Completion dates: Section 1 should be completed before Week 05 of Semester 1
Section 2 and Section 3 should be completed before Week 10 of Semester.
Submission date: 12 May 2023
Word count: 1,200 words (excluding references and citations).
This assignment will enable you reflect ongoingly on the course content of Global Careers in relation to your own career journey and developing aspirations. It is i) an informed assessment of the world of work and careers that you will be entering into, and it is ii) a reflective self-assessment of where you are presently in terms of your preparedness, and finally it is iii) a discussion of how you can effectively strategise to connect yourself with your goals.
This assignment made up of three sections, each of 400 words. Although you complete each section ongoingly throughout the semester, the final document is submitted on Monday 09 May 2022.
This assignment is loosely conceived around a common form of situational analysis called the SWOT analysis: Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats. However, we are adding a further practical layer, SN: Strategies and Networks.
This assessment is intended to have the following learning outcomes for you:
• Investigate and evaluate the current and predicted employment environment and its impact on career and enterprise opportunities
• Gain insight into career progression, opportunities, challenges, risks and evolving worlds of work with professionals from industry
• Create a career plan informed by professional insights and personal experience
The following describes what you are expected to do in each of the three sections:
Personal statement
Before the three sections below, please provide a personal statement of between 50 and 80 words in length. This statement should describe your work and career aspirations. We ask that you provide this so that we can consider the relevance of your reflections in the following sections to your specific goals for yourself.
This assignment does not assume that you necessarily have a clear vision of your career goals. This assignment accommodates students who have a clear view of their career goals, and equally also accommodates students who are still in an exploratory phase, who are being deliberately open about what they might want to do. If this is the case, a career objective may be exploration and discovery of both yourself and the world of work and careers, although this exploration may well have orientations towards development, governance, business etc.
This personal statement does not require citations. It is not included in your word count. It is not marked, but it will impact the way your reader will consider the relevance to you of your insights in the sections.
Section 1 – Opportunities and Threats
In Section 1, you will consider the world of work and careers as it is now and as it is evolving. This section draws on the contents of weeks 01 à 04 of Global Careers. In this section you should reflect on what you see are for youthe Opportunities that exist or are predicted to come soon. You should also reflect on the Threats that exist or are predicted to come soon. You should spend an equal amount of words reflecting on opportunities and threats. This section explores the world of work externally, but what you see as a Threat or Opportunity will depend entirely on you and your aspirations. You should make clear in this section why something is a Threat or an Opportunity for you. In this section, you need to provide citations and references for the developments you reference. For example: If you think AI is a Threat to someone with your aspirations, you need to provide some evidence/citation to support your view.
Section 2 – Strengths and Weaknesses
In Section 2, you will reflect on your own current preparedness for the world of work and careers you aspire to. This section draws especially on the contents of Weeks 05à08, but also Week 01. In this section you should reflect on your Strengths (what you have going for you), and Weaknesses (what you need to work on). You should spend an equal amount of words reflecting on each. This section explores you – it is an ‘internal’ exploration (as per the lecture in Week 01). You should make clear in this section why something is a Threat or an Opportunity for you, given your aspirations. In this section, you also need to provide evidence/citations to support your discussion.
Section 3 – Strategies and Networks
In Section 3, you will reflect on what you believe you need to start doing now in order to be in the best position possible after graduation. This section draws especially on the contents of Weeks 04, 06, 07 and 09. What Strategies do you need to put in place? What networks do you need to develop? In this section, you also need to provide evidence/citations to support your discussion.
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In your document, please clearly label each section with a subheading. I.e. Personal Statement; Section 1; Section 2; Section 3.
You should write in ‘the first person’. I.e. Use the words ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’.
It is intended that you complete this assignment progressively through the semester, until the submission date of 09 May, according to the timeline at the start of this document. You only submit your assignment on or shortly before 09 May.
As with any assignment, we recommend that you back up your work as you complete it. One easy way to do this is to copy or attach your text into an email and send it to yourself.
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Further instructions
1. i) The first page of the assignment should be blank except for the following information:
a Your tutor’s name
b Your tutorial time
c Your name
d Your student number
e Word length (excluding references)
1. There is a restriction on the volume of quotes that can be used in this essay. As a rule of thumb, your essay should not be made up of more than 15% quotations. Over this amount, it is excessive quoting and may appear as if you are padding out your essay to make up the word count.
• It is expected that each section contains at least three references from amongst the Required and Further Materials in the modules of Global Careers. You may include more references from outside of the course materials.