Assignment Title Assignment 3- Portfolio of activities and PDP.

Plagiarism

When submitting work for assessment, students should be aware of WBS guidance and regulations concerning plagiarism. All submissions should be your own original work.

Harvard Referencing

The Westminster Harvard Referencing System must be used throughout and a reference list must be included in the usual manner and in accordance with Westminster University Guidelines.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this assignment you will have covered/partially covered learning outcomes: 1-7.

Introduction

Having undertaken research to complete your group presentation on The Graduate labour Market, and reflected on your role carrying out this assignment in the context of your own employability, you are now required to consider the wider implications of this and develop your own Personal Development Plan aimed at enhancing your overall career prospects.

Your Task With your development and development needs as the central theme of this assignment, you are required to produce a portfolio of activities aimed at enhancing your future employability.

Your portfolio requires you to:

1. Develop a cmap to illustrate your own PDP: the first bubble should contain your name and student number, and the second bubble should be ‘my PDP’. Once you have completed this exercise in full, you will need to capture it with a screenshot to upload it to your word document. (5%)
2. Depending on your pathway, you must select one of the 3 work placement vacancies available at the end of this document. Study the skills and experiences required for this position and compare them to the skills and experiences you already possess. You must outline how you intend to close this gap. Please ensure that you cross reference, where appropriate, with your ‘Skills Audit’ which you will have included as Appendix 3. You should also use relevant referenced academic literature to support your discussion when appropriate. (Maximum 2 A4 Pages for section 2)
   a. You must state clearly which skills and experiences are outlined in the advertisement. (5%)
   b. You are required to critically evaluate the skills and experiences this employer is looking for and compare these to your current skills and experiences. (10%)
   c. You must outline your plans to address the gaps between the skills and experiences required for this position and the ones you already possess. (10%)
3. With the ‘aforementioned work placement’ in mind, you need to create a CV(10%) and covering letter (10%) tailored to this position.
   a. Your CV should demonstrate how your skills and experiences align to the work placement to convince the potential employer of your suitability.(2 pages maximum)
   b. Your covering letter should also be tailored to the work placement you are applying for, to guide the potential employer to your CV’s relevance.(1 page maximum)
4. Discuss briefly the importance and relevance of PDP and the use of SMART goals in achieving this. (200 words) (5%)
5. Using a similar template to that suggested in Lecture 11, you should create a detailed Personal Development Plan(PDP). You should have a maximum of 3 A4 Pages in this section. (30%)
   a. Using the SMART Goal framework, you should consider short, medium and long-term goals.
   b. You should also be cognisant of your development needs identified in sections 1, 2b and 2c.
   c. Please ensure that you cross reference your PDP, where appropriate, with your ‘Skills Audit which you will have included as Appendix 3. You should also use relevant referenced academic literature to support your PDP
   where appropriate.
6. Appendix 2: LinkedIN Profile: You can print a screen save or save in PDF. (5%)
7. Appendix 3: Your fully completed Skills Audit. (10%)

Grading

Criteria The grading of this Portfolio will be as follows:

1. Cmap (5%)
2. Skills required in outlined advert (5%)
3. Evaluation of skills required against those possessed by student (10%)
4. How student proposes to close the ‘skills gaps’ identified in the advert (10%)
5. CV (10%)
6. Cover Letter (10%)
7. Discussion of PDP and SMART goals (5%)
8. The students Personal Development Plan(PDP)(30%)
9. LinekedIn Profile (5%)
10. Skills Audit (10%)