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Continued Professional Development Eportfolio

Introduction:

This Eportfolio will aim to reflect upon my; personal, career and academic development during my third year at university. Whilst evaluating my development, through the use of numerous diagnostic activities and various other sources of evidence, an action plan will be developed to aid continual development of the lifelong learning process. The Lifelong Learning Program (2010) defines lifelong learning as ‘the development of human potential through a continuously supportive process which stimulates and empowers individuals to acquire all the knowledge, values and skills they will require throughout their lifetimes’. This is acknowledged by Honey (2007) that personal development through lifelong learning is a reflective process which enables an individual to plan their continual professional development (CPD). Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development, but also competitiveness and employability (Commission of the European Communities, 2006; Kumar, 2007).

Development of personal, academic and career skills are all important aspects of CPD. This work however, will priorities career and academic work over personal development throughout my third year due to the large amount of academic work and difficulties many students are facing when looking to gain employment (see The Telegraph, 2013). The national occupation standard on skills active (2010) offers help in managing skills in the sport and leisure industries.

Where am I (Beginning of year 3):

In order to evaluate my development through my final year of study it is firstly important to establish my current position an approach identified within Hawkins (1999) tactic one. Through the use of various self-audits I can analyse my current position in terms of my career, academic and personal skills, these include:

Appendix 1 - BBC Big personality test (BBC 2011)

Appendix 2 – Personality workbook 1

Appendix 3 – Graduate skills workbook 2

Appendix 4 – Reflective writing is evidence of reflective thinking

Appendix 5- Honey and Mumford Learning Styles (Honey and Mumford 1992)

Appendix 6- Assessing your skills workbook 3

Appendix 7 - VARK test results (VARK 2011)

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Summary of my Current Skills:

Although it is evident from the self-audits that I have a number of key skills in relation to the three areas I was also able to identify possible areas of development:

My Aims and Objectives:

After assessing my current skill position against career, academic and personal requirements, it’s then important to analyse the direction I want to go down in order to be the most successful (Cottrell, 2003). I have purposefully selected goals that are not only weaknesses but also my strengths as they will be what stand out to employees (Corfield, 2009).

The goals for year 3

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The goals I have set are as follows and when relevant these are related National Occupational Standards (NOS) (appendix 8).

Career: Aim to develop a number of key career skills which will enable me to target specific jobs that I want in Leeds.

Objective 1: Ensure that I enhance my C.V through the use of the university careers office.

Objective 2: Establish a number of contacts within the Estate agent sector as a result of my research and application of jobs–NOS A311.

Objective 3: Gain relevant work experience in the area of work that I want to go into

It was apparent from the Employability fair (Appendix 9) that I attended that there are a number of key steps when graduates are looking to gain employment. Within this literature a high quality C.V and a vast range of contacts with a chosen are important if a graduate is to secure a job that is relevant to their studies, which will help me when looking to gain career employment.

Academic: Aim to achieve a 2:1 classification from my degree once I finish university

Objective 1: To develop as a researcher by writing critically

Objective 2: Become more confident in my ability to present as an individual by the time I finish university –NOS D210

In order to justify the selection of these objectives, it is important to acknowledge the importance of critical analysis when looking to achieve a 2:1 classification. As 3rd year have numerous presentations with the addition of individual presentations, I acknowledge there is a need to improve this skill in order to get the best grade possible.

Personal: Develop my pro activity skills which will help in career, academic and personal areas.

Objective 1: Be more proactive in my goals in order to make them happen

I have only decided to do one personal goal, as at this moment in time my priorities are career and academic goals. This personal goal has been chosen as it will also aid me in the academic and career sectors.

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Achievement of Goals:

Career :

My overall aim within my career development was to gain a number of transferable skills that would enhance my career development and allow me to use them in a specific job.

Objective 1: Ensure that I enhance my C.V through the use of the university careers office.

C.V’s are the first impression potential employers will get of you as a possible candidate when looking to gain employment (Bright & Earl, 2008; McGee, 1997). It is acknowledged by Brown et al (2000) that the ration of graduates to aspiration jobs is 29 to 1 highlighting the need for a good CV. Jenner (2000) suggests that graduate recruiters on average receive 68 applicants for each position but only 1 in 10 applicants will get an interview; these are usually the applicants with the best C.V’s. After looking at the literature around C.V’s I recognised that my initial CV was very basic and could be improved.

The first issue I addressed when looking to improve upon my C.V was the structure. In order to develop my C.V, I arranged a meeting to seek feedback on my current C.V with one of the universities careers officer who gave me a number of ideas on how to develop my C.V:

Appendix 10- Feedback from careers office

During the employability fair there was numerous sessions running over the two weeks which I attended a CV session called how to market yourself effectively.

