7WB52012 Career Research Assessment Brief: Post-MBA Executive Role Analysis and Self-Development Planning

7WB52012 Assessment Brief

7WB52012 Assessment Criteria

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge And Understanding Assessed In This Assignment:

• Develop a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the skills required to achieve and perform within a professional context, including the pathways to achieve career goals.
• Identify and evaluate gaps in knowledge, skills, and competence, linking to insights, regarding one’s personal and professional development agenda, based on sound data and experience.

Learning Outcomes: Skills And Attributes Assessed In This Assignment:

• Synthesize the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for a management career in a chosen field.
• Work collaboratively and with initiatives, developing interpersonal and professional skills of critical self-awareness and self-management, to explore and evaluate the relationships between theory and practice.
• Develop effective, clear communication; networking, listening, oral and written communication.

Transformational Opportunities:

• Use LinkedIn Learning to improve skills
• Conduct research that will inform decisions about future career options
• Practise using job search, professional and HE websites to identify appropriate opportunities.

Feedback Marking Criteria For This Assignment

Performance will be assessed using HBS Grading Criteria (Rubric)

Feedback for improvement will be given in writing via your Canvas module site within 4 weeks of submission

• Lateness Penalty: For each day or part day up to five days after the published deadline, coursework relating to modules submitted late will have the numeric grade reduced by 10 grade points until or minus the numeric grade reaches the minimum pass mark (UG 40/PG 50). Where the numeric grade awarded for the assessment is less than the minimum pass mark no lateness penalty will be applied. If the coursework is submitted more than 5 days after the published deadline, it will not be marked and a grade of zero will be awarded. Please note: Referred coursework submitted after the published deadline will be awarded a grade of zero (0).
• Extensions: Students do not have an automatic right to an extension. If you require an extension, this must be requested in advance of the submission deadline. Please give your reasoning for needing an extension. Not all Assessments are eligible for an extension. Please check above.
• Retrievable Assessment: Students who fail a retrievable assignment have the opportunity to act on the feedback in a timely manner and to resubmit the same assignment within a specified deadline set by the Module Leader. Marks for resubmitted work will be capped at 40% for UG and 50% for PG. Students who resubmit work and go on to Fall the module will still be able to do the referred coursework (capped at 40% UG or 50% PG).

Detailed Brief For Individual Assignment

Assignment Title: Individual Career Research – Recorded Presentation and Executive Summary

Description of the assignment, task, content, and structure:

PART A: An individual recorded presentation (20 minutes long +/- 10%, maximum 15 slides) informed by individual relevant and credible career research, analysing the job/position that you want to pursue after graduating with an MBA degree, and your readiness to step into or progress towards your future career in this field.

PART B: An executive summary of your research presentation (750 words +/- 10%) offering an overview of the key findings and conclusions.

7WB52012 Detailed Instructions

PART A:

This assignment requires you to identify the industry / sector / field that you are hoping to move into following graduation and to use this as the focus of your presentation. Please note, if you hope to pursue an entrepreneurial career, you can follow the specific additional guidelines provided for each section in italics.

Using PowerPoint or another slide-based application you will plan, design and record a 20-minute individual presentation incorporating all of the sections below. Please use the guidelines for structure below. You can add additional slides in each section, but there should be no more than 15 slides in total. (title page and reference slide are not included in count).

Please read the instructions for submission and design carefully. You can find additional guidance and support for this in the Assignments section on Canvas. You will also find suggested phrases and layouts for each section on Canvas within the Assignment Support Section.

The structure of your presentation should be as follows:

1) A Brief Introduction (1 Slide):

Introduce yourself, giving a brief background of what you did before you started your MBA studies, and a short explanation of your chosen future industry/sector/field and why you chose this – either to work in, or to start or develop your business
Highlight the specific job(s) / role(s) that you aspire to, linking this to your personal career aspirations, or explain why you have chosen to pursue an entrepreneurial career.

