Developing and Demonstrating Employability Report (Assessment)

Introduction

In this paper, I investigate how an individual should develop and exhibit satisfactory employability traits to probable employers by outlining relevant competencies, personal audits, and learning outcomes.

I have also enumerated my reflections and future development plans in regards to the skills and employer requirements that I lack. For demonstration purposes, I have delved into the internal auditor job requirements specified by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), whose capacity, herewith, serves as the potential employer.

Identifying Competencies

PwC has implemented a gratifying graduate recruitment project, which solicits for the best and brightest alumni (Improve 2015, para. 4). The firm recruits persons enthusiastic about relationship building and value creation to equip them with exemplary development skills.

The graduate program functions to ensure that the graduates nurture admissible expertise required in administering proficient services at the workplace (Risk assurance 2012, para. 2). Regarding the Internal auditor (2015), outlined below are the varied skills and qualifications necessary for the commissioning of an internal auditor into PwC.

Competencies and Abilities

1. Regulations. One should have an exhaustive awareness of the relevant statutes, safety rules, and business proceedings as appropriate.
2. Accounting Standards. The candidate should thoroughly acquiesce and accede to the statutory auditing concepts and standards, especially the Generally Accounting Accepted Principles (GAAP). Equally crucial is the adherence to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in combination with the FERC accounting guidelines (Risk assurance 2012, para. 7).
3. Legal Requirements. The candidate must also have an in-depth recognition of the legislations incorporated in the accounting revenues, financing, and budgeting networks applicable in utility settings.
4. Computer Proficiency. The applicant should know how to pilot personal computers as well as the pertinent accounting software.
5. Cooperation. The creation of teamwork and concordance with the management are mandatory in the balancing of financial records and assimilation of enhanced systems.
6. Audit Procedures. The intelligence to execute audit procedures, prescribe amendments, verify accounting transactions, and implement special assignments is fundamental.
7. Good Judgment. Exceptional reasoning and intuition are paramount in establishing when adjustments are necessary for the current structures.
8. Reports Preparation. Equally imperative is the adroitness of formulating financial statements in conjunction with revealing haphazard accounting procedures.
9. Adept Communication. The applicant must also know how to disseminate all findings and recommendations in a coherent, effective, and transparent manner.
10. Information Confidentiality. Confidentiality of corporate data is significantly vital for an internal auditor to preserve solid working relationships with the external agencies, supervisors, and department executives.

Other Qualifications

1. Bachelor’s Degree Education. One must have a 4-year bachelor’s degree apprenticeship in finance, auditing, accounting, or business from an accredited university.
2. Working Experience. The applicant should have two years of active involvement in accounting or intrinsic auditing.
3. Driver’s License. One must obtain a legitimate driver’s license from North Carolina.

Personal Audit and Evidence of Development

In this segment, I discuss the distinct ways and means by which I suffice the skills, competencies, and abilities above as set forth by PwC (see Table 1). Over and above that, I have also outlined how I have participated in the establishment of a successful team. My proof of development converges upon three instances of residency, which I secured at discrete firms namely Kingston Smith, Price Baileys, and FRP Advisory.

The internship courses in combination with supplementary mentorship programs, arts, student engagement, and volunteer tasks have helped advance my auditing proficiency. Equally important are the intercultural career guidance, practice pursuits, and the employability challenge week projects, all, which I participated in during my stay at the university.

Table 1: Evidence of Development

Learning Outcomes: Reflection on Learning

Here, I enumerate the pensive lessons and significant achievements that I have filtered from the work experiences and acquired competencies above. I focus on varied learning outcomes in conjunction with outlining how my internship programs and other co-curricular pursuits have enriched my professional suitability and employability.

This context features the ‘reflection on action’ model that entails the retrospective contemplation of customs undertaken to extract enlightening principles, as defined by Beck and Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia (2013, p. 37). This model fixates on examining past occurrences and drawing constructive information as grounds for future benefits (Smale 2015, p. 43).

Teamwork and Cooperation

According to Kucharvy (2014, p. 29), cooperation entails teams and groups of people working in association with a common goal of procuring their objectives. It highlights teamwork, mutual efforts, joint action, and the associated sense of unity, common interests, and responsibilities as fostered by a team, enterprise, or cause.

Cooperation is paramount in auditing tasks and procedures to breed plausible associations among the workforce- a foundational characteristic in steady working operations (A professional judgment 2012, para. 5).

The career management forums I enrolled in have upgraded my teamwork, coordination, and partnership skills. I have gained innumerable qualifications and practical knowledge such as the gravity of teamwork, in the event elevating my professional and subjective adequacy. Detailed beneath are the reasons why teamwork is a key employability parameter (Frey, Fisher and Everlove 2009).

