Employability and Personal Development - Coursework Example

Employability and Personal Development The current paper presents my personal insights on the seminars which I have attended, and which have contributed to my career choices and decisions. The seminar on career choices and preferences succinctly presented career options, and valuable insights on how our personal and academic skills may be suitably matched to job alternatives. As a springboard to career planning, I went through the process of assessing my strengths, skills, and weaknesses. I am made more keenly aware of leveraging on my strengths and playing down on my improvement areas in selecting a career. My career preferences need to be strongly anchored on my abilities so that I may be competent and motivated in my future occupation. A competency or skills audit is a core facet of career planning (Gati, Fishman-Nadav, and Shiloh 2006). I have realised that entering the labor force can be both exciting and challenging, and while I have clear ideas of what is the ideal job, I must also balance this with practical considerations. First, I considered the factors which I seek in a job, and in my attempt to prioritise these, I realised that I wanted to part of an organisation that espouses the same values that I have. These include integrity, excellence, and teamwork. Moreover, I want a job which will offer me professional development, and correspondingly, and organisation which looks after employee well-being. Darcy and Tracey (2003) note the importance of career counseling, and this is something that I want to take seriously. In fact, I intend to seek professional career advice to make certain that I am making the right career decisions. I sometimes feel uncertain about whether I have accurately assessed my abilities, and professional career coaching and counseling may be a good option. I have also had first hand experience of the utility of Internet as a source of career information and tools (Sampson and Lumsden 2000). Utilizing the Internet has facilitated my own career planning (Boer 2001). Numerous career-related websites are available online and logging onto Udo was a helpful resource. The site offered various planners, advice, and tools for skills evaluation. They provided key insights on my likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and presented me with careers that were most matched to my profile. Overall, I found this seminar substantial and instrumental for setting my career direction. Though I remain uncertain about my final career options, I feel that the assessments I have undergone are an initial crucial step for introspecting. These shall surely be among the valuable inputs that shall carry weight in making my final career choice. Moreover, the seminar on job hunting gave us input on various jobs offered in the market. A first realisation is that job searching was a complex process, but one which is indispensable for career satisfaction. It was not the tedium in filling up online forms or seeking advice; rather, the ambivalence that was inherent in the process made it challenging. Even amidst all the efforts in seeking the right job, one is still unsure of long retention which is determined by a host of personal and organisational factors (Paul and Moser 2009). However, prudence must be exercised in job choice. A mismatch between a my needs and the attributes of the job that I shall eventually choose may lead to adverse effects such as low levels of satisfaction and productivity (McKee-Ryan, Virick, Prussia, Harvey, and Lilly 2009). In the end, I realise that these job search activities and advice increase the probability of a person-job match that are likely to lead to optimised job performance, commitment, motivation, and long-term employment. In the end, these activities are worth our while. Additionally, we were provided with sites where we can search for jobs, one of which was the CIPD through which we can access HR jobs, improve our prospects and be recognized professionally. I think CIPD membership is useful as it is widely acknowledged by employers. Networking with colleagues and professionals has also been valuable in weighing career options. From the time I attended this seminar, I was eager to speak with colleagues and professionals who are already incumbents of the jobs I am interested in. Their anecdotes and ideas about the job gave me a more realistic preview of what their jobs entailed and how everything works. In addition, the inputs I got from my colleagues and friends were additional inputs that helped me weigh my options. As we started our job search activities, the next lectures focused on how to effectively present ourselves as applicants to potential employers. This process begun with presenting effective job applications. This was a challenging task, as this is where the employer’s first impression is based. I was cautious not to appear too aggressive or desperate in my application letters. Moreover, I have learned that the employee selection process is one of the most crucial functions of the HR function, as this is where key talent are sourced (Luszcz and Kleiner 2000) and where a careful assessment of capability is made (Engleman and Kleiner 1998; Varma, Toh, and Pichler 2006). I have also realised that using self-promoting statements in application letters to enhance my image increases my chances of being selected and thus, these have to be crafted with utmost care (Kacmar and Carlson 1999). ‘Packaging’ is critical; while I will still exercise honesty