2) A Brief Analysis Of The Key Trends And Developments In Your Industry/Sector/Field That May Have An Impact On Career And Employment Opportunities In That Area In The Future (1-2 Slides):

You can use academic journals, research from professional bodies, industry papers and other reliable sources for this section, but to ensure it is a “key trend” current development; please do not use sources older than 2019.
Ensure you provide accurate citations, with full referencing details provided in the final slide.
If you are planning to start or develop your own business, instead analyse the key trends that will have an impact on the opportunities for growing new business within the field. Consider the options available to you as an entrepreneur in this field to establish and grow your business, relating these to your own aspirations and your short to medium term business plans.

3) A Brief Analysis Of The Career Options And Pathways Available In This Industry/Sector/Field (1 Slide):

Carry out research on the UH-Carvers portal and reviewer job / professional websites to identify the career options and pathways available in this industry/sector/field that are of interest to you following graduation and in the future. Do not use academic journals for this research. The focus should be on your career pathway: – what will you need to do after graduation to progress into your desired job role if you cannot do it immediately after graduation? What options are available to you?

If you are planning to start or develop your own business, instead identify the specific opportunities you would like to take in this field to implement your business plan. Explain why you have chosen this specific business opportunity and how it relates to your longer-term career aspirations. The focus should be on your career pathway – what path do you need to follow after graduation to be able to go into your desired role as an entrepreneur?

4) A Detailed Analysis And Discussion Of (2 – 3) Specific Job Roles In This Field (Search For Real Vacancies On Actual Jobsites) That You Might Wish To Apply For (2-3 Slides):

• Describe and discuss each specific job role in detail. Use a new slide for each role. Start by describing the role (job title, where it is based, type of employment, salary offered, as stated on the recruitment advertisement) and then explain why you have chosen this job role and how it relates to your longer-term career aspirations and to your current experience or qualifications.
• Use the information as stated on the recruitment advertisements to identify and discuss the essential knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience that are required to apply for these job roles.
• (Do not describe the duties of these positions. Instead, focus on discussing the stated requirements. This report is about your career aspirations, about understanding what knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience are required for the specific job role(s) you are interested in, so that you can reflect on your readiness to move into these job roles.

If you are planning to start or develop your own business, instead describe and discuss the knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience required for your role as a (successful) entrepreneur in your chosen field. Start by describing the requirement and then explain why this requirement is essential for your role as a (successful) entrepreneur in your chosen field. (Do not describe the duties of an entrepreneur. Instead, focus on discussing the essential requirements. This report is about your career aspirations, about understanding what knowledge, skills, behaviour and experience are required to become a successful entrepreneur, so that you can reflect on your readiness to move into this role). describing the requirement and then explain why this requirement is essential for your role as a (successful) entrepreneur in your chosen field. (Do not describe the duties of an entrepreneur. Instead, focus on discussing the essential requirements. This report is about your career aspirations, about understanding what knowledge, skills, behaviour and experience are required to become a successful entrepreneur, so that you can reflect on your readiness to move into this role).

5) An Honest Analysis And Evaluation Of Your Readiness To Move Into These Job Roles (2-4 Slides):

This is a reflective section where you should evaluate your readiness/suitability to apply for each of these roles, by comparing how well you currently measure up against the essential knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience requirements stated in the job description and person specification. Give an honest analysis and evaluation of your skills and a realistic assessment of your own readiness to take up this role(s) when you graduate with an MBA degree.

• Identify the gaps in your knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience that you still need to develop to prepare yourself to be ready for the job you aspire to.

If you are planning to start or develop your own business, instead evaluate your readiness to step into the role as an entrepreneur in your chosen field, by comparing how you will you currently measure up against the essential requirements stated above. Give an honest analysis and evaluation of your skills and a realistic assessment of your own readiness to take up this role(s) when you graduate with an MBA degree.

