Welcome to my Personal Professional Development Portfolio!
This is where I will be reflecting on my first year at university and the skills that I have learned and the things I have done in order to do so.
As well as talking about the practical skills that i have learned, I will also be reflecting on my graduate attributes, how I expand them and create an action plan to do this.
Including my CV in this portfolio will allow me to compare it with updated versions that i will be creating over my next 2 years at university.
This is a way to put all my personal reflections in one place, creating a SWOT analysis to work out where my strengths and weaknesses lie and how I can use my weaknesses to turn threats into opportunities.
Saturday, 16 April 2016
Friday, 15 April 2016
Graduate Attributes
Graduate attributes are skills and attitudes that a student develops in their time at an institution such as university. In this post I am going to look at which attributes I consider myself to have and not have and what experiences I have to back them up.
Hard and Soft Skills: Graduate attributes are a mixture of hard and soft skills. Hard skills are those which are easily defined and are acquired through conventional methods and easily demonstrated. Examples of hard skills include: Treatments, a degree or other certificate and proficiency in another language.
Soft skills are more difficult to define and are more about emotional intelligence and awareness of yourself and your environment. Some examples of soft skills include teamwork, motivation, flexibility and communication.
This image shows the importance of self and social-awareness and how it can impact your abilities in the workplace.
Negotiation and Persuasion: I believe I possess this attribute as I have been in many working situations where I have had to negotiate solutions to problems with customers. Also, as a therapist there comes a certain level of negotiation within parts of the job such as retailing or upgrading and link selling treatments. In my previous job I was a sales assistant and I was required to deal with customers who wanted discounts from items and refunds when receipts were out of date for example. In these situations, if i wasn't able to contact my manager, I was required to negotiate the situations myself, such as offering an alternative to a refund or making them aware of some of the other offers that were available at the time. Having this job for fourteen months, I was able to improve in this area on many occasions.
Having only been a therapist for seven months I haven't yet gained the level of experience to enable me to retail after every treatment I carry out. This is party due to lack of confidence in my knowledge of the products and also feeling like I'm forcing the guest into buying something that they don't necessarily want; But this experience and confidence will come in time.
Assertiveness: My assertive skills are fairly strong for someone who has never been in any form of management role before. I believe that I have a naturally assertive personality and find it quite easy to lead a group of people to success, whether that be in a learning or working environment. My only experience in the working environment of assertiveness is when I was left in charge of the team on shop floor whilst my manager and supervisor were interviewing. This allowed me to develop my skills of working with other people in a leadership role and not being afraid to ask them to carry out tasks to keep everything running smoothly.
Communication: Communication can come in many forms, including verbal and electronic communication, such as emails for example. I believe that I am able to communicate in both professional and informal circumstances and that this ability has come from being involved in organising events and having to communicate with different teams of people made up of both students and teachers.
Emails sent to fellow students were more informal and casual than those sent to teachers due to the nature of the content; For example, I would be reminding students about rehearsals and meetings and would be discussing budgets and health and safety procedures with teachers and other faculty members.
My communication experiences at university include emailing the spa and lecturers for sickness, or communicating with the spa team regarding extra shifts or any other work related issues.
Networking: I have limited experiences with networking as I have only really started learning networking techniques since joining university. My current experiences include going to Professional Beauty North, The Buxton Spa and Wellness Conference and Industry Day. All of these experiences have involved talking to different professionals within the industry and learning about them and how they got into the positions they are in. This has allowed me to gain confidence and learn the best questions to ask to get the most valuable information. This will help me in the future when looking for jobs and placement in my following years as a student.
Commercial Awareness: I feel as though I could improve my commercial awareness a lot in the next few years as a university student because it can be very helpful when it comes to researching for my work. In order to improve my commercial awareness, I can sign up to spa magazines such as Spa Business, Professional Spa and Wellness and DaySpa. All of these magazines will help me to keep up to date with the latest treatments and business successes as well as helping me to learn more about the modules I will be studying by providing me with further information and other ways of looking at information that I already have.
