Personal and Professional Development: Researching Colleges and Courses

1-Research a college course

2-Research facilities in the college

3-Find out what subjects and qualifications are needed

4-Find out date of application

5-Research similar courses in Ireland/Malaysia

What skills do you need for your chosen course?

Research project Part 1 External Factors affecting Personal Development

Class Discussion and Research Project

Analyse the factors that enable and prohibit personal success in
achieving medium to long term personal learning or career objectives,
including

1. economic,
2. social, 
3. institutional, 
4. cultural, 
5. informational,
6. dispositional (personal/situational), 
7. educational

Write down under each heading what external factors you think may prohibit your personal development and learning

Where will you research for your information?

Make sure you reference your sources.

Cost analysis for a year at college

Make a list of the costs you will face in a year of higher education at college

Here are some websites that will assist you in helping you come up with your cost analysis.

http://www.gotocollege.ie/going_to_college/student_finance/index.html

http://www.movetoireland.com/movepag/schthird.htm

http://www.educationireland.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=48

http://www.studyinbritain.com/ireland/info/livingcosts.asp
Ireland: Find out what our international students say about studying in Ireland

 

Roots and Green Shoots - Patrick's Day Special 2012 

Uploaded by UCCIreland on Mar 12, 2012
 

Here is an interesting video link from 2012 to some interesting facts about Education in Ireland

  Education in Ireland 

Uploaded by EducationIreland on Sep 19, 2011

 

Research Project (30%)

Research Project (30%)

Use research skills to gather a range of relevant information and

materials for entry to and supports within further or higher education

or training provision, or within a particular career path

Locate the relevant required qualifications and steps to appropriate

qualifications on the National Framework of Qualifications and on the

European Qualifications Framework

Analyse the factors that enable and prohibit personal success in

achieving medium to long term personal learning or career objectives,

including economic, social, institutional, cultural, informational,

dispositional, educational

• present a personal timetable for the achievement of stated career/qualification goals

• supported by evidence of research both primary (e.g. interviews and visits) and secondary research

• present relevant material to show depth of research e.g. Career Guidance meetings, official

correspondence and official and online/published material

Students will have to give a presentation on their findings.

Research Project (30%)

• Wide range of sources of information explored                                    10

• Appropriate career path proposed                                                10

• Well researched profile                                                                        10

Personal Statement

A personal statement is an essay detailing your creative and intellectual capabilities.It can be frustrating to write however can be an essential tool for employers to help better select the candidates they wish to select for a job.

A personal statement gives evidence of your achievements which is not included in other parts of your application. When writing your personal statement you need to think about how the events described in your personal statement have helped shape your attitude, focus and intellectual capability.

Examples of Personal statements

UCAS - how to write a personal statement - UCAStv 

Uploaded by UCASonline on 28 Sep 2010

Personal Statement 

Uploaded by UCofficeofpresident on 30 Sep 2009

CV and Letter of Application

Your CV is what sells you. In 2015 in Ireland it is an employers market. You are now in a more competitive market for jobs than in 2006. As a result, you may be competing for a job against someone with 10 years experience. Your potential employer hasn't met you yet and you are one of a bundle of CV's. At this stage your CV and cover letter is the only piece of information they have about you. How are you going to promote yourself? How are you with your CV, going to make the difference between getting an interview or not?
Is there spelling mistakes? Over 80% of CV's have spelling mistakes in them. What signal are you sending out to your employer about you if there are a lot of spelling mistakes?

    Youtube Video

Jobs Club 2: CV Preparation - TV3's Ireland AM with Brightwater

Uploaded by BrightwaterGroup on 20 Aug 2009

How to Write a Cover Letter

What was difficult in this task?

What did you learn?

Is there anything else that could have been included in the topic to make it easier for you to understand?

Was the topic explained well or not?

Are there any video links from Youtube that may also be useful?
(if so please copy and paste the link in the comments section with a sentence explaining what it is)

Responsibility and initiative

10.1.3

demonstrate the ability to take ownership of tasks and show

initiative in order to achieve their effective completion

Initiative

                                  
Demonstrating initiative in your personal or professional life can help indicate to an employer that you have the skills needed to be hired or promoted. Your initiative may even allow you to set up your own business.   Here is a link to a dictionary definition of what the word initiative means and here is another definition of the word initiative.

Initiative is a leading action, where you don't wait to be told what to do. It is the ability to motivate yourself to follow through with a plan or task. Demonstrating your initiative can involve self-directed learning to help you achieve your goal.


