So Why Do I Want To Develop These Particular Transferable Skills?

As I mentioned in my personal development aims post, I listed various transferable skills which I aim to develop during my time on placement. I believe that developing core transferable skills will increase my employability, which is one of the primary aims of this 'careers in sport module'. Skills are defined as ‘any component of the job that involves doing something’ (Harrison, 2003:269), and include manual, diagnostic, interpersonal or decision-making skills. There is little doubt that employers and employers organisations are probably one of the best places to provide this work based training and experience, which in the past they did. However, organisations are becoming increasingly reluctant to invest in developing the transferable skills of graduates due to economic pressures and beliefs about the lack of commitment, (Jackson, 2010). Therefore higher education institutions are expected to fill the gap and produce work-ready employees. This is why it's important for me, as part of my employability development, to undergo a industry-based work placement in order to develop my transferable skills so i'm ready for the real world of work once graduated. Below are some justifications as to why its important to develop particular transferable skills in preparation for full time employment.

Good communication and confidence - From a study investigating into self-confidence within salespeople, carried out by Swan and Futrell (1978), the findings showed that self-confidence is considered to be an important personality characteristic in sales work. A lack of confidence makes it difficult to deal effectively with customers. Another result in the study found that the salesperson's self-confidence is related to perceptions of the clarity of performance standards, goals, and results. The results have suggested that if sales supervision could clarify job accomplishments, results expected, and priorities then the job satisfaction and job security of their salespeople could be increased. Therefore its important for me as a graduate to ensure that I'm confident in a future sports marketing role and convey a positive personality which will help towards company sales.In addition, looking at the importance of communication, according to Mintzberg (1973), communication has been the subject of several studies, and is clearly a key issue for marketers and managers in general. Mintzberg concludes that business people spend between 60 and 90% of their time communicating. Therefore its essential for myself to convey effective communication skills to different target markets and audiences during a sport marketing communication type role.

Reliable and dependable - According to Lister (n.d) dependability is an important quality for a worker to possess, because it enhances a wide variety of job performance categories. A dependable employee not only shows up for work on time everyday but also produces consistent work and can apply company policies and business strategies evenly to each task and assignment. Dependability can lead to job security, which is all too important in tough economic times.

Enthusiastic and motivated - According to Dr Ilicak Aydinalp (2012), employee's who have have a high motivation level will carry out marketing communication tasks in a more effective way, and therefore will provide a positive value in success of establishment within its sector. This contribution of an employees motivation levels is required to set systematically this strategic marketing tool in motion. Therefore its essential that I show good motivation and commitment to my future roles to ensure that the tasks are completed successful and to a high standard.

In addition, according to Pegg, et al. (2012), it's important that I develop my creativity, organisation skills and time management, and develop my ability to use new technologies, as these are particular transferable skills which employers expect graduates to portray once applying for full time work.

References:

Dr Ilicak Aydinalp, S.G.. (2012). The effects of motivation on marketing communication: The example of public relations and communication specialists who work in five-star hotels. International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design, p414.

Jackson, D. 2010. An international profile of industry-relevant competencies and skill gaps in modern graduates. International Journal of Management Education, 8 (3) p29–58.

Harrison, R. 2003. Learning and development. Trowbridge: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Lister, J. (n.d.). Why Is Dependability Important for a Person to Have in the Workplace?. Available: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/dependability-important-person-workplace-15463.html. Last accessed 3rd February 2015.

Mintzberg, H. (1973), The Nature of Managerial Work, NY, Harper & Row.

Pegg, A., Waldock, J., Hendy-Isaac, S., Lawton, R. (2012). Pedagogy for employability.Available: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pedagogy_for_employability_update_2012.pdf. Last accessed 4th February 2015.

Swan, J.D., Futrell, C.M. (1978). Does clear communication relate do job sanctification and self-confidence among salespeople?. The Journal of Business Communication. 15 (4), p40.

(2) - Areas for personal development - My Types Dynamics Indicator Psychometric Test Results

In addition to carrying out the ‘Learning Styles Indicator’ psychometric test, I also completed the ‘Types Dynamics Indicator Test’ which also comprised of a series of questions with two possible answers, which provided me with an overall personality style to conclude my psychometric test. Looking at my results from the test, my current personality style has been identified as a ‘co-ordinator’. People with this style are one of the most organised, responsible and dutiful of types who can be relied on to focus on results. Coordinators like to take charge and be in control – both of themselves and others. They are driven to be efficient and are generally steady, bold and tough in the execution of their duties. They pursue the ‘right path’ by applying reason and logic.They can be relied on to evaluate what needs to be done and then make a clear commitment to action. Procrastination and uncertainty are not usually criticisms levied at Coordinators.

