Interview Preparation for Professional Progression

1. This is an individual assignment.

2. No extensions are available for this assessment.

3. Mitigation: The deadline for submission of mitigation in relation to this assignment is no later than five working days after the submission date of the first debate.

4. If the assessment is carried out via Zoom, you must keep your camera on throughout the assessment. Should you be concerned about the possibility of your interview being interrupted by technical issues (e.g. problems with a laptop or internet connection), you are responsible for arranging an appointment with the iCentre to sit the assessment on campus.

Your task is to prepare for and attend an interview about your plan for professional progression. You will need to identify and explain options that might help you bridge the gap between your current situation and your future career aspirations. The interview will be between 10-15 minutes.

You will be asked questions on the following topics:

1. Career goal

2. Current reality

3. Career progression options

The interview will include three parts focussed on the following topics:

Set out two possible career choices you have identified via job search tools and explain:

1. Your motivation for making the choices.

2. Your suitability for one of the chosen careers.

1. Identify and explain your strengths and weaknesses using your:

a. Personal SWOT analysis completed in class.

b. Feedback collected through the ‘Ask 5 People’ exercise.

2. Explain your current job role and show any relevance this has to your choice of degree and your future career goals.

3. Explain your understanding of what your degree entails and which aspects of this are likely to interest / motivate you the most.

Identify and explain one of each of the following points:

a. Improvement you will make to meet the person specification in the job advertisement you have referred to in Part 1 of the interview.

b. Aspect of the Arul Digital Library that you plan to use to enhance academic skills.

c. Step you plan to take to improve the effectiveness of your digital identity.

d. Step to improve your knowledge of the industry you seek to work in.

N.B. You must describe and explain specific and targeted solutions that will help improve your career prospects. You can only do this by using research to identify existing job adverts.

For example, through Career Zone, you may be able to identify a company you can connect with on LinkedIn. You could then research that company and compare your current skill set with the requirements that company has asked for in their job advert(s).

You should then link your solution to your research in a manner similar to this: “To train as a [job title], I will need to gain some experience of the role, which I can get through the apprenticeship programme that starts in June (Hilton Apprenticeship, 2018).”

Your grade will be based on how well you address the following points:
1. Task response
2. Clarity of explanation
3. Use of learning resources
4. Professional conduct