Professional Development: Professional development is key when working on other graduate attributes because it helps you to become more self-aware and more confident. Without these skills, it would be difficult to enhance my contribution to the workplace and keep up-to-date with any changes. My professional development kick-started when I became a university student because I knew I had to develop myself both academically and personally in order to have a chance to go into my preferred line of work. This module is all about evaluating my professional development so far, what impact it has had on me and how I can develop further.
Problem Solving: Being able to solve problems quickly and effectively can give a graduate employee the upper hand against their competitors because it shows that they will require less resources and support in order to solve problems themselves. Problem solving has some importance in all professional areas. In my experience, I believe I am good at effective problem solving and making quick decisions under pressure.
Pro-Activity: Pro-activity in the workplace can be measured by how a person keeps themselves busy or the things they do to continuously improve their performance; Whether that be attending extra training sessions, asking for support or just finding new ways to improve procedures or ways of doing tasks. I feel as though I am a pro-active person in the workplace. As a spa host from September to July, there would be times when all guests were attended to and other jobs had to be done. The jobs would be thing that other people may forget about or not always have time to do, for example, laundry, re-stocking the towel and robe cupboard or cleaning the stock room. I believe that doing these small jobs helps other staff members as well as making the general running of the day smoother.
Self- Awareness: Self-awareness involves being able to identify when you have done things well and not so well, and working out what can be done on a personal and professional level to help fix any mistakes. It also helps when we need to be confident in an unfamiliar situation. For example, as a newly trained therapist, I currently find it difficult to promote products and treatments in spa as i am not confident with selling something I have not been familiar with for very long. However, I know that I have more knowledge on these products and treatments than I let myself believe, and should be more confident when promoting them to clients in order to boost my retailing.
Team Working: In many jobs, team work is essential, especially in the spa and wellness industry. It is vital that everyone is able to communicate with each other efficiently and can work well together to ensure everything runs as it should. I feel as though I am good at working in a team because I have had lots of experience. These experiences include doing group work and school and university as well as in a commercial, working environment. Being able to work as well in a team as I can on my own helps me to stand out as it is always important to not rely on other people but to know how to use their skills and your own to an advantage.
Leadership: "Leadership is a process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives”
Learning leadership skills is important because you never know when you could be put in a situation when you need them. They are also useful when working in a team because you are able to take the lead in any decision making if needed. Leadership involves knowing how to prioritise, motivate, cooperate and set goals. My experiences with leadership include running dance shows in secondary school and doing group projects and presentations throughout my years at school. I believe I have good leadership skills but they could be improved. I will be able to do this through my time at university through working in the spa in a supervisory role and being actively involved in group projects.
Organisation Skills: My organisation skills are something that i feel I can work on a lot. I am currently balancing lectures and private study time with work and my personal life. At the beginning of the academic year I was finding this difficult as it was all new to me and I had to work out the balance that worked best for me. I felt as though I was balancing everything but I did not think about anything that could get in the way of timetabled work time or plans such as time to go home or extra lectures/guest speakers. Throughout university I will always have to adapt the balance as I will be getting more work in the years to come and it will be increasingly difficult meaning I will have to spend more time on doing my work to the best of my ability.
Enterprise Skills: In order to be enterprising, you need to have a mixture of other skills. According to the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship these include initiative, leadership, problem solving and independence. I believe I possess come of the skills they state, but can still develop more of them, such as creativity for example.
Confidence Building: I am always the first to put myself down and talk about what I am bad at rather than what I am good at. I know that i have to change this in order to build my self-confidence. Without self-confidence, I will never believe the good comments i get about my work or anything else i do. Believing that I cannot do something has become a way of thinking and I need to change this if I am to progress quickly through university.
Specific Occupational Skills: I am fairly quick at picking up specific skills that are needed in different jobs. For example when working in retail I had to learn the standards of the store and how to do things in the way of the company. The same in the Devonshire Spa, I had to learn what jobs had to be done throughout the day and how to get them done efficiently.
Technical Skills: As a student at university who came directly from A-levels, I had not trained at all in the beauty industry and I was worried that I would struggle to learn the skills that I now have. Ending my first year with certificates in Ishga massage and facial and Elemis deep tissue and advanced facials has enabled me to gain experience in the spa of carrying out treatments on commercial clients and develop my technical skills at an increasing rate. Through my time at university I will become competent in a number of advance Elemis treatments.
