Developing Employability Skills For HR Business Manager Position At Barclays Bank
Journal Entry 1
Employability skills are a very vital component in order to get employed to any job position in any sector and therefore it is vital for every job aspirant to increase their employability skills. The current report focuses on endorsement of employability skills during the job interview process which would help in getting employed at a particular job role.
Journal Entry 1
The position which I have selected to get employed is HR business manager in Barclays Bank. The detailed job description is attached in the appendices section of the project.
A professional qualification which could be acquired alongside the degree in order to be the preferred candidate for the current job is The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Accredited course.
As opined by Moldenhauer and Londt (2018) my CV and LinkedIn profile demonstrate that I have the essential and desirable skill for the job to the fullest extent as both my CV and LinkedIn profile provides detailed information regarding my academic and professional qualifications and also endorses my key skills and capabilities which to be preferred for the current job position.
Journal Entry 2
The questions which were asked during the interview process at Barclays Bank for the post of Human Resource Business Manager were behavioural interview question. As opined by Iordanoglou (2018) the behavioural interview questions were asked by the interviewer regarding how I behaved in the past or regarding how I handled certain work situations in the past. In order to answer the behavioural interview questions in an effective manner during an interview and in order to grab attention of the interviewer it is very essential to follow the STAR technique as it helps in influencing and satisfying an interviewer which proves very vital regarding selection to a particular job role.
At various times it is observed that interviewers structure their questions using the STAR technique and therefore it becomes very vital for a job seeker to apply the STAR interview method in order to prepare for behavioural interview questions.
As stated by Bernstein (2014).STAR is an acronym of four key concepts namely Situation Task Action Result and each concept is a step which a job candidate can adopt in order to answer a behavioural interview question. Upon completion of the four steps a job seeker will be able to give a detailed answer based on the behavioural question asked by the interviewer which helps in pleasing an interviewer. During the course of my interview process I effectively applied the STAR process which involved the following:
Situation- In this step I communicated to the interviewer regarding the context within which I performed a particular task or the challenges which I faced during performing a particular task to the interviewer in order to convey the importance and challenge of my previous tasks.
Task- In this step, I communicated my responsibility regarding one of my previous tasks to the interviewer in order to convince him that I remain fully aware of my roles and responsibilities.
Action- According to Chapman, Miles and Maurer (2017) in this step I communicated to the interviewer regarding how I managed to complete the task which was assigned to me and how I endeavoured to meet the challenges associated with one of my previous task in order to convey to the interviewer that I possess the skill and capability to complete any assigned tasks in a given span of time no matter what the challenges remain. During this step I was cautious of the fact that I focus on communicating to the interviewer what I did or what actions I undertook to complete a task rather than focusing on what my team or my colleagues or my boss did during the course of the task.
Journal Entry 2
Result- As opined by Taber and Blankemeyer (2015) in this step, I informed the interviewer regarding the outcome and result of the task which was undertaken by me and what were the feedbacks of other individuals regarding the outcome of the results of my task. In this step I ensured that I fully conveyed to the interviewer what I accomplished after completing the task and what I learnt after the completion of the task in order to ensure that the interviewer gets convinced regarding my contribution and capability towards the effective outcome of the task.
The first question which was asked to me by the interviewer during the interview process was as follows:
Tell me about a situation when you had to complete a task under a tight deadline. Describe the situation and explain how you handled it.
The answer to the first question by me using the STAR process is as follows:
While I prefer to plan my work out in stages and complete it piece by piece, I can also achieve strong work results under a tight deadline. Once, while working in my previous company, an employee left the company few days before he had to deliver an important project to the company. After the employee left, I was asked by my company to take over the task with only a few days to learn and deliver the project. Upon receiving the work, I formed a task force and delegated the work accordingly to my team members and we all completed the project before the final delivery day and therefore I think I thrive to work under tight deadlines.
The second question which was asked to me by the interviewer during the interview process was as follows:
What do you do when a team member refuses to complete his portion of a task?
The answer to the second question by me using the STAR process is as follows:
When there arises any issues of team conflicts, I always tend to step up as a team leader as I feel that my communication skill makes me an effective leader. For instance, while I was working in my previous company on an important project, two of my team members got engaged in an argument which resulting in both of them refusing to complete their part of the work as they both were not satisfied with their workloads regarding the project and therefore I summoned an emergency team meeting in order to discuss the issue and accordingly re-arranged the work arrangements and work load of all the team members which made every team member happy which increased their productivity which ultimately led to the success of our project.
According to my point of view, my chosen company should employ as I possess all the required skills and qualities which are needed to perform the job in the most productive and effective manner. Another reason according to me for which my chosen company should employ me because I not only have the theoretical knowledge regarding the various aspects of the job but I also possess the required level of practical experiences which is evident from the experiences depicted to the interviewer which is very vital for the selected job position.
Journal Entry 3
Throughout the whole module I effectively learnt about how can I become more self-aware about myself by implementing various tools and techniques which helped me in identifying my personal strengths, weaknesses, capabilities and skills which would help me in preparing myself for getting employed in any sector. From the current module I also learnt about various ways regarding how to increase knowledge about the sector or industry in which I want to get employed and therefore can prepare myself accordingly. Lastly, from the module I learnt about how to increase and improve my employability skills in order to be in a better position to get employed.
As stated by Marianne et al. (2018) the skills which I need to develop further are negotiation skills, inter-cultural management skills and developing body language and posture during presiding a meeting or conference as these skills and qualities are considered to be very vital in context of the above mentioned job role.
Conclusion
From the above report it is clear and evident that STAR process is a very vital process, which could be followed during times of behavioural interview question as it helps in better endorsement of the employability skill of a job seeker and also helps in convincing an interviewer in a more effective manner.
References
Bernstein, L. E. (2014). The perceived importance of VUCA-driven skills for 21st century leader success and the extent of integration of those skills into leadership development programs. Business Premium Collection.
Chapman, E., Miles, E. W., and Maurer, T. (2017). A proposed model for effective negotiation skill development. The Journal of Management Development, (Online). 36(7), 940-958.
Iordanoglou, D. (2018). Future trends in leadership development practices and the crucial leadership skills. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, (Online). 15(2), 118-129.
Marianne, S. M., Kleinlogel, E. P., Tur, B., and Bachmann, M. (2018). The future of interpersonal skills development: Immersive virtual reality training with virtual humans. Human Resource Development Quarterly, (Online). 29(2), 125-141. Available at doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21307 Accessed as on 17/12/2018
Moldenhauer, L., and Londt, C. (2018). Leadership, artificial intelligence and the need to redefine future skills development. European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance: Kidmore End,
Taber, B. J., and Blankemeyer, M. (2015). Future work self and career adaptability in the prediction of proactive career behaviors. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, (Online). 86, 20.