Analyzing Employability Skills in Hospitality: SWOT and PDP Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of employability skills within the hospitality industry, utilizing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PDP (Personal Development Plan) frameworks. The introduction emphasizes the importance of self-assessment for identifying skill gaps and career development. The SWOT analysis highlights crucial skills like communication, time management, and interpersonal abilities, while also identifying areas needing improvement, such as confidence and problem-solving. The PDP outlines specific activities and resources for skill development. The report further discusses the academic and employability skills essential for success in the hospitality sector, emphasizing the significance of communication, time management, attentiveness, and teamwork. It contrasts the skills identified in the SWOT analysis with industry requirements and concludes by stressing the need for continuous self-assessment and personal development to secure employment within the competitive hospitality market. References include books and journals related to personal development and hospitality management.

REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SWOT.....................................................................................................................................3
PDP.........................................................................................................................................4
Academic and employability skills to find employment in hotel and hospitality industry....6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the current competitive world, it is very necessary for the person to have knowledge of
all the skills which are required to have any sort of employment opportunity. Also, it is very
important for the person to know in advance what are their capabilities and weaknesses and what
is required to perform any sort of work (Tattum and Tattum, 2017). However, this is important
because of the fact that this will help person in identifying gap between which skills are required
and which they have. Thus, for this use of SWOT and PDP will take place and it will be helpful
in identifying this deviation and then working upon its improvement.
SWOT
This is a tool which is very beneficial for the person in analysing all its capabilities that is
areas in which they are good and other areas in which they are lacking and needs improvement.
Along with these strengths and weakness the external opportunities and threats are also
highlighted because they also impact the strength and weakness of person. Opportunities are
some situations which helps person in outlining some areas which can help them to grow more.
On the other side threats are the one which restrict or limit person from growing. SWOT of a
person who is trying to find employment in hotel or hospitality industry is as follows-
Strength Weakness
 Effective communication skills.
 Proper time management skills.
 Good interpersonal skills.
 Good basic knowledge of the subject
matter.
 Logical reasoning.
 Proper knowledge of work ethics and
moral duties.
 Effective decision- making skills.
 Team working.
 Low confidence.
 Unable to manage different task at
single time.
 Not able to meet to proper deadlines.
 Less problem- solving skill.
 Less flexibility.
 Not adaptable to fast changes.
 Less patient.
 Less attentive.
 Coordination.
Opportunity Threat
 To adapt to the latest changes taking
place and grow.
 To increase sales within hotel and gain
 Major threat is rapid changes taking
place in taste and preferences of

attention of higher authorities.
 Work in effective manner in order to
enjoy benefit of bonus and incentives.
 To interact with consumers and
understand their need and
communicating same with other
department of hotel to gain satisfaction
of consumers.
consumers.
 Another major threat is increasing
competition within hospitality industry.
 Not able to handle too many tasks at
same time resulting in low quality
work.
From the above SWOT analysis, it can be seen that there are many different areas in
which person needs to develop in order to find employment in hospitality industry and hotel
(Amar, Dixon and Franklin, 2017). The major areas where they need to develop is confidence,
multitasking, problem- solving skills, attentiveness, patience level and many other skills.
PDP
Personal Development Plan is a roadmap or blueprint through which the person can
decide the whole process through which the person can develop the skills in which they lack. It is
very necessary for person to develop these skills as in this competitive world where for every
position there are many people for getting job (Evelyne, 2017). Thus, it is very necessary for
person to develop the skills in which they are lacking. Hence, for this personal development plan
is prepared which is as follows-
Skill to be
developed
Activities
undertaken
Resources used Duration Success criteria
Confidence Talking with
experienced
people, attending
seminars and
lectures on
improving
personality and
confidence,
gaining complete
Internet,
presentations on
laptop, face to
face meeting.
10- 15 days In any tough
situation I am
able to handle
situation without
support of any
higher authority.

and thorough
knowledge of all
the subject
matter.
Multitasking Working on
related task at
same time, make
a to- do- list,
avoid all the
distracting
activities and
concentrating on
important
activities which
needs to be
managed in
effective way.
The resources
used for
developing
multitasking are
internet, videos
on multitasking
and guidance by
tutor.
Approximately
20 days.
When I will be
able to manage at
least 4- 5 task on
my own single
handily.
Problem- solving The major
activity taken for
developing
problem solving
skill are to focus
on finding
solution rather
than focusing on
level of problem,
critically
evaluation the
problem and also
all the possible
different
The resources
used are internet,
different tools of
problem solving
like root cause
analysis,
flowcharts,
pareto charts and
many other.
Around 8- 10
days.
When I will be
able to solve the
whole problem
without
assistance of any
other person.

