Talent Acquisition at Carnival UK: Professional Development Plan

This document provides a comprehensive professional development plan for an individual in a talent acquisition role at Carnival UK. It begins with an introduction to Carnival plc, highlighting its global presence and revenue. The document then defines skills and competencies, specifically thos...Read More

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Development plan
Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date

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Part A
Introduction
Carnival plc.is a leisure travel company in the United Kingdom and one of the largest
vacation companies in the world. Micky Arison and Ted Arison founded the company in 1972.
Carnival’s headquarter is based in the United States of America (USA) and the company
operates under the hospitality and tourism industry. The company also has subsidiaries in other
continents including North America, Europe and Asia. Carnival plc revenues mainly come from
the cruise industry and by the end of 2018, the company had revenues of US$18.881 billion
(Carnival Corporation & plc, 2019 p.1). The company offers a wide range of products including
the provision of guest with exceptional vacation experiences at an outstanding value. The ability
of Carnival to offer quality cruise vacation has made it the most profitable company in the entire
leisure travel industry. In the UK, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)
under symbol CCL. In addition, the company accommodates over 120,000 employees from all
regions of the world (Carnival Corporation & plc, 2019). Furthermore, the company operates a
fleet of a hundred ships with approximately 77,000 shipboard employees and 200,000 guests
(Forté Senior Lifestyle Group, 2015 p.1). There are more than 277,000 people sailing at any
given time. Currently, the CEO of the company is Arnold W. Donald.
Skills and competence
A skill is defined as an ability and capability that is acquired through sustained efforts to
carry out job functions or complex activities involving people (interpersonal/interpersonal skills),
things (technical skills) and ideas (cognitive skills) (Vos, Hauw and Heijden, 2011 p.438). A
competency is defined as a measurable pattern of behaviors, abilities, skills knowledge and other
characteristics that an individual requires to perform occupational functions or work roles

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effectively (Mogensen and Schnack, 2010 p.59). Generally, skills and competencies differ in
accordance with people’s careers and sectors they are working.
Skills and competencies required for Talent Acquisition at Carnival UK
 Knowledge of Applicant tracking skills (ATSs) and Human Resource Information
System (HRIS).
 Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
 Familiarity with professional networks (hub), resume databases and social media
(LinkedIn. Facebook).
 Experience with full-cycle recruiting using diverse evaluation methods and interview
techniques.
 Deep understanding of diverse roles within the organization
 Proficient in computers packages such as Microsoft Office, Access and Excel.
 Experience with talent acquisition, job screening and hiring practices.
 Basic Knowledge of labor unions, practices and regulations that governs employees.
 Working knowledge of applicable state employment laws is expected and human
resource functional areas.
 Knowledge of contracts like Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Non-Disclosure
Agreements (NDA).
 Knowledge of ethical and professional recruitment standards that are associated with
employment in the tour and travel sector.
The benefits and importance of undertaking ongoing professional and personal
development and how it can enhance career prospects.

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Professional and personal development is defined as a process of tracking and
documenting experience, knowledge and skills that people gain both informally and formally as
they work beyond any training (Sheridan, Edwards, Marvin and Knoche, 2009 p.377).
Furthermore, professional and personal development involves an understanding of how to do the
job effectively and how to improve job performances by identifying key areas that need
improvement and developing skills and competencies. Some examples of professional and
personal development include management training, conflict management, time management,
leadership training, communication skills and legal knowledge or expertise.
In Talent acquisition role, undertaking ongoing professional and personal development is
important as it ensures that person capabilities are at the same pace with current standards of
others in the same career or industry. Ongoing professional and personal development also helps
in the development and enhancement of skills and knowledge that are needed in the delivery of
professional service to the clients, customers and community. Furthermore, continued personal
and professional development ensures that knowledge remains relevant and updated as one
becomes more aware of the changing trends in the profession.
Professional and personal development also helps a person to make meaningful
contributions in the workplace. Research conducted by Singh and Gupta (2015 p.1192-1211)
shows that employees who had taken additional development activities in the organization had a
high degree of contribution in terms of ideas and innovation as compared to those who showed
little commitment to personal and professional development. Therefore, when employees are
highly developed in terms of personal and professional career growth, they significantly
contribute to workplace developmental activities. Furthermore, the organization values
employees reward them accordingly, and assist them to move to a new position where they can

