Free Essay On Career Plan

Life Skills Audit

I am conducting a SWOT analysis to examine my individual development and my own personal experience relating to my Diploma in Education and training course. I will use some suggested areas of learning related to my own teaching experience to help me complete the task.
A SWOT analysis is a reflection of my own strengths, e.g. what I am good at, as well as the weaknesses and the areas that I need to improve, opportunities and threats that manifest itself in external and internal factors surrounding me.

SWOT Analysis

Personal Development Plan
Personal Development Plan
My completion of the HND Health and Social Care course, I believe, will be the key aspect in my learning and future academic growth. In my view, I learned not only from classroom ,but also from each discussion I had inside or outside the classroom, it made me learn how to deal with people with different perspectives, as we had to sit together and work in groups Going back to the learning environment enabled me to re-assess myself as a student and as a learner.
I look forward to improvement in the following key areas on completion of the HND programme. These may not necessarily be termed as weaknesses I want to build on, but can be regarded as the areas that I wish to focus on. I firmly believe that all the abovementioned will help me in my long-term goal of becoming a successful nurse.
First, I need to develop oral presentation Skills, because untill now, I think, my skills as a presenter were sufficient enough to get me through. Stepping into HND programme, I have realized the importance of these skills as one of the core skills a nurse needs. I have taken part in various debates, presentations earlier, but I still feel that there is always room for improvement, and I believe that this is the area I wish to develop in the next few months or at the end of the course.
Second, I plan to attend workshops that the University provides, apart from the sessions held in the classroom. Taking all opportunities where I get a chance to speak, so as engage with the audience more and seek new opportunities to present information and reports in a team setting.
I think, I am not keeping myself up-to-date with the various activities in the health and social care sector. It is important for a carer, to have the base knowledge of the things happening around. I need to develop in this aspect, and so when I move on to a new place, it’s more important to understand the methodologies and the dynamics of the health care sector here, so as to enhance my future prospects.
I could also start reading more daily newspapers, apart from the one I used to read. I plan to subscribe for various health care newsletters and websites such as NHS, it also will help me to improve knowledge of the sphere.
I need to improve time management skills, and start to keep a planning tracker, as well as to start using the Microsoft outlook features to plan a calendar of events on a daily basis. I need to set priorities and act accordingly and start planning my work well in advance to meet all deadlines.
Also, I need to improve in the area of constructing arguments & articulating ideas and critically evaluating information. I understand the importance of critical thinking and after starting the HND programme and being exposed to a new environment of learning, I find it difficult to critically assess things.
Since the assignments and sessions in class are aimed to develop critical thinking, I will use these opportunities to improve this area through participation in discussions and gaining key aspects of critical thinking.
Reading journals, books and articles to develop critical thinking approach would also be of help as well as attending extra key skills sessions.
Also I will need to learn developing and maintaining effective networks. As an HND student, it is important for me to learn the art of networking and use it effectively. I understand that is very important to build a network of people who are going to help not just in terms of work, but in life in general. I need to be actively involved in various areas that I am interested in, so as to meet new people and build a network of people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in order to achieve every goal in my life, doing an individual personal development plan is very important. The Plan above states my priorities of development on completion of the HND programme and these is short-term plan for this year.

Reflective Account: Life & Employability Skills

Reflective Account re VARK
Reflective Account re SWOT
Reflective Account re PDP
Cover letter page
H Pennine Social Care Limited.
81 Union Street

Oldham, Lancashire, OL1 1PF.

Re: Personal Care Assistant (Position)
I am writing to express a strong interest in applying for the position of a Health Care Assistant at Pennine Social Care Ltd. Along with my Care Certification and over 4 month extensive experience in providing basic care to individuals of diverse backgrounds, I am confident in my ability to provide the utmost level of care to patients of your organisation
My education and professional background has provided me with exceptional knowledge and expertise to perform all functions of personal care. My key skills related to your requirements include:
Ability to provide basic care to residents; feeding, bating, toileting and grooming. I am adept at providing a clean, efficient and safe environment, extremely capable of companion care, housekeeping, stocking and maintenance tasks, able to prepare and maintain medical records and logs and support the patients’ dignity, liberty and privacy.
I look forward to meeting you in person to discuss my qualifications further.

