Action Plan & Self-Reflection: Career in Brand Management Retail

This report presents a career action plan and self-reflection analysis focused on securing an Assistant Brand Manager position within Unilever's retail sector. It includes a personal analysis identifying strengths (communication skills, language proficiency) and areas for improvement (technical, leadership, and creativity skills). The career action plan outlines specific development criteria and timelines for acquiring these skills through technical certifications, management courses, and creative projects. The report emphasizes the importance of continuous career development and highlights the role of skills and knowledge in achieving career goals, concluding with a reference to key books and journals in the field of career development and management. Desklib offers similar resources to aid students in their academic pursuits.

Career action plan
and self reflection

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
PERSONAL ANALYSIS...........................................................................................................3
CAREER ACTION PLAN.........................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Career development is referred to as the process of selecting the career,moving forward
in the career of a person with gaining skills(Zwozdiak-Myers, 2018). Personality development is
also the integral part of forming career(Slobodskaya,2021).In short career is known as the
development and growth of person on the basis of expertise,skills,education and
experience(Brim2021). The plan of career helps in analysing the current skills and knowledge
with their pros and cons(Tornikoski and Maalaoui, 2019). CW1 presents the career chosen by me
which is assistant brand manager in retail sector as I have has interest in this particular
field(Savickas, 2019). This project includes the internal evaluation of the person according to the
job of assistant brand manager in Unilever, which is the Mnc operating in the whole world
having headquarter at United Kingdom(DARAMOLA, 2019).It also mentions personal
development plan while designing CV which mentions all the expertise,skills,knowledge and
experience of the person(Jiang and et, al.,2019). To identify the competition level it is required
to measure the skills and knowledge of the person(Ismail,and Rishani2018).It brings
improvement in various areas of the career field(Majid and et, al.,2019).PDP is known as the
plan which is been developed to measure and improve the skills,knowledge and develop the
career of the person(Maree, 2018).
PERSONAL ANALYSIS
In the given scenario Unilever company which is a retail company focusing on the
increase in brand image of the organization between consumers for greater revenue generation.
For this purpose the management of Unilever have to hire assistant brand manager who is
responsible for all the activities related to improve the brand image of the company which will
increase the revenue along with the brand recognition amongst consumers. In the given internal
analysis in CW 1,it has been found out that person has high confidence which is used to develop
the skills and expertise which is required to develop knowledge to attain the objectives of the
person. I after working in the retail industry and examining my knowledge and skills,I got to
know that I can develop my career in the field of managing brands as assistant brand manager in
retail industry. I have prior experience in the respective field. For gaining the job of assistant
brand manager in Unilever,I have to build a plan for my career as it will assist me in achieving

my dreams. The skills identified in the CW 1 are very important for brand manager min retail
sector. The skills are communication skills,research knowledge,analytical skills,creativity,time
and project management and team working skills.
The above identified skills are very important for performing the activities of assistant
brand manager and I found that I do not have these skills. Communication skills are my only
current strong skills. With all these I also have done a course in brand management and learned
various other languages as well like German and French. I also found out that I do not have some
important skills which are very needed for any brand manager like technical and leadership
skills. It is important for me to improve these skills in order to gain the job of assistant brand
manager. Currently I am comfortable in communicating with others as I the skill. I am able to
effectively manage the team due to my communication skills. This brings the efficiency and
effectiveness in the joint work of team. I use my skills to communicate with other team and
departments in the company efficiently. My department has to coordinate with finance
department,HR department and many more for making effective brand promotion strategies. BY
the uses of communication skills,I can easily convince the consumers to buy the goods and
services of the company which will result in higher revenue generation. With the knowledge of
German and French languages which are also my strengths as a brand manager I come across
various culture peoples and I can effectively communicate with them in their language.
Consumers today want creativity and innovativeness and for providing them I am working on my
creative skills also. Improving my technical skills will help me to do my work easily. By the
leadership skills I can lead the team efficiently. So it is found out that I have to work on my
creativity skills,technical skills and leadership skills also which will help me in getting the job
of assistant brand manager in Unilever company. These skills and knowledge will help me in
excelling in my career at a fast pace and grow in the company.
CAREER ACTION PLAN
The plan which is important in improving the the areas of persons career is refereed to
as the career action plan(Hiver, Kim and Kim, 2018). It is a written list of the short term and long
term goals which employees have from their jobs. They are planned activities of formal and
informal experiences to help the individual in achieving goals.It analyses the the skills which
needs improvement(Guthrie and Jenkins, 2018).I do not possess the technical skills which are

very important in the fast changing environment of technology where technology is used in
every field and in my field of marketing its need is very important as when I will perform my job
I will have to make plans for digital marketing too as the consumers are more influenced by the
digital media. Secondly the leadership skills which is also very important as I will have to
manage a whole team for which I require the leadership skills for effectively managing the team
for maximum utilization for company’s benefit. In last I lack creativity skills which is the main
skill required in the job as I have to prepare different marketing plans and execute them.
Creativity skills will help me to make various marketing campaigns for different consumers. I
have prepared a career action plan, to improve my skills required for the brand manager and
achieve success in my career. It is as follows-
SKILLS SIGNIFICANCE DEVELOPEMENT CRITERIA TIME
REQUIRED
Technical
skills
All the businesses
today operate by the
use of technology
and it has become
part of business
today. Brand
manager has to use
technology to reach
out to more
consumers at the
same time and use it
to know the
consumer behaviours
of the consumers.
For developing the
technical skills I have
to take admission in
technical certification
which will help me to
gain the skills and
technology. I can use
the skills and
knowledge of
technology in doing
all the operations
effectively and
efficiently.
The result of this
exam of technical
certification will act
as judgement
criteria of my skills
of technology.
Greater the marks
in the exams of
technical
certification ,
higher the expertise
and skills gained by
me. It will tell that
how much I learnt
from the
certification.
6 months. (1
Jan to 1
July)2022,
Leadership The assistant brand For developing the Numbers gained in 1 year (1 Jan

