What I achieved | Skills, knowledge, personal characteristics and attitudes used/required |
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Passed my driving test | Had to demonstrate that my driving skills met the required standard. Had to be confident in my ability to remain calm under pressure. Had to pass a test of my knowledge of the Highway Code. |
Became a qualified youth football coach | Had to learn coaching skills (theory and practical). Have to be able to communicate with young people and their parents effectively. Gained a first aid qualification. Have to promote a positive attitude among team members and lead by example. |
Parenthood | Had to learn about what babies and toddlers need to keep them happy and healthy. Developed knowledge about good nutrition for youngsters and how to handle common childhood illnesses. Needed to become more organised when planning outings, etc. |
Raised £6000 for cancer charity by organising a charity auction | Had to arrange a venue. Promoted event and sold tickets. Had to use my network of family and friends to obtain items for the auction. Had to provide catering and entertainment for the evening. Had to manage the budget so that the event produced the target donation required. Used basic IT skills (Word, Excel and the internet) to organise the various aspects of the event. Had to be very motivated and determined to make a success of the event and demonstrate good interpersonal skills to persuade people to become involved in helping me out. |
Got a place at college | Made redundant from dead-end job and decided I needed to change my career direction. Got some careers information, advice and guidance from the job centre, my local library, and careers service. Decided I wanted to be involved in the sports and leisure industry, and to make a career of it. Learned that I would need some qualifications to get in at the right level, so researched relevant courses locally and applied. Had to attend an interview and persuade the interviewer that I was really committed to the course (my youth football coaching experience helped me here). Needed to show confidence in my ability to do the course and demonstrate good communications skills during the application and interview process. |
Strengths | Weaknesses |
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Opportunities | Threats |
Source | Description of information |
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Business columns of newspapers | May include features forecasting which employment sectors will be recruiting or are in decline. |
Your local contacts | May hear of local jobs and, if they know you are looking, mention it to you. |
National Careers Service website | A government website that includes information about training and apprenticeship opportunities. |
Jobcentre Plus | As well as paid job vacancies, they have information on volunteer work and your rights in relation to seeking work. |
Friends and family | They may have direct knowledge of the type of work you want to do, know if their organisations are recruiting or making people redundant in some areas, or may have good contacts that they can introduce you to. |
Jobs pages of local newspapers | Give a good idea of what employers are looking for in certain types of work, and a sense of how frequently those jobs are advertised. |
Professional institute magazines | Advertise jobs specific to their profession and this can give you a good idea of specialisms within the field. |
Professional institute websites | Explain the knowledge and skills requirements for the type of work and the training available. |
Organisation’s own websites | Many have a ‘careers’ or ‘working with us’ section that tells you what kind of work environment they offer and the types of job for which they recruit. |
Office of National Statistics | Provides information on jobs in the public and private sectors, and gives an analysis of the UK workforce jobs by sector. It also looks at industry changes. |
Social media networks | A new and developing source of information about jobs and organisations. |
Radio programmes | Local programmes might report on new businesses starting up in the area. |
Community notice boards | They will occasionally carry job advertisements for local jobs, such as acting as clerk to the council. |
Local Chamber of Commerce | Meeting people through this network may mean that you hear of jobs that are not advertised. This is true of many professional networks. |
Information source | My three questions |
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Food bank website |
Resources | Restrictions |
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Responsibilities | |
I haven’t got … | |
Who needs my help or support? | |
Bad points | |
Negatives |
Resources | Restrictions |
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Line manager’s support | Colleagues’ reactions |
Personal ambition/determined | Limited mobility |
Prepared to take responsibility | Little experience of managing people |
Project management experience | No experience of managing budgets |
Actions | Resources |
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My long-term goal | Short and medium-term goals | Actions required | Constraints | Resources – who or what can help me | Target date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail management | Teachers and family | Next August |
Type of skill | Examples of how the skills can be developed through interests, work and education |
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Key experience requirements | My evidence |
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Numeracy | |
Keyboard skills | |
Marketing knowledge | |
Ability to work on own | |
Interest in wildlife | |
Presentation skills | I have used PowerPoint to present information on the decline of local bird populations to a community group and to councillors. |