The Assessment of the Intended Learning Outcomes - Coursework Example

? The Intended Learning Outcomes Will Normally Be Assessed in the Following Manner Contents Contents 2 Part 3 Competencies and Skills 3 Opportunities and Skills Required 4 Skills and Gaps 4 Part 2 5 General Status of the Graduate Employment Market in United Kingdom 5 Status of the Retail Market Employment Scenario in United Kingdom 6 Impact of Changes in the Social Environment on Retail Organisations 7 Technological Changes in the Retail Industry 8 References 9 Part 1 Competencies and Skills In relating a personal reflection of my own set of skills and competencies, I need to first state that being a management graduate, I have gained the needed skills and competencies for decision making and analytical functions required for service sector jobs. Further, the management skills gained have also made me hone my communication skills required for rightly appealing to the consumers to convince them to purchase the goods and services. Similarly, I have been able to build up the right amount of attitudes needed for handling business strains, thereby effectively rendering solutions for the emerging business problems. Moreover, the graduate program taken has also enabled me to gain the right amount of competency and skills for taking care of information technology problems so as to render effective solutions for the same. I have gained the skills for conducting analytical functions in programs such as Microsoft Excel and also in rendering presentations through the use of PowerPoint. Skills gained on such basis has enhanced my competencies in providing analytical solutions to business problems, thereby presenting the same as strategic recommendations. Similarly, the graduate program has also contributed to developing my team working and team organising skills so as to render the best while operating in a synergised environment. I have gained needful understandings of the potential leadership skills required to rightly manage and convince people in different teams to help achieve organisational goals and objectives as a whole. Opportunities and Skills Required Presently, the job market in United Kingdom presents large scale job opportunities for graduates in several sectors such as accounting, banking and the finance industry, logistics and purchasing departments of companies, sales and marketing, operations and engineering, journalism and mass communication, retail and the like. Apart from the listed job opportunities, the United Kingdom market also provides opportunities for graduates to work as management or recruitment consultants in the region. From the plethora of job opportunities listed above, the case of the retail industry would be studied so that the skills required for working in the sector would be evaluated. It is known that to work effectively in the retail sector in United Kingdom, an individual is required to firstly possess the right amount of analytical competencies. Secondly, the individual is also required to have significant knowledge about the commercial regulations pertaining to the region and thereby blend such knowledge with the right business aptitude to render potential solutions. Thirdly, customers being the life blood of retail businesses, the individuals are required to possess effective customer servicing skills and team building skills so as to effectively convince the internal people to meet the organisational objectives. In addition to the above skill sets, it would be considered as a value addition if the individuals do possess the hand-on-experience for servicing customers at the floor level, and also the right knowledge of a potential customer base in the region (High Fliers, 2012, pp.10–29). Skills and Gaps Though I have gained the needed acumen to conduct analytical functions based on Excel, there are persisting gaps such knowledge of conducting and presenting effective forecasting activities related to demand and supply of merchandises based on evaluation of market changes. Similarly, a definite gap is also noted pertaining to the fact that there is lack of factual or experimental knowledge of bargaining activities that are conducted by purchasers or merchandisers in terms of dealing with supplier bases. Effective bargaining functions are needed to be carried out to gain on business profits through reduction of transaction costs. Again, the enhanced retail marketplace also demands effective knowledge of marketing activities conducted along the web sphere. However, lack of proper knowledge of the process of such web related marketing activities clearly reflects a potential gap in the skills needed. To get a chance in retail organisations based on a multinational framework, an individual is also required to gain the right amount of experience in working in a culturally diversified team. However, I fail to possess any needful experience in that respect, it will result in a gap. Again, a considerable gap is prevalent pertaining to the dimension of visual merchandising activities in retail concerns owing to the fact that I do not possess any particular experience in the same. Thus, apart from the theoretical knowledge gained, I would certainly need to gain professional or experience grounded knowledge to rightly fulfil the requirements in an apt fashion. Part 2 General Status of the Graduate Employment Market in United Kingdom The general status of the employment scenario pertaining to the recruitment of graduates in the United Kingdom region can be reflected herein. During the period of 2010, the number of vacancies