Personal Development Plan Assignment

Personal Development Plan 1.0 Summary The purpose of this report is to analyze my current skills and how they match with my chosen career path of a management position within a reputable marketing company. According to Jackson (2017), “Personal Development Planning (PDP) is defined as 'a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development”. A number of methods will be used to analyze this, including a S.W.O.T. analysis and outlining my key goals and objectives short-term, as well as considering solutions to reach my long-term objectives. Recommendations on methods to make my goals achievable will then conclude this report. 2.0 Introduction Personal Development Plans are used to analyze all aspects of an individual; this involves evaluating your key abilities, as well as outlining your weaknesses and discussing ways to improve on them. According to Mueller (2017), “Planning isn’t difÏcult. What is difÏcult, though, is creating a plan that will actually get you where you want to be. This also means that you will have to identify everything that won’t get you closer to your goals.” This author elaborates on how it is important to learn your weaknesses as well as strengths about yourself throughout your career, and which direction you do, and don’t wish to take. For this type of plan to work efÏciently, I need to have future aspirations in mind to help set short, medium and long term objectives. With a desire to work in management at a marketing company I need to possess specific skills such as:  Teamwork is paramount with marketers working on marketing campaigns on a regular basis.  Creativity to design types of media to a range of consumers.  IT skills are required because the majority of work will be completed online, as well as collecting and presenting marketing figures. (TargetJobs, 2016) This report will help me identify those skills that will enable me to understand how far I am away from achieving my goal. According to TargetJobs (2017) “Marketing is one of the most popular graduate jobs you’ll come across. For this reason, you'll need to impress graduate recruiters. If you’ve got a good mix of soft skills, academic ability and determination.” This states that a mixture of all soft/hard skills are required to be able to compete for that specific job role, this gives me an insight in what I need to achieve. By highlighting my short and long term goals, I am able to write a structured plan to assist me not only on developing myself personally, but also improving myself on a professional level. (Gineersnow, 2017) 3.0 Skills Analysis – S.W.O.T 3.1 SWOT table Strengths I have experience working in various environments such as a technician in food processing, learning assistant at a college and retail/sales at companies, this will benefit me when adjusting to a new marketing environment. Being articulate in my speech will help me communicate with my marketing team, enabling me to network successfully. Weaknesses Time-Management I find difÏcult structuring what to complete first, marketers will regularly be working on campaigns with deadlines so managing time effectively is vital. Opportunities Manage my time better with a diary or type of Gantt chart so I feel more confident on what is being asked of me, which will help me to complete tasks/jobs given to me successfully. Threats Not listing my to-do list in a diary will affect how I complete work and in what time frame. In a marketing atmosphere I could be set a few assignments to work from at once. Working in close teams is not something I’m familiar with which makes it difÏcult when delegating tasks to members of the team. Not being able to structure work between each other efÏciently will effect team working skills. I am able to manage my work meeting deadlines regularly by managing university work and my social life. Numerical skillsBeing able to apply this skill In data collecting I find difÏcult, this is one key area I need to improve as marketers need to present graphs and different charts. Working in teams more frequently such as our PDP presentation will improve my ability to get points across in a way so all individuals understand. Using different learning materials on canvas or online to revise certain data and apply it to my work more frequently. Not finding a method that works for me to carry out tasks, it is important to be creative when presenting marketing data. 3.2 Analyzing my strengths Having worked in various different industries already, this will help my decisionmaking in what career path I am best suited for. I have gained different sets of skills from working in different environments and problem solving in a range of unique scenarios. This has changed my perception on work and helped me gain crucial lifeskills that will undoubtedly make it easier in choosing the right career. Strain (2017) stated, “A varied job experience gives you a diverse skill set that can make you valuable to an employer.” This quote benefits my argument that my experiences gained from working in multiple jobs can only be an advantage, so when I do work in a marketing ofÏce I will be more confident in adapting. Being articulate allows me to communicate successfully with various different people, this is because I can engage with people and adapt my language so everyone can understand what I am saying. Stapleton (2015) states “poor communication means that he has limited potential and utilization within his organization”. This means that even if you are intellectual it doesn’t mean you are going to succeed if you are not able to communicate your information clearly. Having aspirations to be a Marketing manager I will need to be able to think quickly for solutions and communicate strategies on the spot to my team. (Stapleton, 2015) Managing to meet deadlines on assignment work or other tasks is something I achieve on a regular basis. It is important to find the right balance between work and your social life, ways in which I help myself do this is by setÝng goals each day so I know what I need to accomplish throughout the day making sure they are realistic to achieve. Figure one is one method to show what is required to achieve a balanced life that involves your family, career, health and friends. 