Self-Efficacy Personal Development Plan - Coursework Example

PORTFOLIO ITEM 2: Self-Efficacy Personal Development Plan ACTION PLAN - SUMMARY DETAILED ACTION WHEN COMPLETED Adopting strategies for success Examples include minimizing the impact of past failures, matching strategies with situations, accelerating own learning, and securing early wins. Checking desired outcomes in academic performance 2. Building Support System Examples include setting expectation, altering daily routine, willing to take risk, accepting compliments, admitting and learning from own mistakes, verbal persuasion, doing the right thing and not getting afraid of criticism and mocking. Observing the impact on self-confidence 3. Enforcing Discipline Making improvements in areas of verbal communication, written communication, team work, time management, leadership skills, decision-making, vicarious experience, negotiating and persuading. Monitoring improvement in employability skills. Discussion In vocational behavior, the importance of self-esteem and self-concept has long been recognized. Recent research has emphasized on the construct of self-efficacy which is defined as beliefs of an individual in their abilities to performance a certain task or behavior. Self-efficacy refers to individual’s beliefs concerning his ability to successfully conduct a given task or behavior. There are numerous causes behind the cognitive development that ultimately affects self-efficacy. A growing body of research has shown that there is a significant positive relationship between the self-efficacy beliefs of students and their academic performance. Self-efficacy influences the activities that students select, the amount of effort they put in, persistence in difficult times as well as difficulty in set goals. Therefore, the goal of this task is to increase own self-efficacy and check the accomplishment after specified period of time. It must be borne in mind that people having low self-efficacy tend to avoid the task while those having high self-efficacy not only attempt the task but work harder and persist longer in times of difficulties. The personal development plan provided above has been constructed in order to enhance own self-efficacy skills. It is required to enhance self-efficacy skills in three areas including academic performance, self-confidence, and employability skills. Certain activities are needed to be performed in order to improve in each of the mentioned areas. For instance, in order to perform better in academics one needs to alleviate the impact of past failures. Past performance has huge impact on the beliefs of getting success or failure in the future. Therefore, the impact of previous failures must be minimized. Also, strategies for achieving good grades must be situational that is, urgent tasks need to be done first. Along with that, learning must be acquired through every possible source. Apart from course books, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, and informational apps contribute a great deal in improving the learning process. In addition, instead of receiving rewards on final success, small rewards must be given to own self after accomplishing small goals. Self-confidence has a lot to do with self-efficacy so it is required to enhance self-confidence as well. In order to do so, verbal persuasion must be utilized which refers to receiving positive feedbacks and compliments from others. Own expectation must be set in order to measure own performance. Admitting and learning from own mistakes also contribute in improving self-confidence. Along with that, one needs to do what one thinks is right and must not get afraid of negative feedback and criticism. Self-confident people are usually risk takers therefore to certain extent, risk must be taken. Improving employability skills require varying capabilities. Some of the most prominent includes leadership skills and team work. It is required to work in small groups in order to enhance team work and leadership skills. Verbal communication can be improved through presentations and speaking in groups while written communication can be improved through writing assignments. Through vicarious experience that is from seeing lecturers and professors perform, employability skills can be enhanced. PORTFOLIO ITEM 3: Personal CV Renjie Liu Tel: xxxxxxxxxx Mobile: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Skilled communicator having an experience of 2 years in dealing with colleagues and customers in commercial organizations. Specific experience of management and administration. Excellent time-keeping and strong background in organization and administration including organizing systems. Now developing career in client management. Education University of East Angila 2011-2014 Bachelors in Business Administration Archway High School A Levels (Accounting B, English C, Business Studies A) 2009-2010 GCSE (Including English and Maths) 2006-2008 Training and Professional Development Diploma in Business Studies (Cambridge) 2008 Advanced Microsoft Skills (offered by ABC Skills Ltd) 2009 Career History Morgan Enterprise – Office Assistant Sept 2008- June 2010 Managed office administration consisting of 15 staff members at this logistics company reporting annual turnover of $10 million. ABC Systems – Team Secretary April 2007- July 2008 Organized record keeping for 8 team members and developed written communication, ensuring accuracy at all times. Key Skills & Achievements People Management Organized and monitored a staff consisting of 20 members for a couple of school fairs. Offered counseling and support service to staff members that required immediate assistance. Dealt with a number of clients throughout the tenure. Budget Management Organized budgets for school fair which raised $8,000. Managed budget and record keeping for a couple of such successful events. Managed annual budget for organization of $10,000 for office supplied and ascertained zero overspend. Customer Handling Increased number of potential buyers by 10% Communicated with a broad range of clients and suppliers to ensure accurate supply for the business. Personal Profile Name: Renjie Liu Date of Birth: Address: Marital Status: National ID card Number: References Available upon request Discussion While constructing a CV, the most substantial factor to consider is the format of the CV. The CV has been provided in this specific format because it covers all the major elements of the CV including education, work experience, skills and achievements as well as personal profile. This format covers the basic parts that