First Career Moves: Preparing for Internship or Placement - Essay Example

Various considerations should be taken into account when choosing a career such as an individual’s interests and educational qualifications, career goals, family considerations, capabilities and talents and professional qualifications. Various skills and competencies are required in to attain a given employment or internship opportunity. This piece of work looks at different aspects that are involved in a career particularly when preparing for an internship or placement. Much emphasis will be given to aspects such as the skills needed in entry level jobs in the accountancy profession, ways of giving evidence of the skills to a potential employer, the attributes that could not be identified from a candidate’s CV and application letter and the barrier that could be faced in securing the job in question and how it can be overcome.

Skills gaps will also be identified and professional development goals developed in the action plan. Employers require different skills for various positions. Some of the key skills that employers are seeking in entry level jobs in my profession include; problem solving skills, effective decision making skills, interpersonal skills, organizational skills, being keen to details, appropriate communication skills, both verbal and written, the ability to comfortably work in a team, and also to work independently with minimum supervision.

The desired candidate for the position is also expected to have proficient skills in computer applications such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access. Proper records and book keeping skills are also a requirement. The above named skills should be covered with other qualities for instance maintenance of ethical standards and integrity in the accountancy profession (Bird, 2000). Giving evidence of possession of the required skills to a potential employer is not an easy task. One way of doing this is through updating of one’s CV to show all the skills possessed.

One would show places or organizations where the skills were previously applied together with some confirmations from referees in the organizations. This could however not be adequate. Some of the skills require practical application to show ones proficiency. For instance, in regard to the staff accountant position, the employer requires that the candidate is well knowledgeable in computer applications such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access. To show that one has this skills it could require some practical performance for instance entering data and performing some calculations in Microsoft Excel or creating some databases in Microsoft Access.

This way, there will be adequate proof of possession of the required skills (Cottrell, 2010). Some of an individual’s attributes can not be identified by an interviewer or employer from a CV or application form. Instead they need some practical demonstration or application. Some of the attributes include the ability to work in a team or work independently with minimum supervision. Other attributes that could be difficult to ascertain from a candidate’s CV and application form include good problem solving skills and the ability to make the right decision when faced with different situations.

Here are some of the ways that I would prove my experience and success in application of my positive attributes. With regard to teamwork, I would explain to the employer that I have been involved in various