If you need any additional information, please feel free to contact me at 07910143760 or

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Luisa J.T De Barros
Personal Statements
Nursing is a very rewarding career, I am ready to embark on this journey. I am passionate to follow a career in which I am able to care and help different people, becoming a nurse would allow me to fulfil this ambition. Nursing is a career for the dedicated, reliable, trusting peolple who are able to develop relationships with patients. I have these skills and I genuinely want to make a difference to people`s lives, to assist them and their families through difficult times when they are very vulnerable.
My initial interest in caring for people derived from a voluntary job that I did for Manchester city council during my secondary school years in which I had the responsibility of supporting new people who just arrived in the United Kingdom. From this experience I knew that a career in a healthcare profession was for me. I am completing a HND in health and social care and developed skills that I believe are necessary for a nurse to have. In my opinion, it is important to have good communication skills, be caring, empathetic and always be aiming to improve.
Whilst studying I worked alongside as healthcare support worker and became increasingly interested in the nursing profession. I worked with adults with physical and mental disabilities in a variety of nursing homes and residential care homes. I saw the positive effect that health care assistants, support workers and nurses had on the service users. Later on I began work as a care worker at Health Direct. Initially, I wanted to work with children, but my job made me realise that working with adults was more suited to my personality.
When I was working as a care worker, I discovered my ability to provide reassurance to residents and family members who were feeling scared and confused. I am very passionate about my job, so I do the best for the patients.
There are times when I find my job intense and exhausting, but it allows me to grow as a person and improve as a caring professional and constantly makes me learn. I am a creative person, I enjoy drawing, singing, reading and watching TV in my spare time. I believe a little creativity can have a positive effect when I deal with certain service users.
I learned during the past two years at university, that if you approach things with hard work and determination, nothing is impossible. Completing a HND will prepare me to study in an competitive environment. I know how to balance my academic workload with placements and how to set deadlines for myself to complete my work effectively and on time.
I genuinely enjoy working with different people and, as a nurse, I would be in a special position to interact with patients. I will bring determination, willingness to learn and positive mindset. I want to do a job that matters to people and I want to be able to add energy and lift the spirits of the patients. I am excited at the thought of becoming a nurse and I am more than willing to do the best I can to become a succeed in this profession.

Reflective Account re CV and Personal Statement

Skills Profile
Demonstrating your skills using the STAR technique
For each of the skills listed think of 2 situations from your life skills where you have demonstrated the skill. You can then complete the rest of the box using the STAR technique

STAR relates to

Situation - what was the situation and when did it take place?
Action - what action did you take to achieve this?
Results - what happened as a result of your action?
.
You may want to use the blank boxes to include other skills e.g. Leadership, motivating others, negotiation

What happened? Give an account of what happened.

I use to work at shout retail during this period I worked with so many different staffscolleagues., there was oOne staff of them was called Mathew, that he was working with me for 2 years, then I went on maternity leave and I was away from the company for 9 months., wWhen I returned to work, I heard that during this period my leave he left the company to work somewhere else and after a month he left his new job and came back and said he did not like it and did not geot along on with his news co-workers. and heMathew was given the a chance to work again for the our company.
The first thing I noticed was that he had no commitment , most of the times he was turning up late and when he used to go to the toilet all five days of the week at 6pm and he would not comeback until after 35 minutes past. My other staff colleague called Catharina told me this was going on for a while.

