CONTENTS
1. Introduction 3
2. Task A – Description of the Evidences 3
A. Evidence 1 – Essay on Sir Kenneth Robinson Educational Views 4
B. Evidence 2 – Internal Memo about applicants for the position of Assistant Marketing Manager 5
C. Evidence 3 – Making a brief presentation about employment law 5
3. Task B - Reflections about the Process of Self-Assessment 6
Introduction
Merely having professional capabilities is not enough for getting employment, securing a promotion or otherwise rising through the ranks in the company. The critical aspect of being properly rewarded for one’s professional skills and capacities is making persuasive and impressive presentations of such skills to the company managers.
This paper has pursues two objectives. Part A of this research provides a comprehensive description of three pieces of evidence, which underscore the key elements of my professional transformation and growth. This part of the assignment explains why these pieces of evidence are relevant for exhibiting the key aspects of my personal and professional growth, as well it attempts substantiating why these evidences are valid and persuasive. Part B of the paper is focused on the analysis of these evidences, correlating them with pre- and post-educational evaluation of my professional and personal skills and capabilities. Together combined, these tasks provide an informative insight into the particularities of my professional transformation and growth.
Assumedly, the best evidences, which can be used to describe a student, are the examples of his academic work. Analyzing several documents consecutively is helpful for ascertaining the student’s ability to apply his analytical and integrative thinking skills, to understand how skilled a student at different types of qualitative or quantitative research is, as well as to conclude on his ability to identify different problems and to provide effective corresponding solutions to such problems. In addition to that, these types of evidence are the best solutions for analyzing his creative, effective and persuasive writing skills, knowledge of the main criteria of a good presentation. Finally, evaluation of the group writing projects is helpful for evaluating his teamwork skills, therefore concluding whether such employee would better suit group or individually coordinated projects.
Evidence 1 – Essay on Sir Kenneth Robinson Educational Views
The first type of evidence submitted for consideration is the descriptive essay about the view of Sir Kenneth Robinson, who is one of the most authoritative figures of our times on education and innovation, on the state of the modern global educational system and its potential future developments.
The completing of this essays indispensably required possession of the following skills. Firstly, it was important to be familiar with the basic principles of knowledge adaptation to novel situations. In other words, this topic is very unusual, and it did not receive much academic attention during the classes. Thus, the only way to produce a good piece of descriptive writing was making a good research, i.e. applying the familiar research methods to the new area of social sciences.
Secondly, writing this essay was closely intertwined with critical, analytical and integrative thinking. In particular, after the relevant data was collected, I had to figure out the most contestable issue, which, in this case was the opinion of Mr. Kenneth to contemporary approach to education. At the same time, this task required to identify flaws and limitations of his reasoning, thus providing the room for the opponents’ arguments. In addition, analytical and integrative thinking skills were necessary to reconcile the opinion of Mr. Kenneth with the views, expressed by his critics.
Finally, completing this task involves extensive use of effective writing skills and the ability to convey different views to the different audiences. Because a person, who does not share the opinion of Mr. Kenneth, might have read the essay, maintaining neutral style of writing was important, in addition to making the work consistent with the existing academic standards, while being comprehensible to the average reader.
Evidence 2 – Internal Memo about applicants for the position of Assistant Marketing Manager
While the first type of evidence is a good illustration of my academic-related skills, the second piece of evidence is a good example of my business-focused capacities and aptitude. In that assignment, I was required to read three resumes and cover letters from different applicants, and to evaluate their motivation, educational background and professional characteristics. The ultimate purpose of this assignment was to determine which applicant would suit the job culture in a most effective way, and whose professional capabilities and professional experiences would align with the job description.
The completion of this task entailed use of the following skills and capacities:
Firstly, completion of this task was connected with my capability of applying problem-solving skills into practice. Evaluation of the job candidates is an important part of any business student curriculum, thus, this task may serve as a good demonstration of my professional skills in this area. Specifically, this task purported the development of specific criteria, which should be used to decide on the best candidate, and by analyzing the correctness of choosing a criterion, the one may conclude whether my professional human resources management skills meet the desired standards.
Secondly, the conclusions I made in this type of work suggest that I respect the principles of respect for diversity, i.e. that I evaluated all resumes and cover letters not on the basis of professionalism and educational performance only, but analyzing who needs that job most and disregarding ethnic and national backgrounds of the applicants.
