Personally, I believe that technology is meaningless unless it is linked to the promotion of efficient systems of doing things and the liberation of all peoples around the world. I am scheduled to graduate with my university degree in May 2015. I am working hard to maintain an above-average grade point. However, after graduation, I hope to attain certain kinds of accreditations in order to gain results and improve my competencies. I hope to gain an accreditation in finance and computing and attain better knowledge on business processes and organizational efficiency in the normal sense. This will enable me to work appropriately in the work environment and become a better person in the corporate world.
Situational Analysis
This section of the analysis will critique and evaluate my personal strengths and weaknesses. This will provide an impetus for the presentation of my opportunities and threats. This will give room for the proper positioning of the firm in the attainment of results.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
I have had a wide range of experience in dealing with corporate entities and the financial sector of the world of business. I am willing to work within this kind of environment in order to attain the best results for companies I work with. This will enable me to contribute my optimum skills in assisting finance departments and outsourced financial firms to assist other organizations in meeting their financial objectives.
My competencies include an exposure to various outsourcing function in finance related entities that work to provide financial services to consumers around the United States. This includes internship roles and other activities that are meant to promote financial support services. Most of my experiences are acquired through hard work and a commitment to work hard to attain the best results possible.
My current grade indicates that I could be seen as an above-average professional with important insights and knowledge into finance related services in the outsourced environment. Past experiences and exposure presents me as a hardworking individual.
Weaknesses
My primary weakness is that I have not had a professional working experience in a formal position. I have had various temporary and lower level organizational job exposures. I am yet to have a formal job position in the working environment.
In terms of education, I seem to have had most of my education in IT-related fields. I have little or no exposure in other fields like business, finance, management and other areas that are critical to success in the corporate field of IT professionals.
Also, I have learnt from my interactions with people in my workplace experiences that I lack emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is about how a person diagnoses and analyses things in a manner that makes social and personal sense. I am a bit constrained and limited in analyzing the things people tell me in the emotional sense. I am somewhat very mechanical in my analysis. I always look at the logic of things and do not make room for various social and cultural matters which are important and relevant to a situation. This is something I will need to improve if I want to work in the outsourced IT and IT-related marketing industry that I seek to specialize in.
Opportunities
One of my greatest opportunities at this time is the versatility I possess. This will enable me to operate in diverse fields of IT outsourcing and IT-related finance processes and activities around the world. There is still a lot of room for me to explore and assess which areas of my life I can develop. This flexibility gives me a lot of opportunities in the IT industry.
I also have the chance to work with different organizations and pair their success and growth with my personal professional growth and attainment. This will enable me to work in various units and sectors that will help me to attain the best results.
Threats
The main threats I face at the moment is the increases in government regulations on how IT professionals operate. This includes new IT and finance rules and new outsourcing rules that come up regularly and change the industry. I will need to continuously stay in practice to understand and appreciate these changes in order to remain productive.
Secondly, my need to retain an above-average grade point means I am limited to the level of commitments I can give to an organization I decide to work within. This implies that I might have to work less and concentrate more on improving my grades. This trade-off is necessary because in the last year of my education, I have the last chance to attain the best result possible.
Market Summary
The IT industry is a very diverse one that is based on specialized IT firms that undertake IT support services and financial services. This implies that there are many firms in the industry and most IT professionals work in this sector to assert their independence and competency. With my experience in the industry, I can further my operational competencies in outsourced IT activities and IT-related finance activities through any of the IT firms on the market. However, I will need to find a small niche in the finance industry to specialize within in order to become efficient and attain job security.
Market Research
My market information is obtained from personal contacts and personal networking. I have a strong LinkedIn system that connects me to various opportunities and gives me regular updates as well as personal linkages. Industry reports and industry magazines as well as online groups provide important feedback about the possibilities for recruitment and job openings at different points in time.
Target Market
My aim is to work in an IT firm that provides outsourced finance functions to companies that need business and finance related services. This includes services to firms in general that are IT oriented and also, the provision of financial services that are connected to IT. This includes the formulation of finance oriented software support systems and its installation and monitoring over various periods of time. I am a general practitioner and will want to learn about specific niches and also improve my skills in specific sectors in order to attain proper results.
Product Description
Three products are necessary for me to be able to practice. They include DSS systems, Networking Software and Finance Software. These are software that comes with different versions and types that provide a strong pathway to carry out my activities with an outsourced IT firm. With my flexible views, I can work with any of these products and services as a means to provide important services to customers that might be connected to a firm that I might be working with. This will guide me in whatever I do and ensure that I attain results for my customers.