To demonstrate initiative, is a key leadership skill. Here is a video showing you some of the leaps in our society and world as a result of initiative:

3 Traits of Great Leaders - Execution, Perseverance, and Initiative (motivational video) 

 Uploaded by SayWhatComm on 16 Feb 2011

For most of us, how we demonstrate our initiative, even in a small way, at work or at college or even in your personal life can help us improve our current situation. It may be something like fixing a photocopier, printer at work without being told to do so, dealing with customer enquiries when other work colleagues are absent, delegating work to help maintain control over a situation, working on a team building exercise, writing a report on something you were never asked to do, staying calm and helping to control an argument until it reaches a positive outcome for both parties, or inventing new ideas for how to work more effectively in an organisation.

Quiet Desperation

How do you show initiative? Can you give an example? How could that demonstration of initiative help you in your personal and professional development?

Here is an example of how many people have demonstrated positive initiative in their workplace if you just click on this link.

You have probably heard the phrase "thinking outside the box". To think outside the box is setting yourself apart from everyone else. You are seeing a problem a different way. Maybe you see a problem or a threat as an opportunity?

                           

Class Exercise

As a class exercise to develop our initiative skills we are going to engage in a survival exercise. Look at the video below first to get an idea of the scenario we are going to roleplay. It is a 1 minute clip of the TV show Lost.

Crash Oceanic 815 # Lost

Uploaded by jules58000 on 20 Feb 2008

• The scenario we are going to roleplay is our plane has crashed on a remote island on a beach somewhere.
• You need to as a group decide from the plane wreckage what the 12 most important items are in order to survive (as you have no idea where you are or how long it will take you to get rescued)
• Try to reach consensus without voting 
• Everyone in the group must at least partially agree with what is on the final list.
• Watch and see if any group members have changed their minds to come to agreement
• Watch and see if any group members need the answers to be 100% accurate.
• Watch and see if any group members minimally contribute to the discussion.
• You have 15 minutes to decide on the 12 most important items to survive                                                                                                                                                                                  
•  Afterwards write down what you learned from the exercise

Responsibility, accomplishments and ownership of tasks

With initiative comes responsibility. We are often more hesitant to admit our failures if we are responsible for something that went wrong. What if we took the initiative with something and it failed? If you own your own business, if you are studying for your exams, if you have come up with a new idea at work that you want implemented, you are responsible for it.

Click the link for a definition of responsibility as well as this other link

Often at work it is easy to fall into the blame game to deflect a negative perception others may potentially have about ourselves. However admitting responsibility for something that went wrong can also be something positive. Facing up to our mistakes and learning from them can be a key to our drowth and development.

Often a fear of responsibility can put some people off certain tasks eg presentations in front of a group of people. You are responsible for it and that may make you nervous.

Responsibility can also be a very rewarding role to have. People are listening and perhaps even trusting what you say. You are in charge of something or someone which can have rewards or consequences.

Another word for responsibilities which can demonstrate more positivity is accomplishments. Accomplishments are what you have achieved. In a CV you need to be able to sell yourself. So, what have you accomplished?

Here is a definition of the word accomplishment as well as at the link here. Accomplishments are something which is achieved successfully. For example, perhaps you have accomplished enough money saved to purchase a car. Now you are responsible for it.

Your accomplishments don't have to have changed the world to matter mentioning them. They can be things like regular daily duties at work or duties you wouldn't usually have. Accomplishments are when hurdles are overcome and goals are reached. For example maybe you took many phone calls at work and helped to represent the company, maybe you worked on a particular project and reached a goal you had. Are there any statistics, figures or numbers you can use to back up your claims? What skills do you have for each job you worked at? What did you accomplish from your work experience?

Class Exercise

As a class exercise to develop our initiative skills we are going to engage in a exercise which looks at responsibility. 

• Get in groups of 5.
• Create a variety of obstacles in the class to walk around.
• Blindfold one member of the group.
• The rest of the group must take turns guiding each blindfolded member across the classroom
• Once everyone in the group has taken the blindfolded member across the room, decide on who is next to be blindfolded
• Take 10 minutes until everyone has been blindfolded once
• Afterwards write down what you learned from the exercise

The following  video below is a good example of using initiative, taking responsibility for yourself and making your own decisions. The advert is from a Pantene commercial made in Thailand about a deaf and mute girl who learns to play the violin.