Networking: I have limited experiences with networking as I have only really started learning networking techniques since joining university. My current experiences include going to Professional Beauty North, The Buxton Spa and Wellness Conference and Industry Day. All of these experiences have involved talking to different professionals within the industry and learning about them and how they got into the positions they are in. This has allowed me to gain confidence and learn the best questions to ask to get the most valuable information. This will help me in the future when looking for jobs and placement in my following years as a student.
Commercial Awareness: I feel as though I could improve my commercial awareness a lot in the next few years as a university student because it can be very helpful when it comes to researching for my work. In order to improve my commercial awareness, I can sign up to spa magazines such as Spa Business, Professional Spa and Wellness and DaySpa. All of these magazines will help me to keep up to date with the latest treatments and business successes as well as helping me to learn more about the modules I will be studying by providing me with further information and other ways of looking at information that I already have.
Professional Development: Professional development is key when working on other graduate attributes because it helps you to become more self-aware and more confident. Without these skills, it would be difficult to enhance my contribution to the workplace and keep up-to-date with any changes. My professional development kick-started when I became a university student because I knew I had to develop myself both academically and personally in order to have a chance to go into my preferred line of work. This module is all about evaluating my professional development so far, what impact it has had on me and how I can develop further.
Problem Solving: Being able to solve problems quickly and effectively can give a graduate employee the upper hand against their competitors because it shows that they will require less resources and support in order to solve problems themselves. Problem solving has some importance in all professional areas. In my experience, I believe I am good at effective problem solving and making quick decisions under pressure.
Pro-Activity: Pro-activity in the workplace can be measured by how a person keeps themselves busy or the things they do to continuously improve their performance; Whether that be attending extra training sessions, asking for support or just finding new ways to improve procedures or ways of doing tasks. I feel as though I am a pro-active person in the workplace. As a spa host from September to July, there would be times when all guests were attended to and other jobs had to be done. The jobs would be thing that other people may forget about or not always have time to do, for example, laundry, re-stocking the towel and robe cupboard or cleaning the stock room. I believe that doing these small jobs helps other staff members as well as making the general running of the day smoother.
Self- Awareness: Self-awareness involves being able to identify when you have done things well and not so well, and working out what can be done on a personal and professional level to help fix any mistakes. It also helps when we need to be confident in an unfamiliar situation. For example, as a newly trained therapist, I currently find it difficult to promote products and treatments in spa as i am not confident with selling something I have not been familiar with for very long. However, I know that I have more knowledge on these products and treatments than I let myself believe, and should be more confident when promoting them to clients in order to boost my retailing.
 |
(Goleman's ET, 1999)
|
Leadership: "Leadership is a process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives”
Organisation Skills: My organisation skills are something that i feel I can work on a lot. I am currently balancing lectures and private study time with work and my personal life. At the beginning of the academic year I was finding this difficult as it was all new to me and I had to work out the balance that worked best for me. I felt as though I was balancing everything but I did not think about anything that could get in the way of timetabled work time or plans such as time to go home or extra lectures/guest speakers. Throughout university I will always have to adapt the balance as I will be getting more work in the years to come and it will be increasingly difficult meaning I will have to spend more time on doing my work to the best of my ability.
Enterprise Skills: In order to be enterprising, you need to have a mixture of other skills. According to the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship these include initiative, leadership, problem solving and independence. I believe I possess come of the skills they state, but can still develop more of them, such as creativity for example.
Confidence Building: I am always the first to put myself down and talk about what I am bad at rather than what I am good at. I know that i have to change this in order to build my self-confidence. Without self-confidence, I will never believe the good comments i get about my work or anything else i do. Believing that I cannot do something has become a way of thinking and I need to change this if I am to progress quickly through university.
Specific Occupational Skills: I am fairly quick at picking up specific skills that are needed in different jobs. For example when working in retail I had to learn the standards of the store and how to do things in the way of the company. The same in the Devonshire Spa, I had to learn what jobs had to be done throughout the day and how to get them done efficiently.
