Work Based Learning Three( 3) (Employability, Enterprise and Entrprunership ) - Essay Example

?Work Based Learning Three (3) (Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Employability 4 Enterprise 7 Entrepreneurship 9 Conclusion 12 Appendix: Curriculum Vitae 16 Introduction The proposed study represents an action plan to conduct critical observation of a charity organisation, where I am engaged as a family support worker. It offers parenting programmes and other support activities to all the families within the reach of the organisation including those of disable children. As I could observe, maintaining integrity and truthfulness in the organizational process is quite essential for an entrepreneur to build a long-term sustainability in this particular sphere. With reference to my personal work-based learning experience, the conceptual understandings and experiences gathered from the real market scenario, especially from the placement in the child centre organisation, can provide me with an extensive opportunity for building a sustainable career (Bigman, n.d.). Based on healthcare related subjects, the degree program incorporates different study approaches such as pharmaceutical operations, hospitals and health systems, biotechnology, diagnostic processes, health information and technology along with many other related subjects. Moreover, offering effective experimental curriculum, intensive skills based and competency based educational process in the healthcare degree program can prove highly beneficial for the students, including me, to achieve the desired goals in the respective sector. In this regard, it will be essential to fill the health and safety form. The information of health and safety form will certainly provide adequate knowledge about the procedures on the basis of which, social and healthcare services can be offered in the most effective manner. Subsequently, meeting with a mentor in the initial stage will be organised in order to obtain adequate information relating to learning contract and health and safety form. The meeting will also aid in providing facts concerning employability skills that are essential for effective placement. Employability There are different employability skills mentionable when focusing on social enterprises, which include communication skills as well as teamwork skills, self-management, problem solving abilities, technical skills and planning along organising skills with the aim of performing business operations in a skilful manner (Commonwealth of Australia, 2013). On this note, from the placement I will identify the skills along with the knowledge that are essential for the present job market, which I was able to observe during my experience in DHL supply chain, were my abilities to be dependable, open-minded, honest, and enthusiasm to learn new skills. During the placement, I will also interview the centre manager of the organisation with the aim of recognising the skills and the knowledge that are essential in the present job market. In this regard, the centre manager of the child centre might assist me adequately in determining the procedures as well as skills required in order to conduct the business operations successfully. Additionally, I will also enhance my managerial as well as communication skills with the assistance of the manager. In the action plan, initially I will audit my employability skills that are essential for the present competitive job market through the placement in the child centre. Herein, I believed to possess certain competencies that include team managerial skills and time management skills, which my peers have often attributed as my strength in the present job market. On the other hand, I lacked effective communication skills as well as teamwork abilities, which reflects my weaknesses needed to be acquired in order to enhance my job competency level. I have planned to develop my communication skills, time management skills and teamwork abilities with the assistance of initial mentor in order to build my confidence and potentialities essential for performing effectively in child centre. I will focus on the practices that are implemented by the centre manager of the child centre in order to enhance my potentialities. I will conduct an interview with the centre manager in order to determine their expectations about the skills and knowledge that are required to operate effectively in health and social organisations. The midway mentor will aid in developing my CV in accordance with the competencies that are essential for the present job market. Contextually, the midway mentor assigned me with different group activities wherein he made me complete different activities within an allotted time. The mentor also instructed me to shadow him in every aspect with the aim of having a better understanding of the procedure on the basis of which, children and their families could be approached in the child centre. In this respect, I was able to develop my communication skills, time management skills and team-working abilities to a certain degree. At the end of the placement in the child centre, I will request for the feedback in order to determine the skills that I need to improve and accordingly, after redoing my audit skills, my score in communication skills have improved to 4. Subsequently, in order to further enhance my communication skills, I will continue with the placement plan. The five websites, that will be relevant for delivering me a clear understanding of the employability skills required to gain competitive advantage in the current job market and also to identify the opportunities, are as follows: 1. Swan, 2009. Employability and High-Level Skills. Media. [Online] Available at: http://www.swan.ac.uk/media/media,40311,en.