Career Development Plan

Question: Discuss about the Career Development Plan. Answer: Introduction With the help of this paper, I will be discussing about my CDP, i.e. Career Development Plan that will comprise of my short term long term career goals, my personal SWOT analysis, promotional opportunities, job satisfaction characteristics, abilities, skills, education lastly develop an action plan to achieve my career goals. Career Goals Living just for existence has never been an objective for my life. Since my childhood, I have been passionate about cooking, and this passion of cooking has been arrived because I am foodie person and like to eat taste variety of cuisines. It is a saying that the person, who loves to eat, will always love to cook and this saying applies to me as well. So the ultimate goal of my life is to establish the chain of my own hotels, food joints coffee houses. I want to make my organization compete with the top most organization in the hospitality industry and reach at the top in the hospitality industry, so I can setup myself as an example for others. During high school, I was fascinated about learning how chef can make different cuisines and that too with an awesome taste. Along the way, however I realized that the love for food aspect of cooking was what I enjoyed the most. So, Hospitality Management was a natural career choice which could lead in achieving my career goals. The unique Bachelor of Hospitality Management at International College of Management, Sydney, earned me a great knowledge in the field of hospitality. I choose this college because this is one of the best colleges proving hospitality management course in Sydney. The most unique thing about this program is that that, we can choose any specialization in the hospitality filed, I choose Food Beverage attendant as my specialization. Apart from this, the course also taught me about food beverage operation, kitchen operations, housekeeping operations front office operations. The rigorous course of the program is a unique assortment of experiments (practical) theory with the importance on originality research on hospitality industry. Apart from this, the program offered a certification on Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA Certificate NSW). An excellent faculty the great environment have inspired in me a terrific liking for the area of hospitality. My bachelors in Hospitality Management studies gave me a chance to work with the students that have similar aspirations motivations like I had. Aside from academics I have established a personality on all fronts with dynamic participation in debating, dramatic, sports social work, prominent a perfect balance between play work. These refreshing interactions have encouraged in me the team spirit qualities the desire of helping others. I have appeared in various rigorous camps they have nurtured in me a sense of resilience, diligence, persistence discipline, which I feel is very important for having a successful life. I believe in sincerity working hard. My strength lies in my ability to learn from experiences capacity to fight on my own from the challenges that I face in life. Currently I am working with The Naked Duck Mascot as a Store Manager Barista. I am working with them since January 2015. Working in this organization I got a chance to develop my hospitality skills. As I am the store manager, so I need to know how work is happening at the ground level, from there I learned preparing coffee, serving the customers, taking their feedbacks, listening to them, resolving their complaints, making their visit at store a delighted experience. As a store manager, I was given a team of 7 people, from there I got to learn managing employees, empowering them motivating them, also I got to learn to impart trainings to the new hires. I learned skills of working in a team to attain the common objective and also improved my communication skills. I learned problem solving skills, conflict resolution skills. I would say I am able to become a good leader, as I am able to help my personnel in all the ways I can and also guide them to the right direction. My current objective or rather I can say my short term objective is to get into an organization wherein I can enhance my skills in terms of hospitality, communication, leadership, managerial customer serving. I also want to develop Food Beverage skills, as well as Barista skills. I want to work for a reputed and a well-known famous brand which will help me in developing my skills and as well as make my resume stronger. Working in a big form with big responsibilities will help in my career development and also will fetch me with good salary that will make me financially stronger. Down the line after gaining an experience of 3 years with the organization and having sufficient finances available, my midterm objective would be to go for a masters degree and get myself involved in such a program that results to assist me in attaining my ultimate goal of having my own venture. I trust that a career in such a field is an intellectual inspiring academic environment would provide me a brilliant way to contribute my little to the life long process of diffusion growth of knowledge. I am completely aware of the hard work dedication that is required and I am assertive that I will be able to cope up with these challenges (Williamson, 2004). I dream of doing my Masters in Hospitality Management from William Blue College of Hospitality Management. Completion of this course from this renowned college will supplement my work experience in the field of hospitality management food and beverage management where I want to attain high credentials. Also, this course will assist in providing me with sound foundation in hospitality FB management, which will allow me to suit any sartorial functional responsibility. Master degree in hospitality management will satisfy my wish to