Technical Skills: As a student at university who came directly from A-levels, I had not trained at all in the beauty industry and I was worried that I would struggle to learn the skills that I now have. Ending my first year with certificates in Ishga massage and facial and Elemis deep tissue and advanced facials has enabled me to gain experience in the spa of carrying out treatments on commercial clients and develop my technical skills at an increasing rate. Through my time at university I will become competent in a number of advance Elemis treatments.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Transferable Skills
Transferrable skills are ones that you can take from one job to another and they will always have a purpose. Developing my transferrable skills will make me a more desirable candidate for jobs in the future as it means that I can adapt easily to different job types and situations. This is a list of the skills that the majority of employers look for:
- Problem Solving
- Organising
- Working to deadlines
- Management and Leadership
- Negotiating
- Motivating People
- Making Decisions
- Research Skills
- Numeracy
- Good Communication Skills
Problem Solving: I have been in many situations where i have had to solve problems taking other people into account and do it quickly and efficiently. I have not had this experience much in spa, but more in my previous retail job. When working with the public it is the employees job to make sure that the service they receive and experience they get is the best it can be. Any problem, big or small, is important. When working in spa I try to watch how the supervisors solve certain problems so that I can learn from them for when I may have to deal with similar issues.
Organising: Organisation is key when working in a team. If one person is unorganised it can slow the whole team down. I am always trying to improve my organisational skills for both myself and the teams that I am a part of. Working in spa requires you to stay organised and know which jobs need doing and when in order to keep everything running smoothly and on time. Since being at university I have learned to organise my time more efficiently and split it between assignments and social time as well as working in the spa.
Working to Deadlines: I can usually work to deadline if I have planned my time effectively. Working in the spa has helped me to stick to deadlines on a short-term basis. When carrying out treatments it is important that it is done to the highest standard whilst also sticking to the treatment time which can often be cut short by clients taking more time than expected to get changed before their treatment or accompanying therapists running over in their previous treatments. I also work to deadlines with my assignments. this requires planning of my time so that I know when I can complete certain parts of assignments in order to get them completed in time for proof reading and corrections before the submission deadline. Throughout the first year of university I have found this difficult because of the difference in the writing standards between sixth form and level 4. I have also had to learn how to reference and how to find the most useful sources in order to complete my work to the best quality. This has taken a lot of time and made me work slower than i expected, making the task of keeping to my deadlines slightly more challenging in the first semester. In second semester I improved slightly but could improve still. This will be part of my action plan to improve for the following year.
Management and Leadership: I have not been in a great deal of situations this year where I have had a chance to improve my management and leadership skills. The induction week presentation gave me a chance to show some leadership skills when I was able to delegate tasks to people in my group to enable us to produce a good presentation. Unfortunately, because I did not know anyones strengths it was difficult to delegate efficiently but I believe I did well, all things considered. Some more notable examples of my leadership and management skills come from my time in sixth form running the annual RAG Dance Show. My jobs included arranging rehearsals and running them. I was also in charge of making sure the backstage team were aware of their roles on the night and ensuring that the performers were at the side of the stage ready to perform. Being involved in the running of this show for 3 years allowed me to improve on my skills based on my performance in my roles in the previous years. Management and leadership are transferable to all jobs because you never know when you may be asked to lead a team or fill in for someone in more of a managerial position.
Negotiating: Negotiation is a skill that I have not yet had a chance to develop. Negotiation can be transferred into different jobs from as early as the recruitment stage. New employees may have the chance to negotiate salary or benefits such as holiday allowance. they can also do the same once they have been working in the company for a certain amount of time. When working with people it is also important to have negotiation skills in order to provide good service when offering deals or compensation for any complaints that may be given. Using negotiation skills allows an employee to have moe control over a situation because they are confident in how to approach a situation with an idea of how much leeway they should allow.
