Career Development Action Plan - Admission/Application Essay Example

I. Career Development Action Plan Pursuing a career in Civil Engineering has presented me with some challenges, especially in my intent to continuously learning and in making career decisions. In order to overcome such difficulties and yield positive long-term consequences, the assessment of my personal skills, knowledge, and career opportunities for building construction is fundamental. Strengths and Weaknesses Being raised in a family whose careers revolved around engineering enabled me to have an early awareness of its basic concepts. Owing to this engineering background, I grew up to be highly interested in the understanding and knowledge of infrastructure and construction. As I began to consider civil engineering as a suitable career, I became more aware of the time that I spent studying and learning, at my own will, about a great deal of construction, design, and architecture topics, along with mathematics, science, and project management that are all relevant to civil engineering. I am an observant listener and I believe that learning from others’ advice and experiences will be useful input for career development, especially from those who are engaged in the civil engineering profession. At present, I do believe that I possess a number of skills and attributes which may be valuable if I pursue my preferred career, such as technical skills for design and construction. My analytical and problem-solving skills and excellent use of computer applications are significant in dealing with engineering projects in the future. Moreover, I also possess soft skills such as confidence and team spirit which may be favorable in working with a team. Team performance has been suggested to significantly influence organisational performance (Tarricone and Luca 2002), making such skills critical in contemporary organisations. I strongly believe in the power of motivation and I try to be a good example to others, especially when faced with difficulty. I do not fear unexpected comes as I trust that there is always a solution to a problem. In a state of uncertainty, it is better to be creative and make the best use of opportunities (Vakola and Nikolauo 2005). However, I also have weak points, particularly in management skills. Although I can consider myself as capable of managing projects with my technical abilities and dealing with other people through my values, these are not enough. There is a need for engineers to be highly capable of managing all processes involved in a managerial role to allow for coherence and holism. I find it difficult to be organised, and this is a requisite in being a manager considering the administrative responsibilities that come with the job. Furthermore, I also have a hard time in making short-term and long-term decisions. Sometimes, I feel uncertain about my capability for decision making and may be influenced by others’ opinions. I believe that to be successful in my preferred future career, I need to be highly organised and to have strong control over processes and decisions. Management has apparent impact on quality control in the construction industry (Karim, Marosszeky, and Davis 2006). Professional Goals I intend to pursue one career goal at a time, to allow for focus. First, training opportunities are an important priority as these will help me obtain learning experience in relation to civil engineering. Being highly trained will increase the likelihood of securing a good job; sharpening my current competencies; and building my credentials for future employment. To be employed in a construction company that will offer competitive compensation and offer professional development opportunities in terms of technical and soft skills is one main career goal. Finally, taking up a postgraduate course in the future is ideal as it will increase my marketability and expand my technical expertise towards specialisation. Action Steps Pursuing a Civil Engineering FdEng course at a nearby university has earned me industry accredited qualifications as a Civil Engineer. Being involved in this program reinforces my technical skills and knowledge on civil engineering encompassing construction, design, and management. Should I pass the Civil Engineering board exams, I will seek job opportunities within the Saudi construction industry, specifically within the private sector. The latter are more likely more competitive compensation, privileges and benefits. To secure my target employment will give me the exposure and professional experience in engineering. Simultaneosly, I intend to be self-sufficient in pursuing post graduate studies, that is why a stable well-paying job is ideal. Though I may already be employed as a licensed civil engineer, I still prefer to pursue a postgraduate course in engineering to further sharpen my professional qualifications as a civil engineer. Areas of Further Improvement Aside from my professional goals, I will also seek membership in professional engineering associations to enhance my technical abilities and allow further learning. This shall also give me the opportunity to interact with colleauges, and probably seek work-related advice from them. Similarly, on-the-job training for the company that I will be employed in will allow me to acquire working knowledge of the environment – including work style, norms, and standards, among others. I shall also seek a mentor or guide in the person of a more senior and more experienced engineer. He can provide me with career and even technical advice which an be beneficial in my professional and personal development. II. Saudi Arabia and Its Oil Industry The oil industry of Saudi Arabia is the largest industry of its sector in the world, providing the biggest supplies of liquid gold to countries with high oil consumption (Country Studies 2010). Owing to the fact that this industry makes a total contribution of 13% to the world’s total oil production, Saudi Arabia plays a critical role in the OPEC or the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This has allowed Saudi Arabia to attain incomparability over all other oil-producing countries and the international oil market. Because of its dominance in this market, they have attained the right to implement policies and regulations on its governance, particularly the negotiation of oil prices. This has enabled the nation’s oil industry to remain secure and stable. The economy of Saudi Arabia heavily relies on the revenues brought