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coach, train, manage, mentor and lead others. In addition, through ongoing Professional and
personal development, a person develops a deep understanding of professional and career paths
that assist him or her develop social skills such as interpersonal and interpersonal skills that are
essential in the deliverance of effective customer care services. Ongoing Professional and
personal development also increases public confidence. When a person regains public
confidence, it becomes easier for him or her to participate in the meeting, forums, training and
conferences. (Turkyilmaz, Akman, Ozkan and Pastuszak, 2011 p. 675).
Ongoing professional and personal development enhances career prospects by creating
diverse job opportunities, improvement of performances and creation of promotions. For
example, most of the organization promotes internal employees to new managerial positions by
benchmarking the professional and personal developments they possess as compared to key
requirements of the position. Therefore, personal and professional developments are essential in
building careers and meeting long-term goals such as becoming a manager and a leader in an
organization.
Learning theories and approaches
Diverse theories are essential in personal and professional development. The most
common theories used in personal and professional developments include Network Learning
Theory, Situated Learning Theory and Social Learning Theory. Familiarizing with the theories
helps employees toward continuous professional growth as they are able to learn new strategies,
skills and knowledge of improving the weaknesses.
According to AlDahdouh, Osorio and Caires, 2015 p.1), network-learning theory is
processed in which a person maintains and develops connections and communication with
people and information with others in order to learn from them. The approach is essential for

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personal and professional development as a person is able to gain mentorship programs, skills
and knowledge from other experts. Furthermore, through effective professional networks and
other learned bodies, the approach can support a person by identifying career growth
opportunities and updates about the emerging trends in the industry. In Social learning theory,
learning occurs through direct interactions, observation, imitations and theories (Hrastinski, 2009
p.78). Learning in social theory is shaped by social and cognitive context. The theory is essential
in professional and personal development because through observations of desired leadership
traits a person can improve its decision-making skills. For example, through observations of how
managers manage employees, a person can learn from them and learn skills that are essential for
a managerial position.
Abilities, skills and competencies for Talent Acquisition at Carnival UK
My job role is talent acquisition at Carnivore UK. The soft skills that I possess for the job
role include effective communication skills (both written and verbally), ability to work under
pressure, ability to work as a team, self-motivation, ability to work with diverse professional
networks, a good decision-maker, conflict resolution and creativity. My hard skills include
proficient in computer packages (MS Word and MS Excel), proficient in Knowledge of
Applicant tracking skills (ATSs), Human Resource Information System (HRIS), and knowledge
in bookkeeping and accounts.
The two Models that I use for self-assessment include Feedbacks from key stakeholders
and SWOT analysis. According to Archer (2010 p.101) feedbacks provides information and
reactions to a person’s performance of duties, task and they are used as a basis for improvements.
Feedback is the first self-evaluation feedback that assesses my competences and skills. Receiving
positive feedback from internal and external stakeholders regarding my soft skills its clear

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indication that I have exceptional knowledge, abilities and skills soft skills. Furthermore, I have
received a few complaints from internal management regarding some data-entry errors from the
Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Therefore, I need to improve my hard skills in
order to maintain integrity in Human resource systems and reports. A SWOT analysis is also an
effective self-evaluation tool for analyzing my abilities, skills and competence. According to
Goranczewski and Puciato (2010 p.45), A SWOT analysis model is used to evaluate strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a person, product or an organization.
Personal SWOT model Analysis
Strengths
 Effective communication skills ( verbal and written)
 Highly educated
 Experience in talent acquisition role
 Creative
 Effective social skills
 proficient in Knowledge of Applicant tracking skills
(ATSs),
 ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines
 ability to work as a team
 self-motivated
 Good decision-maker
 Effective problem-solving skills
Weakness
 Lack of knowledge in diverse
languages and cultures which is
essential for my job role
 Lack of interest in learning new
technologies and software

Opportunities
 My career path provides avenues for opportunities
Threats
 Competition from other professionals

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 Strong networking skills for career development.
 Broaden professional and social networks
who are highly skilled and
experienced in my area of expertise
Best development approaches to enhance professional and personal development.
Training, mentorships and coaching are the best approaches for enhancing professional
and personal development towards career growth. The training and mentorship help to boost self-
confidence, self-esteem, enhance communication skills and further improve work performances.
Furthermore, through effective training, a person is able to identify weak areas and further turn
them into potential success. The training and mentorship approaches provide an opportunity for a
person to think about a better career and work roles.
Observation and assessment approach is also an approach to enhancing personal and
developmental development. Through benchmarking of skills with another professional from
diverse companies under the same industry and career, a person is able to observe what they
have done to be successful and later copy those skills to his or her career. Furthermore, through
benchmarking, a person gains knowledge and skills of improving its career and performances in
the organization.

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Part B
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Name:
Dana Jaballah
Unit/ Course Professional identity and practice
Date Development plan completed 28/3/2018
PERSONAL ANALYSIS
Strengths
-My detained knowledge is generally effective in
accordance with my level of training
-my personal administration in the company is good
-my basic skills (soft and hard skills) are relative good.
- I have gained confidence, therefore, I can work under
pressure
- I had an opportunity to lead the front office team where
I demonstrated I have the ability to lead people and
manage resources to accomplish tasks within the set
deadlines.
Areas for further development
-sometimes it becomes hard for me to balance both work and
social life so I have to work on how to balance work-life
balance
- It is hard for me to adapt to new technologies having
previously challenged by the HRIS system and running
reports on ERP.
-I need more improvements in planning.
- To improve my customer care services I need to learn
diverse languages.
- In order for me to develop my confidence further, I need
more practice in team management.
Opportunities
-I have an opportunity to demonstrate to my employer
that I possess leadership and management skills for
leading teams to their goals. Furthermore, I also have an
Threats
-resources for supporting my personal and professional
development plan might be limited.
-lack of effective support from my employers

