Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Section 1
Consider the skills listed below and rate how important you think each skill is for employment and how
competent you are in this skill. Consider how each of these skills may enhance your performance, and allow
you to develop and advance further. You may wish to discuss these with your advisor of studies. Alternatively,
you may wish to ask a friend or family member, and to compare and discuss your separate findings.
Once you have rated yourself, multiply the number in the column marked ‘Competence’ with that in the column
‘Job Importance’. So, for example, if you feel that you are not very proficient in verbal and written
communication (i.e. you have rated your competence at 4), but that these skills are very important for
employment (i.e. you have rated it at 5), then your overall total score would be 5 X 4 = 20.
Section 2
This section will provide you with examples of the types of evidence you can provide to demonstrate your level
of competence with each skill.
Competence – How competent are you Job Importance – How important do you
in this skill? think this skill is in Employment?
1. Highly proficient 1. Unnecessary
2. Fairly proficient 2. Not very important
3. Adequate 3. Helpful
4. Not very proficient 4. Fairly important
5. Unskilled 5. Essential
SKILL COMPETENCE JOB IMPORTANCE COMPETENCE EVIDENCE FOR YOUR LEVEL OF
X COMPETENCE
JOB
IMPORTANCE
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
COMMUNICATION
Written:
x x 12 I have to express myself in my assignments for all my
Ability to express self well in writing different tutors. I can write about what i need to talk
about but the improvement i will need to make for me to
get better at this is to be careful with my spelling,
punctuation and grammar. Sometimes i tend to go off
topic and this would be another improvement i need to
make to reach the level i need to be at.
Verbal:
Informal – ability to network easily x x 12 I am able to network with others but not so easily as
with other people sometimes i don't understand what the person is talking
about. I am good with helping fellow students understand
the assignment brief for certain assignments in college.
Formal – ability to express yourself x x 12 I am able to express myself to a group of people as i am
clearly and concisely to a group of very confident and approachable. I have had to present
people myself to other students in college and show that im a
capable student. For the improvements i would need to
stay on topic as i tend to go off topic now and again.
Non-verbal:
Listening – ability to attend actively to x x 20 At this current moment, I am good at listening and
others’ views and ideas and understand understanding other people's point of views on things as i
their point of view took part in the cambridge debate and i had to understand
their points of arguments and back my arguments with
what their point of view is to what my point of view is to
the topic.
Body Language – ability to match body x x 8 Body language is one thing i need to improve on as
language appropriately to what is being sometimes when i am focused on something i tend to lean
said verbally on the table and that shows to other people that i'm not
interested. As body language is a major factor with things
like business meetings, i will need to improve on this by
not leaning back and showing to people that i am actually
interested in what they have to say.
WORKING WITH OTHERS
Cooperation
Ability to collaborate effectively within x x 12 I am able to show good communication when working in a
a team team and i also like to take a leadership role or even
helping with the leadership as in project, i had to help lead
the team when the managing director did not come into
college. I would need to improve for my future career as i
will have to communicate with my team and i would need
to improve on not getting off topic and also showing
interest in what we are talking about.
Negotiation
Ability to reach a mutually satisfactory x x 12 I have been in a situation where in project my team have
outcome through compromise had to negotiate what our company name was going to be
and it was a really hard decision as we all liked different
names, but we worked together and were able to negotiate
as a team to find out a name which we all liked.
Sensitivity
Ability to respond appropriately to x x 20 I am able to respond and talk to individuals appropriately
individual differences, e.g., age, gender, and efficiently due to having to speak to people from
etc. school and people from college and have learnt what i can
say that will sound polite and professionally.
Leadership
Ability to encourage and motivate x x 9 I am able to encourage and motivate others as in project,
others some of the team members started losing interest due to
not coming up with an idea of what to sell for college so i
had to motivate them into staying on track and come up
with an idea, and so we did.
