Module: (FY027) Preparing for Success: Self

Development and Responsibility

CW1 - Portfolio

Student’s Name:

LSST ID Number:

BNU ID Number:

Lecturer’s Name:

Submission Date:
Table of Contents
Role of Mini Project Workshops on My Personal Development of Employability Skills....1

Importance and Value of the Appendices........................................................................2

References.......................................................................................................................3

Appendix.......................................................................................................................... 4

APPENDIX 1: My Personal Development Plan................................................................4

APPENDIX 2: My Personal SWOT Analysis....................................................................6

APPENDIX 3: Reading Log..............................................................................................7

APPENDIX 4: Time Management Skills: Weekly Schedule.............................................7

APPENDIX 5: Time Management Skills: Daily To-Do List.............................................10

APPENDIX 6: Communication Skills: Effective vs Ineffective Communication..............12

APPENDIX 7: Presentation Skills: Comparison between good and poor practices.......13

APPENDIX 8: Academic Writing Skills:..........................................................................13

APPENDIX 9: Employability Skills:.................................................................................15

APPENDIX 10: Notes on Reflection...............................................................................16

APPENDIX 11: Up-to-Date Curriculum Vitae (CV).........................................................17

APPENDIX 12: An Action Plan for achieving a specific academic or professional goal of
your choice.....................................................................................................................19
Role of Mini Project Workshops on My Personal Development of
Employability Skills

Our university has offered fundamental modules to prepare us for upcoming modules,
courses and life challenges. This module is one of the remarkable fundamental modules
of our university. I had attended different workshops in the duration of this module which
has helped me to develop personal traits and employment skills. Three impactful
workshops influenced me most and those workshops have boosted my confidence to
tackle challenges in my personal life. The main topic of those three workshops is writing
skills, emotional intelligence, communication and presentation skills.

In the writing skill workshop, various topics were discussed elaborately like
paraphrasing, grammatical correctness, plagiarism, referencing, etc. Before this
workshop, I had very little knowledge about the importance of above-mentioned
elements of writing skills. The workshop helped me to understand the importance of
these factors to write quality content. To communicate well through my writing and
conveying my thoughts this workshop will help me a lot. It is important to maintain
formatting and presenting a content properly otherwise the main thought of content may
get overlooked by audiences.

In every aspect of life communicating effectively helps a person to get desired results.
Communicating through writing, body language or writing is a matter of learning
because most of us make mistakes in these fields. The trainer has explained the
methods of effective communication and also taught us the way of using the methods
appropriately for better results. For example, It is obvious that we well use informal
words and phrases while talking with our friends but we have to maintain formal
communication when we are talking in a professional field even if the other
communicator is well known to us. The workshop has also pointed out the ineffective
communication like how ineffective communication can ruin a conversation and future
possibility of creating a bond with other people. After completing the workshop, I had
realized that I must work on my communication skill to become an effective
communicator. The knowledge acquired from the workshop will help me to do so.

1
Emotional intelligence worked inside of me but I could not recognize until this workshop.
This workshop has helped me to realize this inner quality of mine but it is not that much
developed. This workshop talked about five pillars of emotional intelligence which have
enabled me to see the bigger horizon of this skill. The workshop talked about how to
overreact and over-excitement can ruin a situation and how a balanced emotion can
help to face any kind of problem in life. To proceed in professional life it is necessary to
have good emotional intelligence because professional life can bring various issues
which should be handled carefully otherwise the career may face big fall down. The
workshop has developed a good understanding and make me realize about the aspects
of emotional intelligence.

Importance and Value of the Appendices

12 appendices have been attached, each catering diverse questions, to display my

learnings throughout the module. My experiences and learning outcomes have been
presented in each appendix. It will portray my understanding of topics like presentation,
communication, writing skills, etc.

2
References

Atwood, C., 2017. Presentation Skills Training. Alexandria, Va: ATD Press.

Goleman, D., 2016. Emotional Intelligence. 90th ed.

Hartley, P., 2015. Business Communication. Taylor and Francis.

Simard, R., 2015. Writing Skills. 9th ed. New York, NY: Flash Kids.