solutions to hose
problems.
Attentiveness The activities
undertaken in
order to develop
skill of
attentiveness is
to concentrate on
the thing
currently going
in market with
help of market
research.
The resources
used are internet,
mobile phones,
marker research
tools.
This will take
approximately
10-15 days.
This skill will be
attained as if I
will be able to
know about all
the latest changes
taking place in
environment
without any other
person saying.
With help of this personal development plan it is clearly visible that these skills can be
attained with little efforts made by person. Thus, this will assist the person in developing more
skills required for getting employment within the hospitality industry (Yu, 2019).
Academic and employability skills to find employment in hotel and hospitality industry
The hospitality industry is the one which includes all the businesses which provides
services like lodging, food and beverages, travelling, tourism, airlines, cruise and many other
similar facilities. In current advanced world hospitality is an industry which is growing to a great
extent and competition is very high in this industry. Thus, to have good employment
opportunities people need to have enough skills so that they stand out from competition and get
the job.
In hospitality industry the major skills required by a person are good communication
skill. This is most crucial skill as without communication no other work can be done and hence
this needs to be very effective in candidate presuming job in hospitality sector (Hua and et.al.,
2018). Another important skill is time management skill as the consumer wants every service on
time and no delay is liked by the consumers. Thus, it is necessary for the person to work before
time so that consumers are happy and satisfied. Along with this one more skill required is of
attentiveness because if employees of hotel and hospitality industry are not attentive then they

will not be able to know about the changes taking place in needs and preferences of consumers
(Joodaki, Jamour and Sadiqi Shahdani, 2018).
In addition to this another skill required to be possessed if opting for employment is team
working as hotel includes a lot of people and the activities of all department are dependent on
others. So, the working of hotel is a team working process and person finding employment in
hospitality industry will needs to have skill of team work. also, if people work in team then they
must have good coordination skills among them. This is necessary because in team work the
work of one person is dependent over other thus, there needs to be proper coordination among all
the employees.
Also, there are some more skills and attributes which needs to be possessed by person at
time of finding employment in hospitality industry. These are like proper knowledge of
workplace ethics and moral duties, multitasking, awareness of different cultures, professional
working and many other different skills.
In comparison with the skills required in the hospitality and the skills which were
outlined by SWOT analysis there is a huge difference in both of them (Pang, 2018). This is so
majorly because of the fact that there are many changes taking place within business
environment and many changes are there in requirements of doing job. Thus, there needs to be
thorough research over all the changes taking place in the environment. With help of SWOT
analysis, it was outlined that person is having many different skills like proper time management
skills, good interpersonal skills, good basic knowledge of the subject matter, logical reasoning,
proper knowledge of work ethics and moral duties and many other skills.
But in comparison with the required skills it was outlined that some skills lacked like
attentiveness, patience level, skill of coordination, problem- solving skills, confidence level and
many other skills. Though these skills were developed with help of personal development plan
but then also these need to be mastered by practicing over the job in a hotel. But then also some
of the skills are there which needs to be still developed as they are still lacking like patience,
coordination, market research, flexibility, not able to complete work at deadline (Roberts, 2017).
All these skills need to be learnt for having good employment opportunity within hospitality
industry.

CONCLUSION
In the end from the above discussion it is evaluated and inferred that personal
development is very necessary at time of finding employment. This is pertaining to the fact that
at time knowledge is gained things are different and when it comes to employment the skills and
knowledge required are completely different. Thus, it is necessary for person to critically
evaluate their skills to present requirement. This is ascertained with help of PDP plan which
helped the person in developing skills in which they were lacking.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amar, R., Dixon, S. and Franklin, C., 2017. Personal Development Plans for Dentists: The New
Approach to Continuing Professional Development. CRC Press.
Evelyne, C., 2017. Development and business plan of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) calyx jelly
candy (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Pelita Harapan).
Hua, X., and et.al., 2018, May. Analysis of Importance of New Media Literacy. In 2018 8th
International Conference on Social science and Education Research (SSER 2018).
Atlantis Press.
Joodaki, M., Jamour, M. and Sadiqi Shahdani, M., 2018. Determining the Capacity of Creating
Employment in Different Economic Sectors to Achieve the Purposes of the Sixth
Development Plan Using the input-Output Approach. The Journal of Planning and
Budgeting. 22(4). pp.101-124.
Pang, J., 2018. The Importance of Traditional Culture in University Education. Journal of
Contemporary Educational Research. 2(4). pp.24-27.
Roberts, D.A.V.E., 2017. The importance of professional supervision for all staff in
schools. Attachment and Emotional Development in the Classroom: Theory and
practice, pp.233-248.
Tattum, D. and Tattum, E., 2017. Social education and personal development. Routledge.
Yu, H., 2019. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area in the Making:
development plan and challenges. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, pp.1-29.