be recognized as a post graduate in hospitality management from worldwide recognized multicultural institute like this. As the course consists of hospitality operations, by the time I complete the course I would be able to analyze the operations of a hotel. While pursuing masters in hospitality management I need to do my best look for internship job programs, which would be beneficial to my career after I graduate. Job program internship will be a big advantage assistance for me when it will come to finding a job after completing the masters. I would like to work with a seven star hotel like Park Hyatt for a minimum of 2-3 years, so that I can understand the behavioral structure nature of the organization from top level to bottom level (Bailey Ford, 2006). Down the line after five years, it will be quite difficult for me to give up the comforts of the corporate world to start my own venture (chain of hotels). The journey would be challenging, but with the support from friends families I will be able to fight with these challenges. In order to win the support, I will need to take time for them and explaining them about the business also I need to develop a solid business plan (Donaldson, 2002). SWOT Analysis Though a brief introduction about my strengths, weaknesses, threats opportunities have been told in the above section. However, I would be further discussing few of the other below. Strengths One my biggest strength is my work experience in hotel industry. I have been working for 2 years as a store manager barista with The Naked Duck Mascot. My background in hospitality industry has served me sound since I have an understanding of basic hospitality management concepts as well as food beverage services. Another key strength for me would be my educational experience. My bachelors degree in hospitality management from one of the best college in Sydney, along with my work experience has resulted in proficiency in food beverage services. The knowledge which I have expanded has aided enormously in the enhancing my skills at my position. I am a good communicator a quick learner. These are the personal physiognomies that I view as strengths in the area of hospitality. Hospitality industry is one of the fastest changing growing industries, therefor I should persistently be ready to tackle learn new skills. Having good communication is fairly important when leading a team or handling a customer. I have been able to work well with my juniors seniors stimulate confidence in then to be able to motivate them to attempt something new (Donaldson, 2002). Weaknesses One of the biggest weaknesses for me is my limited understanding in kitchen operation. Although I have learned how to handle the kitchen operations while pursuing my graduation but have no practical experience of the same. These days hospitality industry demands kitchen operational knowledge, so I have recently started enhancing my kitchen operation knowledge, I lack the broad contextual knowledge that my co-colleagues have. I merely have a basic knowledge of how kitchen operations work, yet in my current job I have some responsibility of kitchen operations, which I am able to successfully complete. Few personal characteristics which I see as my weakness comprises ease of frustration lack of patience. Sometimes I run out of patience when my team members or customers are not able to understand my point. Sometimes I easily get frustrated when things on my to do list start piling up. I really need to develop my skills to take a back step, prioritize my work, hide my frustration impatience when dealing with group members customers. Sometimes I face difficulty delegating some of the daily activities that I have since I find it quite simple to perform them myself instead of explaining somebody else on how to handle it. Because of this habit I pressurize myself with more work. I need to improve on my delegation skills, so as to achieve more (Kerr, Gravin, Heaton Boyale, 2006). Opportunities With the growth of the hospitality industry, I look my career to be safe stable because, as the industry is growing on a fast paces, obviously there would be more jobs available. Also, hospitality is one of the best paying industry, so I think I am quite sure that I might have my financials strong (Bennis, 2000). I also anticipate more demand for the hospitality industry from the tourism industry. Sydney is becoming more popular among the tourists which in turn lead to hospitality growth. Threats One of the greatest threats in the hospitality industry is the budgeting. Lack of capital makes it difficult to hold the hospitality industry. The state federal government are already funding the hospitality industry, so that more jobs can be created for the people residing in Sydney (Roster, Ciarrochi, 2005). The other threat can be the competition among the people in the hospitality industry. These days people are doing different courses and getting them well versed with the modern trends of servicing which is creating high competition in the market at the time of recruitment, as the companies get fresher having high skill set at low compensation. So it is quite necessary for me to keep myself updated with the latest trends and courses, so that my knowledge does not get obsolete my job is not on the stake (Cote Miner, 2006). Career Trend Assessment My path towards a fulfilling career as ha hospitality manager primarily depends on where I started my journey. Regardless of my present position, however a degree of hospitality management from a credited university is necessarily required if a person is truly serious about their professional ambitious (Cote Miner, 2006). People having no or little career experience have two basic options. The individual that require to have detailed understanding of specific sector in hospitality from the ground up can start their career with a non-managerial degree from a hospitality