Personal Positioning
I want to position myself as a general practitioner in the IT industry. This includes the presentation of my services to any IT firm that provides outsourced functions to American organizations and entities that seek to use IT tools in finance, networking and decision support. This implies that I am willing to work with almost any entity in the United States and with time, carve my niche and define which unit and section I will work with and build a career.
Personal Promotion
This section of the plan will provide information about how I can promote myself and enhance my potential to gain results from offering my services.
Advertising
In intend to use LinkedIn as my primary system of advertising my competencies and activities. I will need to purchase a subscription on LinkedIn in order to promote my competencies. I also intend to write a couple of articles in various highly recognized journals in order to gain exposure in the industry.
Sales Promotion
I will set up a professional network and system through which I will promote my competencies and updates of my competencies through the use of recruitment agencies who will place my abilities. This will be an equivalent of a sales tone because it will get different people to see my competencies and help me in different ways to get an appropriate firm.
Personal Selling
There will be the need to brand myself through the creation of a unique brand image that will be used to design my letterheads and a set of business cards. This will be complemented in the way I dress and carry out my campaigns to promote my competencies on social media networks and other systems.
Public Relations
I will carry out various networking campaigns through creating a word-of-mouth system in which people I get in touch with like coworkers, freelance clients and other partners will be given information. This will enable me to connect and link up with different people that I will make interactions with.
Distribution
Online distribution and personal interaction will be the core and fundamental aspect of the distribution process. This includes the use of LinkedIn and other social media systems and processes. The distribution of business cards, CVs that are branded which will be used as a basis for the creation of an anchor website will help me to get information across to members who can potentially employ me.
Pricing
I hope to earn a salary of $30,000 per annum after I graduate from my course. I hope to increase this by 50% each year in the first five years of my graduation and set up my own private IT firm after five years of practice.
Branding
I hope to create a branding system through which I will be able to write my name, university name and other achievements. This will be done by employing the services of a professional graphic designer who will put together all the concepts and ideas relating to my identity in order to attain results.
Relationship Management
I will create a database that will create a system and process that will allow me to keep information relating to my contacts and connections in order to gain and maintain relationships. This database will keep information about interactions and time to get in touch with different people at different people in time. This will include general contact requirements that will include emails for festive periods as well as specific contact requirements for different people who need to be contacted at all points in time.
Social Responsibility
In order to remain productive to my country and community and society, I will want to partake in the following activities:
- Contribute regularly to journals and other knowledge management periodicals that will involve providing information about practice in the industry so that improvements to the industry can be carried out;
- Provide tuition and support in a pro bono manner to enable younger IT professionals to gain an understanding of practical issues in the field;
- Participate in various mentoring programs that will guide younger people in my workplace and give them important training in order to attain the best developmental processes
Controls
In order to attain the best results, I will ensure that I will try to connect to important organizations and important associations that will enable me to attain the best results and grow appropriately in the industry.
Immediate Plans
In the coming year, I hope to do the following:
- Complete my undergraduate degree with a good GPA;
- I plan to attain professional IT certification;
- Publish a finance-related IT article in a peer-reviewed journal;
- Participate in at least three conferences;
- Build a brand image and brand visual design;
- Gain employment in a general outsourced IT organization
- Improve my individual and personal relations skills.
Contingency Plan
I hope to stay in school and in case of any eventualities, I hope to take another year and get things to work out and attain the best results. This plan can therefore be extended over a 2-year period when it is necessary.
Intermediate Plans
In the next 1 to 3 years, I hope to attain the following ends:
- Change jobs to gain more knowledge about different aspects of the industry;
- Improve my professional accreditations by studying with a professional IT association;
- Join various mentorship and supervising/leadership association;
- Partake in the editing of peer reviewed journals and other activities that helps the society;
- Attend at least three international conferences outside the United States.
Contingency Plan
In the event of having a very busy work schedule that prevents me from achieving what I need to achieve, I will consider taking an extended Sabbatical leave after year 3 in order to learn and build these competencies uniquely before returning to the field.
Long-Term Plans
In the next five years, I hope to achieve the following:
- Become a senior finance and technical IT professional that is competent enough to be a partner in such a firm;
- Complete a Masters degree in a finance-oriented field that will be in sync with my specialization;
- Gain enough experience and exposure to become a partner of a firm or set up my own IT firm;
- Improve my communication and social skills to the level of a great leader.
Contingency Plan
In a situation where I cannot achieve everything within the five-year period, I intend to extend this by a few years and grow my competencies in the direction that will help me to achieve the right and appropriate results.
Personal Contingency Plan
There are various risks like the risk of injury and bankruptcy. I hope to take a comprehensive insurance of most of the risks that I can insure and this will be done after the first year of active working. From there, I will be able to live above various risks and issues.
