Career Development Report: Personal Development And Career Awareness Essay.

The report ties together your learning from across the year, exploring career awareness and self-development. The report must have:

Break down the Assessment Brief.
What is the format?  Report
How many words is it?
What are the Key areas to cover? Personal Development, Revisit aptitude tests, career edge questionnaire, SWOT analysis, reflect on work experience, reflect on living overseas for nine months. Application processes.

Career Awareness, What roles are you interested in? Why are you interested in them? What tools have you used to understand your opportunities (Prospects planner) What are the skills required for these roles? What will the job look like (Responsibilities), Do you need any experience? How many hours a week will you work? What is the salary? What is the demand for these jobs?  Will you need any qualifications? Is there any professional bodies, for example Accounting ICAEW, CIMA, ACCA. What industry publications are there, for example Marketing Week, Advertising Age.  What are your career prospects? What are alternative careers that may also interest you. Where are these roles advertised?  What country would you like to work in?  Who are the big recruiters? What is new and exciting in the sector? People who do this job, love it because? The most exciting companies are?

Assessment Brief Breakdown

I believe that I have progressed a lot in the past one year. This progression will also be essential in ensuring that I have the skills required in the accounting field. First, I have been able to improve my communication skills. I am now able to communicate effectively and fluently as compared to past years. These skills will be crucial in my career development as an accountant. In this context, I will be able to efficiently and effectively communicate with fellow employees as well as the management. Communication will also improve upward and downward communication in the workplace. Communication skills will ensure I will be able to deal with telephone conversations appropriately, encourage interest and interactions with others, express my opinions in an appropriate way, and become persuasive to fellow members and customers. I am now able to communicate in three different languages.

Time management is another aspect that I have improved significantly. I am now able to manage my time effectively in class and workplace as compared to past years.  This improvement will assist me in several ways. First, It is doubtless that time is limited in the workplace setting. In conjunction to this, I believe that such improvement will assist me in accomplishing my tasks in the stipulated time frame. Through time management skills, I will be able to accomplish my tasks with less efforts.  This aspect will be crucial in ensuring that I improve the efficiency of my accounting tasks as well as the organizations productivity. Time management skills will also be crucial in ensuring that I make improved decisions concerning both the organization I will be working for as well as the accounting tasks that will be assigned to me.

Another area that I have improved a lot is team working. For the last few months, I have been able to improve my skills in team working and group decision making.  Team work fosters creativity and learning (Akter, 2016, p.160, and Alrabei 2018, p.27). Creativity thrives if people work as a team. This will be crucial since I will be able to make better decisions about the accounting activities assigned to me. Brainstorming as a team will also ensure that stale views pertaining the organization that I will be working for are prevented. Through team working, I will be able to combine my unique ideas with other employees which will play an integral role in improving the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of all employees in the organization. While team work fosters improved creativity, it will also maximize shared knowledge in the workplace. This will ensure that there is flow of essential information among all the employees within the organization. Finally, the team working skill I have gained in the past years will enable me to collaborate with other employees in project development. This is because teamwork creates enthusiasm to learn new ideas which is not the case in solidarity work.

Skills Developed:

Through the feedback I have been receiving from my tutors for the last nine years, I have been able to develop study and research skills. These skills will be essential in my career line since they will aid in improving my curiosity. This will be the road map to developing new ideas which will improve the accounting department. Furthermore, these skills will ensure that I boost my self-esteem which is beneficial to any organization.

I have worked in several work setting for the last nine months and I believe that I am ready to work under different settings. Owing to the fact that accounting role entails working in conjunction with all departments, this skill will ensure that I will be able to accomplish tasks on time.

According to Bartlett, et al., (2016, p. 120), Bidmeshki (2018, p.12), Fathi et al., (2016, p.100) and Flaming (2019, p.19), career development is an important phase for every student. This is the stage where students develop, set their goals and understand how the chosen career will impact their future life. Moreover, this is still the phase that students understand the job opportunities that are associated with their careers of choice. There are a wide range of careers that can be chosen. In this regard, career development is one of the major phases students must understand before making any decision concerning their future career. There are a lot of sources that can provide information about career development such as the internet.  The main reason why I choose accounting as my careers is because I believe I have skills which a required in this position. I also consulted with my colleagues, family members, supervisors and managers.

There are three different roles that I believe I can work in. These roles include marketing, Human Resource, and accounting. However, the major role of interest is accounting.

There are several reasons as to why I have chosen this roles. First, there is advanced technology in the accounting industry. This improvement has changed several aspects in the market. Just like any other field, accounting field has also adopted technology. Technology will ensure that I will be able to provide efficient and high quality results to the organization that is going to hire me. Accounting also offers opportunities to many people with different education levels. Another reason why I chose accounting is that it offers different opportunities. Even though accounting is becoming more technology driven, the role of accounting will still be demanding. This means that, regardless of the changes that will take place in this industry, there will always be job opportunities for students with skills required in this field. Marketing is considered as one of the broadest fields in the job market. With such broadness, there is a wide range of job opportunities available. With marketing, students who have different qualifications end up in the same profession. With my strong computer skills I also believe that this career will be right for me. With these skills I will be able to feature well in the global market. Moreover, professions in marketing have become abundant with rise in global and online career opportunities. This career also requires core courses that I believe I have since I have an MBA.

Communication Skills

Finally, I have interest in human resource management. Just like the other roles that I have discussed earlier, this career line will offer a wide range of job opportunities. This is because there are many organizations that require human resource managers.