employers seek in a candidate. It incorporates the major information about the candidate in a very precise manner, providing an overall glance of the personality of the applicant. It can be noted that specific yet complete information has been provided in this format of the CV. First, right below the name of the candidate, contact details are provided that include telephone numbers and email ID. At the end of the CV, a little more information is provided including address, marital status, NIC number and date of birth. Formulation of CV is extensively linked with own accomplishments. If certain heads are part of the format but the applicant does not possess skills/education/qualities to fit that part, then that part often needs to be excluded. Despite the potency of this CV format, there are certain gaps that need to be filled. For instance, career history or work experience is very short but only with time, it will be elongated. Secondly, hobbies and interests should be included in the last part of the CV. Moreover, a brief list of major courses studied or areas of interests can also be provided. These are the areas where improvement is required. The format of the CV has been tailored towards the type of industry and applicant’s profile. When it comes to utilizing experience through work, then it can be acknowledged that working at Morgan Enterprise as an Office Assistant was a worthwhile experience. It was the first time that I experienced working with so many staff members and learned a lot through this experience. Lastly, the CV has been designed in a standard format so that it suits majority of the countries and meets the requirements of most of the candidates. PORTFOLIO ITEM 4: Preparation for Interview Interview is the most important element of the recruitment process. When an employer invites an applicant for interview, it indicates that he/she is interested in hiring you. The interview provides opportunity to both, the employers and the candidate to exchange. Interview can be considered as highly professional conversation. For such an important meeting, interviewee requires to do some preparation in order to prove him as the most suitable candidate for the job. Right when the person receives a call for an interview, the candidate must begin to do some research regarding the role and the organization. Interview must study about the basic facts and current information of the company. He must also study about own experience, skills, and interests if that fits to the job and organization. Current trends in the job sector and the company must be found out. It must also be sought what the employer is looking for. Interview then must either anticipate or research for probable questions that might be asked during the interview using STAR method and should plan the answers accordingly. The form of interview such as panel, single, group etc. must also be found out and preparation should be done for that also. Interviewee must ensure to arrive before time in order to leave a good first impression. It is also advisable to take all the relevant documents such as application letter, previous work samples, CV etc. if necessary. It is better to practice answering questions in order to gain confidence since communications skills need to be very strong. Dressing has to be very professional as it counts a lot in leaving a good impression. During the interview, best attributes must be highlighted. Along with verbal communication, non-verbal communication must also be taken care of. Gestures and facial expression must match own self for instance if you describe yourself as outgoing and confident but avoid eye contact and speak inaudibly, the interviewer will disregard your statement and consider you as not-so-confident person. An interview must take control of nerves as it may make an interviewee forget simple things like listen and smile, which can result in leaving an impression of being inattentive or unfriendly. In some cases, interviews are taken twice before hiring. First is a brief screening interview whereas second one is a more serious meeting. If an interview receives a call for the second interview, a better preparation is required. PORTFOLIO ITEM 5: Psychometric Testing Psychometric tests are considered as only source of information that can define about style and abilities of a person. In order to investigate about own abilities, I took two test, one for verbal reasoning and second for abstract reasoning. Verbal reasoning focuses on one’s ability to think and understand logically about written information. On verbal reasoning test, I attempted 31 out of 32 questions out of which only 10 were correct. As the tests are subject to error, therefore a band was provided ranging consisting on percentiles. Here are the bands and their respective score for each test. Abstract Reasoning In abstract reasoning test, I attempted 73 questions out of 75 as the time was running out and 2 questioned were missed. Out of 73 answers that I gave, 29 answers were correct. It is quite evident that the score falls in an average category which defines my ability to understand and interpret abstract information in an average manner. Standing on 34th percentile indicates that I performed better 34% of the group. The assessment of the test indicated that my progress was good in terms of answering maximum number of questions. The test further stated that I seemed to have achieved an adequate balance between accuracy and speed. Yet, certain areas were provided where I need to make improvement. First, performance on test must be improved. In order to improve accuracy, questions must be read more carefully and making sure what is asked in the question. Verbal Reasoning For verbal reasoning, I attempted 31 questions out 32 and answered only 10 of them correctly. As the measurement can never be accurate, therefore the range on which I fall based upon the answers that I gave is below average. Being on 6th percentile indicates that I scored better than 6% of the group. It was mentioned that I might be unfamiliar with the type of test and have misunderstood the instructions. There were a lot more reasons given due to which I could not perform better on test. In order to improve my performance, it was suggested that I need to work more accurately. Before starting a test, one must be clear about what is asked. Each question must be read clearly so that important details are not missed. The score might change by performing with a different perspective next time. Works Cited Bandura, A. 1977. 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