3
Appendix

APPENDIX 1: My Personal Development Plan

Full Name
Titles, of course, I’m
Enrolled for
Name of Institution
The level at Which I am
Currently Studying
Start Date
End Date

My Motivation for Doing This Course

Objectives for Actions Required to Resources I need Time- Estimated
My Personal Achieve my frame Date of
Development Objectives Completion
Improved  Reading  Books: 1.7-2 June 2022
Communicatio articles and “How to years
n Skills effective Win Friends
communication- and
related books Influence
 Participating in People by
business Dale
simulation Carnegie.”
programs “How to
 Attending Have
Coursera Confidence
courses to and Power
improve in Dealing

4
 communication with People
skill. by Les
 Practising Giblin” and
written and other
verbal books.
communication  Course
by myself. materials
from
Coursera
library.
Enhanced  Reading books  Books: 1-1.5 July 2022
Emotional on emotional “Emotional years
Intelligence intelligence. Intelligence:
 Talking with Why It Can
seniors about Matter More
the upcoming Than IQ”
challenges and  Articles:
how they “HBR Guide
manage to to
survive from Emotional
those Intelligence
situations. ”
Improved  Participating in  Academic 2-2.5 October
Writing Skills content writing books and years 2022
competitions reviews
 Submitting from
writing to teachers.
newspapers or  Online
journals Course
 Practising Materials.
paraphrasing,

5
 avoidance of
plagiarism and
referencing in
academic
writing.

Appendix 1
Personal Development Plan

APPENDIX 2: My Personal SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses
1. Effective communicator 1. Procrastination
2. Effective presenter and visualiser 2. Lack of confidence in
3. Critical analysing ability communication
3. Self-centred and shy.
Opportunities Threats
1. Potentially in writing 1. The coronavirus situation.
2. Supportive classmates and 2. dense competition in the job
teachers are helping to overcome market
shyness and improve confidence.
3. New knowledge about emotional
intelligence

Appendix 2
Personal SWOT Analysis

6
APPENDIX 3: Reading Log

Date Title Author Time Spent Number of

Pages Read
August 2, 2020 How to Win Dale Carnegie 13 hours 167
Friends and
Influence
People (2015)
September 5, How to Have Les Giblin 17 hours 210
2020 Confidence
and Power in
Dealing with
People (2016)
October 6, Emotional Daniel 13 hours 154
2020 Intelligence: Goleman
Why It Can
Matter More
Than IQ (2017)
November 18, Writing Skills Remy Simard 12 hours 122
2020

Appendix 3
Reading Log

APPENDIX 4: Time Management Skills: Weekly Schedule

SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

6:0 Waking Waking Waking Waking Waking Waking Waking

7
0 up up up up up up up
AM
7:0 Finishing Finishing Finishi Finishi Finishing Finishing Finishing
0 Breakfas Breakfast ng ng Breakfast Breakfast Breakfas
AM t Breakf Breakf t
ast ast
8:0 Yoga Yoga and Yoga Yoga Yoga and Yoga and Yoga
0 and Exercise and and Exercise Exercise and
AM Exercise Exercis Exercis Exercise
e e
9:0 Starting Emotiona Startin Writing Starting Communi Starting
0 Academi l g Skill Academi cation Academi
AM c Intelligen Acade practic c Books c
chapters ce book mic e chapters Reading chapters
reading chapter
s
10: Continue Continue Contin Contin Continue Continue Continue
00 Reading Reading ue ue Reading Reading Reading
AM Readin practic
g e
11: Break Break Break Break Break Break Break
00 and and and and and and and
AM shower shower shower shower shower shower shower
12: Watching Attending Attendi Attendi Attending Attending Watching
00 TV Online ng ng Online Online TV
PM classes Online Online classes classes
classes classes
1:0 Prayers Prayers Prayer Prayer Prayers Prayers Prayers
0 s s
PM
2:0 Preparin Preparin Prepari Prepari Preparin Preparin Preparin

8
0 g and g and ng and ng and g and g and g and
PM finishing finishing finishin finishin finishing finishing finishing
Lunch Lunch g g Lunch Lunch Lunch
Lunch Lunch
3:0 Writing Communi Writing Emotio Communi Writing Emotion
0 Skill cation Skill nal cation Skill al
PM practice book practic Intellig book practice Intelligen
reading e ence reading ce book
book reading
reading
4:0 Playing Playing Playing Playing Playing Playing Playing
0 and and and and and and and
PM walking walking walking walking walking walking walking
5:0 Prayers Prayers Prayer Prayer Prayers Prayers Prayers
0 s s
PM
6:0 Reading Reading Readin Readin Reading Reading Reading
0 academi academic g g academic academic academi
PM c books books acade acade books books c books
mic mic
books books
7:0 Continue Continue Contin Contin Continue Continue Continue
0 reading reading ue ue reading reading reading
PM reading reading
8:0 Continue Continue Contin Contin Continue Continue Continue
0 reading reading ue ue reading reading reading
PM reading reading
9:0 Break Break Break Break Break Break Break
0 and and and and and and and
PM Prayers Prayers Prayer Prayer Prayers Prayers Prayers
s s