Reflections on Experience

Looking back, why did the event or situation turn out that way?
Because at the beginning when I noticed the issue that was going on I was too soft all because I wanted to maintain a good relationship between us, and the staff colleague took advantage of it.
What did you do? The first thing I had one to one meeting with him to find out why he was doing that, because he continued to do the same thing. I gave him warned him ing two times , then I reported to the manager twice.
What did others do? They confirmed to the manager what he used to do and for how long he was doing.
How did you feel? At the end I felt quite upset, because the manager did not speaoke to him with manager position or authority, he was also soft., aAfter this that things just went from bad to worse, my relationship with him just crushedjust ended, I did not feelt comfortable working with him anymore , I went to HR to the manager and asked to move me to different department., and bBefore they moved me that was done, he left the company again because the customer services manager also did not like his attitude and she used to come to our section to keep her eye on him. I think he did not liked the idea, of being monitored.
How do you feel now? I feel good now because I did the right thing by reporting him, because it was not fair on for the other employees. oOn the other side, I feel quite upset, because it had made an impact in our friendship.

Learning from the Experience

What have you learnt from this experience regarding your use of employability skills and personal attributes? I have learn that as supervisor you need to treat all your employees equally fair. Also, I found out that the

You Must Treat All Your Employees Fairly

Wworkers expect that the workload will be fairly distributed and that the supervisor
will treat all team members equally.
What would you do differently in the future? I will be more tough to make sure no one will take advantage of me and not be cared I will care less if my actions will cause or hurt anyone`s feeling s, because, as a supervisor I have to treat everyone equally with no preference or treat some staff with exclusivityprivileges.

Action Plans

What actions, if any, do you need to take as a result of this experience to continue the learning?
My plan for the future is to implement my managerial skill to deal with the situation in a different way.
My unforgettable experience involved caring for an adult patient with complex healthcare needs. During that time, I initially had some difficulty verbally communicating with the patient because English was not her first language. Aside from this, the patient also experienced a major speech problem which hampered her ability to communicate verbally and to understand verbal communication. I had to consult my mentor and other personnel in the ward to find out how to best communicate with the patient. This led me to improvise and use different strategies like the use of nonverbal communication, simple posters, illustrations and signs to be able to transmit communicate important information to the patient.

Feelings

Initially, I felt sad and frustrated, because I did not fully understand why the patient was having such difficulty comprehending speech. Through the help of my mentor and the staff personnel, I was able to figure out how to best communicate with the patient and relay put important information across. This made me feel proud because I was able to genuinely help my patient, despite the communication barrier that existed at that time.

Evaluation

One positive aspect of my experience is that I understood the importance of effective communication with patients and how it is made up of not only of the verbal and written components but also a non-verbal component. Videbeck (2011) states that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication when interacting with patients or service users. Positive body language, such as nodding the head and smiling as part of non-verbal communication is essential to nursing communication (Holland 2013). A negative aspect of my experience was the fact that I initially had difficulty in communicating with the patient. I almost gave up and perhaps would have given up if it were not for the help of my mentor and the staff who provided me with practical but effective means to communicate with the patient effectively.

Analysis

I realised the significance of therapeutic communication especially for patients who have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally. Therapeutic communication is an interaction that is helpful and healing for the patient because the patient knows that someone cares (Rosdahl and Kowalski 2008). It is crucial because it helps the nurse effectively interact with the patients. The use of practical but and effective techniques like making posters with pictures or illustrations to transmit simple, but crucial messages to the patient is a clever way of communicating with a patient who otherwise would have difficulty in communicating verbally and understanding verbal information.
Conclusion
Communication is a central part of effective healthcare and social care practice. It is one ingredient in the everyday success of delivering care services to patients. Without it, care professionals will have a difficult time performing their different functions.

Action Plan

If I were confronted with the same situation, I will not give up in finding ways to effectively communicate with my patient. I will seek help from my mentor and the staff personnel on how to best communicate with my patient. I will also use cleaver means to transmit vital information to the patient.

Employability skills audit

Rating: Highlight your level of skill by circling the appropriate number:
1 = Never 5 = Always
Evidence: Identify an experience, or activity that you have been involved in that demonstrates your ability in that skill