about by the oil industry and over 90% of the nation’s industries depend on such oil treasures (Country Studies 2010). Due to the success of its oil industry, particularly the prices of oil exports, Saudi Arabia has attained considerable economic development over the years. However, employment opportunities are not abundant in the oil industry as its success cannot be attributed to human performance. Rather, it has primarily relied on capital, thereby reducing the need for manual labor with the number of jobs becoming somewhat insignificant in contributing to the economy (Country Studies 2010). This has become a great concern for individuals, like myself, who attempt to seek job opportunities in the oil industry. Nonetheless, the engineering workforce of the nation continues to expand in terms of competence. Decades ago, the Saudi Arabian engineering work force was mainly comprised of foreign nationals who were sent to the country from different parts of the world and brought various engineering skills, practices and experiences that were eventually learned by locals (Martin 2002). One of the existing barriers to learning these important know-how was the differences between the curricula of educational institutions; furthermore, majority of these foreign professionals did not have adequate knowledge with regards to the country’s geomorphic conditions as well as constructional environment. Insufficient standards and policies in Saudi Arabia became a critical challenge for the engineering profession to be practiced in the country, and qualifications of many civil engineers had not been thoroughly examined to determine whether they have all the necessary qualifications to carry out their duties. Nevertheless, at present, Saudi Arabia’s engineering community is composed of numerous Saudi nationals who have received their education from both local and foreign educational institutions. A large number of engineers still come from foreign nations who practice their professions in junior and senior levels (Maleckers and Ewi 2007). A high level of diversity is evident among these local and foreign professionals as they come from various academic backgrounds, possess different technical skills and knowledge, and are professionally prepared at different levels. The Engineering Committee in Saudi Arabia is responsible for the regulation of the engineering profession, as license approvals from this Committee is required for all the country’s engineering companies, although many organisations employ engineers who may not have the required qualifications as there is a weak attempt to assess such individual qualifications. From here, it may be gleaned that pursuing a career in engineering in Saudi Arabia will be less difficult owing to numerous local companies that hire engineers without having an in-depth examination of their competence and experience. However, this may not be helpful to both the hired engineers and the companies that they work for. Once these organisations hire employees that do not necessarily meet their standards, eventually they will realize that such professionals are not highly competent and capable of carrying out their responsibilities. Employers are then most likely to bring about employee turnover, lowering the morale and satisfaction among their engineers. These engineers will consequently experience short-term jobs and move from one company to another until they find a firm that will wholly accept their skills and knowledge for their standards. III. Area of Specific Research Human Resource Practices in the Middle East The economy of the Middle East has continued to flourish over the past decades and has driven the nation to achieve considerable growth. However, although the country possesses substantial financial resources, it is also known to have an inadequate labor workforce (Budhwar and Mellahi 2007). This concern has led the country to depend on foreign professionals to make up for this manpower shortage. International recruitment for professional and management positions has become a common trend in the Middle East. Meanwhile, local students and professionals have been sent to foreign countries for a higher educational attainment. Despite the efforts of the Middle Eastern governments for nationalization, a large number of foreign professionals remain in the region with the number of their expatriates remaining to be considerably high. This occurrence is likely to create demands and challenges in management out of Middle East’s diverse workforce. Countries in the Middle East should focus on the most effective means by which they can strengthen and develop their workforce, particularly through training and development opportunities. There is a crucial need for employers to establish professional relationships with their workers in order to benefit from them, especially by providing them with valuable internal services (Analoui and Hosseini 2001). Attitudes of employers play a significant role in employee development and performance; for instance employee empowerment and creation of cohesive working teams can result to a higher level of productivity. Moreover, consistent managerial support for employees can lead to favorable outcomes in training and development. The trend of excluding employees from the decision making process often results to a reduction in employee morale, satisfaction, and commitment; therefore, the need to make workers feel involved in all organisational activities is of paramount importance. These generally suggest that organisations in the Middle East have better chances of retaining their hired professionals when employers exhibit the appropriate actions and behaviours toward the former. Despite considerable financial resources, another main concern for the expatriation of Middle East professionals and a foreign-dominated workforce may be the training costs which could be attributed to the lack of recognition and efforts that their governments allot to employee training and development (Alzalabani 2002). Companies may also find it difficult to understand the relationship that is existent between employee education and their businesses’ long term success. Employers are often hesitant to invest in training and development programs owing to their lack of recognition with regards to the advantages brought about by highly trained professionals. As a result, majority of organisations recruit employees who possess the necessary skills for carrying out work-related tasks in order to avoid