I believe that this is a fair reflection of how I carry out my day-to-day tasks, as I’m always planning head, being organised, and ensuring that I do everything to my best of abilities. These results correlate to my strengths identified in my ‘types dynamics indicator test’ whereby I show good interaction skills, such as communication and confidence and also good planning, which links into my co-ordinator style of approach shown in these test results. Therefore, I’ve now identified that my key strengths are ‘organisation, commitment, communication, confidence and planning’. Despite these skills being considered as ‘strength’s, I am always trying to develop each skill to develop myself as an individual, both in the workplace and in day-to-day life.

Moving on from my overview of results, another one of my results is that, in my case, my preferences (as shown by the longer blue bars in picture below) are summarised by the 4-letter code ESTJ.  In other words, my preferences are for Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging.  This 4-letter code is nicknamed 'the Coordinator' and this name was used in the pen portrait pictured above. Co-ordinators (ESTJ) are systematic and delivery-focussed.  They like to take charge and get results.  Their style will generally be steady and organised and they are often described as tough and efficient leaders.  Practical, rational and efficient they may neglect people’s feelings and may not champion change.

My results report has also identified other factors of my personality type and includes factors such as, ‘what kind of work do you want’. The points listed comprised of ‘taking action and influencing events, and dealing with immediate issues and factors rather than abstract discussion, options and theories. I believe that these results do correlate to myself, whereby finding my future job where I can take control and determine the outcome is what I would like, and also, I agree with myself dealing with immediate issues facts rather than abstract discussion, options and theories. However this factor could be a weakness of mine and an aim for my careers in sport placement, whereby I need to assess my options more so and identify if it’s the right choice. Therefore this weakness correlates into my ‘Learning styles Indicator test’ of developing patience and controlling my mind and looking more at my options.

In addition, my results provided me with a possible idea of what my peers may think of me. The results concluded that people may think of me as a ‘leader, manager, and a decision-maker’. These three skills would inter-link with my view upon myself, whereby I’m motivated and organised, and therefore this is the type of perception I want people to think of me. This factor will tie in nicely will my ‘self-awareness ‘Johari’s Window’ theory which will be critically analysed later on in my blog.

The report concludes with areas that I could consider ‘developing’. This can be seen below:

•    More listening and taking account of the opinions and contributions of others

•    Slowing down before taking action and making decisions

•    Recognising that not everything is measurable

•    Being more open to novelty and change

•    Allowing others do things their way

•    Showing more flexibility around standard systems and procedures.

Therefore I have identified that my aims throughout my placement are to develop my ‘patience, mind management, and decision Making, whereby I consider my options more, and each of these aims will be analysed more throughout my blog.

(1) - Areas for personal development - My Learning Styles Indicator Psychometric Test Results

In order to gain an insight into my type of personality and learning styles, as well as identifying my personal strengths and weakness, I completed the ‘Learning Styles Indicator’ psychometric test. This test comprised of a series of questions with two possible answers, which provided me with an overall learning style to conclude my psychometric test. Looking at my results from the test, the image below shows my current learning style, which identifies that I am a ‘Activist’ learner. However, as the blue circle on my results graph is situated on the border line more so than in the darker regions of the segment, this means that I’m more so an activator but do incorporate the ‘Clarifier’ learning style too. This graph also shows that little learning styles of a ‘Innovator, or Explorer’ will be used by myself.

The diagram shows that I have a preference for the 'Activator' style and common traits of an activator are listed below:

From looking at these traits, an activator might choose to study subjects that:

• •          are structured, contain facts, are practical and useful
• •          demand high standards
• •          have consequences rather than just interesting theories
• •          can be related to their own experience
• •          provide problems requiring solutions

I would agree with the points made above, as I’m always giving myself high standards, and aiming to achieve the best possible grades and outcomes, either at university or personal tasks. In addition, I believe that I’m more to the point and like to focus on the action and show little procrastination, and also enjoy organisation facts, situations and people in order to deliver results. My results report also identified many more interesting points on my current learning style, such as, the type of learning environment activators prefer, and what motivates activators to learn something new.

