Employability skills enable the individuals to get the job. They also help them to stay in the job and perform their way to the higher positions. The individuals will be asked questions regarding their employability skills as well as job specific skills. In simpler terms, it refers to the skills of the employees to keep and find a stable job in the given institutional and economic context (Akkermans et al. 2015). Moreover, it conveys a great sense of the individual’s long term capacity for building the career in the dynamic labor market. In addition to this, employability helps in implying the qualities of adaptability, flexibility and resourcefulness.
Furthermore, it has the potential of the long term signal and the qualities, which are needed for success and not only for paid employment. In addition to this, there are other domains of life as well. It relates to both employed people who seek for better jobs and the unemployed ones seeking work. The employability can also be referred to the capability of moving into or within the labor markets in order to realize the potential through accessible and sustainable employment. The employability skills help in increasing self awareness within the range of contexts in order to demonstrate the commitment to lifelong career development learning.
Know Yourself
Employability skills have enhanced my communication skills, which is an important part of the career. Depending on the requirements of the job, communication is all about being a great writer or talker. Moreover, it highly involves being confident about how a person speaks to other, be it face to face or say, over the phone. In addition to this, it also involves writing good enough, which can be understood over memos and emails as well. Common examples of the ways that can help me in developing or improving my communication skills are;
- Writing reports or assignments as the part of my studies,
- Updating or blogging over social media,
- Making oral presentations at class,
- Working in the customer services be it face to face or over the phone,
- Volunteering to host some community radio programs.
After critically analyzing the theories of career development, it can be said that the individuals differ in their personalities, abilities, needs, values, traits, self concepts and interests. In addition to this, they are highly qualified by the virtue of their characteristics and for a number of occupations. I believe that each and every occupation requires some characteristic patterns of personality traits and abilities. In addition to this, the vocational competencies and preferences and moreover, the situations where people live as well as work often lead to the change in time as well as experiences. Furthermore, the career pattern nature can be determined by the level of the individual’s socio-economic level, education, mental abilities, skills, career maturity, characteristics as well as opportunities to which he/she is exposed.
Know Your Sector
Through the career development skills, I have gained huge knowledge regarding sales and marketing, purchasing, pricing, inventory control, handling telephone calls and much more. In addition to this, I am also able to understand several things, which will prove to be beneficial for me, in the near future. Moreover, I have assisted at both corporate as well as public sector sales and therefore, I feel that through this practical and theoretical knowledge, my employability skills have enhanced. Furthermore, success depends upon the readiness of an individual in coping up with the demands of every stage. It is also important to mention that the career maturity can be referred to the constellation of psychological, physical as well as social characteristics.
According to me, it is highly important to analyze as well as evaluate the sources of regional, local and global opportunities that are highly relevant to the career ideas, ambitions and interests. It can be done by initiating participatory procedures or inclusive processes. Moreover, it will enhance awareness of the engaged stakeholders’ collaboration for achieving the targets and goals. In addition to this, it is important to monitor and evaluate the participatory processes as it helps in raising awareness and promotes clear local leadership.
Let Them Know Me
As per my opinion is concerned, thinking about the motivations and interests can be considered to be the key stage at the career exploration area. It will help the individual to formulate his/her ideas regarding various factors, like motivations, interests and others. These factors are considered to be the key stage of the career exploration. Not only this, but also the individuals will be able to formulate their own ideas regarding the job roles, which will suit them as well as their personality. Moreover, it is highly important to use the online questionnaires as well as personality tests in order to explore various aspects of the individuals. Once the individuals have a clear idea of their motivations and interests, they can utilize that in order to start building their career profile.
In reference to this, I have developed a current professional development plan which includes detailed objectives of three key themes. Being a student of hospitality, entertainment and tourism management, I have sound experience in my own field. I have gained experience as a customer manager, assistant manager, tourism destination manager as well as in marketing communications. It is very important to frame a professional career development plan in order to assess where the individual is present currently and what is his/her career aspects. Moreover, it helps in identifying the specific goals of an individual’s career.
In addition to this, it will help in gathering more and more information and identifying the professional skills, which the individuals have already and in which they have to work. Moreover, it will help in selecting the areas of improvements and accomplishing the goals. Furthermore, the careerists should develop a clear timeline for accomplishing the targets and specific goals. It is immensely important to write them down, in a clear manner. Evaluating the plans will also help in measuring the progress.