training activities and expenses. Moreover, although many business owners are aware that employees who possess basic skills alone would be inadequate and the need for further development is crucial, such employers have not been capable of translating this need into effective action (Aldryan 1998). Rather, many of them focus instead on the personal characteristics of their hired workers. Other organisations, on the other hand, hold a substantial amount for the training and development of their workforce. The main concern is that only higher-level professionals are benefitting from training initiatives as low-level workers receive limited training opportunities to further develop and enhance the necessary skills. The need for effective workforce training initiatives becomes evident, especially for leaders who are capable of empowering their employees and bringing about employee development. Both formal and informal training can instigate new experiences for workers in a systematic and implicit manner as they gain learning and knowledge from their superiors, peers and surrounding environment. Being provided with career-related advice and guidance can also be very beneficial for the employees, consequently providing benefits to their employers. Moreover, coaching and mentoring influence the performance and commitment of workers in such a way that they are constantly guided in realizing their career aspirations and achieving professional goals. All in all, a country’s workforce will remain strong and intact when support and concern are given to its employees, paving the way for better opportunities in competency development and continuous productivity. Emiratization The process of Emiratization, also known as nationalization, refers to the recruitment and development of individuals from the United Arab Emirates in order to increase their chances for employability and seek job opportunities in their own countries, thus allowing these nations to depend on their local professionals rather in foreign expatriates (Dale 2004). UAE nationals shall then be provided with opportunities and experiences to prepare them for the jobs that have been often assigned to expatriates. In doing so, there is greater likelihood that such countries will begin to primarily rely on their local workers and not on offshore professionals. Emiratization aims to train local employees so they can demonstrate equally good, or even better performance than the foreign expatriates (Abdelkarim 2001). Generally, this process will entail effective leadership that can bring about organisational change, as well as the establishment of organisational policies and procedures that will promote Emiratization. Government efforts for nationalization have been demonstrated in the introduction of quotas for local professionals within certain industries, though criticized by many to be an unreliable short-term solution for the increasing employability of UAE nationals (Rees, Mamman and Braik 2007). Levy payroll fees had been also introduced which requires that UAE expatriate residents to pay a certain amount of money on a monthly basis in order to contribute to the funding of human resource development programs for training the local workforce and providing assistance to obtain job opportunities in the country. Other government efforts for Emiratization include the restriction of the number of working permits that have been provided for expatriates, as well as strategies for job design with which employers are required to evaluate working patterns and employ more part-time workers. The establishment of the National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority has also led to the creation of job opportunities targeted for UASE nationals to make job searching easier in the public and private sector. Competency development among members of the national workforce is also emphasized to mediate skill gaps through the use of programs and resources for training and development. Generally, there is a need for a consistent national framework for nationalization in order to avoid the dominance of individualistic efforts and promote continuous information exchange and dynamic learning among local professionals. IV. Relevant Aspects of Sustainable Development within Construction and Civil Engineering With the evidence that climate change and global warming have been caused by man-made activities such as greenhouse gas emissions, the need to take the most efficient actions for the prevention of harmful consequences has become of great importance to the society as a whole. The construction industry plays a very significant role in the application of practices for sustainable development owing to its size, procedures and activities, number of employees, and waste generation, to name a few factors. The management of the construction industry is essential to conduct all processes through a sustainable manner and in order to achieve this, sustainability principles should be incorporated into their activities for the project development process. Sustainable development is a form of development that aims to address the present generation’s need without having to compromise the capability of the future generations of satisfying their needs. Generally, it aims to promote the protection of the environment, equity in the society, as well as development of the economy. Meanwhile, sustainable construction is the process of integrating the goals and principles of sustainable development into construction processes that can bring about social awareness, environmental conscientiousness, and economic growth to the community through green infrastructure (Langston and Ding 2000). The realisation of several goals have been the focus of the construction industry in an attempt for sustainable development, including minimal energy for use and construction, reduction of pollution, lean construction principles, water conservation, development of designs for minimum waste, biodiversity, as well as constant monitoring of all related processes (Addis and Talbot 2001). Owing to a rapidly increasing population as well as substantial economic growth, Saudi Arabia has experienced considerable expansion in their infrastructure, particularly their residential buildings (Taleb and Sharples 2010). However, despite their efforts for sustainable development, the concern over energy efficiency has not been given a great deal of attention compared to other nations. Moreover, because Saudi Arabia primarily experiences dry