To conclude my analysis of my results, the test also produced a list of an activators ‘most natural talents’, which offer me an insight into strengths. These talents comprise of:

•        working with real issues
• •          converting ideas into action
• •          grasping basic issues and seeing their practical implications
• •          being involved and interacting with others
• •          grasping the facts, handling the detail and engaging in practical activities
• •          giving or responding to clear instructions and structure

I would have to agree with the results about converting ideas into action and ensuring that I grasp basic issues and seeing their practical implications. I like to ensure that I understand what I’m doing thoroughly to ensure I execute the test successfully. In addition, I believe one of my strengths is working together with others, and interacting, which has developed my communication and confidence. Therefore I have identified that planning, communication and confidence are three personal strengths I believe to possess currently. However, I hope to further develop each skill throughout my placement to develop my employability. 

In terms of my weaknesses, activators are criticised for:

• •          jumping in too quickly before all the information is known
• •          trying things out too soon
• •          becoming frustrated if the pace is too slow
• •          having pre-conceived ideas which make them less flexible
• •          being impatient

From looking at these points above, my aims throughout my placement are to take a step back from the situation, be patient, and listen to all the information before jumping to conclusions. This aim will be called ‘developing patience' which links into 'controlling my mind’. This will link into ‘The Chimp Paradox’ mind management book which I’m currently reading throughout my time on placement. This programme aims to develop one’s mind management to create successful and happy outcomes, and will be reflected upon throughout my blog.

So what personal and professional attributes & transferable skills do I aim to develop throughout my placement?

Prior to undergoing my placement I carried out two psychometric tests in order to gain a better perception of my current strengths and weaknesses, and identifying areas for development. In the following paragraphs I have outlined two personal aims that I want to develop during my time on placement, which comprise of, sports marketing knowledge and understanding, and also developing my team working skills. These skills are not considered my weaknesses, however areas which I feel I need to strengthen to increase my employability potential in a sports marketing role. I have also mentioned my main personal transferable skills for development during my placement, and in addition to this I have mentioned some short bullet points of personal skills that I feel I need to develop during placement, and these were identified from my psychometric test results, which will be further analysed in my upcoming posts. 

Throughout my placement experience I want to develop the following:

• Develop my understanding of sports marketing – I aim to develop my understanding of sports marketing, and the different forms of marketing which can be applied to my placements company aims and objectives. I will be focusing mainly on marketing communications (digital marketing), such as media (press) and social media (Facebook, twitter and partnership website). With the help and feedback from my partnership team mates and the members of the public which attend the events and follow the partnership’s social media sites, I can see where my strengths and weaknesses lie in marketing communications and can aim to develop my skills in marketing over my placement. Overall, I hope to develop my understanding of ‘marketing communication’s greatly which will help gain a professional job in the future in marketing communications.
• Develop my understanding of working in a team based business which involves all working together to achieve team goals – I aim to develop my overall ability of being able to work in a team effectively. Throughout my placement I will need to regularly communicate with various members of the ‘South Ribble school sports partnership’ team, to plan and review primary school sporting events. Also, with the regular team meetings of reviewing company goals, I can easily monitor how effective the team is doing and are the main goals being met. Learning how teams work effectively together will stand me in good stead for the future when progressing into a job where team cohesion is critical.

In addition to developing my knowledge and understanding of sport marketing, and also developing my team working skills, I also want to further strengthen my key transferable skills which are highlighted below .

Transferable Skills I aim to develop during my time on University placement:

• Creative and innovative. I believe that it's very important for a digital sports marketer to ensure that ideas and concepts proposed are innovate and exciting. Therefore I hope to develop my creativity through exciting and effective social media engagement strategies and stylish website display and print publications.
• Time management and well organised - Prior to undergoing my placement I consider these two attributes to be two of my best selling points, however, this placement will test my mentality to continuously manage my time effectively between my placement commitments and other academic modules and assignment. Therefore this is a key skill I hope to further develop so I'm ready for a full time career in a fast paced sporting environment.
• Good communication and confidence. I want to ensure that throughout my placement I develop my communication when talking to different groups of people, for example, students, teachers, the press and via social media. Therefore both my communication and confidence will be developed through various social situations.
• Assess and evaluate my work - (Critical Self-reflection through academic models and theories).
• Deal with obstacles and unforeseen circumstances.
• Reliable & dependable
• Enthusiastic and motivated
• Develop my understanding of new technologies

Areas for development during my time on placement: Psychometric Test Results:

• Decision Making (looking at different possibilities and listening and developing peoples thoughts to make the best decisions)
• Patience (assessing my options more,giving myself more time, and not rushing into my first thought of practice) This will help my reflective thinking and critical analysis throughout my placement.