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. 2. Commonwealth of Australia, 2013. Employability Skills Add Value to Your Business. Assets. [Online] Available at: http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/69455/Employer_pamphlet_Employability_skills_add_value_to_your_business_Web_version.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. 3. Blades, R. & et. al., 2012. Measuring Employability Skills. A Rapid Review to Inform Development of Tools for Project Evaluation. [Online] Available at: http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/579980/measuring_employability_skills_final_report_march2012.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. 4. Cleary, M. & et. al., 2006. Employability Skills from Framework to Practice. An Introductory Guide for Trainers and Assessors. [Online] Available at: http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/69454/Employability_Skills_From_Framework_to_Practices.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. 5. Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2006. Business Studies. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10. [Online] Available at: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/business910currb.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. As mentioned above, the five websites will assist me in identifying the procedures on the basis of which, I will be able to enhance my employability skills. I will also develop a graduate job CV with the assistance of a suitable website i.e. GTI Media Ltd., 2013. Writing CVs for Different Types of Graduate Job. Career Advice. [Online] Available at: http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/applications-and-cvs/270189-writing-cvs-for-different-types-of-graduate-job [Accessed December 24, 2013]. Thus, my graduate job CV will be created with the assistance of the aforementioned websites. Additionally, I will discuss it with the midway mentor, who is responsible for my placement services. In this regard, the midway mentor will offer appropriate information about the employability skills that are essential for getting placement in the job market successfully. Enterprise Health and social care organisations are in need to develop partnership relations with other communities or voluntary groups with the intention developing a better relationship with patients along with staff members in order to provide adequate services to the people of wider community (H.M. Treasury & Cabinet Office, 2007). In order to embed these requirements in my professional competencies, in the initial stage, I will recognise the business model that will be appropriate for my health and social organisation. I believe that my experiences in the Hale Project (Shipley) and Leeds Refugee Action will be quite effective in this context. My education experiences in Wellbeing and Social Care shall also be beneficial at this stage for me. I will interview the manager of the child centre. A forecast will be conducted in order to ascertain the challenges as well as the threats that the organisation might face in the next three years. I will determine the positive factors in accordance with which the business model is adopted. I will conduct a market analysis in order to ascertain the skills along with knowledge that are adopted in different health and care organisations. Respectively, appropriate recommendations will be made with the aim of ensuring that the desired organisations perform successfully. As per the action plan, the skills that are essential for me to attain the desired objectives would majorly include marketing, management of human resource, communication skills, decision making, finance and social impact (Grassl, 2012). Correspondingly, in order to develop my social enterprise skills, the placement with different social work groups chiefly in child centre will facilitate in developing my social skills of performing outreach programs suitably. Additionally, the placements will also assist in determining the procedure on the basis of which, business operations in relation to social enterprise are conducted. Moreover, the interview that I have planned to conduct with the manager of child centre during the placement will aid in determining the essential skills that are vital for performing operations of social enterprise. The manager of social enterprise procure and secure contract on the basis of size and the extent to which, the contract will be able to outreach maximum people in a community. The contract should be secured with adequate finance and human capital. In this regard, an interview with the centre manager of child centre will aid in identifying the essential elements that are important for securing business contacts successfully (ACEVO, 2008). The social enterprise might also face certain challenges in the next three years, which include inadequate funds due to deprived economic conditions, inappropriate governance and lack of strategy and training. Moreover, the interview with the manager will also assist in determining the most important challenges that are faced by social enterprise in a detailed manner (Crisis, 2012; Nkala, 2009). The social enterprises provide care and outreach programs that differ on the basis of which people will be provided with care and their coverage. In this regard, in order to recognise other organisations providing similar or dissimilar services, an online research of other organisations will be conducted (Crisis, 