Professional Career Development Assignment: A Role Play Activity

Question

Task: Students will write a report on career development assignment, containing a personal reflection on the role play and career development planning, demonstrating an understanding of the skills and knowledge which contribute toward working effectively, their readiness for employment, an understanding of personal strengths and areas for further development, as well as establishing their employment goals and develop a personal action plan/development plan.

Answer

Task 2- Report
Introduction
Reflection performed in the present context of career development assignment is referred to as an approach that is used for the purpose of analysing the events that contributed towards the learning process of an individual (Mann and Walsh, 2017). It is considered to be a significant part of the process of self-analysis and self-development. This report aims to analyse the activity of role play as an interviewer to assess the intellectual as well as cognitive skill development procedure. Reflective frameworks will be hence used for the purpose of assessing the skills and abilities developed during my participation in this activity in specific.

Analysis
The role play activity that as part of this module has been really helpful for me as it has helped me understand the recruiter’s perception and hence I can go for an interview well prepared to convince the recruiter to select me for the vacant position. In the role play I acted the role of an interviewer. It took me some time to prepare myself to enact this role successfully. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to understand the entire recruitment procedure appropriately. I studied a number of journals and case studies on recruitment and recruitment procedures. These case studies and journals exposed me to a number of aspects associated with engaging in the process of recruiting the correct candidate.

Business organisations tend to follow a range of techniques to assess the ability of an applicant to perform the tasks associated with the vacant position within the business organisation. All these different techniques are used to compare the skills and abilities possessed by the individual with the requirements of the vacant position. The techniques are hence selected considering the availability of resources within the business organisation. However, I felt that the recruiter and his ability to evaluate the skills and abilities of the applicant contribute towards the effectivity of the recruitment procedure. Relationship-building skills, communication skills, time management skills, decision making skills and the ability to critically analyse a situation are some of the skills required to be a successful recruiter.

This section of the report will hence engage in the process of self-analysis to assess these specific skills in me on the basis of my performance in this activity. Communication skills: Communication is the only process that can be used for the process of understanding the applicant (Khanet al., 2017). The communication process can be used in a phone call or while conducting the face to face interview. The process of communication involves two aspects which are the way the message in conveyed and the way it is received by the other end. I possess excellent communication skills however; I tend to get a little nervous while speaking in front of a large number of people. It was evident that I needed to work on my public speaking skills. I further have understanding of the body language and the tone that needs to be used while communicating. As per the feedback that was provided by the mentor, it is mentioned that I offered a very positive welcome.

I noticed scope of improvement in the interview questionnaire preparing process. I focused on preparing questions that were to the point and were easy to be interpreted. The questions were hence open-ended which made the entire conversation quite engaging in nature. I could have used scenario based questions that would have made the interview process more impactful in nature. Further, I did not ask questions that demanded examples which was another drawback. Considering improving these aspects will contribute towards enhancing my ability to interview applicants effectively.

Relationship-building skills: The recruiter needs to establish a strong relationship with the applicants. The objective of building this relationship is to make the applicant feel comfortable during the interview process. The applicants are generally quite nervous during the interview process and hence it is essential to make them feel comfortable during the interview process (Sridharan and Boud, 2019). It further helps to understand if the applicant plans to be associated with the organisation or has other future plans. Recruiting the right candidate demands the understanding of the applicant’s future plans well. The interview questions hence help to analyse the intentions of the applicants appropriately.

Critical analysis: The ability to critically analyse a situation is a skill that is required to perform the tasks associated with every professional. I tend to try to understand the situational need and hence work towards taking the correct decision based on the analysis. Critical analysis is an aspect that contributes towards enhancing the effectivity of the decision making abilities of an individual. I focus on improving my ability to critically analyse a situation. I assess my decision making qualities and the past decisions taken by me. A number of other factors that impact the decision making process needs to be considered as well to enhance the effectivity of the decision making procedure.

Multitasking skills: The ability to handle a number of tasks is an important quality required to perform the roles and responsibilities associated with the concerned professional position. It is hence necessary to align the aspect of time management and multitasking abilities to be able to perform these tasks successfully (Latifet al., 2018). I like to keep things organised in order to perform the tasks within the time limitations that are allotted. Time management is an aspect that I am quite good at however; I fail to deliver quality performance under short time limitations. I need time to plan things and hence execute them as per the requirement. However, I need to enhance my ability to work under strict deadlines and need to enhance my ability to multitask as well.

On analysing all these skills and abilities it is clear that as a recruiter I worked really hard to perform my role. On analysing the skills and abilities and based on the feedback that was provided by the mentor I feel that the position of a Human Resource Executive is appropriate for me. Apart from the communication skills and the ability to analyse the applicant I have the knowledge of recruitment and the skills required to be a better recruiter. On the other hand, I have the leadership qualities that will help me to enhance my efficiency to perform the tasks associated with an HR recruiter. Apart from the position based skills, I further possess the following skills as well.

