Career Building: Initial Reflection Upon the Personal Skills - Resume/CV Example

CAREER Portfolio INITIAL REFLECTION UPON YOUR PERSONAL SKILLS Currently, I am a second year law student at Southampton Solent University. There are various benefits gained from joining University or any other higher learning institution (Shona 2010, par.6). I hope to gain more knowledge and skills that will enhance my professionalism as a lawyer. In the university, I will get the opportunity to take part in projects with my fellow students and hence learn more skills from them. The University will also provide me with the opportunity to put my skills into practice by organizing practicum with law farms. The practicum will also allow me to interact with experienced lawyers and be able to learn more skills in relation to my career. By undertaking the practicum, I will also have the opportunity to meet with potential employers who can offer me a job upon completing my studies. Apart from gaining knowledge and skills, University will provide me with a rich social experience. In the University, I will meet with many people from various cultures and hence will learn the values, practice and believes of various cultures In today’s society, the poor people face many injustices at the mercy of the rich and the powerful. One factor that makes these people fail to get justice they deserve is that they don’t have adequate money to get experienced lawyers who can present their court cases. The suffering of this vulnerable community is what has influenced me to become a lawyer since I want to help them the best way I can. Apart from this, there are other factors that have influenced my decision to become a lawyer. This includes diversity of career in the field of law, gaining a clear understanding of the law, good salary among others (Jared 2011, par.3). I decided to join the University so as to develop my career as a lawyer and be able to achieve my career goals. My career aspiration is to become a highly professional lawyer in order to reach out to the poor, who suffer much injustice and offer them my services at an affordable price. I aspire to work in a big reputable law organizing and fully exercise my skills as a lawyer. Being in the second year of study, I have already gained various skills related to law. I have a better understanding of law and how it can be applied in solving various cases. Through studying law, I have also gained other skills which are crucial for a lawyer. This includes effective communication and interaction skills. I have also enhanced my confidence and self-esteem which are essential elements for my career. My current motivation in studying law is the diversity of careers in the field of law. I am also motivated to study law in order to gain a richer understanding of the various laws. By the end of this unit, I hope to have gained an in-depth knowledge pertaining to various law issues and hence enhance my expertise as a law practitioner. I also look forward to interacting with my classmates throughout the unit course in order to enrich my learning experience. Bibliography Jared E, (2011). Things That Can Motivate Someone to Become a Lawyer. Viewed On 24th Nov 2012:. Shona, (2010). Think to the future: gaining advantage through experience at University. 24thNov.2012:. CV OMAR ALSOQAIR Flat 9 Rosida Gardens, 23 Hill Lane Southampton, Hampshire SO15 5PA Tel: 07534316321 alsoqair@gmail.com Profile I am a Law student who is looking for a job in the Law sector. It interests me to work in this position in a group. I can work as individual but I like the social environment more because I feel like I can produce better in a group. Personal Details Date of Birth: 2 November 1988 Place of Birth: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Nationality: Saudi Education 2009 – Present Bachelor in LAW – LLB (Hons) at Southampton Solent University. 2008 – 2009 St Giles English school UK. 2007 – 2008 Institute of Public Administration (IPA). 2003 – 2006 Alkhleej High School (Accounting). Work Experience 2006 - 2008 water technology system 2006 - 2008 water technology system Assistant Accountant Worked in this position to gain the experience while studying the major that covers this job under it is roof. Responsibilities and achievements: Writing checks. Handout the salaries to the employers. Print letters and send faxes. Statistics invoices and expenses. Assisted the Accountant. 2005 - 2006 ALdurrah House Est. Secretary Handled incoming calls. Mange the meetings. Organized documents. Print letters and send faxes Skills Can work under pressure, social person, have an excellent knowledge about technology and how it can be used in managing the work better, have a good instinct and an enthusiastic person. Referees Available on request. REFLECTIVE STATEMENT Self-Awareness At the start of this course, I was very nervous to understand that at the end of the whole course I will have to prepare a reflective statement. This made me feel afraid that I would fail the course thus bringing to an end all I have labored for and aspired to become the whole of my life. At first, I did not have a clear understanding how the course or alternatively the exercise at the end of the course would be of help in hastening my personal growth and further my understanding on the passion and purpose I have on my career in law. This made me feel very hopeless and extremely skeptical about the entire reflection exercise. My only hope laid on the reading on part of the outline which stated the course will expand our focus thereby helping us focus on important things only. Additionally, I also got to know that it is collective total of both our beliefs and attitudes that create our reality thus deciding despite the hopelessness and the skepticisms that I would not get the whole thing get me down. It is belief in Boud’s theory on using reflection as the best form of learning that guided me into striving so much to attain success. On the other hand, I decided to take a positive attitude and try my level best in reflecting on the learning outcome and the effects it would have on me in addition to how I will be able to use it in bettering my service to the people while at the same time ensuring that I am contented and well fulfilled with what I am involving myself with. The change of attitude gradually changed my experience into positive things most importantly my clarity and focus centered on what I would my future to be. Before all this, I had this liking for law and I thus had a vague idea about maybe taking a career direction in the field of law. The avid reflection I got made me to see a clear picture of just what was appealing and of great interest to me in law and especially the various branches of law I could major in. This reflection gave me my first experience surprising me on the instant positive results I was receiving as a result making me regret the ignorance I had in the past. This made me have this feeling that had I become aware of this long ago, I would have been able to avoid the different time wasting mistakes in my education by previously pursuing accounting and the various work experience I had undertaken that were not related to the field. This reflection further helped me become more settled giving me a more clear understanding of the studies in my field of interest. Prior to this, the theories and law in general had sounded like a miracle or rather an abstract to me which have magically changed with internalization of the learning. Furthermore, I growingly tend to apply the various learning outcomes, concepts and theories more consistently. This has been critical in enriching the experience I will be getting on both my study and work in addition to enhancing my productivity. As a result of the increased level of