Skills manager leads the
team of brand
management. It is
important for me to
develop the
leadership skills for
managing the team
effectively and
efficiently so that
my juniors perform
their duties to attain
the company goals
and objectives in
effective and
efficient manner.
skills of leadership,I
will take admission in
management course.
It will help me in
developing various
management skills
which includes
leadership skills. This
course will help me
to gain more and
more skills and
knowledge which I
can use while
performing the
activities and
managing the team at
the organization.
the exam will tell
that how much I
have learned the
skills and what is
my improvement.
The test will tell
about the
knowledge which I
have gained in
order to improve
leadership skills.
2022 to 1 Jan
2023)
Creativity
Skills
By the creativity
skills I can make
goods and services
attractive as
creativity in brand
management
practices which
leads to attracts the
large number of
consumers towards
the company. The
assistant brand
manager have to
create the attractive
For developing my
creativity skills,I
have to examine the
other brands
creativity which they
are using in their
organization. It will
help me in
developing the
creativity skills and
make the brand more
attractive. I can use
my creativity to make
the organization
I will show
creativity skills as a
test project to my
seniors who will
provide me the
feedback and
suggestions for
improvement. They
will help me to
improve my
creativity skills as
they have more
experience then me
and expertise in the
3 months (1
May to 1
Aug ) 2022.

promotion strategy
will which help to
present the goods
and services of
company effectively
between consumers.
brand promotion
strategy more
effective.
field.

This is the career development plan which will help me to improve my skills in order to
achieve individual and organizational goals and objectives. It will enhance my career and
provide me the opportunities to grow. The skills which are very important for any brand manager
like leadership,technology skills must be learned by managers in order to achieve objectives of
the organization(Boss and Larmer, 2018).
CONCLUSION
The above report concludes that career is very important for any person. The topic
of career development is very vast and includes analysis of the individual to know about its
strengths and weaknesses(Schutt,2018). The importance of skills and knowledge is mentioned in
developing their career(Lent,2020). The career action plan mentioned above will help the
individual to improve the skills and knowledge which are very important for getting the job of
assistant brand manager in retail sector(Blustein,2022).Various ways are been mentioned in
order to improve the skills and also the time for improving the skills.
.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Boss, S. and Larmer, J., 2018. Project based teaching: How to create rigorous and engaging
learning experiences. ASCD.
Guthrie, K.L. and Jenkins, D.M., 2018. The role of leadership educators: Transforming learning.
IAP.
Hiver, P., Kim, T.Y. and Kim, Y., 2018. Language teacher motivation. Language teacher
psychology, pp.18-33.
Jiang, Z.,and et, al., 2019. Career exploration: A review and future research agenda. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 110, pp.338-356.
Maree, J.G., 2018. Promoting career development and life design in the early years of a person’s
life. Early Child Development and Care, 188(4), pp.425-436.
Savickas, M.L., 2019. Career-style counseling. In Adlerian counseling and psychotherapy (pp.
201-225). Routledge.
Tornikoski, E. and Maalaoui, A., 2019. Critical reflections–The Theory of Planned Behaviour:
An interview with Icek Ajzen with implications for entrepreneurship
research. International Small Business Journal, 37(5), pp.536-550.
Zwozdiak-Myers, P., 2018. The teacher's reflective practice handbook: Becoming an extended
professional through capturing evidence-informed practice. Routledge.
Slobodskaya, H.R., 2021. Personality development from early childhood through
adolescence. Personality and Individual Differences, 172, p.110596.
Brim, O.G., 2021. Personality development as role-learning. In Personality
development in children (pp. 127-160). University of Texas Press.
DARAMOLA, A.A., 2019. Pertinence of Organizational Analysis: A Case Study of
Unilever. International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Design, 1(2), pp.1-16.
Ismail, H.N. and Rishani, M., 2018. The relationships among performance appraisal satisfaction,
career development and creative behavior. The Journal of Developing Areas, 52(3), pp.109-124.
Majid, S., Eapen, C.M., Aung, E.M. and Oo, K.T., 2019. The importance of soft skills for
employability and career development: Students and employers' perspectives. IUP Journal of
Soft Skills, 13(4), pp.7-39.
Schutt Jr, D.A., 2018. A strengths-based approach to career development using appreciative
inquiry. National Career Development Association. 305 North Beech Circle, Broken Arrow, OK
74012.
Blustein, D.L., Erby, W., Meerkins, T., Soldz, I. and Ezema, G.N., 2022. A critical exploration
of assumptions underlying STEM career development. Journal of Career Development, 49(2),
pp.471-487.
Lent, R.W., 2020. Career development and counseling: A social cognitive framework. Career
development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work, 129.
Walker‐Donnelly, K., Scott, D.A. and Cawthon, T.W., 2019. Introduction: Overview and
application of career development theories. New Directions for Student Services, 2019(166),
pp.9-17.

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