Why is Cooperation and Teamwork Vital?

• They generate synergy depicting that collective efforts are better than individualistic labour. Collective work and results incorporate diverse thoughts, ideas, and concepts as agreed by all the team members.
• Teamwork substantiates a more compelling manner of working thus eradicating hurdles and obstacles that may impede goal attainment.
• Cooperation promotes well-defined working structures and chains of commands (Campfield 2010, p.78). The lines of communication among the numerous department divisions widen, allowing a free flow of suggestions and enhanced working proposals from the senior and junior staff.
• Teamwork and coordination stimulate multi-disciplinary efforts and, therefore, teams extend over departmental rifts and gaps.
• According to Navqi et al., joint action cultivates responsiveness, flexibility, and the instantaneous reaction to business crises (2013, p. 7). Team members propel and mobilise each other to inaugurate new procedures and methodologies of performing duties in the event of failed systems (Kucharvy 2014, p. 33). They do this by way of conducting debate clubs, lunch discussions, meetings, and even outdoor activities such as racing to hearten people.
• Additionally, mutual efforts and partnerships reinforce the perception of equity, communal achievement, and camaraderie, mandatory for a driven workplace. All the team associates and representatives receive equal treatment without any prejudice and discrimination, remarks Smale (2015, p. 57).
• Collaborations ameliorate employee relations by laying out platforms for them to bond, cherish, and applaud each other upon the prosperous accomplishment of tasks.

Good Judgment

According to Vasjura and Kuzmina (2013, p. 21), good judgment embodies the craft of making the best evaluations, estimates, notions, and resolutions given an array of assessment choices and information. The central underscore involves one’s adeptness to structure opinions and decisions in the most authoritative and objective ways possible, particularly in matters concerning discretion and action.

Accountants and auditors engage the professional judgment technique to hatch measurements and clusters of fiscal records, all in an impartial and independent fashion (Usurelu et al. 2010, p. 352). I have amassed an average capability to enable me spot the necessary adjustments and modifications concerning the current accounting systems.

The acquisition of professional judgment has aided me to realize that wisdom and shrewdness are critical elements in our daily lives (Usurelu 2010, p. 349). The nature of life necessitates us to make proper inferences and resolutions each day on practically every action we undertake, remarks Abdulkadir (2013, p. 194).

Therefore, good judgment capabilities are significantly instrumental in our day-to-day ventures as they influence our comfort, security, and welfare. Attending a multifold of mentorship workshops has helped me broaden precise employability qualities including great leadership content and self-reliance.

Gaining commendable assessment skills is a recurring problem-solving procedure that enables you to sustain a contented life (Beck & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia 2013, p. 57). More importantly, I have gathered supplementary virtues that over time have remedied my personal values and chastity.

Why are Good Evaluation Skills Necessary?

• Respect. As Smale explains, professional estimation induces respect for ourselves and others as it involves the awareness and acceptance of alternative options, beliefs, views, feelings, and opportunities (2015, p. 51). It also engenders the need to contemplate on complementary openings and ideas hence prompting one to take a more meditative look on things (Naqvi et al. 2013, p.10).
• Advice. Good judgment skills capacitate one to identify when they require insight from experts and resourceful tools to resolve encountered catastrophes (Lowry & Turner 2007, p. 39). Beck and Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia (2013, p. 28) write that the act of seeking advice from knowledgeable sources illustrates humility and modesty by the appealers.
• Objectivity. Abdulkadir says that sustaining neutrality and objectivity is a principal factor in the execution of judgment tactics as well as being reasonable about situational limits (2013, p. 197).
• Prejudice Eradication. The element of impartiality in assessment processes triggers the extermination of prejudice and individualistic ego, maintains Kucharvy (2014, p. 47).
• Clarity Enhancement. Recurrent evaluation systems disperse confusion, in the event, ameliorating one’s focus, thoughtful deliberation, and devotion to obligations (Vasjura & Kuzmina 2013, p. 22).
• Self Discovery. According to Usurelu et al., frequent valuations empower the self-discovery and recognition activities as they enable one to set their limits and parameters (2010, p. 354). Evaluations and estimations also examine the sequential pros and cons before taking final stands (A professional judgment 2012, para. 4).
• Flexibility. Professional judgment triggers flexibility, concessions, and compromise, as the involved parties get to attend to negative feedback and criticism (Smale 2015, p. 61). Furthermore, the participant individuals also get an opportunity to learn how to combat counteractive statements from their adversaries, assert Frey, Fisher and Everlove (2009, p. 35).

Effective Communication

Exemplary communication and information dissemination skills are indispensable success factors in all business entities and personal interaction (Risk assurance 2012, para. 6). Constructive interaction and data interchange serve as prosperity grounds for helping business professionals elevate their career openings (Improve 2015, para. 4).