2012). Respectively, from the placement service, I will be able to enhance my strengths in the field of communication, managerial efficiencies and decision-making, essential for managing social enterprises effectively. Additionally, there are certain weaknesses, which I need to polish relating to marketing activities, financial activities and management of human resources, vital for the success of social enterprise through the placement service. Entrepreneurship The concept of entrepreneurship is termed as a person or a group who seeks to bear risks for earning profit by establishing a new venture possessing adequate managerial and communication skills (Newlands & Saee, 2012; Zoltan & Audretsch, 2010). I believe to possess strengths in managerial skills and communication skills. However, the weakness in my decision-making skills can create a significant constraint in my entrepreneurship capabilities. With this belief, I would centrally focus on reviewing the common and most influential set of leadership skills in decision-making process required by competent entrepreneurs and accordingly, try to identify my set of skills. Gaining a substantial understanding of these skills, I will subsequently review the entrepreneurial traits of the board of directors and other decision-makers in the organisation. I will further audit the resources of the organisation including people skills, equipment, funding streams and the service users among others and analyse those in the following step to identify the resources used inefficiently within the organisation. Keeping these aspects into account, I will utilise my communication skills in different languages and potentials to work effectively within team, self-confidence and enthusiasm in this stage. For instance, I will develop a Poster based on different languages that include Kurdish and Arabic. According to my own understanding, the campaigning of health and social care services through the posters would enable me to obtain the attention of the local population. Moreover, the concept of developing poster regarding in Kurdish and Arabic language would further enable the local population to easily understand and practice different health and social care activities within the communities. To successfully accomplish the campaigning objectives through posters, I would preferably involve individuals from local communities having a minimum skill to understand the significance of these activities. In this context, I would propose the campaigning activities in accordance with the needs of different communities and ensuring each individual to gain significant benefit from it. The proposal of communicating different health and social care services through developing posters have been highly emphasised by the service users/staff teams. According to their perception, the concept of campaigning health and social care services through posters would encourage the community members and protect them from different types of health and social hurdles. In addition to the sustainable needs for being a successful social entrepreneur, the auditing skills that I learnt during my placement can provide adequate scope to successfully represent the annual report of the organisational functions. In this regard, my ethical leadership will play a pivotal role for the venture. In this context, I would also focus on effectively performing my leadership traits in building strong operational and managerial teams to achieve the overall objectives of the organisation (Goldberg, 2006). Conducting the above stated steps, I will emphasise the success of the action plan in order to review my entrepreneurship skills, which I will be demonstrating throughout the plan implementation process. Simultaneously, I do also believe that future improvement of entrepreneurial skills is also required to perform health and social care activities efficiently. In this context, I will continuously focus on my ongoing placement and ensure to communicate amongst the children and families regarding the significance of a successful social entrepreneur. Therefore, I ensure to focus on revising the key skills required by a social entrepreneur and refurbish my competencies in future practices. Conclusion The communication, control and managing skills of any competent performer focus on mitigating various business issues that are likely to be faced by any social enterprise venture. The traits of self-belief along with prioritising opinions and ideas of the individual members would also be executed to take effective decisions for improving operational, marketing and promotional activities of different health and social care services. In this regard, the graduates are required to possess different employability skills that are essentially required in the present job market. Contextually, I was able to learn that I possess certain skills and knowledge from the academic studies and placement with a charity organisation associated with childcare. I also lack certain employability skills are essential in the current job market, but I have planned to develop these necessary skills from different websites offering strategies in accordance with which, my employability skills can be enhanced. Therefore, the knowledge that I have gained from the academic learning course-works and present business environment would help me to implement effective strategies in terms of organising independent venture in the next three years. With reference to my belief and understanding, the academic and communication skills would provide superior potentiality in order to develop effective business strategy for