Motivating People: When aiming for a position in management it is important that you are able to motivate people. Sometimes, it is not always active motivation that is needed; by being a positive employee others around you will feel more motivated. In my working life as well as in my education I have found that when I am around people that are de-motivated and do not do what they should do, I feel the same because I feel as though I shouldn't be doing double the work if they do not make the required effort. When working in a team, as well as on my own, I try to maintain a positive attitude to influence people around me to do the same thing. Once I start to get into more supervisory positions I will be able to develop my active motivational skills.
Making Decisions: Because I have experience with leadership I have been able to develop my ability to make decisions quickly and effectively by analysing the outcomes. Being able to make decisions quickly and easily is all jobs enables you to do any tasks that are set for you, moe effectively. Depending on the situation I can find it difficult to make quick decisions at times. This is sometimes down to lack of confidence, so once I develop that I will improve a variety of my other skills.
Research Skills: I began to develop my research skills when I started my final year of sixth form whilst doing my A2 media coursework. Learning how to find specific information quickly as well as how to reference it gave me a slight head start when i moved into university level study because I could just build on what I had already learned as opposed to starting from scratch even though there were still lots of research skills that I hadn't learned yet. Throughout the year I feel as though I have been able to improve my research skills quickly because of the amount of work i have had. Moving into second year, I will have to improve further as I will be going into level 5 and will need to include more references in my work and more developed sources of research.
Numeracy: Basic numeracy skills are required in most jobs. This usually means a GCSE in mathematics and some experience with basic finance. I attained a C in my GCSE Mathematics and am currently doing a finance module as part of my degree. This gives me two different experiences with numeracy skills. I wish to develop my finance skills further by reading more books about it and learning about it in more detail.
Good Communication Skills: I have been in lots of situations where I have to communicate with people of all ages and professions. This has quickly allowed me to learn how to properly communicate with different people in different settings. As a therapist it is important that I talk to my guests in a calm manner without being patronising or slow. It is important to know when to change the what you communicate with people. For example, at work, you would communicate with your colleagues in a different way to what you would with your clients. As I become a more experienced therapist I will be able to develop the way that I communicate with my clients, especially when retailing to make sure that I can come across in the best possible way.
Organising: Organisation is key when working in a team. If one person is unorganised it can slow the whole team down. I am always trying to improve my organisational skills for both myself and the teams that I am a part of. Working in spa requires you to stay organised and know which jobs need doing and when in order to keep everything running smoothly and on time. Since being at university I have learned to organise my time more efficiently and split it between assignments and social time as well as working in the spa.
Working to Deadlines: I can usually work to deadline if I have planned my time effectively. Working in the spa has helped me to stick to deadlines on a short-term basis. When carrying out treatments it is important that it is done to the highest standard whilst also sticking to the treatment time which can often be cut short by clients taking more time than expected to get changed before their treatment or accompanying therapists running over in their previous treatments. I also work to deadlines with my assignments. this requires planning of my time so that I know when I can complete certain parts of assignments in order to get them completed in time for proof reading and corrections before the submission deadline. Throughout the first year of university I have found this difficult because of the difference in the writing standards between sixth form and level 4. I have also had to learn how to reference and how to find the most useful sources in order to complete my work to the best quality. This has taken a lot of time and made me work slower than i expected, making the task of keeping to my deadlines slightly more challenging in the first semester. In second semester I improved slightly but could improve still. This will be part of my action plan to improve for the following year.
Management and Leadership: I have not been in a great deal of situations this year where I have had a chance to improve my management and leadership skills. The induction week presentation gave me a chance to show some leadership skills when I was able to delegate tasks to people in my group to enable us to produce a good presentation. Unfortunately, because I did not know anyones strengths it was difficult to delegate efficiently but I believe I did well, all things considered. Some more notable examples of my leadership and management skills come from my time in sixth form running the annual RAG Dance Show. My jobs included arranging rehearsals and running them. I was also in charge of making sure the backstage team were aware of their roles on the night and ensuring that the performers were at the side of the stage ready to perform. Being involved in the running of this show for 3 years allowed me to improve on my skills based on my performance in my roles in the previous years. Management and leadership are transferable to all jobs because you never know when you may be asked to lead a team or fill in for someone in more of a managerial position.