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opportunity to demonstrate that I have been exposed to
structural approaches of problem-solving which is
essential in bringing innovations and solutions to the
company.
-the company appraisals (conducted annually) will
provide feedback that will help me to identify areas that
need improvement.
-the company supports professional development through
training, seminars, conferences, benchmarking and
mentorship programs.
Difficulties in balancing personal commitments and work.
GOALS
Long term goal: Senior Talent Acquisition Manager
Short-term goal: To improve my hard skills in software, learn other languages; improve management skills and
customer service.
Goals
(what do I want
to learn)
Objective
( what do I have to do)
Resource
(what support
and resources
do I need)
Measurement
(How will I
measure success)
Target
(target date
for reviews)
1.Improving my
hard skills
Work to improve my hard skills
(involving learning more about basic
software used in organizations such as
ERP.HRIS and ATD.
-Tutorials
-practices
Feedback from
database manager
and general
manager
To have
improved my
hard skills by
the end of
Quarter one

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(may)
2. learning other
languages
To learn other languages such as
Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese and
Swahili and their cultures in order to
develop an ability to solve workplace
conflicts that might occur as a result of
cultural differences.
-learning
- Internet
- books
- training
- classes
-feedback from
customers
-Feedback from
colleagues
-availability of
speaking
frequently
- To be able to
communicate
the language by
December.
3. improve
management skills
and customer
service
-To improve customer service skills by
remaining diligent, professional and
friendly all the time.
- Listening carefully to customers
concern and read their preference and
needs in order to provide excellent
customer delivery.
- mentorship
-training on
customer
delivery
-more practice
on front office
management
-customer
satisfaction scores
for my service
interactions
-collecting
feedback from
customers
-to improve
management
and customer
care skills by
June 2019
Prioritizing Improving hard skills is the most priority goal as it will first secure my job and completely
minimize errors that are violating the integrity of reports. Learning about languages will be the
second goal, as it will improve the way I serve customers and improving management skills and
customer service will be the last goal to accomplish.
Developing new
skills
I will need to develop a new skill in order to accomplish the goals effectively. For example, in order
to learn cultures and languages of diverse nationalism, I will begin by developing effective social
skills (interpersonal and intrapersonal)
Strategies - To accomplish the goals, I must come up with effective strategies that will support me
throughout the process. The strategies that I will use include using learning styles, models

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(taking actions) and approaches to determine what learning styles and concepts I need undertake to
accomplish the training. Other strategies include setting deadlines, action plans and
consultation plans
outcomes
(Measuring
progress)
- Improved customer care skills
- Improved management skills
- Developed better hard skills
- Learned new cultures and languages
- Learned how to work in teams.
References

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AlDahdouh, A., Osorio, A. and Caires, S., 2015. Understanding knowledge network, learning
and connectivism. International journal of instructional technology and distance learning,
12(10).
Archer, J.C., 2010. State of the science in health professional education: effective feedback.
Medical education, 44(1), pp.101-108.
Carnival Corporation & plc (2019). Home - Carnival Corporation. [online] Carnivalcorp.com.
Available at: http://www.carnivalcorp.com/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].
De Vos, A., De Hauw, S. and Van der Heijden, B.I., 2011. Competency development and career
success: The mediating role of employability. Journal of vocational behavior, 79(2), pp.438-447.
Forté Senior Lifestyle Group (2015). Client Spotlight: Carnival Corporation - Forté Senior
Lifestyle Experts. [online] Forté Senior Lifestyle Experts. Available at:
http://www.fortegroupinc.com/client-spotlight-carnival-corporation/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2019].
Goranczewski, B. and Puciato, D., 2010. SWOT analysis in the formulation of tourism
development strategies for destinations. tourism, 20(2), pp.45-53.
Hrastinski, S., 2009. A theory of online learning as online participation. Computers & Education,
52(1), pp.78-82.
Mogensen, F. and Schnack, K., 2010. The action competence approach and the ‘new’discourses
of education for sustainable development, competence and quality criteria. Environmental
education research, 16(1), pp.59-74.

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Sheridan, S.M., Edwards, C.P., Marvin, C.A. and Knoche, L.L., 2009. Professional development
in early childhood programs: Process issues and research needs. Early education and
development, 20(3), pp.377-401.
Singh, A. and Gupta, B., 2015. Job involvement, organizational commitment, professional
commitment, and team commitment: A study of generational diversity. Benchmarking: An
International Journal, 22(6), pp.1192-1211.
Turkyilmaz, A., Akman, G., Ozkan, C. and Pastuszak, Z., 2011. Empirical study of public sector
employee loyalty and satisfaction. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 111(5), pp.675-696.