National Committee Inquiry Higher Education -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The National Committee Inquiry Higher Education? Answer: Introducation The purpose of this report is to plan a course of action to achieve my long term goal of becoming a qualified and employable professional. In this report I will first list the strengths and skills I possess currently. I will then break my goal into small medium and long term goals. I will then list the skill gaps and weaknesses I have which might obstruct my action plan of achieving my goals. Finally, I will list the course of action needed to be taken in order to accomplish set goals. What is Personal Development Plan? In order to excel in modern working environment, approaching learning in a structured way is important if one wants to make most of his/ her time. A Personal Development Plan is a tool to map self-development, career and academic progression. Building a development plan requires an individual to reflect on his/her past achievements and contemplate on strength, weakness and opportunities he/she might have (Dearing, 1997). Organizations employ personal development plan to develop action plan for an individual and its success is his/her primary responsibility. What are my current strengths and skill sets? Critical analysis and judgment: Ability to collect and analyze information and make decision based on it is a skill I have acquired during this course. While attending classes and seminars we were encouraged to share our own opinions and develop arguments. Critical thinking is one of the most sought after qualities by employers (Browne Keeley, 2001). Good at research: I have been using different sources both on internet and library. Research has been vital in my approach to learning. Conducting Research has been important aspect of all my assignments. Performing research on various topics has exposed me to different perspectives and has developed and clarified my own ideas and reflections about the topic. My research skills have also helped me to make evidence based arguments (Bergson-Michelson, 2012). Determined: Determination is another highly sought after attribute by recruiters of graduates. Determination is the drive to make things happen and find better ways to do things. This is a behavioral trait which has helped me in various walks of life. Active participation in sports events at college and summer job where I was responsible for Sales I earned bonuses for overachieving the target are some instances where I was able to identify this trait in me (Haden, 2016). Individual and group assignments and projects: Team work is a skill which will help an individual in any job he/she does/. I have demonstrated this skill in various group assignments where I have worked with my team to deliver solutions by applying the learning outcomes. I have also worked individually on various assignments and delivered quality solutions on time. Working in teams encourages brainstorming which results in more productivity and ideas. Working individually has polished my decision making skills and has invoked sense of ownership, as the responsibility of delivering quality work lies solely with me (Doyle, 2017). Making and justifying decisions: Decision Making is the process of choosing the best alternative to achieve desired result (Lunenburg, 2010). Decision Making in college has improved my learning by helping me in choosing the right streams and subjects to pursue for career betterment. Potential employers look at decision making as key to independent and successful behavior. Decision Making has also helped me in taking up leadership roles in group activities. Goal Setting Goal setting is the most important aspect of Personal development plan. It is the process of deciding what is to be accomplished, how and what time frame. To ensure that the goals are accomplished they should have 5 characteristics:- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound. Goals with all these characteristics are called SMART goals (Ward, 2017). To achieve the long term goal of becoming a Professional I have developed an action plan by breaking it down into intermediate, short and long term goals. Following is the detailed action plan to achieve my career goal: Intermediate Goals: Intermediate goals are those goals which may take 6 months or more to accomplish. My intermediate goal is to gain a variety of skills and knowledge at college which will help me professionally later on. Following are a few activities I will pursue in order to achieve my intermediate goal: Take additional classes other than the core subject: I plan to take some extra classes on subjects other than my core subjects. This will help me in identifying my weaknesses. Join a club: I plan to join a club or activity which will give me an opportunity to be with people who have new and different ideas and opinions. This will help me in broadening my horizon and help me think out of the box. Meeting the faculties and career advisor at college: I will try to meet the professors on regular basis. This will help me grow my knowledge beyond classrooms. Staying in touch with the career advisor can give me an opportunity to access the resources which can help me in transition from student to a working professional. Working towards improving grades: I will also concentrate on improving my grades with each assessment. For this I will read my texts, submit my assignments on time and attend all the classes regularly (Sahlfeld, 2011). Short Term Goals: Short term goals take little longer than intermediate goals to get accomplished. Most short term goals are set 1 year or more in the future (Connick, 2017). My short term goal is to find summer internship where I can firsthand experience of working culture. Detailed below is the course of action I plan to take in order to find a suitable Internship: Gaining essential back ground knowledge: before starting an Internship it will be beneficial to obtain the necessary background knowledge about what will be expected out of me as an intern and how will I do it. For this I plan to read books and trade magazines about the field. Finding a Mentor: It will very helpful if can find a mentor on campus who can help me find an organization where I can pursue my internship and can provide guidance and support before, during and after the completion of internship. Mentors are important if a student wants to make the most out of his/her internship. Enroll with Placement cell: Another important activity is enrolling with placement cell at college. Many organizations looking for interns directly contact the placement cells at the college. For freshers, with no prior experience finding an internship via placement cell is the easiest way. Preparing resume and cover letter: For a fresher it is important to develop a strong resume where skills and achievements are nicely highlighted, because in absence of experience these details will help me in giving recruiters an idea about my professional capabilities. Long Term Goal: Long term goal is something which is planned to be achieved in future. Long term goals require lot of time and planning. My long