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Matt Howes

Professional Development
Further Education and Training:
Full Time Degrees – Full-time learning is mostly suitable for the candidates who
are not aiming to work outside the university. For instance, students who can
stay full-time in the university and do their academic chores are more
encouraged to apply for these disciplines. If a
course is described as full-time, this could mean
that you are required to be present from 9am to
5pm or equivalent every week-day.
Part Time Degrees – Part-time learning is more
suitable for those who want to work outside the
university as well as attending their classes and conducting their research at
the university. This type suits the people who work outside and are not willing
to be at the university all the time. But, as a part-time student, you will have
less credits each semester that you will be able to study besides to work. So,
still pay sufficient attention to your courses.

Foundation Degrees – A foundation degree is a combined academic and


vocational qualification in higher education, equivalent to two thirds of an
honours bachelor's degree, introduced by the government
of the United Kingdom in September 2001. Foundation
degrees are available in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland, offered by universities, by colleges that have their
own foundation degree awarding powers, and by colleges
and employers running courses validated by universities. It
gives you a unique opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that relate
directly to the workplace, and you can even top it up to gain a bachelor’s
degree at the end. There are loads of different subjects covered such as: Art
and design, Business management, Computing Education, Engineering, Health
and social care, Hospitality management, Retail management and Sport.

Bachelor Degrees – A bachelor’s degree is a four-year degree meaning it


typically takes four years of full-time study to complete your bachelor’s degree.
In these four years, you will complete 120 semester credits or around 40
college courses. If your college uses a quarter system rather than a semester
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system, you’ll need to complete a minimum of 180 quarter credits to earn an


accredited bachelor’s degree. Qualifications are grouped together into
different levels. Each level corresponds to a qualification’s degree of difficulty.
However, qualifications within any one level can cover a huge range of subjects
and take different amounts of time to complete, often expressed in terms of
credits.

Master Degrees – Master's degree is usually a second-cycle academic degree


awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study
demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or
area of professional practice. A master's degree normally
requires previous study at the bachelor's level, either as a
separate degree or as part of an integrated course. The
average full-time student will earn their Master's degree in
1.5 to 2 years, but some students take longer due to their
schedule restrictions. A master degree is good choice when you: Already hold a
bachelor’s degree, know that your chosen career will require a master’s degree
and need a graduate degree to qualify for a higher salary grade. Popular
careers that require a master`s include:

 Postsecondary educators
 Education administrators at all levels of education
 Social workers
 Librarians
 Counsellors, such as marriage, family, rehabilitation, and mental health
 Nurse practitioners and physician assistants
 Nurse midwives
 Healthcare positions, including occupational therapists and speech
pathologists
 Statisticians and mathematicians
 Psychologists
 Historians, including archivists and curators
 Urban and regional planners
 Political scientists
 Economists
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Work Experience:
Work Experience usually a week with an employer during 4th year. Your
teachers will help you to arrange your work experience. If you have a particular
company in mind, contact them at the beginning of the school year.

Some schools also run work experience schemes for older pupils. This helps
them prepare for college or uni applications or to move in
to a Modern Apprenticeship or job. This can mean any
formal work experience scheme. It usually runs for a set
period of time and includes specific tasks and
training. You’ll get a taste of what a job or workplace is like,
so you can figure out if you’re interested in that kind of
career. Working with other people and doing your tasks
well helps you build your confidence. On your CV, UCAS form, or college
application. Work experience shows you’re enthusiastic and ready to work
hard. You can pick out particular achievements to show off. Working with
other people helps you build the skills employers love to see on your CV. You’ll
meet people at work and might attend meetings or events. You’ll make
contacts that could provide a reference or help you in the future.

Training on the Job:

Team building - How you work with colleagues and other students to complete
a task; what your specific role and strength is in a team; how you recognise the
roles of other team members; evidence that you appreciate the value of a
team and are a loyal and committed team member.

Leadership - How you have lead a group of people at work or at university;


evidence of the different aspects of leadership, such as managing, supporting,
motivating, organising, advising, taking responsibility; what difference your
leadership has made.

Problem solving - How you have coped with a difficult or challenging situation
and come up with a workable solution; evidence of the processes of problem
solving, such as analysing the problem, researching and evaluating possible
solutions, planning action to a solution; evidence of initiative and flexibility.
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Communication skills - How you have communicated effectively in writing and


speech by selecting appropriate language and methods for the situation and
audience; evidence that you understand the importance of listening and can
express yourself clearly and professionally in a formal
environment; evidence that you understand non-verbal
communication and use this effectively.

IT skills - How you have used IT packages effectively to


facilitate and enhance your work and projects; how you
have selected the IT methods used and how the introduction of IT has enabled
things that wouldn't have been possible without; how you develop your IT
skills.

Organizational skills, including time management - How you have controlled


time and resources to help you be efficient and effective in your work and
study; evidence of prioritization of tasks and management of deadlines.

Sources of Information:
Trade Unions – A trade union is an organization made up of members (a
membership-based organization) and its membership must be made up mainly
of workers. One of a trade union's main aims is to protect and advance the
interests of its members in the workplace. Most trade unions are independent
of any employer. However, trade unions try to develop close working
relationships with employers. This can sometimes take the form of a
partnership agreement between the employer and the trade union which
identifies their common interests and objectives.