The professional and personal attributes highlighted above will be further mentioned in my upcoming posts and also critically appraised, along with various examples throughout my placement blog.

So what are the roles and duties that I will be undertaking during my placement?

Throughout my placement I will carrying out the roles and duties outlined below. In addition to these tasks, I will be undertaking any unexpected tasks which can potentially arise throughout my placement and will be noted throughout my blog. Each of the roles I will be carrying out offers me the opportunity to implement various forms of marketing a digital communications, which provides myself with an excellent platform to progress and develop my skills in future placement and jobs.

• Be responsible for creating effective marketing communication strategies, such as social media, for South Ribble Sports Partnership.
• Will be attending regular primary school sports events and putting together press releases, promoting the event and obtaining photos and quotes from the participants and teachers involved with the event.
• Will be in charge of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter for South Ribble School Sports Partnership.  
• Be responsible for the regular development of the partnerships website page and making sure that recent and upcoming events are being published to the target audience. For example, publishing recent sports events, along with pictures, videos and feedback of the event.
• Organizing local press to attend some of the larger events which South Ribble School sports partnership organizes. Having local press attend, such as the Lancashire Evening Post will help draw more media attention and hopefully be publicized in the local newspapers.
• Reporting back to other members of the SSP team and organize who’s doing what for upcoming events and roles and responsibilities of each member of the team. Also attending monthly SSP meeting and report back to team members on the development of the marketing strategies and see how effective they have been.

How does my rational for my choice of placement link into the potential career opportunists once I graduate?

My Careers in Sport module is all about developing and preparing me as an individual for the world of work, and evaluating my current potential career opportunities, how to become more employable, developing my transferable skills and being able to critically reflect upon my work-placement experiences. It's important to assess the potential career opportunities for me once I graduate university. At the present time I have a firm aim in my mind of what I want to achieve, and my next step once I complete my undergraduate degree.
        My aims are to pursuit a masters postgraduate degree in 'Sports Marketing and Business Management', which will allow me to study specifically into sports marketing which is the sporting industry which I believe I have potential to be successful in. Therefore, my vision at the time being is securing a place on a postgraduate course, and also obtaining a sports marketing internship which will be carried out during my one year postgraduate, I then hope that my experience and contacts made with a sports marketing internship will help me to progress into a full time job in the sports marketing sector.
        I believe that it will stand me in good stead from undertaking a sports marketing placement in my 3rd year of study and in postgraduate study, as according to Prince and Briggs (2014), interviewees from the sports industry consistently agreed that internships prepare sports professionals better for careers in the sports industry than existing undergraduate degree programs. In addition, UKCES (2009a) state that opportunities such as placements and internships not only seem to offer an effective applied method of inculcating appropriate awareness, skills and abilities in graduates but can also promote productive collaboration and partnerships between HEIs and employers, building greater understanding between these stakeholders.
Therefore ensuring that I have industry based experience, and a portfolio of work completed to reflect upon my experiences to portray what I'v carried out and learned, will potentially place in a better position for employability, then someone who has no experience.

When looking at the current potential career opportunities which are available to me, I have found that there are a lot of recruitment websites, and also general marketing and sports jobs website, such as Brand Republic, Global Sports Jobs UK and even LinkedIn, which offer graduate level jobs, internships and part time jobs. These are the best places for a graduate like myself to explore what potential opportunities are out there whilst I study my degree. In addition, obtaining good contacts whilst on placement could offer me potential career paths too.
Looking at the 2011 statistics for sports jobs within the UK, Doust (2011), shows that  in the UK, the sports sector is worth an estimated £16.7bn and employs 441,000 people, 76 per cent in the commercial sector, 11 per cent voluntary and 13 per cent the public sector. Despite this figure being released 4 years ago this shows promising signs for sports jobs within the UK, when considering the rise in health related gym business, professional sports teams and increased demand for physical activity throughout the national.

References:

Doust, J. (2011). 'Sport and exercise science has become a driving force for change'. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/sport-and-exercise-science-has-become-a-driving-force-for-change-2192287.html. Last accessed 4th February 2015.

Dr Johnson, S., Sawicki, S., Pearson, C., Dr Lindsay, C., Dr McQuaid, R.W., Dr Dutton, M. (2009). Employee Demand For Skills: A Review of Evidence and Policy. Available: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/9116/2/Evidence_Report_3_3.pdf. Last accessed 4th February 2015.

