Assignment type: Written Course work: Career Development Plan (2000 words)

Assessment weighting: 50%

Feedback Target: 3 weeks from submission

Assignment Overview
A career plan is a personalized roadmap to achieve professional goals, which includes exploring one's

strengths, weaknesses, values, and interests.
A career development plan can help students to:

1. Clarify their career goals: By identifying their strengths, interests, and values, students can clarify their long-term career goals and make informed decisions.
2. Identify skill gaps: A career plan can help students identify areas where they need to improve their skills or gain additional qualifications to achieve their career goals.
3. Create a roadmap: With a career plan, students can create a step-by-step plan to achieve their career objectives, including short-term and long-term goals.
4. Track progress: A career plan can help students monitor their progress and adjust their goals, objectives, and strategies as necessary.

This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the
following module learning outcomes:
LO 2 Critically analyse personal strengths and weaknesses in acknowledgment of the requirements of graduate employers

LO 3 Reflect on required skills and professional behaviours relevant to employment and career development within the tourism industries and establish appropriate objectives to support personal and career development plans

LO 4 Develop and present a comprehensive career development plan

LO 5 Demonstrate appropriate academic writing skills, referencing, and good academic practice and organize material logically and coherently to produce an effective summary visual presentation

Assignment Task and Requirements
WHAT ARE YOU ASKED TO DO?
Prepare a 2000-word written work with headings (you can use personal pronouns (with the exception of the academic section) that critically demonstrate that you are interested in pursuing a career in the TOURISM Sector. Develop a career plan that outlines your career goals and strategies for achieving them.

This task will require you to include all the following.

In your career plan, you should address the following:
1. Your long-term career goal in the TOURISM sector.
2. Your short-term career goals for the next two years.
3. The skills, experience, and qualifications you need to achieve your career goals.
4. Strategies for acquiring the skills and experience needed to advance in your career.
5. Potential barriers to achieving your career goals and how you plan to overcome them.
6. A timeline for achieving your career goals using the Gantt Chart.
7. Any relevant professional development opportunities, such as courses or certifications, that you plan to pursue.

Your career plan should be realistic, specific, and measurable (SMART). You may also include any additional information that you think is relevant to your career goals, objectives, and strategies. Be sure to proofread your plan and check for any errors or inconsistencies. Good luck!

Important:
All your work must be based on reliable research and have a minimum of 10 different sources within it. Please ensure you use both direct and indirect citations.

Assignment Guide and Format
Your Career Plan needs to include the following:
Written Course Work with headings: 2000 Words (You can use the personal pronoun in this assignment excluding the academic section)

A career development plan is a strategy that outlines your career goals and the steps you need to take to achieve them. Here are some steps to create a career development plan:
1. Academic Part: 300 Words
Critically analyze the literature on employability and enterprise in the tourism sector and evaluate the current job market for your chosen career for this assignment. Please ensure you use both direct and indirect citations.
2. Self-assessment: 500 Words
Start by evaluating your strengths, weaknesses, values, and interests. This will help you identify the areas you need to focus on to achieve your career goals and the elements that you want to include in your CV. Identify the obstacles that you want to overcome.
3. Research your industry (Tourism): 200 Words
Research your industry to learn about the skills, qualifications, and experience required to succeed (Research and identify the career goal that is most suitable to you). Identify the trends and changes happening in the industry and determine how you can adapt to stay ahead. Please ensure that you use both direct and indirect citations.
4. Create an Action Plan: 500 Words
Create an action plan once you have identified your career goals and skills. Prioritize, make comparisons, and consider the factors to make a choice. Write down the steps to achieve them. This plan should include specific steps you need to take, such as networking, training, education, etc (Start with self-assessment, set goals – long-term and short-term, Identify and list out Skill and knowledge gaps, develop strategies, and then create an action plan.)
5. Implement your Plan: 500 Words
Identify long-term and short-term career goals that you need to achieve them. Act on your plan and start working towards your goals. Set timelines to keep track of SMART Goals. Include the Gantt Chart. This may involve acquiring new skills, exploring job opportunities, reviewing your resume, and expanding your professional network., etc.
Remember……. a career development plan is not set in stone. It is a flexible document that can be adjusted as your AIM, Objectives, and circumstances change. By creating a career development plan, you can take control of your career and ensure you are on track to achieve your Aims.

Important:
1. You must use the correct Canterbury Harvard Referencing conventions* for your in-text citations and reference list (*Please refer to the Canterbury Harvard Referencing Guide).
2. All your work must be based on reliable research and have a minimum of 10 different sources within it.
3. Include the Assessment front sheet on your Frontpage which should be the first page of your career plan.
4. The task requirement is neither an essay nor a report or reflective journal. This is critical writing
with headings.
5. Do not use Wikipedia or unverifiable blogs.
6. Ensure that all sources used in the career plan are acknowledged using in-text citations in the body of your career plan with the full references included in the reference list.

Referencing and research requirements

Please reference your work according to the Canterbury Harvard Referencing style guidance. You can access this on
Moodle.

For each reference used, provide the full Harvard reference within your references section and the core in-text citation if you are referencing something in your text.

Include both direct and indirect citations from a wide variety of sources.

There is no set text for this Unit. All students will be encouraged to make full use of the print and electronic resources available to them through the University/College. These include a range of electronic journals and a wide variety of resources available through websites and information gateways. The University Library web pages provide access to subject-relevant resources and services and to the library catalog. Many of these resources can be accessed remotely. Students will be presented with opportunities within the curriculum to develop their information retrieval and evaluation skills to identify such resources effectively

How your work will be assessed
Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learning outcomes
for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria, as defined in the University’s institutional grading
descriptors. If it is appropriate to the format of your assignment and subject area, a proportion of your marks will also depend on your use of academic referencing conventions.

This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 5.