Appendix 9- Employability Fair

(Mcbride, 2007) suggests that added qualifications and extra-curricular activities within a C.V are also vital in order to stand out. Sports and team games are also seen as added value to a CV (Bright, 2011) I therefore undertook a number of programmes to enhance this area of my C.V Including:

Played lacrosse 1st team in the most successful season they have had & part time estate agent work

Finally from the CPD workshop session that I attended around ‘Selling Yourself’ the element that stood out the most was tailoring you C.V to the specific job that you are applying for. In specific relation to Hawkins (1999) tactic 4 around a client based approach to selling myself I now ensure that my C.V is now tailored specially to the job I am applying for.

Comparison of My C.V’s:

Appendix 11- My CV improvements

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Objective 2: Establish a number of contacts within the Estate agent sector as a result of my research and application of jobs–NOS A311.

According to Hendricks & Raffele (1998) 80% of job opportunities are placed within the hidden jobs market and it is acknowledged that the way many of these jobs are taken through internal employment or networking activities. Graham (2007) suggests graduates can use 3 ways of networking: firstly, through personal networking such as friends or family, secondly through university by using lecturers and careers advice and finally by new external contacts. I have decided to use this theory as it will also add the completion of career objective 3. Through the Work Based Learning module I was able to get a part time job in a rock climbing centre through the networking.

Opportunities created as a result of Academic Activity:

During my Work Based Learning module in second year I did 120 hours work placement for City Bloc.

Whilst on work placement I not only got to network with the mangers of City Bloc but also with The

Works indoor skate park managers and business adviser Mark Taylor. The link below show through

the work placement I was able to get part time work after the placement finished.

Appendix 12- Work Based Learning networking with City bloc

I did my dissertation on City Bloc as well so I have kept in touch and they would contact me if a full

time job arises.

Opportunities Created through Personal Activity:

I Have used Linked In, as a tool to access professionals in the estate agents business so I can get the

most up to date tips on business success. Throughout the year I continually aimed at increasing my

contacts as I was introduced to new networks through my academic and external activity:

Appendix 13- LinkedIn

Despite this it is felt that I could have utilised the LinkedIn tool to a greater extent to extend my

networks and therefore potential opportunities and as a result of this will be considered within my

action plan.

Personal Contact: Through a personal network I was able to contact the manager of the estate agent

Dee Atkinson & Harrison by using what resources available as according to Hawkins (1999) it’s who

you know that can give you an advantage over other graduates.

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Objective 3: Gain relevant work experience in the area of work that I want to go into

After deciding that estate agency is the job that I would like to go into, I looked for jobs in estate

agency but the vast majority of jobs were looking for previous experience in estate agency. I have

used my networking skills to gain relevant work experience.

Appendix 14- Gain relevant work experience in the area of work that I want to go into

This work experience has already helped me in applying for jobs as I have already had 1

interview with Haus in Headingely and they mentioned the best thing on the CV was the

relevant work experience. The work that I have arranged to do with Dee Atkinson &

Harrison is scheduled to finish on 21st of June and I will then be looking for a full time job in

Leeds for an estate agents role.

Career goals conclusion:

When reflecting on my career development I feel that I have substantially improved on my career

position since the beginning of year 3. I now have a clear direction, networking ability, contacts and

an improved C.V. However, I also acknowledge that fact that I must continue to work on my career

development to improve areas of weakness as a part of my lifelong learning and as a result I have

identified a number of activities that I could utilise to further enhance my career ability which are

identified within my action plan:

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Academic:

The main aim within my academic development was to achieve a 2:1 classification from my degree.

This has been a constant aim of my since the beginning of university, but with greater importance

due to the significant value of third year and the fact that this outcome will only be achieved once I

completed my degree. I therefore set a number of objectives that I think will help me achieve this

aim.

Objective 1: To develop as a researcher by writing critically

Critically analysing literature within academic work is increasingly important during university and in

3rd year this is what is needed to get a 2:1. If I am to achieve my overall aim of my academic goal, as

it is common factor that is continually highlighted within every module’s grading criteria (Grading

Criteria Appendix 15). The literature (Kane 2003; Goatly 2000) that in order to critically analyse

academic work, then a wide variation of reading has to occur from different sources to gain evidence

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and support your particular argument. I felt that this was often an area of weakness and after

acknowledging this my work improved drastically. To show the difference between the amounts of

reading around a subject to be critical is an example for two 2500 word pieces of work shown in

appendix 16.

