Assignment 3 - Portfolio, 45%
IMPORTANT NOTE: Late submissions will NOT be accepted. In a real life situation, presenting your portfolio for a real job even 1 minute late means it would NOT be accepted.
***Please refer to the Assignment feedback sheet provided with definitive assignment details in the “Assessments” folder through the course home page. Failure to complete any component of any entry will result in a zero marks allocation for that section of the report.
ENTRY 1: ELEVATOR PITCH (approx. 30 seconds)
***This section requires you to submit a video file.
The three parts to this entry MUST be submitted as a single video file of 90 seconds duration.
1. Introducing yourself
Provide a 30 second introduction which describes you in terms of your professional experience, skills and aspirations. Imagine that you might use this description to describe yourself at a networking event. Refer to notes from your tutorial on developing an ‘elevator pitch’.
2. Career Inspirations
Provide a 30 second explanation of who has or continues to inspire you. They do not need to be a business person but may inspire you in terms of their view on life or business. Explain why they are an inspiration.
3. Career Aspirations
In around 30 seconds, describe your career aspirations in your chosen field. Refer to your notes from Assignment One about the type of organisation and/or field you are hoping to work in. Have your aspirations changed during the course? Please explain.
ENTRY 2: Self-analysis against industry/professional standards (approx. 500 words)
1. Analyse your current level of development against standards for professional practice (Refer to model provided from Walker et al -Lectures 1 & 2 or any other industry/professional standard relevant to you which you must reference clearly).
Clearly identify the industry/professional standards that relate to your future profession. Remember, more than one set of standards might apply to your future profession. Eg an HR manager working in the medical field needs to meet or comply with standards relating to the medical profession as well as management standards. It is a good idea to be quite specific here.
2. Present a simple SWOT analysis: Outline your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to demonstrate how you currently meet (or don’t meet) the requirements of your identified industry/professional standards. Please use a table fomat.
ENTRY 3: Curriculum Vitae/Resume
The following minimum profile fields must be completed:
• Photo – please note, this should be a professional representation of you, not a photo taken at a party, at the beach etc. (Please do this in spite of advice given in Career Advice lecture in order to show you understand what an appropriate professional photographic representation is).
• Summary - a summary of 'who you are' professionally, and your career goal for the near future (i.e. when you graduate, what kind of a role will you be looking for). This should draw from your elevator pitch.
• Work Experience - including Employer's name, and contact details, employment dates and your responsibilities
• Education - including your current course of education, and prior studies (High School and years of completion)
• Honours and Awards - any awards you have received, such as the Dean's Merit List, School Captain in High School, Sporting Team Captain etc. including relevant details such as the date & name of the award
• You may choose to complete additional fields as applicable to you.
As this is your professional profile, and you will be using it to contact potential employers and professional contacts, you will need to ensure your profile is well written, structured and edited, and uses professional language with correct grammar and spelling. A strong emphasis is placed on correct use of language and grammar which is reflected in marks allocation.
ENTRY 4: Career Management Plan
This entry consists of two parts:
Part 1: Career Action Plan (approx. 750 words)
Find a position which you believe you will be qualified for and well suited to five years after graduation. This could be the same position you identified for Assignment 1. Following the example provided on the course homepage, write an Action Plan which details the steps you will take to ensure that you would be the successful candidate for this position five years after you graduate.
Scan the advertisement and job description for this position and attach it to your final submission. You may need to contact someone in the organisation to request a position description, or check the organisation’s website. (Consider the organisation you referred to in Assignment 1.)
Part 2: Responses to Selection Criteria (approx. 750-1000 words)
When applying for positions throughout your career, you will commonly be asked to address certain 'selection criteria' as part of submitting your application, along with a cover letter and curriculum vitae (CV). There are many common selection criteria that can be asked, either as part of your written application, or during an interview process. You are required to respond ALL four criteria provided below.
For Part 3 of this assessment, you are required to address all four selection criteria below as they relate to the skills, knowledge and experience that you have now, as a current University student (i.e. don't write your responses as if you are applying for the position you found in your action plan, write them as if you are applying for a suitable position now. This position could be any position suitable to your current qualifications and experience.)
Please address the following criteria:
• Highly developed written communication skills, including the ability to draft clear and concise documentation;
• Demonstrated organisational ability and initiative, including experience in prioritising and meeting deadlines, often with competing demands;
• Strong interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to successfully communicate with a diverse range of people at all levels of an organisation;
• Demonstrated experience in working collaboratively in a team based environment.
Note: The above selection criteria have been sourced from real position descriptions for entry level positions within a corporate environment.
The response to each selection criteria should be around 250 words in length. The criteria you are responding to must be clearly identifiable (use headings). You are advised to use the STAR model to address your suitability in each criteria. The STAR model follows the following format:
1. Situation - Outline a specific circumstance where you developed the particular experience or
used the required skills or qualities. Set the context of the situation.
2. Task - What was your role? What did you have to do?
3. Actions - What did you do and how did you do it?
4. Results - What did you achieve? What were the results of what you did?
The above model should be written using an appropriate (short paragraph) format for each point (situation, task action, result) and succinctly describe a particular situation that provides clear and concise evidence to demonstrate where you have used the particular skill or knowledge in real life, with a tangible, reportable outcome. Note that the experience you draw from to address the criteria can include experiences at university, in part-time/full time work, community roles such as in a church group, volunteer positions or in sporting teams. Your response should be very carefully edited to ensure no grammatical or spelling errors - with increasingly high numbers of applicants for positions, employers will disregard an application immediately if errors such as spelling are present, no matter how good the content!
The STAR model will be covered in the career management topic in the course, and you can also find more information at the following websites (and many others):
http://jobaccess.gov.au/content/how-write-selection-criteria
http://www.bom.gov.au/careers/guide2SC.shtml
(this provides good advice for how to address the criteria, and steps to take to assist with the STAR model)