Extraordinary Pantene Commercial 

  

 

 

1- For next week, prepare for a question which asks you to give an example of where you have shown initiative 

2- Give an example of where you have taken ownership of a task

 

Skills Audit

You have a variety of skills. Finding out what skills you have demonstrated in your life can help to give a clearer picture for your career path.

What do you desire?

Uploaded by Bagicha Padilla on Jan 25 2013

Skills you have used may have been through work, education or during your leisure time. Categories of skills include:

1)Interpersonal

2)Personal

3)Practical

4)Technical

1) Interpersonal skills involve how you deal with people. Your communication skills with fellow employees, management, customers and suppliers. Demonstrations of these skills can involve working as part of a team, telephone skills, negotiation skills and feedback

2) Personal skills involve your ability to work on your own initiative. Demonstrations of these skills could include meeting deadlines, punctuality, confidentiality, attendance as well as organization skills.

3) Practical skills involve skills that demonstrate your ability to perform certain tasks. Demonstrations of this could be designing flyers, editing databases, producing profit & loss accounts and cash flows  and having an ability to analyse them, knowing another language etc. You may be currently learning these skills as you progress through college.

4) Technical Skills involve a specialized skill where you can demonstrate an ability to use a technical product. Different courses will have more specific technical skills. General examples could include word processing or being able to operate a switchboard.

How do I find out what skills I have?

• For each job  you have worked in, take a seperate sheet and brainstorm all the tasks that this job involved. List everything you did that was associated with that job. Break down your duties into subpoints eg barwork- managed orders, interacted with customers, negotiated with suppliers, in charge of stock control, liaised with kitchen and restaurant staff etc
• What skills have you learned as a result of carrying out these tasks? What skills were needed?

Click on this link for helpful advice regarding how to describe some of the skills you have:
http://www.how-to-change-careers.com/a-list-of-personal-skills.html

Marking Scheme for Personal and Professional Development

Research Project (30%)
• Wide range of sources of information explored                                   10
• Appropriate career path proposed                                                         10
• Well researched profile                                                                         10
Learner Record (30%)
• Comprehensive account of personal planning                                     10
• Detailed account of taster activities                                                     10
• Critical reflection on course activities                                                 10
Documents (40%)
• C.V., Skills Audit, Personal Statement                                                20
• Letters of application and enquiry                                                      10
• Completed funding application                                                           10

Personal and Professional Development Advice

Irish 21st Century Students would like to welcome the international Liberal Arts group to DKIT and we wish you the very best of luck in your studies.

Here is a selection of videos from famous entrepreneurs and politicians regarding advice to do with college and also about your career. You may find them useful in helping you to focus on what you do want to get out of this subject.

Obama's Advice to Aspiring College Students: "Make a good investment" - "Hangout" (Part 12) 

 Uploaded by TheDailyConversation on 30 Jan 2012

 

Bill Gates-11 Rules You Will Never Learn In School 

 Uploaded by lulle10 on 7 Jun 2010

Richard Branson: learning from failure.

Uploaded by innerpreneur on 17 Apr 2009

Donald Trumps Advice on Choosing a Career 

 

Uploaded by bluveeta on 6 Sep 2009

Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Life

 Uploaded by SCVHA on 6 Oct 2011

Mark Zuckerberg's Words Of Wisdom (Best Quotes From The Facebook Founder)

 Uploaded by mycomeup on 9 Oct 2010

Tony Robbins - Unlock What's Stopping You

 Uploaded by darrelcheng on 8 Mar 2010

  You may be surprised by the video below regarding studies which indicate what the real motivation factors are for our careers as employees or as employers.

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us 

 Uploaded by theRSAorg on Apr 1, 2010

Click this link to see an example of role models from Malaysia

 

Top 5 Malaysian female role models

 

CV and Interview skills

Guidelines: 
This should be a “real life” CV, presented on 2 pages and word processed.

Follow appropriate layout for a CV.

Structure-headings, logical order, reverse chronology,
Essential components- personal details, education, qualifications, work experience, referees etc
Relevance, consistency, focus on future career and job opportunities 

 Presentation – word processed, two pages attractiveness

Your CV is what sells you. In 2012 in Ireland it is an employers market. You are now in a more competitive market for jobs than in 2006. As a result, you may be competing for a job against someone with 10 years experience. Your potential employer hasn't met you yet and you are one of a bundle of CV's. At this stage your CV and cover letter is the only piece of information they have about you. How are you going to promote yourself? How are you with your CV, going to make the difference between getting an interview or not?
Is there spelling mistakes? Over 80% of CV's have spelling mistakes in them. What signal are you sending out to your employer about you if there are a lot of spelling mistakes?