Evidence 3 – Making a brief presentation about employment law
The purpose of the third task was to make a brief presentation about the foundations of the employment. Although that task was not especially challenging from the academic point of view, making presentations about legal topics requires meticulousness, concentration and attention. While performing that task, the following skills were particularly important:
The first critical aspect was diagnosing and solving problems – employment law is one of the biggest areas of law, containing numerous concepts, provisions and theories. From the plethora of the different subjects, it was necessary to identify the most important ones.
Secondly, successful completion of this task revealed that I am open to all types of new experiences, including those that do not directly relate to business. Harmony with the main foundations of employment law is an essential task of any company, but it rests with the set of an in-house counsel responsibilities. However, by making this research presentation I demonstrated that as a future manager, I am nevertheless open to any new and multiple experiences and ideas, as well as it showed that I am capable of making impressive presentation (oral presentation skill).
The process of self-transformation is a complicated and exigent activity, which requires much dedication, concentration and dedication. Failure to have a single of these elements will assuredly result in inability to reach the desired excellence standards, and, therefore, incompetence in some professional segment.
Although I am reasonably good at the key target capacities (ability to diagnose and solve problems, openness to new experiences, effective oral communication, respect for diversity, teamwork and reflection), I realize that future progress in all these settings is a necessary condition for my subsequent development as a business professional.
Firstly, my pre-activity self-assessment profile shows that my problem diagnosing and solving skills were reasonably good (I put ‘effective’ mark). However, while performing the task of Evidence B, I a wider approach was necessary to solve difficult, employment-focused or other business dilemmas. Though I eventually handled the task, it was evident, that if I possessed more human resources management skills, I would complete this assignment within less time. Yet, while drafting the memo, I practically tested several research methodologies and approaches to decision-making. Therefore, I believe that my rating should be re-considered upwards.
Secondly, I was more conservative and not open to new experiences in the past. In particular, I used to analyze each situation, problem or situation from a dogmatic, ‘conventional’ perspective. In my opinion, if a particular notion was supported by the majority, I considered that that approach to thinking was the only proper one. However, researching the data about Sir Kenneth Robinson completely modified my attitude to embracing new experiences, viewpoints. I became more prone to testing alternative positions, analyzing unorthodox opinions and testing their validity. Generally, I become a more observant person, because the events around me regularly confirm the main learning assumption, which emanated from my essay – miraculously, the most unpopular views often prove to be the correct ones. Thus, I believe that my mark for openness to the new ideas should be raised to “C”, although much work still lies ahead.
Thirdly, I rated my oral communication skills as ‘effective’ before the activity. The presentation about employees’ benefits was a good opportunity to examine the correctness of my self-assessment. Assumedly, my performance was good enough. The audience was interested and actively engaged in the discussion. Many questions were asked, and, I believe that I successfully managed to provide informative and comprehensive replies. At the same time, I realized that the mark I put before the activity was slightly overrated. Specifically, I did not realize the importance of a thorough preliminary preparation. Clearness of a presentations structure, confidence in delivery and professional organization of content are not the products of a speaker’s talent, but are the results of intense preparations and research. Although the presentation was successful, apart from understanding the importance of making a background research and rehearsing a presentation, no substantial improvements were made. Thus, until I get the opportunity to practice in delivering complicated presentations, I believe that my self-assessment mark “C” should remain unchanged.
The next important professional capability of a university graduate is respect for diversity. Even before the diversity activities started, I openly appreciated and valued different types of diversity, as well as I equally treated the people from different countries and ethnicities. When analyzing three resumes and CVs, it was clear that the two applicants belonged to the national minorities. However, one of the foundations of our academic background is that national or ethnic characteristics never affect professional expertise of an employee. It is the fusion of his skills, experience and education that may really affect his or her suitability for a particular position. In addition, assistant to marketing manager is often seen as a feminine occupation. Yet, completion of this assignment demonstrated that this approach lacks any empirical proof. In general, my mark for ‘respect for diversity’ should be improved for “B”.
Teamwork is an important future element of my skillset as well. Making recommendations about the best candidate for the assistant to marketing manager position require much interaction with the superiors, and provided good insights into how various conflicts should be resolved between different members of the team. Yet, more practice is necessary for considering myself a ‘very effective’ team player. I believe that I am still ‘effective’.
Finally, reflection is a key aspect of my professional development. Profound analytical work followed each of the three tasks, and it became evident that reflecting about the outcomes of any academic activity is the best way to improve personal performance. Moreover, I understood that it is virtually impossible to make progress without profound reflective activity. As a result, I am firmly convinced that now I am ‘effective’ in post-activity reflections.