Negotiating: Negotiation is a skill that I have not yet had a chance to develop. Negotiation can be transferred into different jobs from as early as the recruitment stage. New employees may have the chance to negotiate salary or benefits such as holiday allowance. they can also do the same once they have been working in the company for a certain amount of time. When working with people it is also important to have negotiation skills in order to provide good service when offering deals or compensation for any complaints that may be given. Using negotiation skills allows an employee to have moe control over a situation because they are confident in how to approach a situation with an idea of how much leeway they should allow.
Motivating People: When aiming for a position in management it is important that you are able to motivate people. Sometimes, it is not always active motivation that is needed; by being a positive employee others around you will feel more motivated. In my working life as well as in my education I have found that when I am around people that are de-motivated and do not do what they should do, I feel the same because I feel as though I shouldn't be doing double the work if they do not make the required effort. When working in a team, as well as on my own, I try to maintain a positive attitude to influence people around me to do the same thing. Once I start to get into more supervisory positions I will be able to develop my active motivational skills.
Making Decisions: Because I have experience with leadership I have been able to develop my ability to make decisions quickly and effectively by analysing the outcomes. Being able to make decisions quickly and easily is all jobs enables you to do any tasks that are set for you, moe effectively. Depending on the situation I can find it difficult to make quick decisions at times. This is sometimes down to lack of confidence, so once I develop that I will improve a variety of my other skills.
Research Skills: I began to develop my research skills when I started my final year of sixth form whilst doing my A2 media coursework. Learning how to find specific information quickly as well as how to reference it gave me a slight head start when i moved into university level study because I could just build on what I had already learned as opposed to starting from scratch even though there were still lots of research skills that I hadn't learned yet. Throughout the year I feel as though I have been able to improve my research skills quickly because of the amount of work i have had. Moving into second year, I will have to improve further as I will be going into level 5 and will need to include more references in my work and more developed sources of research.
Numeracy: Basic numeracy skills are required in most jobs. This usually means a GCSE in mathematics and some experience with basic finance. I attained a C in my GCSE Mathematics and am currently doing a finance module as part of my degree. This gives me two different experiences with numeracy skills. I wish to develop my finance skills further by reading more books about it and learning about it in more detail.
Good Communication Skills: I have been in lots of situations where I have to communicate with people of all ages and professions. This has quickly allowed me to learn how to properly communicate with different people in different settings. As a therapist it is important that I talk to my guests in a calm manner without being patronising or slow. It is important to know when to change the what you communicate with people. For example, at work, you would communicate with your colleagues in a different way to what you would with your clients. As I become a more experienced therapist I will be able to develop the way that I communicate with my clients, especially when retailing to make sure that I can come across in the best possible way.
Wednesday, 13 April 2016
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis looks at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Conducting regular SWOT analyses allows us to keep on track of both the industry (Threats) and how we would fit into it with our current strengths and weaknesses. Some of the advantages to conducting a SWOT analysis include:
By producing a SWOT analysis I can decide what I should focus on improving first, depending on my current goals. For example, as I am still at university and learning treatments, I do not have to focus on therapists with more training because by the time I have finished university I will have the same level of training.
- Addressing weaknesses in order to improve on them
- Deter threats
- Capitalise on opportunities
- Use strengths to your advantage
(Benefits and limitations of SWOT analysis, 2016)
My SWOT Analysis
Internal Factors
External Factors
By producing a SWOT analysis I can decide what I should focus on improving first, depending on my current goals. For example, as I am still at university and learning treatments, I do not have to focus on therapists with more training because by the time I have finished university I will have the same level of training.