self-awareness, I have gained an avid understanding of my inner most urge and interest as regards to future work prospects in so doing making me believe that I have found out an aspect that is in alignment with my personality and my inherent talents that I possess. Long before I embarked on this reflective study journey, I had serious problems with understanding myself and having a clear view of what I wanted. I can now attribute this to my ignorance and not being sure what I actually wanted thus making me to always tend to jump from one career choice to another without giving it much regard of whether it was in line with my true self or not. I can confidently attribute my true feeling and my capability and of uttermost importance the growing urge to be of service to the society in general and help them find lasting solutions to their legal problems. The reflection on learning and the immense ability to calm down and my empathy have been of great help in realizing the various personal qualities. I have this growing belief within my inner being that I will be able to obtain true intrinsic rewards because it is what I have always longed for and my driving force is not the monetary rewards and benefits that come with it. Additionally, the self-assessment carried out as part of this unit has been of great help in enabling me understand and find solutions to some of my shortcomings and my strengths. This has been also made me clarify on the different aspects I can rely on and the various aspects I should work on. Since the start of the course, I have been able to horn my communication skills making me very good especially at communicating extremely difficult situations to a diverse group of people which is not only critical for a prospective judicial employee, but also makes me good at resolving conflicts(Bruce, 2003). The critical aspect that I need to work on and improve is the aspect of critical thinking skills, which any aspiring law student should aim at developing me. I have also realized that my strength lies with my decisive nature which has made decision making a strength I possess and an aspect that I believe will greatly be helpful in guiding the path to my future career prospects in law after graduating. Opportunity Awareness After the reflection on my learning outcomes and the attributes that I possess and I did not know in the past but that I do currently have knowledge of, I have realized that I possess very strong interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Conflict resolution and spearheading mediation processes are the other attributes that I have realized that I possess as a result of working with group environments. These aspects play very critically for any one aspiring to be successful on matters of law and judiciary in general. Despite having knowledge of this, the unit has made me to have an understanding that I lack the necessary knowledge and experience that would make me a lawyer when I have not completed my studies. The belief that with completion of my studies and my willingness to do whatever is humanly possible, I will be a valuable asset to any organization that will seek for my services. With this, I am now convinced more than ever that the best career I can pursue is a career in law. I strongly believe that joining any law firm or agency will offer me the opportunity to contribute immensely to the society. My being a very sociable person, having an excellent knowledge of technology, the great negotiation talents in addition to mediation and conflict resolution skills and competence, I will be best placed to make rulings and ensure acceptable solutions to all involved parties. This has been of great help in convincing me more than ever to get into developing a long time ambition of specializing in civil and criminal law due to belief that my skills and competencies are well suited in dealing with the various social and economic crimes (Zinta, Bryan & Dan, 2008). After a critical analysis of my field of interest and general profession, I come to a conclusion that the field I am looking forward to join is highly specialized and in order to succeed, I will need to be specialized in the skills I need right now. I therefore deem it as critically essential that I pursue the field as a specialized professional as compared to being a more general practitioner. I believe this will help me gather only the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities and the relevant qualification thus giving me a head start in handing the various cases. Decision Making Before embarking on this interesting journey full of introspection and self-reflection, all I had was a vogue idea that I had this interest in the field of law and had looked forward to be a practitioner in the same. After self-evaluation that I understood the inherent talent I possess thus challenging me to strive and seek employment in a position that will give me the opportunity and capacity to put these skills into practice. The more I learned about law in details and gained an in-depth knowledge of what it was all about, I gained its understanding especially how diverse it is and the various opportunities that were presented to us and the various specific qualification required for them. It thus became clear to me that there are various areas such international law and sharia law that I was not well suited for and in fact I lacked the passion to pursue them. On the other hand, it was very clear that I had passion for and could comfortably handle matters to do with civil law, criminal law, mediation, conflict resolution even if it were for intrinsic value only. Learnings from various studies have postulated that the ability to react in a controlled and optimal way in social circumstances is more important and conveys more than an individual’s Intellectual quotient, from all I have learned I can truly confirm that this is very true(Sara, John& Laurie, 2007). I therefore believe that specializing in the civil and criminal aspects of law will provide the best opportunity for me on the professional ground. As a result, I believe I have taken the right step to the right direction by specializing on two aspects in the field that I have passion for and that I find interesting as opposed to being a general practitioner. This should not however be confused to mean that I would be entering the field immediately, but it would be necessary if advance with my education and gained on the critical aspects of the field before I resume job hunting as a junior lawyer before working my way up as a consultant on legal matters specializing in civil and criminal law (Donald & Nancy, 2009). Bibliography Donald, J & Nancy, S 2009,Building the bottom line by developing the frontline: career development for service employees.Business Horizons, pp. 279-287. Sara, B. John, A & Laurie, C 2007The anatomy of credibility: A conceptual framework of valued career helper attributesJournal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 70, no 1, pp. 116-134 Zinta, B. Bryan, D & Dan, C 2008, Alternatives to traditional mentoring in fostering career success Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 72, no 3, pp. 429-442. Bruce, M 2003, Linebisection-based hemisphericity estimates of university students and professionals: Evidence of sorting during higher education and career selectionBrain and Cognition, Vol. 52, no 3, pp. 319-325. John, L. Lucy, G. Robert, S. Eric, S & James, L 2004An investigation of intelligence and personality in relation to career satisfaction Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 37, no 1, pp. 181-189. Nikos, B 2004,mentoring provided: Relation to mentor’s career success, personality, and mentoring receivedJournal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 24-46. Read More