Business Assignment: Professional Development Plan and Informal Presentation

Theassignment consists of an individual plan for continued professional skill development and an informal presentation. The intent of this assignment is self-awareness, planning, action, and reflection on your professional skills. Your professional development plan should be 3-5 pages, double-spaced, and include at least three sources to support your arguments.

Professional Development Plan

1. Introduction

Discuss why you are interested in pursuing a degree in business. What major (accounting, finance, information systems and operations management, management, or marketing) are you most interested in and why? What would be your ideal job upon graduation? Try to provide more than just a surface-level discussion-do some serious self-assessment here.

2. Industry Skills Requirements

What specific skills are needed for the job or career field of your choice? Your response to this question should be based on research. Plan to utilize databases such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/) and O*NET (https://www.onetonline.org/) and be sure to use APA-style in-text citations to indicate where you got your information. Use at least three different sources for your information.

3. Individual Development Needs

Choose ONEof the skills that is important in your field and that you feel you need to improve, and answer the following:

• Why have I identified this skill as one I would like to grow in?
• What knowledge/competency do I currently have in this skill area?
• How have I already developed this skill through this course and other opportunities?
• How will this skill contribute to my personal success?

4. Action Plan

Create a table that shows how you will go about gaining experience and knowledge in this one skill area for each of the following timeframes: this semester, in the next 6 months, and by the time you graduate.For each time frame:

• List someresources/activities (classes, workshops, events, work experiences, online tutorials, readings, etc.) you will use or engage in to advance your skills in this area.

• Tell how these resources/activities will contribute to your skill development.

• Describe how you will assesswhether these resources/activities have increased your capabilities.

Please note that you are expected to act on your professional development plans for this semester and write about what you accomplished in the reflection portion of the final version of this paper.