Welcome to Career & Professional Practice. In this first session you will meet your personal tutor for the whole of this academic year.
First of all confirm with your tutor that you are in the right place on the right week!
Note that your tutorial workshop group will meet every fortnight at the timetabled location and time for two hours throughout Term 1. Ensure you attend all eight weekly lectures the correct five fortnightly tutorial workshops and ‘The Boardroom’ assessment simulation during the term.
Students will not be allowed to attend a workshop session for which they are not timetabled.
Moreover, the module involves a lot of teamwork through learning sets, so if you miss even one of the five tutorial workshops including ‘The Boardroom’ assessment simulation, you will be missing important learning opportunities and letting your team down.
There is an important ground rule for this module. The tutorial workshops have to be a safe environment in which all students can share their personal interests, values, goals and aspirations. At the University of Greenwich we value people’s diversity of thinking and every student’s contribution is valid. . It is the nature of career management as a topic that students will sometimes be unsure, unrealistic or sometimes change their minds as thinking develops. This is expected. It is therefore essential that all students in the group respect each other’s differences in interests, values, goals and aspirations. In the spirit of diversity, you are expected to provide constructive feedback to one another and remain respectful at all times.
Aims of Workshop 1
- to understand the range of personal profiling for employability and career management
- to begin to diagnose one’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of transferable skills
- to discuss and prepare the requirements of Part 2 of the portfolio.
In this workshop, we will be doing the following 5 activities:
- Reflection on 3 Psychometric Tests (30 mins)
- Transferable Skills Audit (40 mins)
- Form learning sets (10 mins)
- Critical Reflection (30 mins)
- Preparing your Personal Story (Ignite presentation) (10 mins)
All of these activities are relevant to your Portfolio (Part 2).
ACTIVITY 1.1: PERSONAL PROFILING (PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS)
More and more graduate recruiters are using psychometric tests as part of their selection process. It has been shown that if you practice you can improve your score in ability/aptitude tests, such as Numerical Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Situational Judgement Tests. Practicing will therefore increase your chance of securing a graduate level position.
The Employability & Careers Service (ECS) offer you a range of services to support you with psychometric tests.
- Go on the Employability and Careers Service (ECS) website via this link. There you will see lots of resources, including links to general advice, a range of practice aptitude and personality tests, examples of company tests and some websites to help you improve your performance
- Log in to our free psychometric test service provided by Graduates First. You will need to register first using your university e-mail address. Take a psychometric test (and receive expert feedback reports).
- The registration form will also ask you to provide your name, gender, age, industry, ethnicity, module title and your expected degree grade
- You will then receive an email direct from Graduate First confirming your email address, which will give you access to the tests. Please be aware that you are allocated a limited number of tests.
For workshop 1 you will need to complete the following 3 tests. Your results and interpretation of the four tests below are required for Part 2 of the Portfolio.
- Numerical reasoning test (choose either SHL or Kenexa) –This test assesses your ability to use numerical data while at work. Don’t panic! You do not need to be good at maths to perform this type of test as it measures your numerical potential rather than your mathematical knowledge. Most employers tend to use Numerical Reasoning tests in conjunction with either a Verbal or Logical test at the beginning of an assessment process.
- Verbal reasoning tests (choose either SHL or Kenexa) – These tests assess your vocabulary, comprehension including your ability to identify relationships between words. Written by ex-KENEXA and ex-SHL Chartered Psychologists, these tests are used by most employers in the graduate selection process.
- Personality Test (16 Personalities / Humanmetrics) – After completing any of the above questionnaire you will obtain:
° Your type formula according to Carl Jung’s and Isabel Myers-Briggs’ typology along with the strengths of preferences
° The description of your personality type and a list of occupations most suitable for your personality type.
Remember to bring your profile results and feedback to Workshop 1.
ACTIVITY 1.2: TRANSFERABLE SKILLS AUDIT
Individual activity (20 mins)
In addition to digesting information from psychometric tests, it is also important to reflect on your transferable skills. These are skills which we can usefully apply across all types of work environment. Although there is no universally accepted list, transferable skills are highly valued by employers. It is therefore important to audit a range of these skills in order to take stock of where you are in your career development and to diagnose your main development needs.
A typical list of transferable skills for managers is as follows.
- Written Communication
- ability to write clear and accurate reports, emails, notes etc., appropriately expressed for target audience
- Spoken communication o ability to express oneself clearly in one-to-one and group meetings and on the telephone; use of appropriate expression for different audiences and contexts
- Application of number o effective handling and organising of data, performing accurate calculations, interpreting and communicating results
- Information technology o effective use of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, PowerPoint, web-based programmes
- Presentations o designing and using effective visual aids, speaking confidently in front of different audiences, handling questions
- Interpersonal skills o relating effectively across a range of different people e.g. customers, colleagues, managers
- Team working
- contributing and working for the benefit and goals of the team, helping others out when needed
- Negotiation skills o having clear objectives in dealings with people; ability to find ‘win-win’ solutions where possible
- Managing information
- researching, organising, analysing, presenting and disseminating information
- Problem-solving o diagnosing, analysing and solving problems at work
- Flexibility and adaptability o ability to work with changing conditions and to reprioritise tasks, deadlines and your role where necessary
- Leadership o providing direction, motivation and support for others
- Coaching
- ability to assess others’ learning needs and help them develop effectively
- Meeting deadlines and achieving targets o ability to deliver work on time to required standards
- Commitment to ethical practices and diversity o understanding and upholding of ethical codes in the workplace; tolerance and appreciation of differences between colleagues and customers.