for graduates is found to rise by around 12.6 percent. However, the same figure dropped to around 2.8 percent for the 2011 period. A sector-wise evaluation reflects that companies belonging to the industrial and information technology sectors tended to hike up their graduate recruitment functions by around 22.4 and 31.6 percent respectively. Banks and other retail organisations in the region, however, showed a rise of 16 and 11.5 percent in the graduate recruitment scenario. In terms of salaries, the starting compensation offered to graduate recruits is found to gain a hike of 5.9 percent during the 2009 period while during 2010, it gained a hike of 7.4 percent. The recruitment scenario has also encountered significant changes with recruiters focusing on gaining graduates through a plethora of conducts pertaining to social networking, campus visits and also through designing of training programs for new personnel (High Fliers, 2012, pp. 18–30). Another survey conducted during the third quarter of 2010 reflects that unemployment levels in United Kingdom relating to graduates ranged from 10.6 to around 20 percent in comparison to general unemployment levels varying from around 5.2 to around 7.9 percent. Research made in the stated period also reflected a rise in the level of graduate recruitments by around 8.9 percent on an annual basis. Further, the rate of unemployment levels in the region is found to rate around 7.8 percent during 2011, which in comparison to 2010 was found to decline by around 0.5 percent. Unemployment trends for mainly youths and graduates were found to gain a stand at around 20.3 percent during the period (BBC News, 2011). Status of the Retail Market Employment Scenario in United Kingdom The state of the employment scenario in the retail organisations in United Kingdom reflects a rise of about 1.1 percent during 2011 relating to the 2010 period. In terms of job vacancies, it was noted that around 13 job positions were added to the sector during 2011. During 2012, the pattern of recruitment of graduates in the retail sector, as compared to 2011, was found to gain a high stride of around 11.5 percent where in terms of job vacancies, around 23 job positions were found to be added. Similarly, the rise in the number of vacancies for the 2012 period for the retail sector in United Kingdom was held to gain a rise of about 22 percent, thereby signifying a considerable growth in the graduate recruitment scenario. A further survey carried out to reflect the growth trend in recruitment of graduates in the period from 2007 to 2012 reflected a rise in employment by around 44.3 percent. Again, the starting salary offered to graduate recruits in the retail industry was observed to measure around ?24,000 for the period of 2012. This figure was stated without considering any change in the amount rendered during the 2011 period. The retail sector of United Kingdom was found to rank third in terms of receiving a growth in the number of job applications from graduates during the period of 2011 to 2012. The number of applications was found to encounter a rise of about 34 percent during the period. In terms of rise in the employment of experienced graduate personnel for roles in retail organisations, the same was found to gain a rise in about 23 percent during the period of 2011 to 2012. Thus, in overall the retail sector in United Kingdom reflected a rising sector responsible for absorbing graduates hailing from universities (High Fliers, 2012, pp. 11–29). Impact of Changes in the Social Environment on Retail Organisations With the rise in multichannel activities in retail organisations through the employment of social networking sites and deploying the same in mobile and Internet, the retail consumers have gained increasing awareness of the changes in the merchandising and promotions of retail firms. Owing to the above fact, the number of footfalls in the retail outlets is held to have considerably increased, thereby enhancing the existing competition among the retail firms (PWC, 2011). In this scenario the requirement to effectively service the changing needs and desires of the customers and thereby to sustain them for the retail firm signifies the emergence of a highly customer centric career. Technological Changes in the Retail Industry In addition to the rise in the dimensions of multichannel retailing via the use of mobile and other Internet gadgets, the rise in the need for incorporation of software to integrate the operations of warehouses and stores such as use of point-of-sale terminals highly requires the insiders to gain due training. Training rendered based on the mode of using the Enterprise Resource Planning software would certainly contribute to the value addition in the retail employment scenario, thereby helping in career advancement in the long run (Deloitte, 2011, pp. 8–11). References BBC News, 2011. Graduate unemployment at highest for over a decade [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12286264 [Accessed 2nd January 2013]. Deloitte, 2011. The changing face of retail [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedKingdom/Local%20Assets/Documents/Industries/Consumer%20Business/uk-cb-store-of-the-future-report.pdf [Accessed 2nd January, 2013]. High Fliers, 2012. The graduate market in 2012 [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/GMReport12.pdf [Accessed 2nd January, 2013]. PWC, 2011. Industry issues [Online]. Available at: http://www.pwc.co.uk/retail-consumer/issues/retail-and-consumer-industry-issues.jhtml [Accessed 2nd January, 2013]. Read More