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Personal Reflection
When attending an event in professional circumstances, you must know how to present yourself in order to come across in the correct way. When attending the three events I will be talking about in this post, I was expected to represent the university as well as myself in a professional and respectful way. The following list is how to present yourself professionally and should be kept up for the duration of any event:
Professional Beauty North
This was my first professional event that I attended as a Spa student. The event showcases 500 brands and 100's of product launches (Visiting Professional Beauty Manchester North, no date). We had been given a general overview of how to present ourselves for the day but could not know exactly what to do until we arrived. I, personally felt nervous on the day because I had never done any work in the beauty industry other than work experience in two salons as a sixth form student. Because of this I used the day as a way to easy myself in to talking to different people from different types of companies, starting with La Beeby, because I was familiar with the company. I then went to and spoke to some stalls that focused on innovations in the acrylic nail industry because I have had experience in this field. I felt that this way to start my professional experience because I was able to build on my knowledge of something I already have an interest in.Buxton Spa and Wellness Conference
The Spa and Wellness conference included talks from motivational speaker Pete Cohen and wellness consultant Anni Hood. Through the talks, obviously all attendees were expected to show complete respects in regards to not using their phones etc. as this is one of the simple elements to showing a level of professionalism. I highly enjoyed the talks as they focussed on topics that we hadn't looked at yet on the course and provided us with different viewpoints.For the day, we were also required to sign up to workshops with other industry professionals. I decided to go to a talk by John Critoph on Colour Therapy and what different colours represented. I also attended a workshop about a new product designed by Adrian Jenkinson called the Wavestone. This was extremely interesting because it was about a new, but growing product innovation in the industry designed to make a therapists job easier and less strenuous on hands and wrists. I feel as though I presented myself professionally throughout the day but could have made more of an effort to talk to the visiting professionals to learn more about what they do and how they got to where they are. As I progress through university I will become more confident in doing this.Industry Networking Day
This event was a chance for us to speak to potential employers for summer placements and even future placements for a sandwich year. I used the afternoon to get to know a number of employers and what they look for in their employees. As i am not yet trained in manicures and pedicures it would be difficult for me to get a job in many places as I found that this is often a basic requirement. However, because i found this out, I am looking to complete a course in this whilst at home during summer. I did find the afternoon very useful as I spoke to an Erasmus+ Coordinator in regards to taking part in this during my sandwich year and finding out more about it sooner means that I can evaluate my options to see whether taking a placement abroad is for me.Personal Reflection within Practical
Throughout the year I have successfully trained in Ishga Swedish Massage, Ishga Facial and Elemis Deep Tissue Massage. Training in these three treatments challenged me as I came to university from a non-therapist background and had to learn about consultation, contraindications and the treatments themselves, as well as the products and the effects they had on the body.
After passing each assessment, I am now able to carry out these treatments on clients in the spa. As I have been able to keep practicing straight after training, it has allowed me to quickly build up the confidence with the treatments and perform them to the best of my ability without needing prompts. I have had feedback from clients saying that they thoroughly enjoyed their treatments with me and have also had one of the regular Devonshire Spa guests request me for their next treatment. My improvement has also shown in the number of tips that I have received for the delivery of excellent treatments and customer care.
I will soon be taking my Elemis Advanced Facials assessment which, if I pass, will enable me to carry out more treatments in Spa. I believe that I am able to learn things quickly in practical sessions and can use different techniques to help me remember the procedures in time for the assessments.
The experience of becoming a therapist has been completely new to me. Before coming to university I had never gained any official beauty qualifications and only had GCSE and A-Level certificates. I have enjoyed learning about spa and the wellness industry from scratch alongside learning the practical elements as it has enabled me to mould myself more easily within the process. I am looking forward to learning more treatments in my following years at university and being able to carry them out in a commercial environment, giving me lots of experience.
Action Plans
As I progress through university I will need to make action plans in order to keep on track with my personal academic goals. Continually making action plans will also allow me to focus my ideas and identify the steps needed to achieve them. It involves identifying and prioritising tasks and objectives and setting realistic times goals (University of Kent, no date).
These are some of my action plans for the coming months:
Organisation
Confidence
Presentation Skills
Retail Skills
These are some of my action plans for the coming months:
Organisation
CV
This is a copy of my CV. I have chosen the things that I have included based on what I think will help me to stand out as a potential candidate for future positions. I regularly update my CV and make sure that I am highlighting my best qualities to give potential employers a good idea of the type of employee I would be. As I progress through my time at university, I will be able to continually update my skills and level of spa training as well as opportunities and work experience I will have taken part in.