Trade unions:

 negotiate agreements with employers on pay and conditions


 discuss major changes to the workplace such as large scale redundancy
 discuss members' concerns with employers
 accompany members in disciplinary and grievance meetings
 provide members with legal and financial advice
 provide education facilities and certain consumer benefits such as
discounted insurance

Careers Services – The National Careers Service provide information, advice


and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work. Along
the way of looking for jobs they also specialise in heling with: CV`s, Skills and
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health check reports, course searching, job searching and then


the application. Careers advisory services in the UK are typically
organisations that offer advice, guidance and counselling on
careers. People may use these services for a number off
purposes, such as jobhunting, changing careers, getting a
promotion, building career skills, returning to work after a career
break and professional development. Career challenges such as these occur for
many reasons, including redundancy, motherhood, leaving full-time education,
relocation, or simply coming to the end of a work contract.

Transferable Skills
Personal Attributes:
Although it can seem like work experience, knowledge, and qualifications are
the only factors a prospective employer is interested in – your personality also
plays a big part in your suitability. And even if you match the job specifications
perfectly, not drawing attention to your essential attributes could be holding
you back. Some main areas you should use in a workplace is positivity,
confidence, productivity and a good attitude. Even if you’re fully qualified for a
job, a negative approach to work can put you at the bottom of the candidate
list. Not only will you come across unenthusiastic, you could also imply that
you’d rather focus on the bad than the good.
Knowledge and Skills:
Knowledge and Skills are two main things you will need to be successful in a
workplace. The use of knowledge is understanding and planning how to do
something and then the skills is being able to do the thing that you have
planned. Improving skills can be done over time, the more projects that you
complete mean that the more skills you will acquire making your employer
more impressed. By not committing to complete more projects this means
your knowledge and skills will not improve which could make your employer
either sack you or if you are showing them your skills not employ you.
Commitment:
Job commitment is the feeling of responsibility that a person has towards the
mission and goals of an organization. When an individual has job commitment,
he or she is more likely to perform tasks and responsibilities that will help an
organization achieve a goal. Importance of Work Commitment. The success or
failure of an organization is closely related to the effort and motivation of its
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employees. The motivation of employees is often the product of their


commitment towards their job or career.
Efficiency:
Efficiency is defined as the ability to produce something with a minimum
amount of effort. An example of efficiency is a reduction in the number of
workers needed to make a car. One main thing that an employer will look for is
somebody that can complete several different tasks to the same quality in a
short amount of time. Efficient employees are also ones that are dedicated to
stay and spend overtime to complete projects given.
Reliability:
An unreliable employee is one who has proven consistently that she cannot be
depended on to show up for work on time, meet deadlines hand in an
acceptable work product. The performance of a reliable worker may be
rewarded by anything such as a promotion, more respect from the employer
or even a salary rise. As a responsible and reliable person, you will be able to
manage your time effectively, to ensure that you consistently get your work
done to agreed deadlines. You will also turn up to work on time, be prepared
for meetings and be trusted to work on your own without constant supervision
or micro-management. Your manager and colleagues should also be able to
feel like they can rely on you for help and support wherever needed.

Attendance and Punctuality:


Regular attendance and punctuality are vital
attributes for all employees. It is important for
employees to attend work regularly and to arrive at
work on time, because failure to do so has effects on
work rate and productivity. If you are going to be absent, you must contact
your immediate supervisor and obtain authorization to be absent for a specific
period in advance. If you are unexpectedly delayed or unable to come to work
for any reason, you must personally contact your appropriate supervisor
immediately.
Self-Presentation:
Self presentation is one of the most important things that somebody can do
when looking for a job. No matter what type of job you may be going into a
dress code will usually be in place. For example, shirt and tie is better then
turning up in jeans and a ripped shirt. This will show your employer a first
impression of you so making this right first time is key. Your voice says a lot
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about you and learning how to use it more effectively has many benefits the
way you speak to somebody can also represent a background of good English.
Examples are:, accent, tone, pitch, volume. These help to encourages you to
learn more about your voice and how you use it to its full potential, so when it
does come to interviews and your first day at work it will give a good first
impression.

Functional Skills:
Functional skills are also known as your basic English, Maths and ICT Skills.
These can be shown from your GCSE`s that you take at the end of high school.
By having these qualifications at the basic pass mark, it can make the second
stage of your career a little bit easier. When applying for jobs, apprentices etc
the employers usually look for the basic C grade in these three as this shows
what capability’s you have as a person. Without having these grades can make
it very hard to apply and get an interview for a job as the employers are
looking for skilled and educated people. Other functional skills are things that
you may be asked to do to prove yourself to an employer. Examples could be
small challenges are set and you will have to complete them in a certain time
(to meet standard) These tests could be work related, maths tests, ICT tests
etc.
Time Management:
Time management that everybody does differently. The definition of time
management is to be set tasks and complete them all in a required time (a
deadline). Different ways that you can reach these deadlines are:

 Making task lists


 Organizing resources and work
 Setting goals
 Creating and reviewing a schedule

Having good time management is beneficial in the long run as it


means that:

 Greater productivity and efficiency.


 A better professional reputation.
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 Less stress.
 Increased opportunities for advancement.
 Greater opportunities to achieve important life and career goals.

Personal Responsibility:
Life is full of choices, and what you make of them determines your entire
experience. Sometimes you may swim against the current, and other times you
may go with the flow. Recognizing that the outcome of your life is a product of
your decisions is what accepting personal responsibility is all about. Being
responsible can also give the same benefits as having good time management.
It means that the quality of work produced is at a good standard, the time it’s
done is at a standard set by management etc. For certain people being
responsible can be very bad for them when it comes to working as they won’t
know what to do when left alone, they’re like this most of the time because
they’re scared of doing something wrong and failing.

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