9
10: Preparin Preparin Prepari Prepari Preparin Preparin Preparin
00 g and g and ng and ng and g and g and g and
PM finishing finishing finishin finishin finishing finishing finishing
dinner dinner g g dinner dinner dinner
dinner dinner
11: Talking Writing Learnin Learnin Learning Writing Talking
00 with skills g g presentat skills with
PM friend to practice present present ion skills practice seniors
improve ation ation to
communi skills skills improve
cation communi
cation
12: Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
00
PM
1:0 Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
0
AM

Appendix 4 Time
management

APPENDIX 5: Time Management Skills: Daily To-Do List

Item Priority (High (urgent) Action to be taken Done (tick)

/ Low (can wait)

1 Prayers (High)  Praying 5 times a day. ✓

2 Academic  Following course outline and learning

Studies (High) the topics that are discussed in online ✓

10
 classes
 Reading articles related to courses.
topics in which I’m interested like
business development and financial
analysis
3 Practice writing  Reading articles related to topics in
and which I’m interested like business ✓
communication development and financial analysis and
skills (High) trying to express my opinions in a
personal diary to practice writing skills.
 Completing academic assignments
maintain Harvard referencing style and
practising paraphrasing along with
avoiding plagiarism.
 Speaking with friends and seniors to
practice speaking.
 Practising formal and informal writing.
4 Practice  Acquiring knowledge from seniors and
Emotional understanding and analyzing situations
Intelligence (Low)  Reading specialized books written by
famous authors like Daniel Goleman
5 Daily activities  Preparing and having food timely ✓
(High)  Having sound sleep
 Taking a break and refreshing mind.

Appendix 5 Daily
To-Do List

APPENDIX 6: Communication Skills: Effective vs Ineffective

Communication

11
 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
1 Relevant and concise information 1 Unnecessary details and unclear
is part of effective communication instructions are part of Ineffective
communication
2 The recipient correctly gets the 2 The recipient may miss the main
message in case of effective point of the message in ineffective
communication communication.
3 In the case of effective 3 Ineffective communication does not
communication, we can see the use formal and informal words
proper use of formal and informal properly which fails a conversation.
words which is very important.
4 Proper media is being used in 4 Ineffective communication does not
effective communication. It maintain relevant media for particular
ensures relevant media to relevant parties. For example, the higher
parties. For example, formal authorities may receive an informal
emails for contacting upper-level text from the employee.
managers is effective
communication.

BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

1 The right person gets the right message and understands the main point
properly.

2 The acceptance of the communicator and credibility of information increases to

other parties.

3 No confusion because of miscommunication and less time consumption for the

understanding message.

12
 Appendix 6
Effective vs ineffective Communication

APPENDIX 7: Presentation Skills: Comparison between good and

poor practices

No. GOOD PRESENTATION No. POOR PRESENTATION

1 Presenting a topic concisely to 1 Pointing unnecessary points and
the point is a sign of being a good missing the main point is a sign of
presentation being a poor presentation

2 Presenting the topic in fewer 2 Jamming the slides with a lot of texts
words but with good keywords in is a poor presentation. It is difficult for
slides with good visuals. others to understand the slides.

3 When the audience can relate to 3 When the audience cannot relate to
the presentation, it is a good the presentation, it is a poor
presentation. presentation.
4 A fluent and smooth visualization 4 A presentation with stutters and other
of a topic is a good presentation. complication including forgetting
information is a poor presentation.

Appendix 7 Good
vs Poor Presentation

APPENDIX 8: Academic Writing Skills:

13
 1 Academic Skill 1 Strong points Weak points
(advantages) (disadvantages)
Referencing The validity of any written Confusion among so many
content can be increase referencing methods.
by proper referencing.
It is necessary to include Learning and following a
reference if the specific method may
information or data is become difficult.
collected from the
secondary source.
The audience can get A specific method cannot
access to other sources be acceptable to other
which might be beneficial countries.
for them
Benefit(s) of this skill to It increases the credibility of written content and
me->>>>>: resourceful.