Price, D., Briggs, E. (2014). An analysis of sports industry career preparation with a focus on sports undergraduate education . Marketing Management Association.p139.

So what is my rational for choosing South Ribble School Sports Partnership?

The placement at South Ribble School Sports Partnership was personally chosen as it offered me an excellent opportunity to work for a sports based company and help them with sports marketing and digital communications. Since starting my 2^nd year of study I have gained a great interest in ‘Sports Marketing’ and this has led to the study of business marketing related modules, a dissertation which I’m researching into ‘how the use of social media made by EPL football teams can be used by used as an effective marketing communication for fan engagement’, and also undergoing this placement module which will allow me to implement skills learnt in class in the real-life environment.  I also wanted to choose a placement where the company weren't familiar as much with the role I wanted to take, as this enables myself more of an opportunity to show what I can implement for the sports partnership team, and also offers myself a wider range of tasks to complete whilst on placement to enable me explore my strengths and weaknesses and future opportunities
Throughout my time on placement I will be using the theoretical concepts and practical examples I have learnt from lectures and assignments, and implementing these into my roles and responsibilities. In terms of focusing on my future aspirations, I hope that by undergoing an industry-based sports marketing placement and using a reflective blog, this will allow me to progress into a postgraduate masters course specializing in sports marketing and business management, with myself already gaining excellent industry experiences and built up a portfolio of contacts for potential sports marketing careers once I complete my postgraduate course.

Laying down the foundation's - A background to my Placement

So where am I completing my placement?

As mentioned in my opening post, my placement will be with 'South Ribble School Sports Partnership' (SSP) which are a business who provides primary school sporting events for the school pupils around the South Ribble Borough. These primary school events comprise of KS1/KS2 multi-skill events, sports hall athletics and tennis and netball, to name a few, and are staged every Tuesday at various high schools around South Ribble. The partnership also links up with the “Sainsbury’s School Games” initiative, whereby for some of our competitions (for example, tennis), the winners from the borough tournaments progress into the regional and national tournaments for the school games finals. The job that I will be undertaking with the “South Ribble Sports Partnership” team is assisting them with marketing for their business. I will work alongside the coordinator of the business (Kevin Loughran), and School Games Organiser for the partnership (Alison Jones’), and will be assisting them both and their cohort of specialist PE teachers with using different forms of marketing to develop their business. My placement will offer me the opportunity to market a school sport business partnership which aims to promote primary school sporting events to South Ribble schools which i consider to be an excellent initiative for school sport and promoting physical activity for children.

For my placement I will be using different forms of marketing such as, social media, for example, Facebook, and twitter to help promote upcoming events and publicize past events, and also I will be creating press releases for certain events and leasing with the local press about obtaining media attention for the primary school events throughout the academic year. This placement will offer me the insight of how a sports business works effectively and how the business can use sports marketing as a method to help develop the business into terms of market engagement and sales with their target audience (primary school pupils, teachers and parents). The placement will also offer me various jobs and responsibilities to undertake which will help develop my personal and professional strengths and weaknesses which will be highlighted throughout my on-going blog.

A background to the blogger

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I’m Thomas Downward, a 21 year old male from the University of Central Lancashire, studying BA (Hons) Sports Studies. I’m currently in my 3rd and final year of study and the pressure is mounting as I complete my most important academic year. My course experiences so far have been excellent, and have enabled me to gain an insight into various sporting career paths, such as, understanding the roles and responsibilities of becoming a PE teacher, or progressing a career in sports business management and marketing, and even looking at personal training and the society of sport.

For my final year of study I have opted to undergo a 60 hour+ sports industry based placement at business of my choice. I decided to choose a career path which has excited me during my modules studied over the past two years, and this is ‘Sports Business Marketing’. Luckily I was given the opportunity to work for a ‘School Sports Partnership’ company in South Ribble, which will offer me the fundamental basics of helping the partnership team promote their company with effective marketing communication strategies, such as social media, website development, media and print. My overall aim for this placement is to primarily gain first class hands-on experience in using sports marketing for a sports-based company, and develop my fundamental business skills and also transferable skills, such as organisation, confidence, communication and team-working skills, which will help contribute into securing a sports marketing job once I graduate from University.

Throughout my time on placement I will use this blog as a place to show off my experiences, either via text, videos, photos or links to related publications, and in addition, I will also critically appraise and analyse my experiences with the use of academic theories and reflection models to help develop my understanding of how the use of reflection can develop my personal and professional attributes and employability assets in future careers in sport.