Strengths and Weaknesses of Professional Development - Admission/Application Essay Example

and Section # of Self Analysis and Professional Development Plan "The journey to wholeness requires that you look honestly, openly, and with courage into yourself, into the dynamics that lie behind what you feel, what you perceive, what you value, and how you act1." Personality analysis identifies the traits that ones have and the inter-relation between these characteristics. This analysis allows them to look deep into ones soul and evaluate their pattern of thinking, emotional capability, motivational aspirations and the level of confidence. The diagnostic test has helped me in identifying my strengths and weaknesses and has provided me with an overview of my personality. I have then laid down a specific career path that reflects on my personality and will help me achieve self actualization. I have also prepared specific plans to counter my weaknesses and turning them into my potential positives. The Big Five Personality dimensions are the most part of the analysis of one's personality. The feedback for the test showed high scores on the all the five dimensions signifying strong traits for job and training performance. Strengths and weaknesses I am a highly reliable and responsible person when it comes to the work related matters with little mood swings and anxiety. At the same time, I put in a strong effort into my work which gives a higher satisfaction. In almost all my projects, I have been able to complete my work to the highest potential and on time. I have kept myself unfailing in any project even in the extreme circumstances. I am quite stable in my emotions and hence am able to perform better in teams, presentations and management functions. With the help of this ability, I am able to keep my personal problems away from the professional life. Therefore, the work in the team is of much higher quality. At one point in college, I had to work with a member with whom I had developed differences. Yet I was able to shun those differences and work professionally to the best of my abilities in order to successfully attain the goals. I am charismatic and persuasive type of person. It allows me to lead a group in a well organized manner as I am able to captivate them into doing the work in my style. At the same time, I am able to influence my colleagues into the work through my behavior and rational analysis of the behavior. In my previous semester, my team had to arrange a small play for a charitable event. The play was going ahead well with the practices but there was a major dispute on the setting of the stage background. The team was in total disagreement with each other's opinions. At that moment, I came forward and took the centre stage. I gave my view on putting up a printed 3-D background. The idea was great and I was able to persuade all of the team members with my charismatic style. The play was an immense success. The analysis showed that I have moderate concern for people and task. I believed that I was a more of a task oriented guy finishing all my work with great responsibility and on time. This means that I was less involved in identifying the needs and wants of the people. Therefore, my concern for people appears to be less. This is one point where I believe that improvement is needed so that I am able to fulfill the needs of my team but not at the cost of the work. This will motivate the people as they will be able to move a step higher up on the Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. I have a persuasive personality but yet I am not a power oriented individual. With my style, I am able to persuade people to reach to a common ground and to a final decision that is democratic and has majority vote. This turns out to be one of my stronger strengths as it allows me to achieve the potential goals and complete my work on time. The feedback concludes it right that I am compromiser when it comes to conflict resolution. This ability of mine allows me to reach to a situation where I win some and lose some but helps in achieving the specific goals on time. This tends to be my weakness at times. In order to achieve temporary solutions, to evade critical power struggles and time pressures, I lose the sight of the long term goals and the value systems. When I had cleared my college with outstanding grades, I had a choice to go to the best universities in London. I had applied and cleared most of the entry requirements for them. But my family did not allow me to go. Therefore, I had to compromise on some of my objectives and reach to conclusion with family's consent. Therefore, I had to let off for long term plans. I have been particularly good at playing my part in a team. I have showed strong positive results at most times. It has been my habit to let everyone speak up their point of views on any questionable fact without interrupting them or persuading them to stop it. I am also creative in my thought and my solutions to any upcoming problems. This is where my weakness comes forward as well, as I am a little laid back in following the precise procedures and love to think outside the box. At times, it lands me into trouble if the work is of critical level. Personality characteristics define the right type of organization for a person. My personality characteristics of organized work, high conscientiousness and deadlines make me a great fit for rigid and organized structures. Also I have a high motivation for leading a team to achieve the goals. I prefer to work with other people rather than working on something alone. During my first semester, my project team was highly de-motivated to work on the assignment. They had gotten confused with the objectives and the analysis. Therefore, they were reluctant to move ahead. The time had come for to take over and manage my team. I met each of the members explaining the requirements and how we will go about it. At the same time, I did my best to keep them motivated enough to carry on. The final result was an A grade on the project. Yet at times I find myself confused with what organization structure to pace myself in as I believe in overall participation of the team members and going ahead with a majority decision. I also like to be creative so rules and regulations pose a hindrance to my abilities. Therefore, I have no clear find for the organizational structure as supported by the personality test. I am a confident person with an ability to take important decisions at the spur of the moment. It