weather, they are current faced with difficulties with regards to the increasing rate of water demand. Therefore, it has been asserted that sustainable construction and architecture are applied in Saudi Arabia as a response to environmental demands. Engineers and architects should be capable of creating designs that are effectively responsive to the country’s climate as well as of integrating efficient energy and water consumption. Technology advancements which are environmentally friendly are also readily accessible for the incorporation of resources by these professionals (Al Yami and Price 2008). Drivers of sustainable development can be mainly attributed to certain factors such as health-related matters or the improvement of living standards and quality of life. A relevant aspect of sustainable developments in contemporary engineering and construction is the creation of green, or sustainable, buildings that are made out of climate-responsive designs (Hyde 2000). It then highlights the significance of natural energy systems and sources and aims to attain building comfort by means of the interactions between a building’s conditions and environment. For instance, the positioning of windows in a green building is carefully considered in order to place such windows in a position where natural light and ventilation can be provided. Currently, though, these concepts of natural energy sources are not a common trend in Saudi buildings that are mainly reliant on air conditioning which consumes large amounts of electricity at a time. Because buildings in Saudi Arabia are not strategically designed with regards to the natural environment, about 80% of the electricity in homes is primarily used for cooling appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators. Owing to the increased growth in population and urbanization, the country’s residential sector continue to flourish, thereby comprising over half of Saudi Arabia’s demand for energy. House designs in the country have not been able to focus on the utilization of local resources and low-energy strategies that can significantly result to the decrease for the need of using air conditioners and other electricity-induced lighting resources. Furthermore, generating electricity in the country is reliant on their traditional practices of fossil fuel burning that can bring about adverse effects on the environment. Despite the availability of renewable sources for energy, the adoption of sustainable energy technology, including the use of solar photovoltaics (PV, is seldom employed in the region (Kabir, Endlicher, and Jagermeyr 2009). A lack of principles and regulations for sustainable engineering and construction in the country has also been pointed out to be a critical barrier for sustainable development. The development of standards to support environmental and social responsibilities will be one of the most efficient and cost-effective means in promoting practices for sustainability. A number of European Union countries are known to have a strict control over the adoption and implementation of sustainable building regulations. Aside from building designs, water consumption also remains to be an important aspect that should be targeted by engineering and construction professionals (Al-Shehri 2008). Saudi Arabia is known to be a very dry region, especially because it does not have lakes or rivers. Locals primarily rely on desalination plants that will provide water supplies for them. Over the years, the Saudi Arabian government has become aware of the increase in water demand and has focused their efforts on developing numerous desalination plants. Due to the low prices for water and electricity, the country’s residents lack motivation in the preservation of their natural energy sources, thus, the lavish styles of living with a disregard for sustainability practices. For example, compared to other countries, residential buildings in Saudi are larger and make use of air conditioning units more frequently (Darwish, Al-Awadhi, and Darwish 2008). This implies the urgent need of improving the effectiveness of water and energy consumption, and applying sustainable engineering and architectural principles. Nonetheless, the government has carried out a number of incentives and developments with regards to sustainable development such as the National Water Company’s wastewater treatment as well as the increasing number of campaigns which are targeted for the community’s awareness of energy scarcity and conservation. Principles have also been developed for sustainable practices in engineering (RAE 2010). First, the need to assess the positive and negative impact of decisions and proposed actions is of paramount importance for organisations and most importantly the environment. Flexibility and creativity is also essential for bringing about innovative change that can address environmental, social, and economic responsibilities. More importantly, making the best use of available resources and human competency is a fundamental action. Active participation with stakeholders, professional engineers, and other significant parties involved should be encouraged in order to come up with helpful decisions for sustainable development. It is also necessary that not just the people’s “needs” but their “wants”, as well, is recognized and addressed for the society to increase their willingness to apply sustainable practices. Generally, effective planning and management, along with a holistic approach, can help overcome the barriers for engineering professionals in employing environment-friendly principles for construction and infrastructure. References Abdelkarim, A 2001, UAE labour market and problems of employment of nationals, CLRIM, Tanmia, Dubai. Al-Yami, A, and Price, A 2006, An overview of sustainability in Saudi Arabia, Joint International Conference on Construction, Culture, Innovation and Management, Dubai. Al-Shehri, A 2008, Electricity industry in Saudi Arabia: an overview, Saudi Water and Power Forum, Jeddah. Aldryan, A 1998, The difficulties facing training parties, paper submitted in symposium ‘Difficulties Hindering Training in the Private Sector and its Prospects’, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Riyadh, in Arabic. Alzalabani, A 2002, International briefing 11:Training and development in Saudi Arabia, International Journal of Training and Development, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 125-140. 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