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HRMM072 Career Futures: Employability Skills

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Table of Contents
Introduction:................................................................................................................................................2
Section1: Placement Goals..........................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the Labour Market:...............................................................................................................4
Section 2: Skills and Knowledge.................................................................................................................8
Section 3: Critical refelection on Decision-Making Process........................................................................9
Reference:.................................................................................................................................................11
Appendix:..................................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction:

The purpose behind the presenting this personal, refelective portfolio is to putforward the
potential opportunities in the field of sales manager by evaluating its strengths and limitations.
The reflecvtive portfolio has beenb further divided into three sections; The first section utilises
the “Gibbs Refelective Cycle” theoretical framework for presenting a personal refelction to
explain the feelings and the ideas through six different stages of “Description, Feelings,
Evaluation, Conclusion and Action Plan”. The second section I have presented a critical
evaluation of the personal and professional development activities that have been planned by me
to achieve my desired career objectives. In the third and final section I have presented a critical
refelcyion and analysis of my own decision making process and skils.

At present I am pursuing MBA (Pre-Experience Placement Route), which has provided me a

significant opportunity to achieve the desired work experience while at the same graduating from
the course. This course has helped in developing the necessary awareness in me regarding the
manner in which the organizations work in the real world scenario. The main highlight of this
pathway is that it allows to develop the skills and competency that are needed in the private and
the public sector. After completing this Gradiation, I am looking forward for the role of Sales
Manager.

Section1: Placement Goals

The main aim of my career plan is to sucessfully get into a challenging position of Sales
Manager in TCS, London and use my skills and experience to generate revenue for the
company.

The two main objectives for achieving my career objectives are:

 I will upload my resume in various social media sites everyday- This step will help me in
keeping my CV updated for the potential recruiters to view.
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 I will also attend atleast 2 interviews per week- This step will be helpful in enhancing my
knowledge and providing me the idea about the skills that are sought in the industry.

Keeping in mind the Aims and Objectives of my career plan, I will try to describe my feelings
and ideas about my chosen career using the theoretical framework of “Gibbs Reflective Cycle”.

Description:

After the completition of my Undergraduate program I had worked as the sales assistant in the
MAX (Departmental Store) for atleast a year. Eventhough I wasn’t a graduate in the sales
department or from the business and marketing line, still I chose to work as the sales asistant for
the sole purpose to hone my skills in a job role that was different than my gradiation course.
Initially when I started my first day at the job I was quite nervous. I had to put in significant
efforst to achieve sales for the company and for business development. I was sucessful in being
an accomplished sales executive with successful track record overseeing pharmaceutical sales,
IT, assisting accounting and invoicing in company and chain pharmacy. Then I decided to pursue
MBA to furthur develop my knowledge and skills in the field of business development and sales.

Feelings:

Prior to entering my job, I had the perception that my Graduation degree was enough for me
avcheive my career objectives. However, my perception changed after entering the job as I
realised that my coworkers had much higher skills than me in the field of sales and business
development. Then I realised that most of my co-workers had done MBA in post graduation. I
did further assessment of my performance and found that MBA is very much important in the
field of sales and business development. After joining the course, my confidence level increased
and eventually I was able to get into the pre-placement route which allowed me to get the desired
work experience while I complete my post graduation.

Evaluation:

MBA is regarded as a better way to develop a career in the field of sales and business
development. Market studies have shown that the minimum wages of an MBA graduate is nearly
£80,000. Since being a professional course an MBA provides aditional advantage in the job
market, but it is also helpful in refining and honing the skills of the professionals who are already
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working in the sales and business development field. An MBA degree offers me an opportunity
for career development, career progression, networking and establishing professional
relationships, offering me the opprotunity to switch careers, mastering the managerial skils,
providing knowledge to develop my own business, enhancing interpersonal relationship
management and conflict management through various case studies and projects.

Eventhough, there are several pros of doing MBA, however there are some cons also, like, doing
MBA requires significant financial commitments in terms of the cost of study and challenges of
time management especially time allocation for the working graduates like me.

Conclusion:

After evaluating my career goals and objectives and getting an in-depth understanding of the
opportunities, Pros and Cons that are related with MBA, I have taken the decsion to pursue the
MBA course through the Pre-Experience Placement Route, that will allow me to develop the
necessary skills and competency for my desired job roles and also provide me aditional
advantage in trhe job market. I have also realised that I need to enhance my knwoeldge in the
sales and business developmenbt domain to provide profits to the organization.

Action Plan:

I already have the work experience of Sales Assitant, but I would like to get into sales supervisor
position to get a first hand knowledge about how managers perform their tasks and
understanding more about the consumer behavior.

Analysis of the Labour Market:

The analysis of labor market can be defined as a process to determine the existing labor market
conditions for different job position. This process involved conducting a survey of the later
market for establishing the salaries which are being paid for different job positions. Determining
the labor market trend includes identifying the “ancillary pay, merit and pay packages”.

i) Unemployment Trend:

The rate of unemployment in UK is 3.8% in October 2019, which is 0.2 % less October 2018.
The rate of unemployment in UK in October 2019 has been the lowest since past 45 years. The
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figures indicate that the number of unemployed people in UK is around 1.28 million which
13000 less than the previous year when the average rate of unemployment was 4.1 %. The
numbers of employed people in UK have increased to 32.8 million which is a growth of 24000
employed people as compared to previous year. The rate of employment had reached the highest
ever record of 76.2%. The average increase in payment and bonuses was around 3.2 % which
was a slight decrease from 3.7% at the beginning of the year.