allows me to mobilize resources and motivation effectively and efficiently in order to productively achieve the goals. There have many instances in life where I had to take decisions that could alter the shape of my life as well as those that would affect my team's goals. But at the same time, I find it hard to come forward at moments to speak up. This is because I get afraid that they might not understand my accent. This happens when there are new people in the group who do not know me. This is greatest obstacle to my progression in my life. The motivating factors are really important for any individual. As a young person, growth is the most inspiring factor for me. The career development and progression will be most important factor in selecting a career for me because this will allow me to reach a state of self actualization and higher satisfaction. But at the same time, the need for relatedness and existence is high. As a young person, I still have a need for the basic necessities and savings so that I can fulfill my dreams and my family requirements. A job offered to me by Shell or Unilever would always attract me more than any smaller local firm because of the growth opportunities. Improvement in Behaviors I need to concentrate on my strengths and work on my weaknesses to eliminate them with time. I take criticism from my colleagues as a positive point. In that I become aware of the weak points and then plan to develop on those key issues. This allows me to develop into a much better and more presentable person. I need to become more collaborative in conflict resolution situations. This would allow me to reach to a better decision while taking care of everyone's interests. I can attend some counseling programs conducted by the experts where I can improve on my communication skills and get my point across to the other party. It will also give me an understanding of the relationships and how to improve on them. I need to follow the rules and procedures of the organization as well as keep thinking outside the box. I need to properly understand the guidelines that have been laid down for my benefit. At the same time, I should incorporate my new ideas while remaining within the rules. My reluctance to come forward before alien people and speak up because of my accent poses a strong impediment to my future career development plans. I need to improve on this front so that I am more confident and self assured that my ideas are clearly conveyed and understood. I can also join reputed English Institute that helps in developing the accent for my own self assurance. They will also involve group discussions as well as presentations. At the same time, I can improve by attending some well known motivational speakers' workshops and seminars. These workshops can develop on my confidence and will ease away my problem with time. I can also get feedback from my colleagues and instructors to keep a check on my improvement. The payoff of these progressions will be tremendous in terms of career development as well as boosting my confidence. I will learn to handle the conflicts in a more efficient manner and be more productive in the results. Also, as I will be able to speak up well in front of the team with more confidence, I will be effective in controlling the teams and leading them to achieving enhanced results. Hence, balancing out my weaknesses will increase my chances for faster growth and development in career. Professional Development Analyzing my personality characteristics, I would like to join the corporate world in the field of marketing as a sales manager. My traits would help me become a competent sales manager with greater chance of career progression. I am confident enough to speak up in front of the people and can create an inspiring environment for my team so that they are able to achieve above the target levels. This will assure my high levels of satisfaction. My trait of concern for people would help me in praising the sales people and inspire them to move higher and higher. I am also an out-of-the-box thinker developing creative solutions to the emerging problems. This will not frustrate the sales people with the strict rules and procedures. As a sales manager, one needs to have high levels of "respect and knowledge of sales system about the sales: processes, tools and skills2". Hence, I am competent and hard working and will give enough time to understanding the knowledge of sales. Career Progression and Development There is a remarkable chance of fast career development in the field of sales. "Within most companies, there is a promotion structure that involves moving up from area sales manager to regional sales manager and ultimately to sales director3." These promotions are directly linked to performance. Therefore, I am positive that I will be able to attain high levels of sales in my years as the executive sales. At the same time, the sales executives have a chance to move between the other fields including advertising, marketing and public relations in most of the companies. Therefore, growth and career opportunities are vast and varying. In order to effectively compete in this global environment and enhance my skills as the sales executive, I will do post graduate in the sales management or an MBA executive. This will increase my qualification and hence pave my way for future promotions. At the same time, I will attend the sales and marketing workshops that will help enhance my skills and knowledge related to the field of marketing. The success in an intangible asset that is very difficult to measure and rate. It can different for different people depending on their perspectives. For me, success is all about career development and increase in expertise. The more I move up in my field, the happier I am. Therefore, I will lay down specific timelines and positions so that I can keep a check on my career progression. Works Cited Drucker, P. F. Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. 2007. Harper Paperbacks (April 14, 1993) Cooper, L. "Five Considerations in Selecting a GREAT Sales Manager". Sales Manage Solutions. 08-11-2009. < http://salesmanage.com/blog/archives/five_considerations_in_selecting_a_great_sales_manager/> Morton-Holmes, I. "Sales executive: Career development". Prospects. 08-11-2009. < http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/sales_executive_career_development.jsp> Zukov, G. "Quotes About Personality". GAIA Community. 08-11-2009. < http://www.gaia.com/quotes/topics/personality> Read More