    Youtube Video

Jobs Club 2: CV Preparation - TV3's Ireland AM with Brightwater

Uploaded by BrightwaterGroup on 20 Aug 2009

Jobs Club 41: Handling Interview Questions 

Uploaded by BrightwaterGroup on 20 Jul 2010

Career Advice: The Perfect CV 

Uploaded by careerplayer on 9 Jul 2009

Please take a moment to give me some feedback in the comments section

What was difficult in this task?

What did you learn?

Is there anything else that could have been included in the topic to make it easier for you to understand?

Was the topic explained well or not?

Are there any video links from Youtube that may also be useful?
(if so please copy and paste the link in the comments section with a sentence explaining what it is)

Writing a business letter

Guidelines:

The letter should be word processed, following current business conventions, consisting of 2-3 full paragraphs. The letter an application for a course

Assessment Criteria

Structure - conventions of address, layout, word processed
Content, correct use of grammar, spelling punctuation etc

Poor writing skills can lead to a negative perception of the business you are representing.

It is therefore very important to decide when constructing your letter:
Purpose What is the point of the letter you are writing? What message are you trying to convey?
Audience Who are you writing this letter to? If it is to a customer complaint, should you take more care regarding how you will phrase the letter? How can you address the issue while maintaing a positive image for your company? How important is this for you if it is a letter of application
Information Gathering What information do you need to send this letter. What sources do you need to research?
Main Points What are the main points you want to cover? Put them in a logical order

Youtube Video

The Key Forms of Business Writing: Basic Letter

 

Uploaded by UpWritePress on 6 Mar 2009
Youtube Video

Life Skills & Writing Letters : How to Address a Business Letter

Uploaded by eHow on 15 May 2009

Youtube Video

Word 2007 Spell Check Set up

Uploaded by twilocity on 24 Apr 2010

Lost group Roleplay

Class Exercise

As a class exercise to develop our initiative skills we are going to engage in a survival exercise. Look at the video below first to get an idea of the scenario we are going to roleplay. It is a 1 minute clip of the TV show Lost.

Crash Oceanic 815 # Lost

 

Uploaded by jules58000 on 20 Feb 2008

The scenario we are going to roleplay is our plane has crashed on a remote island on a beach somewhere.

You need to as a group decide from the plane wreckage what the 12 most important items are in order to survive (as you have no idea where you are or how long it will take you to get rescued)

Try to reach consensus without voting

Everyone in the group must at least partially agree with what is on the final list.

Watch and see if any group members have changed their minds to come to agreement

Watch and see if any group members need the answers to be 100% accurate.

Watch and see if any group members minimally contribute to the discussion.

You have 15 minutes to decide on the 12 most important items to survive

Afterwards write down what you learned from the exercise

Practicing interview skills

Practise interview skills

Presenting your CV can seem a daunting task. It is important not to just run through what is just on the CV, the employer has that already. Now is your chance to shine and give them a fuller picture of your job potential.

Have a look at this video from Brightwater Recruitment where 2 candidates are taken through a presentation class. Is there anything you could learn from the feedback they were given?
Youtube Video Jobs Club Presenting Masterclass

Uploaded by BrightwaterGroup on 2 Dec 2010

Here are 2 videos below from www.gradireland.com highlighting some of the big mistakes which graduates often make as well as dealing with competency based interviews.

Youtube Video

Graduate Interviews - Biggest Mistakes - Cara Fallon, Ericsson, Jameson, PwC, Fidelity

Uploaded by NCIRL on 5 Feb 2009

Youtube Video 

Competency Based Interviews - PwC, KPMG,

Uploaded by NCIRL on 5 Feb 2009

Here are some examples of video CV's by graduates

Zookel Video CV Graduate

Uploaded by ZookelVideoCVs on 13 Feb 2009

 Youtube Video 
Short Video Resume

Uploaded by sajitanair on 11 Jan 2010

Here are some of the top questions being asked in interviews. Put your own style on how you answer them but it is more important than ever to prepare as interviewers want to be able to hire the best people for their job.
Youtube Video Top 36 Interview Questions

Uploaded by MaryNLowLow on 18 Mar 2010

Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions and Answers 

Uploaded by newspiderman888 on 1 Sep 2009

How to Ace an Interview with Your Body Language

Uploaded by Howcast on 9 Nov 2010
 

• From the questions where you have written down answers in class, prepare to be asked these on Monday
• Have a print out of your CV
• Type up what you have learned about the interview process