One of the primary underscores of the Employability Challenge Week Schemes and internships I engaged in was nurturing and refining our communication skills and competencies.

These schedules highlighted on critical aspects such as networking, speaking, assertiveness, information articulation & presentation, telephone etiquette, and body language. Out of these accentuated facets, I have learned a multiplex of moral codes and conventionalities exhaustible in the real world.

As much as auditing practices embrace the computations of financial records, the profession also postulates the exploitation of liberal information communication, says Rayman (2013, p. 48). One of the core features of the discipline entails one’s skilfulness and clarity of statistics breakdown and divulgement to the concerned stakeholders (Usurelu 2010, p. 349).

Auditors must fathom the skill of defining extremely rigorous and intricate scenarios to uninformed patrons in elementary terms (Risk assurance 2012, para. 8). The ECW structures have mobilized me to master informative tools to help me communicate with others in a superior way.

Prior to this, my interaction relations were quite weak with respect to telephone etiquette, email, and face-to-face intercommunication. However, interning has allowed me to brush up and perfect my verbal & written communication finesse, social media networking, people skills, and interpersonal correspondence.

Why is Effective Communication Necessary?

Diversification. Emphatic communication and people skills dilute cultural and linguistic boundaries among the workforce thus amplifying diversification and overall productivity. Ethnic assortment precipitates elements such as socializing, originality, objectivity, and a comprehensive running of enterprise operations (A professional judgment 2012, para. 2).

Global Business. Commendable interaction capabilities are integral in fulfilling the intercultural business contracts and negotiations, outline Naqvi et al. (2013, p. 11).

These transactions that cut across the globe incorporate persons of distinct dialects and business convictions and, therefore, necessitate diplomatic and premeditated communication correspondence. The transnational counterparts working in international institutions ought to interpret standard global terms to invest in global marketplaces, says Campfield (2010, p. 77).

Team Building. As Kucharvy states, dynamic communication skills fortify teams by strengthening their trust, integrity, responsibility, and productivity performance (2014, p. 44).

According to Lowry and Turner (2007, p. 45), the lunch discussions, workbook clubs, and group mentorships underline the relevance of communication assertiveness and networking skills. The team members openly interrelate with each other to nurture beneficial work relationships (Beck & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia 2013, p. 22).

Employee Morale. Company personnel treasure good communication divulged by their supervisors and the management board as it procreates a healthy work domain, account Lowry and Turner (2007, p. 30). Managers should contend to keep open the employer-employee relations to increase their optimism drive and the overall business output (A professional judgment 2012, para. 2).

My Future Planning: The Personal Development Plan

The Personal Development Plan illustrates how I intend to make reparations for the audit gaps and skills I lack in regards to the employment requirements set forth by PwC (see Table 2). Regarding Table 1 above, enumerated below are the blueprint procedures that I will employ to reconstruct my employability deficiencies.

The plan consists of my development needs, what amendments to integrate, how to integrate them, and the practical dates for the implementations. The program also encompasses an achievability aspect, extra goals, and training courses. The SMART objectives featured are all Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound (Abdulkadir 2013; Smale 2015; Kucharvy 2014).

Table 2: Personal Development Plan

Conclusion

In conclusion, developing and demonstrating employability is a core aspect of the candidate selection process pending recruitment. The greater the performance, the higher the recruitment probabilities, therefore, it is imperative for a graduate applicant to master commendable employability traits.

References

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Abdulkadir, P., 2013, ‘The effect of the time management skills of students taking a financial accounting course on their course grades and grade point averages’, International Journal of Business & Social Science, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 193-198.

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Campfield, W., 2010, ‘Good judgment and public accounting practice’, The Accounting Review, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 73-78.

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Naqvi, R., Mahmood, Q., Minhas, A., Khattak, J. & Malik, F., 2013, ‘Impact of organizational career management activities on organizational commitment: a case of IT companies of Pakistan’, Scholarly Journal of Business Administration, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 7-11.

Rayman, R., 2013, Accounting Standards, Taylor and Francis, Hoboken.

Risk assurance internal audit manager in Toledo, Ohio, United States, 2012. Web.

Smale, B., 2015, How to succeed at university: an essential guide to academic skills, personal development & employability, Sage Publications Ltd., London.

Usurelu, V., Nedelcu, M., Andrei, D. & Loghin, D., 2010, ‘Accounting ethics: responsibility versus creativity’, Annals of the University of Petrosani Economics, vol.10, no. 3, pp. 349-356.

Vasjura, S. & Kuzmina, O., 2013, ‘Time management skills in various communicative situations’, In the World of Scientific Discoveries, vol. 11, no. 47, pp. 18-22.