Career Development Plan
- Assessing where the person is standing now;
It is highly important to understand the place where the individual is now. It is important to understand how their career is currently progressing. In addition to this, assessing the career situation is actually a good strategy to start. Moreover, the individuals should ask several questions to themselves, like what have they done over the past three to five years and where do they see them in the next ten to twenty years (Agarwal et al. 2018). This is an important phase of professional development. Personal development plan is a great way of starting a new beginning which will help them in achieving their future goals as well. They can avail these opportunities in order to reflect on their actions as well as perceptions. It is important to be as much honest as possible. Furthermore, they can help themselves by identifying their goals, writing them down and work on their actions for their professional development.
- Identification of the career goals;
It is important for the individuals to have an idea of their future goals and objectives, where the individuals want to be and what they want to achieve (Agarwal et al. 2018). Answering these questions is a long term procedure and it can take a lot of time. However, it depends upon the individuals’ thinking capabilities and how they are able to take decisions about their career. It is a good thing to carve the ideas in about thirty minutes, by sitting calmly and not rushing. Therefore, in order to get started with the career goals, it is important to ask oneself the following things;
However, it is important for the individuals to make sure that their goals and objectives are SMART or not.
- Gather Information;
It is important for the individuals to gather sound knowledge and information regarding their future hopes and aspirations (Osborn and Zunker 2015). Moreover, after identifying the long as well as short term goals, researching is highly important to achieve the next steps. These skills will help in impressing the interviewers and getting marked as an ideal candidate. However, the candidates should take some time to break these long term goals down to more manageable forms. For instance; if the long term goal of a person is to become the CEO of any company, it is important for him/her to understand the manageable steps, which he/she may require to reach the destination.
- Evaluation of the professional skills;
After identifying the skills, it is important to gain an understanding of the professional skills which are desirable for their ideal career path. Moreover, it is important to tick off the ones, which the individuals are already proficient (Botham et al. 2017). In addition to this, knowing the competencies, in-competencies, strengths and weaknesses are also important. It will enable the individual to distinguish clearly, what they are strong at and what are their areas of improvement.
- Measuring the progress
Last but not the least; it is highly important to decide on the strategies and make a prominent checklist of that. Moreover, developing a timeline is also important in order to plan and schedule the activities for professional development (Osborn and Zunker 2015). Writing the points will also prove to be beneficial for the candidates seeking for developing their career. Furthermore, evaluation of the plans and measuring the progress will also ensure development in the career. Learning is a never-ending process and therefore, it is immensely important to continue professional development in order to ensure success in the career (Akkermans et al. 2015).
References
Agarwal, S., Spiekerkoetter, E., Austin, E.D., de Jesus Perez, V., Dezfulian, C., Maron, B.A., Ryan, J.J., Starks, M.A., Paul, B.Y., Bonnet, S. and Perman, S.M., 2018. Career Development of Young Physician–Scientists in the Cardiovascular Sciences: Perspective and Advice From the Early Career Committee of the Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, and Resuscitation Council of the American Heart Association.
Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Schaufeli, W.B. and Blonk, R.W., 2015. It's all about CareerSKILLS: Effectiveness of a career development intervention for young employees. Human Resource Management, 54(4), pp.533-551.
Botham, C.M., Arribere, J.A., Brubaker, S.W. and Beier, K.T., 2017. Ten simple rules for writing a career development award proposal. PLoS computational biology, 13(12), p.e1005863.
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Hanson, B.J. and Casey, M., 2017. Creating a Career Development Curriculum: Facilitating Transition to Professional Practice. The Health Professions Educator: A Practical Guide for New and Established Faculty, p.11.
Huang, L.S., 2016. Tips for getting a Career-development award.
Huang, L.S., Carlson, D.E., Wang, W.C. and Scott, J.D., 2016. Want to Get a Career Development Award? Start Early. The FASEB Journal, 30(1_supplement), pp.883-1.
Mazzotti, V.L., Rowe, D.A., Simonsen, M., Boaz, B. and VanAvery, C., 2018. Steps for Implementing a State-Level Professional Development Plan for Secondary Transition. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 41(1), pp.56-62.
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