CURRICULUM
VITAE
Alejandra Ibarra
Flat 7D High Peak Halls
Bridge Street
Buxton
SK17 6BB
Mobile: 07834
239 449
DATE OF
BIRTH: 07/05/97
NATIONAL
INSURANCE NUMBER: PC 08 43 90 C
PERSONAL STATEMENT:
I
am a very confident person and find it easy to socialise and communicate with
people. I also complete tasks quickly and efficiently. I work well in a team
and pick up new skills fairly quickly. I feel that I would be a valuable member
of any team and take pride in my appearance and always ensure that I am ready
to work.
SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES:
·
Basic
ICT skills
·
Good
at working in groups as well as individually
·
Well
motivated to succeed and better myself
·
Comprehensive
knowledge of Spanish Language
·
Good
people skills
·
Good
at adapting to working environments
WORK RELATED ACHIEVEMENTS:
·
Was
mentioned in a company email on several occasions for high weekly sales
·
Contributed
to the success of the team each month in order to beat targets and be eligible
for bonuses.
INTERESTS:
I
am a first year student at the University of Derby (Buxton) studying
International Spa Management over 3 years. In my free time I enjoy listening to
music, exercising and partaking in sports as much as possible.
EDUCATION:
2008- 2015 Invicta Grammar
School
Gained twelve GCSEs grades A*-C. (including
Math, English and Science)
Three
A-levels grades B-C.
2015-Present
University of Derby
Studying towards an honours degree in
International Spa Management
EMPLOYMENT:
February-March 2013: Hair professional
(Work Experience)
Role:
Salon assistant
Consisted of keeping a tidy salon and assisting stylists with anything they
needed.
May-June
2013:
Thai Palace
Role: Waitress
This job consisted of providing the customers
with excellent customer service.
Sept
2014-May 2015: Mirror
Mirror Hair Salon
Role: Work experience
I was taught some basic skills in hair and
beauty and served drinks to customers as well as watching and learning from the
stylists and nail technician. I was also given the chance to practice manicure
on my own clients.
May
2014-July 2015: GUESS
UK
Role: Sales assistant
Customer service was
the most important part of this job, as well as keeping the shop and stock room
to the highest of standards at all times.
Sept 2015-Present: The Dome Spa
Role: Spa Host and Therapist
I am in my early stages
of therapist training but I carry out treatments on commercial clients and look
after the spa area to ensure it is running to its highest standards. This is
usually a voluntary shift to gain experience, but as students we are able to
apply for paid positions which is an opportunity I got involved in.
REFERENCES: Available
upon request
Sunday, 10 April 2016
PDP Hours
These are the hours of experience that I have gained through working in the Devonshire Spa and attending events previously mentioned in my personal reflections. Gaining these hours throughout university is important because it allows me to go out into the industry and have proof of real world experiences as a p-art of my course, which other candidates may lack.
“New graduates who’ve not had any work experience at all during their studies are increasingly less likely to be offered a good graduate job after university,” (Birchall, 2015)
Monday, 1 February 2016
References
References
Benefits and limitations of SWOT analysis (2016) Available at: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/starting/market-customer-research/swot-analysis/benefits-limitations-swot-analysis (Accessed: 14 April 2016).
Birchall, M. (2015) The importance of internships and real-world experience in a modern university education 21 December.
Flack, J. (2014) UOD - IQ/EQ Employability skills. Available at: https://prezi.com/h0vcxdlkras9/uod-iqeq-employability-skills/ (Accessed: 14 March 2016).
Goleman’s ET (1999) Available at: http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/teaching/philosophy_101/paper1/goleman.htm (Accessed: 1 April 2016).
Skills Funding Agency (2011) National careers service. Available at: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/Pages/transferableskills.aspx (Accessed: 13 April 2016).
UDB Employability portal (no date) Available at: http://udbemployable.co.uk/passport-system.asp (Accessed: 13 March 2016).
University of kent (no date) Action planning. Available at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsactionplanning.htm (Accessed: 18 April 2016).
Visiting professional beauty Manchester north (no date) Available at: http://professionalbeauty.co.uk/e/north2016/site/Home (Accessed: 18 April 2016).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)