Objective 2: Become more confident in my ability to present as an individual by the time I finish university –NOS D210

Collins and Robson (2011) stated that employer complain not about the quality of knowledge of

their new graduate but the need for better generic skills, especially in the confident presentation of

self-projects as noted within NOS D210. In relation to this statement and self-audit around my

person skills I felt this was an area I could develop through my final year of academic studies.

As identified within my areas of development as an area of weaknesses, through research I aimed to

adopt a number of different strategies to improve upon my presentation skills (Bradbury, 1997;

McCarthy and Hatcher, 2002). The key strategies included;

- Cleary stated aims and objectives

- Plan well in advance and practice

- Take a professional approach

- Use clear communication strategies.

After reflecting on my presentation skills once I had adopted these strategies I felt that I had

improved upon my ability to present. I feel through being at university my presentations skills have

vastly improved as in first year I would read of the screen a lot but now I am able to talk to the

audience but I still feel I need to assess the reactions of the audience to see if the message is getting

across. According to Greusel (2002) & Theobald (2011) presentations are successful when you can

see the audience is taking the information on board and are fully focussed to your work. Reflecting

on the presentation work that I have done over 3rd year I have improved a lot as in the individual

presentation for managing change I scored 62 which is the highest grade I have scored in a

presentation. I feel this was down to using the structure of McCarthy and Hatcher (2002) key

strategies as the feedback was that it was a very clear presentation to follow.

Academic Action plan

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Personal:

Objective 1: Be more proactive in my goals in order to make them happen

Although I have identified this as an area of personal development, this will also have a positive effect on my career development as NOS C259 is based around effective time management & pro activity. Fischer (2000) argues that learning doesn’t just see benefits in one area of a person but in all areas.

It became apparent early within my third year that I needed to improve my pro activity skills if I was

successfully manage the heavy work load with the addition of choosing a job I want to go into and

then the job searching process. As I decided I wanted to be a estate agent and didn’t have any

experience I then had to organise when and how I could work with part time before I got a full time

job in Leeds. Results from Gradplus (2012) research shows that one of a student’s weakest skills is

time optimisation & pro activity. Appendix 17 shows the stages I went through in looking for a job

with being pro active.

During my dissertation I had a timetable of when I was going to do all the sections of work. My

timetable needed to be organised and I needed to be proactive as I was not only doing quantitative

research but qualitative research as well and they were very time consuming to get the data and also

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then analyse the data fully. As I was doing an interview with the manager of City Bloc I needed to

proactive and give him a week’s notice of when he could do the interview or he would get to busy

shown in appendix 18.

I was originally unsure whether I wanted to go travelling to Australia when finishing university or

stay in Leeds and get a job in Leeds. To be proactive I listed all the strengths and weaknesses of

going travelling and this helped me make up my mind on what I wanted to do and I decided to stay

as shown in appendix 19. I decided to stay I wanted to have enough money to be able to do

everything I wanted to while I was out there so in order for this I proactively listed all the things I

wanted to do when I was out there and how much everything would cost baring food and where I

would stay so I had a rough idea of how much money I will need to do everything when I am out

there shown in appendix 20.

Overview of goals

Short term goals:

To make sure my academic writing is critical. This is also a long term goal as there is a possibility that I may do a post graduate degree after finishing university.

Gain relevant work experience is short term as I plan to get a full time job after I finish with Dee Atkinson & Harrison.

Mid term goals:

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Improve my CV is a midterm goal as I will improving it when I finish work for Dee Atkinson & Harrison as this will be really helpful for me to get a job in estate agency but also I will keep improving it in case I find a different job that I would enjoy more and want to apply for that to.

Long term goals:

Presentation skill will need to be constantly worked on as while being an estate agent I will need to present the house in the best way in order for the unique selling points of the house are seen and make it more likely to be purchased.

Proactive skills will also be long term as they will be needed to cost up all outgoings to what is coming in to make sure that I am saving enough money for bills as well as having the goal of going to Australia and having the money to do everything I want to do while I’m there.

Networking is also a long term goal as this is constantly being improved so I will keep doing this all the time.

Coaching Process:

I have used the coaching sessions to help analyse where I am with all areas but I found

career to be the most helpful as it had the most changes during the time of the coaching

sessions so it had the most to talk about as shown appendix 21 and 22.

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Bright, J. & Earl, J. (2008) Brilliant CV: What Employers Want to See and How to Say it. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

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Commission of the European Communities (2006) Adult learning: It is never too late to learn. Brussels. COM

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Cottrell, S. (2003) The study skills handbook. 2nd Ed, Palgrave, McMillian, Basingstoke.

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Goatly, A. (2000) Critical Reading and Writing: An introduction Course book. Routledge, London.

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McCarthy, P., & Hatcher, C. (2002) Presentation skills: the essential guide for students. London, UK. Sage Publications

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