Sense of accountability: Sense of accountability refers to the term of ownership (Jakobsenet al., 2018). It is essential for the employees to have the ability to take responsibility of their actions. It is quite challenging to find people who are willing to take responsibility of their actions. Within an organisation the performance of the employee contribute towards the performance of the organisation and hence it is necessary for the employees to grow the sense of accountability. I possess the sense of accountability. I never back out of taking responsibility of anything that is done by me.

Ability to inspire and motivate others: Within an organisation every employee needs to work within their respective teams and further need to work effectively towards inspiring the team members and hence keeping them motivated towards performing all the tasks in a way that will benefit the performance of the business organisation. I understand the significance of motivation and further have knowledge of various frameworks associated with motivation that helps me to keep the team members motivated while performing their respective tasks. On the other hand I have the knowledge of team dynamics as well that helps me to perform the tasks within teams successfully. Understanding of the business: Business, business environment and the organisational requirements are some of the important aspects that need to be taken into consideration while being associated with an organisation. I have keen interest in digging deep into a situation and hence developing the understanding towards the business and the business requirements. I am a fat learner as well and am open to criticism as well. Feedbacks and criticisms are taken quite seriously by me as they help to guide me towards the path of success.

Self-development: The primary steps associated with self-development are to engage in the process of self-analysis. It is necessary to engage in the process of self-analysis in an unbiased way to be able to identify the areas of improvement and hence work towards improving as a successful professional in the long run. The process of self-development is considered to be an important step in the process of gaining progress as a successful professional.

Gibb’s reflective cycle
Description:The task of role play allowed the students to enact the role of recruiter and the applicant. This entire process allows the participants to understand the recruitment process. The recruiters had to develop questionnaire on their own and the applicants had to spontaneously answer to these questions on the spot.

Feelings: I was both excited as well as nervous to perform this task as it was to be assessed by the mentor and this entire activity will provide me with the opportunity to get to learn about a number of things. I was extra cautious while performing in this activity at the first time.

Evaluation: On evaluating my performance it was observed that there was scope for improvement in various different areas. The entire process was a great learning experience as it allowed me to develop knowledge about a number of professional aspects associated with the activity. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process of role play where I had to think from the recruiter’s perspective. It has not only helped me develop the ability to participate in the recruitment process effectively, it has further helped me to understand the recruiters and analyse the recruitment process better.

Analysis: It can be hence analysed that there is scope of development in the questionnaire preparation process. I was aware of scenario based questions however; I did not know how to make use of it in an appropriate way during the interview. I need to enhance my ability to develop questionnaires. I have further analysed that I need to work on my decision making skills and the time management skills as well. On improving these aspects I will be able to perform the professional tasks successfully without experiencing any challenges in the long run. It will further help to compete successfully in the professional front.

Conclusion: It can be hence concluded that the effort made by me to perform this task has been appreciated however; I need to focus on certain things and consider the feedback that has been provided as well. It is necessary to engage in the process of continuous progress that can be achieved through self-analysis and self-development.

Action plan: The action plan that has been developed as follows in based on the outcome of the analysis that has been doe above. The objective is to improve the overall ability to perform as a successful professional in the long run. The action plan has been listed as follows:

Conclusion
It can be hence concluded that this task of role play has been greatly helpful in terms of developing skills and abilities that will help me become a human resource executive in the future. It has further helped me to understand the recruitment process better. The feedback provided by the mentor has been really helpful in terms of identifying the areas that require further improvement. The reflective cycle used in this report offered me with the opportunity to understand the practical use of reflective frameworks as well. Overall this entire task was a great learning experience.

References
Jakobsen, M.L., Baekgaard, M., Moynihan, D.P. and van Loon, N., 2018.Making sense of performance regimes: Rebalancing external accountability and internal learning.Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 1(2), pp.127-141.

Khan, A., Khan, S., Zia-Ul-Islam, S. and Khan, M., 2017.Communication Skills of a Teacher and Its Role in the Development of the Students' Academic Success.Journal of Education and Practice, 8(1), pp.18-21.

Latif, R., Mumtaz, S., Mumtaz, R. and Hussain, A., 2018. A comparison of debate and role play in enhancing critical thinking and communication skills of medical students during problem based learning. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 46(4), pp.336-342.

Mann, S. and Walsh, S., 2017. Reflective practice in English language teaching: Research-based principles and practices. Taylor & Francis.

Sridharan, B. and Boud, D., 2019. The effects of peer judgements on teamwork and self-assessment ability in collaborative group work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(6), pp.894-909.