SKILL COMPETENCE JOB IMPORTANCE COMPETENCE EVIDENCE FOR YOUR LEVEL OF
X COMPETENCE
JOB
IMPORTANCE
Ability to supervise or direct work of x x 12 I have had to supervise my project team to stay on task and
others to come up with new ideas for our second product. I would
need this in my job role as i would need to supervise my
colleagues and make sure that they stay on task.
Ability to evaluate competing priorities x x 6 I have rarely been in this situation which means i'm not
to plan ahead quite familiar. I have had to do my assignments at the
same time as doing my project work last year and i had to
limit my time and focus on the right work to meet my
deadlines.
APPLICATION OF NUMBER
Calculations
Ability to use a calculator or PC to x x 16 I am very good with maths as i got a 5 on my gcse’s. I had
make calculations to sit 2 calculator papers and i really enjoyed it. I have also
had to use a calculator most my life to help limit my
money on what i am going to spend it on.
Interpretation
Ability to interpret descriptive statistics, x x 12 I have learnt about how to interpret and work out ratios
e.g. ratios percentages, means, standard and means in my school lessons. I had to learn about them
deviations to pass my maths exams and i am actually very
comfortable with them.
Ability to interpret inferential statistics, x x I don't understand this.
e.g., confidence intervals, statistical
significance, effect size
Application
Ability to organise and present x x 12 I have had to present numerical data to my class at school
numerical data in an appropriate manner as we had a problem sheet and we had to interpret all the
information in a spreadsheet and we had to present our
findings.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
File Management Techniques
Ability to create, store and retrieve files x x 9 I have had to create files since the beginning of college and
place them in the right areas so I think I can do this quite
confidently. I will also need to put certain files in certain
places for my chosen job role.
Word Processing (e.g. MS Word)
Ability to use a word processing (WP) x x 12 I have done a GCSE on the microsoft packages and I
package to produce a variety of formats passed it so I feel confident to use microsoft packages.
of documents
Spreadsheets (e.g., MS Excel)
Ability to use a spreadsheet to record x x 12 I have done a GCSE on microsoft packages and I passed it
and manipulate different sets of data so I feel comfortable with the microsoft packages.
Skill Area Action Plan for Development and where you can access these
1. Ability to reference I will need to improve on this skill due to having to reference my findings in my chosen career. I would need to
materials using an reference them in my chosen career because if i find a good car for sale i would have to reference them in my own
appropriate systems documents to remember the website and whos selling the car so i can keep this information there just in case i feel
eg, Harvard interested in buying. To achieve this, i will be starting university next year and with all my assignment work i
would have to Harvard reference so i can then start to use Neil’s toolbox o help me layout my references. At the
moment i am not very familiar with Neil’s toolbox so i should start using it now to help me improve on laying out
my findings.
2. Body Language I will need to develop my body language, firstly for when i am going to speak to staff and customers for my
chosen career and also to help me in situations like job interviews or formal meetings. To improve this i will need
to act more interested in what the person is talking about and also use hand gestures to show i want them to
understand.
3. Ability to encourage and For my chosen career i would need to be a good leader as i will be leading a car hiring company team. I would
motivate others have to make sure they don't get distracted and also have to encourage them to give a good representation and a
good impression for the company. I can begin to start to improve on this by encouraging my college friends so stay
focused as well as me.
COMMUNICATION
Communication may be formal or informal, personal or impersonal, creative or factual. Messages may be
delivered verbally, in writing or non-verbally. There are many areas where examples of each communication
approach may have been successfully applied, at university, at work, at home, etc
Written - Ability to express self well in writing Ability to express self well in writing
I am quite decent at expressing myself in my own writing as i have had to create a CV for job roles that i am
going to apply for. The way i did this is that I told the truth about what i am interested in and also why i am
interested in the topic. I have also had to fill out application forms. An example of this is when i applied for
an apprenticeship as a business administrator for a company in shipley and i had to fill out an application
form explaining current facts about myself and had to interpret my personal information. Also in my
assignments I have had to show my findings by hyperlinking the website with the evidence and i have to
explain in full detail about the evidence i found.