Source: (Tradingeconomics.com, 2020)

Source: (Ons.gov.uk, 2020)

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ii) Labor Market Trend:

The existing labor market trend shows that there is a positive recruitment outlook among the
employers with the increase in net employment score which is mostly driven by the fact that
most of the large employers are hiring new employees (CIPD, 2019). The major recruitment is
taking place in the construction sector which is followed by the administrative and support
service sector and healthcare sector (CIPD, 2019). The labor market trend also indicates the
difficulties faced by the recruiters in hiring due to the existing tight labor market conditions. It
has become difficult for the employers to fill the vacancies in the past one year due to shortage of
appropriate talent (CIPD, 2019).

Source: (CIPD, 2019)

The significant increase in the employment rates in UK points out towards various factors.
Firstly there is a growing long term trend to increase the participation of female in the workforce.
Secondly more number of people are showing their willingness to remain in the workforce
especially women as the age for the state pension has increased from 60 to 65 years (Ons.gov.uk,
2020). The flexible labor market of UK is also one of the major reasons that have led to increase
in unemployment rates in the country (Frederica Martin, 2019). This is coupled with the factors
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such as limited bargaining power of the trade unions and fixable policies which allowed the
employers to hire and fire employees. Another factor could be that the organizations developing
goods and services have focused on investing less capital and more on labor (Ons.gov.uk, 2020).
Given the higher level of political uncertainty due to Brexit most of the organizations have been
very cautious of making new investments (Elliott, 2019). Apart from that the decline in wages
during the financial crisis resulted in labor becoming cheaper hence the demand for capital
decreased and demand for labor increased.

iii) Pay Outlook:

In terms of salary and bonus it is expected that the median basic pay in the next 12 months will
increase at the rate of 2%. The pay and bonus in the public sector will continue to rise between
1.5 % and 2% whereas in the private sector it is expected to increase in between 2.5 % to 2.2 %.
This shows that there will be a decrease in the gap between the pay and salary of the private
sector and public sector. The basic pay settlements will increase in between 2 to 3%. One of the
significant factors behind the basic pay decision of the employees is the inflation which is
followed by the other factors such as market factor of going rate elsewhere and existing
recruitment and retention process. Some of the major factors behind the below two percent
increase in basic pay is the inability of the organisations to pay more than two percent and the
uncertainty about the future access to European Union market.

Source: (Ons.gov.uk, 2020)

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Section 2: Skills and Knowledge

In the modern time creating an online identity is a very important aspect for a job seeker.
The majority of the employers are now reviewing the social profiles of the probable candidates
in order to have an understanding about their behaviours and interacting with them to understand
whether the candidate satisfies the existing requirements and standards of the organisational
culture. Galssdoor Blog Quiz was done that can offer a perspective regarding my behaviour and
my cognitive abilities. I have also prepared my elevator pitch that can offer the best information
to the recruitment team regarding my knowledge and my experience and would be able to get an
edge over the other job seekers. The elevator speech for the elevator statement is generally a
brief and a persuassive speech that can successfully generate interest among the recruiters and
allows the job candidate to successfully project their quality and skills to pursue the recruiters.

The personal and professional activities for achieving my career aim are directed towards
enhancing my online presence, attending several mock interviews and employment fairs to
improve my skills and gain knowledge about the demand in the job market. As per Waldman
(2019) one of the major social media sites for job candidates is Linkedin. It is possible to get
attractive job roles in the desired field through an updated LinkedIn profile. Hence I regularly
update my skills and experience in LinkedIn. I have also added professional photos and updated
my perspective regarding sales and business development that can attract probable employers
towards my profile. I have also sent connection requests to various alumni, professors in the
University of Northampton and also to several other employees who are working in the sales and
business development of the IT sector. The LinkedIn has not only helped me in increasing my
networking but also it work as a job referral site. Networking is one of the important factors that
can increase my reach to achieve my desired placement. One of the major benefits of increasing
networking is that it helps in enhancing visibility to the targeted employers and can also help me
to enhance my knowledge and job roles in the latest industry trends.

Another important initiative to increase my online presence is to register myself in

various other job portals. According to Tucker (2018) the job portals are helpful for the job
candidates to get their ideal job roles and they also offer a wide range of job opportunities with
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very less effort. Hence, acknowledging the current situation I have opened my account in several
job portals like CV library, Reed.com and Indeed. I believe that online websites are sufficient to
offer various job roles in my desired field and company. My first effort will be to get into a part
time position to enhance my knowledge and experience. The part time position will successfully
add value to my CV with appropriate work experience in the UK.

