There are many skills I have attained over my years of studying in school, at Tafe completing a Certificate IV and in Commerce at my previous University. As well as years of experience in working in Hospitality and IT environments, which I enjoyed and have a strong ability in. From these experiences I have achieved the following skills, which I enjoyed learning:
Attention to Detail and Creativity/Innovation
I have high attention to detail; this is due to my own organisational skills and past work experience in hospitality environments, where I would be assigned to care for multiple parts of a big job. With this I do things more creatively which works perfectly for me, in my personal and work life.
Research and Questioning/Investigating
I enjoy researching and discovering, as well as keeping up-to-date with, for example, the latest technologies. Every day before I start work, I read the Perth News and the IT News to stay updated on the world around me. I also like to think a lot which develops a lot of unanswered questions. I always turn to resources such as the internet, books and my Partner to investigate for answers.
Planning and Organising
I enjoy regulation and orderliness. I insist on always having a routine, which I implement in my everyday life and the activities I undertake such as work and study. Planning keeps me well organised and to not forget anything important or anything needed to be done prior to another.
Working under Pressure
After years of working in busy, popular Hospitality environments, I have gained the ability to work under pressure. I enjoy working under pressure as I get things done more quickly and efficiently. I also enjoy hearing the feedback about how hard I’ve worked and the amount of jobs I have completed in short and busy amounts of time.
Written communication
I have always found literacy a strong and enjoyable subject of mine, especially during my school years I placed myself into the highest grade and was rewarded for my writing skills. Written communication is a strong skill to have in a workplace, as it involves the writing of emails and letters to vendor companies, for example, is very important when it comes to professionalism and gaining their confidence within you.
Nevertheless, there are skills which I lack due to inexperience but I enjoy and wish to fulfil the gaps. These skills consist of:
Building Relationships
Relationships are built through communication, they “emerge through social, communicative interactions that manifest during the process of working together to accomplish organizational task” (Omilion-Hodges and Baker, 2017, p.116). Having great communicational skills can improve the ability to build relationships, which are a necessity for any job role.
For example, attending the Experience and Employment Expo is a fun way to network, meet and build relationships with others by socialising and learning. The event occurs on the 27 March 2018 at Geelong Waterfront Campus. This particular career development experience will help me work towards successful employment as I talk with other organisations and discover what type of employees they are looking to hire (Deakin 2018).
Leadership
Having leaderships skills can be a rewarding and well-recognised skill to have in studying and during employment. Effective leadership can be attained by focusing on personal and interpersonal skills (Cansoy 2017, p.68). Leadership skills are a vital key to any management role, which is an aspiration of mine in the future to become an IT Cyber Security Manager.
An example of a way to fulfil my lack of leadership skills is to volunteer as a Cloud Student Mentor. As a student mentor, I can gain skills in communication, organisation and leadership as I am required to guide new students and network with other mentors (Deakin 2017). Volunteering will help me achieve the skills I need to become a successful leader and mentor in the future, as my career goal is to run and direct a team of IT professionals.
Problem Solving
Problem solving is a skill that is essential to every workplace, as well as when it comes to studying and completing assignments. I can improve my problem solving skills in many ways such as volunteering as a tutor. By becoming a tutor it is necessary to be able to problem solve, find many teaching methods and to help improve the learner’s own skills.
This particular volunteer job as a Year 7 English Tutor includes the duties of helping them to write essays, assist with spelling and narrative work, and to teach them to understand English concepts and processes. This involves problem solving skills were I will need to find methods to help teach a young student literacy (Smith 2018). Also, this particular volunteer work would be suitable for me as I enjoy the English subject and completed the highest level of English in High School. Lastly, as a future volunteered tutor it will help me gain the necessary skills of mentoring, teaching, communication and the improvement of my own existing literacy skills to progress in achieving my careers goals.
Project Management
This particular skill is very important, especially in my sector of work and towards my career aspirations into becoming an IT Security Manager. Project management requires many different skills and are constantly reoccurring. Project management is to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and to finally close the job (PMI 2018).
I can improve this skill by taking part in the New Motorola Trial Radio Project at work. I will be collaborating with many departments to integrate new and improved radio technology suitable for the workplace and the environment. This project includes:
- Initiating the hiring of new radios from our Vendor Company
- Planning the hiring by creating and purchasing the order
- Executing the job by introducing the new radios into the field with instructions of use
- Monitoring and controlling the radios by handing one to each department with feedback forms for every operator to fill out after use
- And, closing the job by collecting and summarising the radios feedback to forward to my manager and superintendent for the final decision making
The current skills I lack are requirements to achieving my end career aspiration into becoming an IT Cyber Security Manager. With the skill gap list and activities to approach, I can now resolve the issue of missing essential skills needed to achieve my career goals.
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