8 PERSONAL PLAN DEVELOPMENT "Any ideas, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought" - Napoleon Hill (Hill & Berges, 2010)
U1559126 WEEK 1 Activity Description (Activity 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) We were given the following task for activities for the first week of university: · list the skills and abilities that you think might be important to the potential employer of a Business Management Graduate · compare your individual thoughts and agree a list of the 10-15 of the most important skills & abilities · complete personal SWOT analysis · review PDP Handbook Activity Ref l ection Key skills used: Creativity Communication Teamwork Cognitive Skills Problem Solving Research While first day at university, we were given specif i c tasks to complete and get other people to know. During f i rst day it was important for us to make sure we have known what we will be doing for the next 24 weeks. All those tasks were designed to check our knowledge about skills and abilities needed for the future workplace. I was feeling ashamed but on the other side also conf i dent as I had a knowledge of those because of the previous learning at the college. At the end of activity I have end up with 7 out of 10 skills listed by the lecture. As it was first day, I was feeling mindful of what I should say loud as English is not my first language. To be able to speak up to the whole class I needed to break the barrier. After that, I was feeling very happy and proud of myself. After those 2 f i rsts task, I have learnt that no one would laugh from foreign person if they would say something wrong in grammatical way. 2
U1559126 When completing the SWOT analysis, I found it very dif f i cult to pick and write my strengths and opportunities. I realised that it is very dif f i cult to describe yourself in good way, easier say bad things. I have learnt after this activity that I have to work on my confi dence, creativity and inf l uencing; where my strong side is working with team and working under pressure. SWOT analysis helped me to assess my skills and abilities and show my area for improvements in the future. After this activity I know what area I should work on, what I am good at and where I can f ind opportunities to gain new skills which would be helpful in the future workplace. Although it was hard activity to complete, it was helpful as well to answer the next question about the career path we would like to go or avoid in the future. As it is the beginning of the university, I was not sure yet what I want to do after graduation. SWOT analysis allowed me to eliminate specif i c STRENGHTS * Time management * Team working * Finance