Week 4 Assignment

Make sure to read the detailed instructions and the scoring guide (rubric) for Assignment 2: Reflecting on Your Skills, Goals, and Accomplishments.

To submit your assignment, please go to Assignment 2 in Blackboard by clicking the Week 4 Assignment 2 link above.

Course: WRK100: Preparing for the Future of Work

Assignment 2: Reflecting on Your Skills, Goals, and Accomplishments

Due: Week 4

Points: 100

What to submit/deliverables: Word document that contains Parts 1‐3 of the Assignment 2 Template.

What is the value of doing this assignment? In this assignment, you will reflect on the qualities, values, strengths, areas of improvement, and accomplishments that capture who you are and how they connect to the 10 Skills and your personal, academic, and professional goals. You‘ll then practice your communication skill by writing about what you‘ve identified in ways appropriate for a CV or résumé. You‘ll use this information in Assignment 3 to create an action plan for developing skills that will help you reach your future goals. After completing this assignment, you will have a document you can bring to the Career Center where counselors can help you further develop your career strategy.

Your goal for this assignment is to: Reflect on and communicate your skills, goals, and accomplishments.

Steps to complete: In Week 4, complete and submit your assignment using the following steps:

STEP 1: Complete the four questions in Part 1: About Me, reflecting on your values, aspirations, key qualities, goals, strengths, and areas of growth.

STEP 2: Complete the three steps in Part 2: Accomplishment Statements by reflecting on your past accomplishments, using the template to identify the challenges, actions, results, and details, and then writing two concise stories using the accomplishments formula provided.

STEP 3: Complete the four-question reflection in Part 3: Reflect on Your Experiences, considering Parts 1 and 2 of this assignment and the connections you have made to the 10 Skills.

Assignment 2 Template: Reflecting on Your Skills, Goals, and Accomplishments

PART 1: ABOUT ME

 

Answer the following questions to capture how you see yourself, in terms of values, aspirations, key qualities, goals, strengths, and areas of growth:

 

1) Find a quote or saying that captures your values, motivations, and aspirations and share it here.

Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 

2) Describe some of your main personal, academic, and professional goals.

Personal Goal: I plan to purchase some land and get a home built with homes also on the property for my three daughters. Also, to purchase the car that I have always to go around in to make investment deals. That car that I want is a Mercedes two door with a hardtop convertible. I am getting older and I want to enjoy the rest of my life since after in about a month I will have only one great grand to take care of. I love technology, reading and researching things. I feel good about the things I have accomplished in my life.

Academic Goal: After waiting so long to go back to school, I planned to complete my degree in Criminal Justice with only one year left. When I complete my degree, I would like to if my age does not stop me, is to work at the new Forensic company here. The building has not been completed yet and it looks like it is going to be next year. My experience as a police officer in previous years should be a plus for me. Lastly, I would like to graduate with a GPA of 4.0 at least before next year.

Professional Goal: I am looking forward to being a part of the Forensic group here once it is open. The classes I have taken has prepared me to work in this field. I am doing this by applying for that specific role and signing up with agencies to assist me. I am also planning to build a place for the homeless vets and others that are homeless.

 

3) What are some of your strength areas? Think about the top 2–3 skills you would advertise about yourself, or consider what others come to you for advice about.

I am strong in computer problem-solving and taking initiative. There have been several positions I have had where there were computer problems, and they knew I knew how to work on computers, and they would call on me to look into the problem. After looking into what was going on, I immediately worked on the problem. My last position I was an Administrative Assistant for ten men in different states. This was very challenging position. Every one of them always wanted me to do different things and wanted me to make each one first, in which that was hard. This position also helped me how to prioritize each assignment.

I have always been the person to do what needs to be done without having to be told or ask. I have always been in roles in which I had a lot of tasks to do that come with problems that need resolving.

I knew certain reports that needed to be ran for the ten different men I had to work for. With being only one person and having to complete all assignments I did it and was on the with all reports. From that point on I was the go-to person for special projects.

 

4) What are some areas you would like to grow and improve in?

I would like to continue to grow in my technology skills. I also want to become more efficiently in my writing and speaking to different groups when I am called upon.

PART 2: ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENTS

Accomplishments don’t have to be as large as climbing the top of Mount Everest or starting your own company. We accomplish many things in our lives every day that have meaning. For example, perhaps you organized volunteers for your school’s food drive, or made an extremely profitable sale. Or, if you’re more advanced in your career, perhaps you’ve received a promotion or special recognition.

In this part of the assignment, you’ll identify two accomplishments from work, school, volunteering, or other activities. You’ll then practice communicating these in ways appropriate for a CV or résumé.