the proposed venture plan. In this respect, final mentor meeting will provide adequate information about the various employability skills along with knowledge that are essential for graduates to remain much competent and competitive in this present business market standing. At the end, I would like to state that there are certain skills such as time management and teamwork that I need to develop with the intention of developing my employability skills in this present competitive business scenario. In this context, the placement hour’s sheet is provided hereunder. Placement Hours Sheet Date Start Time Finish Time Lunch Total Hours Total Hours Completed: Supervisor Signature: References ACEVO, 2008. Private Sector Commissioning: Securing Contracts in an Untapped Market. Document. [Online] Available at: http://www.acevo.org.uk/document.doc?id=50 [Accessed December 24, 2013]. Bigman, D., No Date. The Pros and Cons of Globalization for Developing Countries: A Review of the Critical Issues and Empirical Debate. Chapter 1, pp. 27-79. Commonwealth of Australia, 2013. Employability Skills Add Value to Your Business. Assets. [Online] Available at: http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/69455/Employer_pamphlet_Employability_skills_add_value_to_your_business_Web_version.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. Crisis, 2012. Managing Social Enterprises. Files. [Online] Available at: http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/3xE/3xe_managingsocialenterprise_infoleafletweb.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. Goldberg, D. E., 2006. The Entrepreneurial Engineer. John Wiley & Sons. Grassl, W., 2012. Business Models of Social Enterprise: A Design Approach to Hybridity. ACRN Journal of Entrepreneurship Perspectives, Vol. 1, Iss. 1, pp. 37-60. H.M. Treasury & Cabinet Office, 2007. The Future Role of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration: Final Report. The Stationery Office. Newlands, D. & Saee, J., 2012. The Global Business Handbook: The Eight Dimensions of International Management. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Nkala, M., 2009. Survival: Challenges Faced by Developing Social Enterprises. Challenges in Social Enterprises. [Online] Available at: http://www.ribm.mmu.ac.uk/symposium2009/Papers%2009/Nkala,%20Makhosi.pdf [Accessed December 24, 2013]. Teufel, F., 2008. Social Entrepreneurship. GRIN Verlag. Zoltan, J. A. & Audretsch, D. B., 2010. Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research: An Interdisciplinary Survey and Introduction. Springer. Appendix: Curriculum Vitae Salam Mohammed Shaly 28 St Pauls Road Bradford West Yorkshire BD8 7LU Personal statement I am a friendly, self-confident enthusiastic, team player, quick learner, punctual, motivated person, problem solver, and focused individual with excellent communication skills. I can speak, read and write in few different languages. Additionally, I do have a dependable, honest and open-minded attitude. Education Year (BSc Hons) Degree in Health, Wellbeing and Social Care 2011-2014 At University of Bradford (BETC National Award) in IT & Business (Bradford College) 2009-2011 Level 2 English, Math and Computer (Bradford College) 2008-2009 High School (North of Iraq) 2003-2004 Work Experience Year DHL Supply Chain 2012 Duty: To support the finance team in weekly/monthly reporting To support contract managers ad-hoc administration To perform with ethos towards continual improvement for the contract Unit 3, Hanging Wood Way, West 26 Industrial Estate Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire BD19 4TS Placement work experience Mortimer house child centre 2013 I worked with family support workers team which they offer support in house and outreach to individuals and group, positive parenting programmes and activities to all families in our reach area. In addition, I worked with a fatherhood team, which offered support and activities to fathers/male cares and additional support to fathers who have children with disabilities. 18-20 Mortimer Ave, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD3 7EY Hale Project (Shipley) 2012 I was an outreach worker and worked with a group. We provided adequate services to old people with the intention of assisting elderly people mainly in adverse weather conditions. Also, we provided items for poor people such as parcel food, clothes, shoes, and blankets which, they had been funded by Bradford City Council. Furthermore, we provided healthy food and hot drink in our Mobile bus (Hale Bus) with healthy cooking recipe and advice for people who visited our bus. In addition, we provided health check in our Bus and sent the result of the health check to their GP. 1st Floor/Merchants Quay/Ashley La, Shipley, BD17 7DB Voluntary work experience Leeds Refugee Action 2008-2010 I worked with Kurdish and Iranian (Fars) who could not speak English, especially with new asylum seekers who just entered the UK. My duties were to interpret their language to English and helping our advisers to translate documents from Kurdish and Farsi (Persian) to English. 16 Lower Brunswick St, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 7PU Personal Details Driving Licence Full/Clean Health Excellent; non-smoker, not drinking alcohol Languages Kurdish, Farsi, Arabic and English Interests and Hobbies In my spare time, I enjoy keeping fit and play football on regular basis. I also enjoy socialising with friends, attending the cinema to watch newly released films. I like reading and watching TV, especially news. Furthermore, I like cooking and try different food traditional food. Read More