Reflective journal Part B
After you receive feedback on your journal activities from Part A, consider how you could improve your practice of keeping the journal so that it is more useful for your career planning processes. For example, could you provide more details? Have you included your own personal thoughts and reactions and related them to the course content? Can you be more specific about the goals that you set for yourself etc?
Continue to write weekly reflections about your progress and thinking in the course. Remember to include details about how you feel in response to the readings and activities. Writing about your feelings in response to an issue or piece of information can help you to reflect more deeply and critically.
Summary reflection B
By week 9 write a second brief summary reflection of about 1000 words. Include:
- A reflection on the self-knowledge you have gained since the first self-reflection journal this course
- A discussion of self-assessment tools/exercises that provided new self-knowledge or confirmed existing self-knowledge
- Explanation of how this information has affected your career thinking and/or influenced your career ambitions (short and/or longer term)
- Links to your Reflective Journal for examples of your key learning
In Reflection B pay particular attention in your discussion to the following key issues covered in weeks 5 to 9:
- The importance of goal setting for your professional development (covered in week 5) and how useful setting Goal Attainment Scales are for your career plans and managing oneself. In your reflection give examples of your goals for your career development and your job preferences and analyse how relevant the methods covered in this course have been in planning your career.
- Issues concerned with your professional identity development and how you have learned about your own professional identity. In your reflection give an example of your CV and resume and reflect upon how you present yourself in your appearance and behaviour as ways of conveying your professional identity. Consider how relevant the content covered in week 6 of this course has been in your understanding.
- What do employers want in your industry? In your reflection give examples of how you have investigated employers’ expectations in the labour market of your preference. How might you assess your employability or work readiness? In doing so, analyse how relevant the content covered in week 7 of this course has been in your choices of which employers you might pursue.
- How will you make a good first impression? In your reflection give examples about your use of the interview simulator or actual interviews in which you might have experienced presenting yourself. Also discuss how relevant the content covered in week 8 of this course has been in the way you present yourself.
- How to communicate your value to an employer. In your reflection give examples of your points of differentiation in your covering letter for a job application. Discuss how you tailor or adapt your resume to the employment context in which you might have experienced presenting yourself. Also discuss how relevant the content covered in week 9 of this course was in the way you present yourself.
Submit Summary Reflection B in week 9.