college start hiking the corporate ladder from the lowermost levels. If this path is followed then a person should consequently plan on implementation some kind of hospitality management program so as to reach the top of the hierarchy with the required skills confidence. In order to fast-track the professional growth, most of the candidates to the hospitality industry chose completely diverse career option, and get themselves enrolled in the quality Hospitality Management College, which will avoid them from going the grunt work and put their professional career on the fast track (Mayer, Salovey Caruso, 2004). The hospitality industry provide varied career opportunities the prospects to attain a managerial profile are high. Not only an aspirant can be benefited from turnover of the industry, but most chains of hotel have expansion plans in long term. Even though there was a little slow down during the Great Recession, hospitality organizations are continuously looking for outstanding talent. The thing that requires to have an advancement is to ensure that the individual offers the correct blend of human capital, i.e. aspirant should possess right set of present future skills, knowledge abilities which help in competing with rest of the aspirants . Job Search Strategy Job Search Tracking: It is a significant step to track my application, when I have so many jobs to apply for. This could be prepared in excel or a similar program. However, making a spreadsheet is one of the simplest and effective ways to track the applications. The key columns that can be included are: Name of the column, contact person, email address of the contact, date applied, application summary, interview, follow-up, status (Ivceiviv, Brackett, 2007). Goals: The specific goals should be set in order to get the job. SMART tool is a good way to track on the goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic Time bound. The goals that I will set using this tool will stay with me all the time, which will keep me reminding my objective will keep me focused. For instance, I can set a goal to apply for 2 jobs every week attain at least 1 positive feedback The tracking sheet with these SMART goals will help me in preparing better in future interviews (Porter Mckibbin, 2009). Target Companies: In order to come closer to my dream organization, I need to identify prepare a plan to reach to those organizations from present. Firstly, I need to research on internet, what all companies are available for my hotel management field. Secondly, I need to check; what are the requirements the company is looking for in the candidate and match with it. If there is a good match between what is required and what I have, then I need to research for the complete background of the company (i.e. how do they operate, what they do, who they target, etc.) and need to prepare for all the paper work that is required and at last I will be applying to my dream job. The companies that I am targeting on are, Park Hyatt Hotel InterContinental Sydney. Social Media: In todays IT world, it is essential to adopt be up to date with the technology. I am keeping my social networking accounts professional clean which represent a positive impact for the recruiters. Moreover, interactions on social networks assist in building good relations with employees, colleagues friends working in other organizations. I have updated my profile on LinkedIn which is one of the biggest hubs for the recruiters to find the suitable candidate. Networking contacts: I am working thoroughly to come out of my comfort zone and build my social network. I am working rigorously to build my network and I have started getting in touch with all my ex class mates, colleagues, friends relatives who stay informative. Also, by talking to them or by being in touch with them, I can enhance my contact have more to learn from my new friend. Because you never now, which contact can help you in getting your dream job (Porter Mckibbin, 2009). Experiential learning: This strategy mostly does not imply for hospitality industry. The people at top positions usually start from lowest grade in order to attain the experiences these experiences will result in their promotions and attaining higher position in the organization. In hotel industry people start from being a waiter and then reach to the managerial positions and then the executive position. I need to gain more of the experiences from the real world, so that I need not have to start with the basic level, for which I have completed my graduation from the renowned college. Advertised Job: I need to search for the job at the right place at the right time. I can search for job on online job portals (like LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.), official organizations website (like Park Hyatt Melbourne InterContinental) Newspapers (printed or e-newspaper available on internet). Information Interviews: This can also be said as rehearsal of the interview, in this step I need to collect all the relevant information or questions, that can be asked by the interviewer in the interview. I need to be on time for the interview, wear business attire, organizing all the required documents, etc. Also, this information can be exchanges with the person who has good knowledge. Internet Usage: In order to search the job or get the desired position that I am looking to apply for can be done only by using the internet. In order to make sure that my time is not wasted, the precise use for internet could be made in order to make a list of keywords that I am looking to bookmark it (Bracket Mayer, 2003). This completes my career development plan I will surely work hard to make things work out properly. References Brackett, M. A., Mayer, J. D. (2003). Convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of competing measures of emotional intelligence. 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