2 Academic Skill 2 Strong points Weak points

(advantages) (disadvantages)
Paraphrasing Makes difference in the Sentence restructure
same topic and many procedure can be difficult
documents.
Helps to write genuine Grammatical mistakes can
content happen.

Plagiarism decreases and Time-consuming

more original contents
take place.

14
 Benefit(s) of this skill to Authors can use secondary information and data without
me >>>>>: being plagiarized

3 Academic Skill 3 Strong points Weak points

(advantages) (disadvantages)
Creation of Table of The process is easy and There is a possibility to
Contents helps to see all contents make small mistakes like
at a glance. wrong page numbers and
formatting.

Helps to navigate to
specific topic or chapter
Benefit(s) of this skill to Makes the document easy to navigate and gives brief
me>>>>>: information about the names of the chapters in a
document.

Appendix 8
Academic Writting Skills

APPENDIX 9: Employability Skills:

No. The specific skill you’ve How does it raise my chances of getting
acquired during lessons or your desired job?
workshops
1 Communication Skills Communication is essential for all sort of jobs.

15
 It helps to connect with upper-level managers.
If I have proper knowledge about the role and I
can deliver those effectively in the interview
board then the chances of getting my desired
job will increase.

2 Writing Skills A CV and email will reach to the managers of

my desired job area or company. Finely tuned
writing skill can impress the managers which
will influence them to invite me for the
interview.

3 Time Management Time management is a lucrative skill which is

expected from everyone in the job market.
Attending interviews and meetings timely can
make the career path smooth.

4 Emotional Intelligence Keeping the balance of emotion is an essential

skill which is needed inside of every employee
but few have this special skill. Acquiring
Emotional Intelligence and managing the
emotions can lead me to my desired role in my
desired job because it will enable me to
behave well and react to situations properly.

Appendix 9
Employability Skills

APPENDIX 10: Notes on Reflection

16
Looking into one’s activities and analyzing the activities critically and figuring out more
possible ways to do the tasks efficiently (Bilyk, 2015). To maintain the quality of work a
human should look into his or her activities once in a while and make changes
according to need. After attending the workshops, I have realized that I was practising
emotional intelligence which I get from my mother but I could not name it or develop it.
That workshop makes me think of my special trait and now I know how to develop this
trait to gain more positive results. Now I will try to develop emotional intelligence in a
structured way which will make my career path smooth. That is how reflection helps to
improve a person.

APPENDIX 11: Up-to-Date Curriculum Vitae (CV)

NAME:

ADDRESS:

CONTACT DETAILS:

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY: As a fast learner I can fix my issues through reflecting

on myself. Being a perfectionist I try to finish a work with perfection and I give

17
attention to details.

EDUCATION (Name and year of Institution attended):

CORE QUALIFICATIONS: Core qualities that I have are listed below:

 Time Management
 Effective Communication Skill
 Emotional Intelligence

WORK EXPERIENCE:
 Worked in a business club for 3 years and retired as the vice president of
administration.
 Worked in a humanitarian club for 2 years and retired as general secretary.

REFERENCES:

18
  Mr John Smith, Manager of Branding and Promotion, Unilever UK
 Mr Adline Hamles, Manager of Finance, RB UK.

Appendix 11
Up-to-date CV

APPENDIX 12: An Action Plan for achieving a specific academic or

professional goal of your choice.

Action For Achieving a Specific Goal

Date:

My Name:

Course enrolled for:

Level of study:

GOAL To be accomplished: Becoming an HR executive of Unilever

Actions I need to take to 1. Finishing Bachelors and Masters degree

19
 accomplish my Goal: having Human Resource Management as a
major.
2. Participating in HR based competitions and
simulation programs
3. Doing an internship in HR executive roles in
reputed organisations
4. Knowing human psychology by reading
books and observing people.

Resources/support/backup 1. Networks with HR executive and managers of

that I need: reputed organisations and advises from them.
2. Books and articles related to HR and human
psychology.
Timeframe: The approximate time-frame is within 2025.

Success criteria or indicators: If I get the HR executive role in Unilever after

finishing my degrees then I will consider it as my
success.

Review / evaluation: After achieving the goal I will get exposure as an

employee of a renowned multinational company and
it will open other opportunities for me. I can learn
and experience a lot of new things and work with
various type of humans which will be an exciting job
for me.

Appendix 12 Action
plan for a goal

20