and integrity in presenting my credentials, the ‘look’ and ‘feel’ of the application form are all vital in increasing my chances of being shortlisted as a candidate. I have likewise learned that psychometric tests are crucial in the selection process, as they systematically measure IQ, reasoning, and cognitive abilities, competencies, attitudes, and personality traits (Melamed and Jackson 1995), among others. I believe that combinations of such tests and questionnaires can help us, as job applicants, to understand ourselves more fully and how our behavior may affect others. This self-awareness is a good starting point for learning how to manage one’s relationship with others, managing teams, and managing the business. In effect, self-mastery is the foundation of all other managerial competencies. I intend to take as many psychometric assessments as possible for career planning purposes and professional development. These have provided me a comprehensive understanding of my capabilities suggests the likelihood of succeeding in particular jobs (Kwiatkowski 2003). The seminar on goal setting and career planning was yet another insightful learning session. Career aspirations are outcomes of our interests, competencies, and available opportunities (Gottfredson 2002). Acknowledging such aspirations is important as these have considerable impact on the satisfaction we derive from our careers and even our personal lives (Schoon and Parsons 2002). There is value in getting adequate career information as input to career planning (Mau and Bikos 2000). Personally, my confidence in the viability and soundness of my career plan has been determined partly by the career tools and information that I had access to. This was not the same level of confidence I felt before I attended career seminars and had access to career tools. Previously, I experienced greater anxiety about my competencies and preferences, and attendance to these seminars was indeed helpful. It also helps to share career aspirations and thoughts with other people, especially to significant others and those from whom we can gain support from. So far, my exchanges with these people have allowed me to constructively criticise my own plans and fine tune my career choices (Wall, Covell, and Macintyre 1999). Career action planning has helped me identify and reflect on my career goals, and to document my objectives within the short and long term horizons (Conger 2002). I have been able to define my priorities in the process; that is, what I really want out of working in a certain job for a certain company. It became clear which goals I pursue and my strategies in effectively pursuing each one. I was able to narrow down my career choices through career action planning. I prefer to make the best use of opportunities which enable me to gain insight and learning from significant others and from a professional network. When I finally get a job in the future, I intend to undergo on-the-job training to better equip me with requisite competencies on the actual job. The seminar on commercial awareness was also quite interesting. Technology and the frequent changes in the contemporary work place make it critical for us to learn not only about the organisation we are interested in but the nature of business environment and industry in which it operates (Iberra and Hunter 2007). Such knowledge has implications on the work culture, stability, and its competitiveness. A profound understanding of all these nuances will allow me to better equipped on the job. Moreover, managing an applicant’s expectations of the job may increase retention and motivation. Knowing how an organisation operates will also give me an idea of the requisite competencies that will make me effective on the job; if my current competencies do not match up to these requirements, I can still find ways of improving myself to increase job suitability. I have also realised the value of flexibility in being successful in one’s career. Since there is no perfect or ideal job, I must be open to the flaws or imperfections that the work setting may present me with. Typically, fresh graduates hold much idealism; and work makes develop skepticism and corruption. While this is not always the case, I am ‘priming’ myself for inadequacies, to lessen the possible frustration that this may bring. After undergoing all the learning sessions and assessments, I realised that the essence of all these exercises is self-mastery. This process helped me identify my salient skills and characteristics, and align my career goals and expectations to these attributes. It may also be worth mentioning that after using all these tools which are rational and structured, the tipping point still lies in what my heart tells me to pursue. The choice of one’s career, in the end, has to be both logical and intuitive. References Boer, PM 2001, Career counseling over the Internet, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. Conger, S 2002, Fostering a career development culture: reflections on the roles of managers, employees and supervisors, Career Development International, vol. 7, no. 6, pp.371 – 375. Darcy, M, and Tracey, TJG 2003, Integrating abilities and interests in career choice: Maximal versus typical assessment, Journal of Career Assessment, vol. 11, pp. 219–237. Engleman, D, and Kleiner, BH 1998, Effective employment screening practices, Career Development International, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.164 – 168. 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