3.2.1 Figure one (Thewave, 2015) 3.3 Analyzing my weaknesses Time management is one area that needs improvement if I am to fulfill my potential, being able to use your time effectively will result in many benefits including organization skills. Gerstner (2017) states, “Never let anyone own your schedule.” This statement emphasizes the importance of managing your time the right way and not letÝng your time pass you when you have the opportunity to control it. Working in teams as well as improving on my numerical skills is something I need to achieve in order to become a successful marketing manager. I haven’t had a lot of experience in working in small teams presenting information so this will be beneficial for me to improve this, as no doubt I will need this skill in my working career. More of my time needs to be spent using numerical data, with marketers consistently analyzing data so it’s important I improve on this, (TargetJobs, 2017). My attention span is very short when it comes to learning and using this type of information. 4.0 Goals & Objectives 4.1 Objectives table My Objectives Priority What will I need to do? Support or resources required Organizational skills 1 Organize work so I’m prepared and not leaving it to last minute Communication skills 2 Have more group/ social meetings to adapt to each others learning skills which will help to speak more confidently and get my point across This can be achieved by creating a diary, using post it notes, creating gantcharts or critical path analysis. All is required Is myself and practicing communicating to get information across in a convenient way for others to understand Speaking to large audiences 3 Use group presentations to build confidence, as well as interact more vocally in lectures. Making notes on either a laptop or notebook so I am able to prepare what I am going to say. 4.2 Evaluation of goals & objectives As you can see from the table above I have outlined three key areas that need improving, whilst having in mind my long-term goals. Being organized with assignments and tasks is crucial for me to achieve my long-term goal, using a diary or Gantt Charts will benefit me in how I structure my tasks for completion. Franklin (2016) states, “For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.” From this quote the author shows the importance of time and how vital it is in terms of staying organized. Communication is a must-have skill in order to be successful in the management sector. It is important to be creative in how you communicate to people, as well as marketing products or services. In the marketing job requirements it states how being a good communicator is one of the key skills required. (TargetJobs, 2017) Furthermore, I intend to improve my presentation skills to help me work in teams effectively. The way information is presented is very important when it comes to communicating it to a marketing team. Having aspirations to be a marketing manager will involve being able to confidently portray marketing information. (TargetJobs, 2017) 4.3 S.M.A.R.T. table Specific Measurable To achieve a 2:1 at least in my degree of International business management By completing my work on time and regularly achieving high grades in each unit I can gain crucial communication skills which can be used in real-life marketing scenarios, Marketing Seminars/ workshops are available for me to attend at university. I will present many Improve presentations confidence throughout my course when so this can be marked presenting presentations or on the type of grades I achieve. Public speaking speaking workshops publicly are also available to me provided by the students union. To be a Marketing manager by the time I’m thirtyyears-old Achievable Realistic Time-bound Its achievable if I stay ahead in terms of assignment work and use gantcharts to plan and schedule different projects. I have family members that work in marketing so I can gain valuable knowledge, as well as gain experience interns or volunteer work. It is realistic if I focus my mind to achieve this goal If I stay on task it can be achieved in two-years as I am on accelerated course. I finish my degree when I’m twenty-five so that gives me five years to gain enough experience todo so. It is important to organize and prepare for upcoming presentations, I have plenty of opportunities to build confidence in this area throughout my degree This could be seen as my easiest goal as it is something psychologically I need to improve which only needs myself With the relevant work experience after completing my degree I will have gained priceless understanding of the industry. 5.0 Recommendations Analyzing myself has allowed me to highlight the key strengths and weaknesses that I possess. For me to obtain my desired grade of degree, time management is a skill that I need to improve on. This can be enhanced by creating a schedule of tasks for completion instead of keeping it in my head. With no structure it is difÏcult to work out what to start first and when to complete it by. I plan to create a diary to help improve my organization and ultimately improve my time management. Short-term this can be achieved as I have presentations throughout the course I hope to be in management in a marketing business but this needs time to be spent on learning the different aspects of business e.g. accounting and marketing etc. By completing my course to at least a 2:1, this will put me in good stead when I start my career in marketing, as this shows that I have learnt and understood the ins-and-outs of business. There are many courses and presentations available for marketers who want to be in management, so my plan is to research into this and use the resources available to me at university. To achieve my last SMART goal of improving my confidence in speaking in presentations, I will join society groups and set myself presentations tasks that will help me in becoming more confident and fluent when speaking to people. The timeperiod can vary on this kind of goal but I will start to improve by working in my groups in class more actively and volunteering to be team leader when it comes to group tasks. 6.0 Conclusion To conclude, in order for me to achieve my long-term goals, my objectives and shortterm goals need to be completed first, as well as improving on my weaknesses. By listing the opportunities to improve on my skills, it has given me direction in what I need to-do to accomplish speaking to people confidently in a articulate manner, as well as achieving a degree which will ultimately assist me in becoming a successful marketing manager.