill so that their; leadership
potential can be used in further
and contribute to succession
planning at the company.
Effective leaders support long-
term survival of the company
and help business firms gain
stable profitability (Astle,
Leberman and Watson, 2018). I
have a highly introverted ISTJ
personality and in order to move
up the corporate ladder I need
to improve my extroversion. This
is the reason why I need to
develop strong leadership skills
as it is an essential skill for
moving upwards in my career
I need to develop my
understanding of various
leadership theories and
leadership styles in order to
enhance my leadership
skills. This is essential for
developing leadership skills
because theoretical
knowledge about leadership
will help me improve my
behaviour to improve my
leadership qualities. I need
to gain profound
understanding of my
leadership theories such as
contingency leadership
theory and situational
leadership theory so that I
am able to perform
excellently as a leader in
various situations. In
addition to this, I need to
increase my knowledge of
various leadership styles
I would need access to books
which focus on leadership
and leadership theories. This
will improve my theoretical
knowledge on various
leadership concepts. In
addition to this, I also need
online resources which
provide me an understanding
of the impact of various
eldership styles on
employees. With the help of
this resource I will be able to
determine which situations
require the usage of specific
leadership styles so that
every challenging situation
during my employment is
effectively handled. It is
important that I access case
studies about successful and
failed leadership attempts at
different companies. With this
resource I will be able to
The success criteria for this
objective in my personal
development plan is to gain
the ability to develop skills
to create and maintain high
performing teams. In
addition to this I need to be
able to use the leadership
skills at work and utilize
various leadership styles to
unite and inspire employees
at my future career in the
project management field.
This success criteria will
help me accomplish project
management objectives in a
timely manner and progress
in my career quickly. In
addition to this, being able
to handle team of
employees during stressful
and challenging events is
another success criterion
for leadership skills. This is
The time period for
achieving improvement
in my leadership skills is
to 6 months.
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