Ibarra (2018, p.144), Murdayanti (2018, p.10), Piosik, et al., (2019, 3090), and Pramesti, (2019, p.296) state that there are several tools that can be used to identify and understand job opportunities. Internet is one of the tools that I have been using to understand the job opportunities. There are many job opportunities that are advertised through the internet. This helped me to identify the best roles based on the skills I had acquired.  I also consulted with my family members in identifying the type of roles that I would pursue. During my vacations, I always visited my family members in India and assumed an accounting role for my father’s businesses. I have also been able to make decisions concerning my career by consulting with my manager and supervisor. They equipped me with the basic information that I required in decision making. Finally, career planning also played an integral role in choosing marketing, human resource and accounting roles. Through this technique, I was able to match my skills and desires with the available roles. For clarity and assistance, I took the selected roles to my university advisor.

Just like any other field, there are several skills which are fundamental in this field. First, according to Rouen, (2017, p.100), Salau, (2018, p.1929), Tuan, (2017, p.560), and Zubairu, (2016, p.144) good communication skills are critical in this field. This is because they will ensure that there is general communication within the organization. Secondly, team working skill is also essential in this industry. This skill will ensure that better decisions are made which in turn improves the overall performance of an organization. Another vital skill that is required in accounting field is employee relations. This skill ensures that employees relate with each well in the workplace which is essential in improving productivity. I can work in any part of the world. However, I am interested to work in India since it’s my home country. Experience will also be required in this field. Having worked as an intern, I believe that I have the required experience. I expect to work between six and eight hours in a day. Accounting jobs are mostly advertised through the internet and local newspapers thus targeting a large number of people. Regulating bodies that may impact on the accounting field include ICAEW, CIMA, and ACCA.

Time Management

An accountant performs financial functions related to the collection, accuracy, recording, analysis and presentation of a business, organization or company's financial operations. Middle to larger sized companies may utilize an accountant as an adviser and financial interpreter.

These will be the specific roles and responsibilities that are associated with accounting

• Prepare asses and capital account entries. They insure that all entries within the organization are recorded (Fathi et al., 2016).
• Document financial transactions. Accountants also document the overall transactions involved in an organization and provide the documents to the management for further analysis.
• Recommend financial action to the organization. Based on the nature of the organizations that accounts record, they can are tasked with financial decision making in the organization.
• Report financial positions of an organization to the management. Accountants have the required data that they use to determine the financial positions of the organization. When this information is presented to managers, it becomes an easy task to decide the next course of action.
• Guide clerical accounting staff. In most organizations accountants head the finance department thus providing financial guidance to the clerical officers and other junior employees.

Conclusion

Based on the skills I have, I believe that an accounting role will be better for me. The team work, communication, and research skills I have acquired in the past years will ensure that an able to deliver quality work that I will be assigned to as an accountant.

References

Akter, S., Alam, M. and Rubel, M., 2016. Perceived Organizational Support and Accounting Professionals’ Performance in Bangladesh: Mediating role of Organizational Commitment. European Journal of Business and Management, 8(3), pp.155-164.

Alrabei, A.M.A., 2018. The Impact of Human Resources Cycle on Enhancing Fundamental Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information of Jordanian Commercial Banks. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 12(2), pp.18-27.

Alrabei, A.M.A., 2018. The Impact of Human Resources Cycle on Enhancing Fundamental Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information of Jordanian Commercial Banks. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 12(2), pp.18-27.

Bartlett, G.D., Kremin, J., Saunders, K.K. and Wood, D.A., 2016. Factors influencing recruitment of non-accounting business professionals into internal auditing. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 29(1), pp.119-130.

Bidmeshki, G.A. and Taheri, F., 2018. Investigating the Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Job Performance (Case Study: Employees of Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr Branch). UCT JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING STUDIES, 6(01), pp.8-13.

Fathi, N., Heirani, F. and Shahmoradi, N., 2016. The effect of psychological capital of accounting students on their job performance. UCT JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING STUDIES, 4(02), pp.99-193.

Flaming, L. and Mosca, J., 2019. Should Accounting Majors Have Human Resource Training in Compliance, Coaching, Team-Building and Mentoring Skills?. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 19(5).

Flaming, L. and Mosca, J., 2019. Should Accounting Majors Have Human Resource Training in Compliance, Coaching, Team-Building and Mentoring Skills?. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 19(5).

Ibarra, V.C., 2018. Human Resource Accounting: Its Constraints and Limitations in the Philippines. Recent Trends in Science, Technology, Management and Social Development, p.114.

Murdayanti, Y. and Purwohedi, U., 2018. The Usefulness of Financial Accounting Systems in Islamic Education Institutions: Lessons Learned. Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 22(3), pp.1-14.

Piosik, A., Strojek-Filus, M., Sulik-Górecka, A. and Szewieczek, A., 2019. Gender and Age as Determinants of Job Satisfaction in the Accounting Profession: Evidence from Poland. Sustainability, 11(11), p.3090.

Pramesti, A., 2019. THE EFFECT OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS QUALITY, TRUST AND LOYALTY ON USER PERFORMANCE USING EXTENDED INFORMATION SYSTEM SUCCESS MODEL ON MULTIFINANCE COMPANY IN DEPOK. Jurnal Ilmiah Ekonomi Bisnis, 23(3), pp.296-314.

Rouen, E.C., 2017. The Accounting Rookie Job Market: A Practitioner’s Guide. Harvard Business School working paper series# 18-008.

Salau, O., Osibanjo, A., Adeniji, A. and Igbinoba, E., 2018. An integrated dataset on organisational retention attributes and commitment of selected ICT and accounting firms. Data in brief, 18, pp.1930-1936.

Tuan, T.T., 2017. Application Responsibility Accounting to Sustainable Development in Vietnam Manufacturers: An Empirical Study. Economics, 5(6), pp.573-583.

Zubairu, U., 2016. THE IMPACT OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ON THE MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 3(2), pp.142-160.