term goal is to find a suitable job after completion of this course. My aim is to find a job which is professionally fulfilling and I can put the knowledge and skills acquired during the course to use. To achieve the long term goal I will do following things: Create a list of target companies: Create a list of 10-12 target companies and direct the effort to research and apply at these companies instead of randomly applying to each and every job which Im eligible for. This will save time and energy invested in researching the companies while applying for job. Networking: Using the contacts developed during internship or with the help career cell at college try to find links at these target companies. This exercise will help in setting up interviews and these links can also act as references. Update the resume: Update the resume and cover letter to add the experience at internship. An updated resume makes positive impression on the recruiter and helps in presenting all the skills and experiences in one place. Now the resume should also have an updated career objective which must be different from what it was at the time of internship. What do I need to do in order to get there? As I assess my current set of skills I find that I need to build on following skill sets in order to achieve my career goals. Communication Skills: Communication skills top the list of fundamental skills required to succeed in the workplace. Today, in the age of social media communication has become more casual. There is need to realize the importance of proper communication at the workplace if one seeks to be successful. Successful leaders like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos all have one thing in common and that is effective communication skills. In order to bridge this skill gap following steps need to be taken: Complementing the verbal communication with the nonverbal: Nonverbal communication contributes 55% to how the message is perceived so it is important to learn the basics of nonverbal communication. Be open to feedbacks: To become a better communicator be open to feedback from your seniors and subordinates (Patel, 2017). IT skills Today employers look for IT skills on every resume, whether the job is IT related or not. Since almost all the office activities are now automated knowledge of computers is a must. In order to be selected for preferred job it is important that the resume has some of the important IT skills like web skills (emailing and social media), word processing skills, spreadsheet and databases and IT troubleshooting (Florentine, 2017). Professional skills Professional skills help employees to collaborate better with others this improves productivity at the workplace. Hiring managers are prioritizing professional skills while recruiting because people with softy skills are easier to work with. Of the most sought after skills I will need to develop 2 skills: Time Management and flexibility, for which I propose to do following: Prioritizing: I will start preparing daily work lists with time bound and prioritized activities. Focus: Focus on one activity at a time Multi-Tasking can cause distraction (Jordan, 2016). Awareness of opportunities Opportunity identification competence is not only limited to be possessed by entrepreneurs. This skill is highly desired in employees to excel. This skill can be imbibed by staying updated about the innovations happening in my functional area and by proactively learning new skills. This will help me in staying ahead of peers and provide career progression (Anthony, 2012). Preparation of transition A survey Payscale.com suggested that less than 10% students believe that they are prepared to join the work force. Today academic skills alone are not sufficient High Impact practices which relate to real world problems to academic lessons are need of the hour. Soft skills like creativity, collaboration and critical thinking prepare a college graduate for the struggles of corporate atmosphere (Glazer, 2016). Conclusion Developing a Personal development plan is the starting point of taking a systematic approach towards developing skills. Now that the personal development plan is ready the next logical step will be to put it to execution. A successful execution will require timely evaluation of the progress made towards achieving the set goals. Feedback plays an important role in monitoring the progress of PDP. In order to make most out of a PDP it is important to whole heartedly embrace your potential and put continuous efforts to convert the goals to reality. References Anthony, S. (2012). The Five Cs of Opportunity Identification. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.hbr.org: https://hbr.org/2012/10/the-five-cs-of-opportunity-identi Bergson-Michelson, T. (2012). Building Good Search Skills: What Students Need to Know. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from ww2.kqed.org: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/03/20/building-good-search-skills-what-students-need-to-know/ Browne, M., Keeley, S. (2001). Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking (6 ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall. Connick, W. (2017). Setting a List of Short-term Goals. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.thebalance.com: https://www.thebalance.com/setting-short-term-goals-2917543 Dearing, R. (1997). National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education . Doyle, A. (2017). List of Teamwork Skills. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from www.thebalance.com: https://www.thebalance.com/list-of-teamwork-skills-2063773 Florentine, S. (2017). 10 IT skills that employers need in 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.cio.com: https://www.cio.com/article/3164125/hiring/10-it-skills-that-employers-need-in-2017.html Glazer, F. (2016). These are the courses that really prepare college students for jobs. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.cnbc.com: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/22/colleges-grads-unprepared-for-workforce-commentary.html Haden, J. (2016). Be More Successful: 8 Steps to Find and Leverage Your True Strengths. Retrieved January 2018, 2018, from www.inc.com: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/be-incredibly-successful-8-steps-to-find-and-leverage-your-true-strengths.html Jordan, C. (2016). 17 Essential Time Management Skills. Retrieved Janaury 27, 2018, from www.linkedin.com: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/17-essential-time-management-skills-carla-jordan Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS. NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL, 27(4), 1-12. Patel, D. (2017). 14 Proven Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300466 Sahlfeld, M. (2011). 25 Smart Goals For College Students This Year. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from https://enduringlearner.com: https://enduringlearner.com/2011/08/11/25-smart-goals-for-college-students-this-year/ Ward, S. (2017). Goal Setting Definition and Examples. Retrieved January 27, 2018, from www.thebalance.com: https://www.thebalance.com/goal-setting-2948135