Non-verbal:
In project when we were deciding on what product to start selling first we had a problem as half the team
wanted to sell pencil cases and the other half wanted to sell jumpers. We had to hear out everyone on the
team about what the better option would be. We had to listen to everyone individually on their thoughts and
opinions and we made a decision by negotiating as a team.
Body Language – ability to match body language appropriately to what is being said verbally
I have had to present good body language when i had to have an interview with Craven college as the
apprenticeship i tried getting was linked to the certain college. I had to dress appropriately and show to the
interviewer that i am actually interested in the job role. When speaking to the interviewer, i kept my back firm
and straight, and while i spoke i also used my hands to show the interviewer that i was intrigued in the
conversation.
Working with others is a skill highly valued by employers. Suitable evidence for this skill need not be limited to
work experience. You should think of all aspects of your work, studies and social life.
Sensitivity- Ability to respond appropriately to individual differences, e.g., age, gender, etc.
There has been times in my old workplace that i have had to talk to different people of different ages and
with the older people i have had to act very professional where as with kids i have had to act really nice and
different so it appeals to them.
APPLICATION OF NUMBER
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
File Management Techniques - Ability to create, store and retrieve files
I have only ever experienced this when creating and saving assignments for college.
Word Processing - Ability to use a word processing package to produce a variety of formats of documents
I am able to use word as i have a GCSE for microsoft packages and also i had created my past CV’s on
Word.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Creativity - Ability to generate new ideas or conceive existing ideas in a new way
I have had to think of new ideas in project as last year, we had formed a team and we had to decide as team
what to sell for college. I was the one out of the team that voted that we should sell pencil cases. I then
thought further out of the box and i decided that we should start selling jumpers with the profit we make from
selling the pencil cases.
Organisation and Planning - Ability to set down a systematic sequence of activities and carry them through in
an effective manner
I have had to plan many events such as my birthday. Another major day to day planning event i need to do is
planning when to do certain sections of my assignment at a certain time so everything can be done in time for
the deadline.
Research - Ability to gather information in a systematic way to establish certain facts or principles
I am fairly good at my research skills as i have to research fairly often for my assignments. I mainly need to
research evidence to backup my points or if i don't know the meaning of a word i would research the word
and find the simplest definition to help me understand.
Analysis - Ability to understand and summarise information (Detailed examination of structure and content)
I am very good with summarising information as i don't like to go on and on about one topic, i would rather
get to the main points and factors about the topic. I tend to do this in most my assignments as i prefer quality
to quantity.
Initiative - Ability to initiate, take decisions and act resourcefully
i am able to undertake tasks without given the order as part of my old part time job, i had to take orders from
customers and i also had to clean a certain area so it would be easier for all the workers as a whole.
Self-awareness – ability to identify and reflect on own strengths and weaknesses in relation to:
In college i have had to complete assignments for my tutors and once we have done the work, the tutor
marks it when they can and then we get given our strengths and weaknesses of our assignment and as a
student we would have to reflect on it and find our rooms for improvements. With my career
development, i have got a career plan which is set for 5 years from now and this shows that i have
analysed my weaknesses and what i need to do to complete my goals.
Effective learning – ability to learn from a range of situations and apply learning in a variety of contexts
the main skill i have gained from one of my hobbies is I have gained teamwork/communication skills. i have
gained these skills from playing football as when we play against each other, we have to work as a team to
win the game and to work as a team, we had to communicate with each other throughout the whole game.
Reasoning skills – ability to defend argument using logical and systematic thinking based on sound evidence
In project when the cambridge national students came to college, they visited us in centre of excellence to
hold a debating workshop therefore we had to research our findings using internet articles and from books
and i found a lot of relevant information to back my points in the debate.