To begin, brainstorm accomplishments from your work, school, volunteering, or other activities. Click Accomplishment Categories for a list. After you’ve identified two accomplishments, write their story using the information below:

 

1) Think about each of your accomplishments in these terms:

Challenge	Situation, problem, or requirement.
Action	Specific actions you took to resolve or meet the challenge.
Result	The benefit created in specific and measurable terms. Be sure to tie results to the organization’s goals when possible.
Details	Clarifying details, such as numbers or percentages, to provide context (consider answering how many, how much, how long, or how often).

 

Consider the example below of someone with experience as a retail manager:

Challenge	An increase in customer complaints about the helpfulness of staff.
Action	Developed a new training program for staff, got approval from district manager, and once approved implemented it with a regular review process.
Result	After 3 months, customer complaints decreased.
Details	Previously, customer complaints averaged 4 per week. After 3 months, complaints averaged 1 or less per week.

 

2) Write two stories to practice using this format:

 

Challenge	Department work quality assurance scores were below 80% and needed to be increased within a year before the department’s annual review.
Action	Conducted one on one sessions with approximately 300 employees to discuss their needs and opportunities for improvement, created a reference guide for staff members on how to work patient accounts effectively and efficiently.
Result	After 6 months of quality assurance scores, productivity, and employee morale increased before to the department’s annual review.
Details	3 months to meet with staff individually, created a useful reference guide in 2 months, implemented the guide, 1st month after introducing the guide to the staff, 95% of the staff scores were between 93% to 97% and stayed consistent for 6 months. Staff increased account worked from 30 to 70 daily, boosting their morale and confidence.

 

 

 

Challenge	New training material and courses needed to be created to train new and existing employees on the new system and new workflows within a 6-8-month timeframe.
Action	Learned the new system/workflows myself, used the new system material, and the company old workflow training manual, combined both resources revising/updating the material into one manual, create courses for each of the 8 sections in the manual.
Result	Retrained existing employees and trained new hires using the new manual and quality assurance scores were not affected.
Details	Learned new system and workflows within 2 months, created manual and courses in 2 months, retrained 300 new employees and new hires in 3 months, quality assurance scores either remained at 95% or increased to 99% for 97% of the employees for over a year.

 

TerricitaDSamuel_WRK100_Assignment2Reflection

 

 

 

3) Now, try writing your two accomplishment stories concisely for a résumé or CV:

 

Formula 1: Result + action + brief description including clarifying details.

Example: Decreased customer complaints from 3 per week to 1 or less per week by training staff and implementing a regular review process.

 

 

Formula 2: Action + brief description with clarifying details + results.

Example: Trained retail staff in customer-service techniques and implemented a regular review process, decreasing customer complaints from 3 per week to 1 or less per week.

 

 

Accomplishment 1 Story

Increased department morale, quality assurance score from 80% to 95% of approximately 300 staff members, and doubling productivity of accounts worked within 1 year by conducting sessions with staff, creating and implementing a reference guide for staff to work effectively and efficiently.

 

 

Accomplishment 2 Story

Revamped department training manual and created new classes, retrained approximately 300 employees on a new system and workflows keeping quality assurance scores above 95% for 97% of staff members.

 

 

 

PART 3: REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCES

 

1) How has reflecting on your goals, strengths, areas of growth, and accomplishments been valuable for you?

 

Reflecting on my goals, strengths, areas of growth, and accomplishments has been very refreshing and inspiring to me. I was able to be more detailed about my goals and how I planned to accomplish them by putting them on paper to visualize. Going over my strengths has allowed me to realize that I do bring value to other lives as well as any of the organizations I have worked for. I believe I have a solid action plan to help me in the areas that I need to grow in. As for my accomplishments, I was very proud of myself. It has shown me that I can do more, I am creative and very resourceful. I plan on accomplishing more in the personal and professional areas of my life.

 

2) What are ways you can build in a regular practice of reflection?

For the past few months, I have been reflecting on myself and things I can do to be successful. Reviewing my goals and revising my action plan as often as I need, seeking feedback from others on things I can and need to do to continue to grow and continue to develop myself mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally

 

3) In your current understanding of the 10 Skills, identify 1–2 skills that you believe have helped you reach the accomplishments listed in Part 2. Briefly explain how.

Problem solving and being results-driven has helped me reached a few accomplishments. I understood what the problem was through analysis of meeting with staff members and reviewing old and outdated training materials.

 

4) After practicing writing your accomplishments in a CV or résumé-appropriate style, do you feel more confident in expressing your accomplishments to an employer? Briefly explain.

I plan to use the formula provided in this assignment to revise my resume. In reviewing my resume, I have listed my accomplishments, but I have not quantified them as well as listed the results. I know once I do that, recruiters will see the value I have added to previous companies and will want to discuss employment opportunities.