In pairs (20 mins):
- Review each of the 15 skills above. Discuss their precise meaning with your partner and seek clarification from your tutor if needed. You can also read up more about the skills definitions and their importance later through further research.
- Discuss with your partner:
- Which transferable skills have I developed best? What are the best examples? o Which transferable skills have I developed the least?
- Which ones should I prioritise to try to develop over the next year? (3-5 skills would be enough!) How could I do this?
- Which transferable skills am I not sure about, in terms of whether I have developed them or not? How will I get more information about this? In your own time:
After the workshop, write up a Skills Audit in a suitable format. You might want to use the headings and questions above, though you are encouraged to find a credible alternative through further research. (There are plenty of examples out there, and increasingly popular are ‘strength-based skills audits’). You need to do this for Part 2 of the Portfolio.
It can be difficult to diagnose your own skills and development needs, so when you come to do this exercise properly after the workshop, you should first ask someone responsible who knows you well in a work context (e.g. a supervisor at work) to give their opinion on how well developed they consider your transferable skills to be. You don’t of course have to agree with them on everything.
Their opinions are an additional, potentially objective source of information to help you arrive at a more accurate self-diagnosis.
ACTIVITY 1.3: FORM LEARNING SETS
(10 mins)
For future activities and portfolio tasks throughout this term, it is essential to be in a learning of 3 students (maximum 4 by exception). As a team of 3 you will need to rely on one another both inside and outside of class. Next week you will need to confirm with your tutor the learning set compositions.
ACTIVITY 1.4: CRITICAL REFLECTION
Individual activity (20 mins)
Now that you have completed some of your personal profiling from your psychometric tests and transferable skills audit you are now in a position to make an initial self-reflection of your own competitive position in the graduate labour market by answering the following questions.
- How do I feel about the results of your psychometric tests (e.g. any surprises, etc.)?
- What have I learnt about myself so far (i.e. strengths and weaknesses)?
- How might I use what I have learnt to gain a stronger position in the graduate job market?
- What do I need to do to improve my knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA)?
Theoretical application
Looking at the responses for each of the above questions, can you draw on any of the HR, OB, career or personal development literature from the recommended reading list in support of your reflection?
Group discussion (15 Mins)
Now discuss the content of your critical reflection with your leaning set.
ACTIVITY 1.5: PREPARING YOUR PERSONAL STORY (IGNITE PRESENTATION)
(10 mins to run through pre-workshop activity overleaf)
For Workshop 2 create an IGNITE Presentation: share your Personal Story in a 5-minute slideshow.
IGNITE Presentations (very similar to Pecha Kucha, as originally developed in Japan) are rapid-fire PowerPoint slideshows where the speaker shares just a few images and narrates each slide for a few seconds to tell a compelling, lively – perhaps funny – story. For the next Workshop, you will create an IGNITE Presentation to share your Personal Story. This will condense your career narrative and personal brand into a 5-minute window.
Instructions for students: In the next workshop, you will be given 5 minutes to present your Personal Story / Career Narrative / Personal Brand. Your IGNITE presentation might address questions such as:
- who am I?
- how did I come to be here?
- what are the key events and aspects of my life?
- what is different and unique about me?
- how do I see my future?
- how might I get there?
You must use exactly 20 slides. Each slide must contain an image only – no words. Each slide will be shown for exactly 15 seconds, and will then advance automatically to the next slide. That is a total of 5 minutes. Your task is to create, present, and narrate the slides to share your Personal Story concisely. Infuse your presentation with energy, enthusiasm, humour, and your unique style to make it engaging and memorable.
Remember, this is a way to practice in front of a supportive audience as you continue developing your Personal Story and Personal Brand. Use the opportunity to improve your skills and gain valuable feedback from your classmates. There are many online sources to learn more about IGNITE and Pecha Kucha; here are a few tips:
- If you write out your talk in advance, you should estimate that you can speak about 20 to 30 words per 15 second slide
- Most slides should have just a single photo or graphic. The slides should reinforce your words, not vice versa
- You need to connect with your audience using your voice. Modulate it. Talk fast then slow. Loud, then soft. Sound sarcastic (for practice!) then sincere. It keeps people interested
- Figure out your natural style and go with it. Talking fast works for some people. But your natural style may be completely different. Your style will become apparent when you practice your talk. Once you figure it out, go with it. Humour is terrific. A few funny pictures will hold the audience attention. Speakers get energy from your audience. Look for a few people in the crowd who like what you are saying and speak to them
- Body language is everything. If you just get up on ‘stage’, stand behind the podium and stare at the screen for five minutes, you may find more people becoming disengaged. But, if you use hand gestures, pace around the stage and use turns and twists effectively, it makes all the difference
- Don’t be afraid to poke a little fun at yourself. The best speakers are self-deprecating – not arrogant
- Tell stories. Stories are probably the most important facet of any presentation. Without them, you have only facts, figures and an impersonal Powerpoint presentation
- Experiment – try different things, take a few risks – and have fun!
Follow this link on How to Create an Ignite Presentation, showing detailed photos of each step in the process: http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/content/fast-ignite-presentation/
(Source: Dr Scott Johnson, University of Greenwich 2011)
Now as a group, agree the running order of Ignite presentations for next week.
| Recap and Preparation for Workshop 2: Complete psychometric tests online Complete transferable skills audit (using external feedback) Prepare your IGNITE presentation Identify 2 other students to discuss forming a learning set with you. |
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