I also made another initiative to enhance my professional engagement by attending

several mock interviews and taking part in an employment fair. I attended interviews in
changemaker hub which played a very significant role in enhancing my interview skills. Through
the mock interview sessions I was able to identify the flaws and my limitations during my
interaction and was able to update myself with the best practices that had to be followed during
the interview process. The experiences that I attained by attending various employment fairs
allowed me to develop an insight regarding the nature of sales jobs in the IT sector and their
current requirement. It allowed me to adapt myself and get more knowledge about the sales and
business development sector in UK and attract the attention of the interviewer by revealing
various challenges, opportunities and solutions related to the the sales and business development
processes. I received 85% in Abintegro Numerical Test (psychometric test) which shows my
performance as having strong numerical efficiency and strong personal characteristics.

Section 3: Critical refelection on Decision-Making Process

I am Bandi Nikitha, and I did my graduation in the year 2017 from Avanthi Degree
College. Right now I am pursuing an MBA (pre-experience placement route) from the University
of Northampton. I have an experience of working as a field assistant in Max (Departmental
Stores) for one year in India. Also I have worked in Accenture which is a multinational company
in India as operation associate for a YouTube project for 14 months. During my stay in Max
Departmental Store, I was able to enhance my negotiations skills and able to successfully
motivate my team members. I could also supervise or lead them whenever I was given the
opportunity. I have over the years gained considerable knowledge in sales and business
development hence I am looking forward to work in the position of sales manager in an
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organisation and enhancing my skills and competency in providing profitability to my

organisation.

After I completed my graduation in India I searched for various other programs and also
tried to work in the IT sector joining a YouTube project work in Accenture. From the beginning
itself I had an interest in such projects and opportunities where I can directly deal with the
consumers and play a vital role in driving the profitability of my firm. I also reviewed various
other sectors for exposing my talent and to work in a challenging position with significant
growth opportunities of an organisation. However soon my expectations were frustrated and I
realised there was no career growth in my work and I decided to change jobs. Soon I got an
opportunity to work as a sales assistant which was a different field for me but I was self
motivated and adapted my skills to establish myself in the firm.

After joining the job, soon I started to read several articles and industry expert reviews
for developing profit margins of the company through sales. My hard work was eventually
rewarded and I was able to successfully provide significant profits for my company and also
became the team leader. I was able to achieve significant growth in the organisation. I was able
to bring in more consumers and sales in a short time period. These experiences helped me to
gain significant knowledge in the field of sales and business development and I also started
implementing ideas that were provided by Senior managers and experience working in my own
company, into my work. The performance that I was able to achieve in my job as a sales
assistant gave me enough confidence to look for managerial positions and hence I decided to do
MBA for achieving that objective.
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Reference:

Brown, S. and Lent, R. (2005). Career development and counseling. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley.

Chong, S. and Leong, F. (2015). Antecedents of Career Adaptability in Strategic Career

Management. Journal of Career Assessment.

CIPD (2019). Labour Market Outlook Autumn 2019. [ebook] CIPD. Available at:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/labour-market-outlook-autumn-2019_tcm18-67336.pdf
[Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Dlamini, K. (2017). How to Formulate Corporate Level Strategies for Your Business? –
Answered!. [online] YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. Available at:
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-management/how-to-formulate-corporate-level-
strategies-for-your-business-answered/3494/ [Accessed 2 Sep. 2017].

Elliott, L. (2019). Why is UK unemployment still low? We are working longer hours. [online] the
Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/17/why-is-uk-
unemployment-still-low-we-are-working-longer-hours [Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Frederica Martin (2019). How does UK labour market performance compare to other OECD
countries?. [ebook] Available at: https://www.pwc.co.uk/economic-services/ukeo/ukeo-labour-
market-july-2019.pdf [Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Hoang, P. (2014). Business Management. 3rd ed. Victoria Australia: Paul Hoang, pp.176, 174,
172, 40.

Holland, J., Powell, A. and Fritzsche, B. (1994). The self-directed search. Odessa, Fl. (P.O. Box
998, Odessa, FL 33556): Psychological Assessment Resources.

Hui, L., Phouvong, S. and Phong, L. (2018). Transformational Leadership Facilitates Innovation
Capability: The Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Trust. International Journal of Business
Administration, 9(3), p.1.

Mattone, J. (2013). Powerful succession planning. New York: American Management

Association.
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Ons.gov.uk (2020). Labour market overview, UK - Office for National Statistics. [online]
Ons.gov.uk. Available at:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeety
pes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/september2019 [Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Tradingeconomics.com (2020). United Kingdom Unemployment Rate. [online]

Tradingeconomics.com. Available at:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/unemployment-rate [Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Tucker, K (2018) Definition of Job portal [Online]. Available from:https://careertrend.com/facts-

6883857-definition-job-portals.html [Accessed on 14/04/2020].

Waldman, J (2019) Why LinkedIn Is So Important to Your Job Search [Online]. Available
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search/ [Accessed on 14/04/2020].
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Appendix:

1. Personal SWOT Analysis:

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2. Career Prospects
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3. Career Prospects
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4. Psychometric test results

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5. Psychometric test results:

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6. CV Development
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7. Career Assessment
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8. Career Assessment