Identify the gaps in your knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience that you still need to develop to prepare yourself to be ready for the entrepreneurial role you aspire to.

6) Your Conclusion: (1-2 Slides)

This should be a summary of what you have learnt from this career research and how this will help you make decisions about your career. This should help you to demonstrate your awareness of, and readiness for, the employment or entrepreneurial opportunities in your chosen field or sector.

7) References (1 Slide)

Full reference information should be provided here according to HBS guidelines

Formal / Submission Requirements:

Record your narrated presentation using an application like Powerpoint. You can find instructions on how to do this here: SkillUp
Anticipate that the video file may be too large for submission. Therefore, it is very important that you have enough time to edit, convert to an MP4 file and upload on an appropriate platform then generate a URL link.

A suitable platform where you can upload your video could be OneDrive. This is available for you on Office 365 and all students have access to via their Herts email account.

Further instructions and support will be provided in the weekly class sessions.

PART B:

This part of the assignment will demonstrate your ability to summarise research succinctly and clearly – it is a valuable professional skill.

You will write a 750-word executive summary of your Part A research presentation which offers a brief overview of each section – including your career aspirations, your research findings, your self-evaluation, and the key learning you will take away from this research activity. You are permitted to include a SWOT table as part of your self-evaluation.

Remember that to evidence your key learning you need to be able to state some clear actions / next steps that you intend to do.

The role of an executive summary is to provide a synopsis of the main points of a much longer report or presentation. It is typically written to share with people who might not have time to review your research in full. The reader should be able to understand what the research is about, and what its key findings are, based only on reading the executive summary.

Formal / submission requirements

• The assignment should be submitted via Canvas as a word document – the file name should be your SID and ECPD CWI e.g. (1234567 ECPD CWI) 
• All sources should be referenced according to HBS guidelines

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, Essay Mills And Other Academic Misconduct Offences

• You are NOT allowed to copy any information into your assignment without using quotation marks and a reference – this is ‘plagiarism’ (a type of academic misconduct).
• You are NOT allowed to copy from other students (or allow other students to copy from you) – this is ‘collusion’.
• You are NOT allowed to copy from your own assignments on other modules – this is ‘self-plagiarism’.
• You must NEVER buy assignments from websites (essay mills) – this is called ‘contract cheating’ and it is now illegal in the UK.
• Contract cheating is a serious academic misconduct offence and also includes arranging for help with an assessment such that there is also reasonable doubt as to whose work the assessment represents. It extends to input from a fellow student, friend, relative, or any other person, artificial intelligence with or without payment of any kind.

For all references use Cite II Right Harvard style.

Unauthorised use of artificially generated material (AI) in researching or presenting material for an assessment is an academic misconduct offence if you use AI tools in producing your assessment unless the use of AI tools is expressly permitted. However, even if expressly permitted, where you do not declare that you have used an artificial intelligence tool(s) in the production of your assessment, or you are dishonest about the extent to which such tools have been used, you will have committed academic misconduct.

If you commit academic misconduct, your mark will be reduced, or, depending on the severity of the offence you may get 1% for the assignment in question or 1% for the module, and get a disciplinary warning. Repeat offenders normally face disciplinary action.

Student Support And Guidance

Contact academic-skills@herts.ac.uk if you are unsure of the rules or how to avoid academic misconduct, and you will receive help.
Please see the PDRs relating to Academic misconduct here.

• Ask Herts information on the use of artificial intelligence tools: https://ask.herts.ac.uk/si-tools
• For further help on module content and assignment details, contact your Module Leader in his or her drop-in / office hours or by email.
• Use the Learning Outcomes and HBS Grading Criteria (Rubric) to help inform you of the expectations of the assessment.
• Use CASE (Centre for Academic Skills Enhancement) website resources: http://go.herts.ac.uk/CASE/. Attend CASE workshops and drop-ins to develop academic skills to meet HBS expectations (see timetable on CASE website homepage).
• Visit the Academic English for Business Programme Site for tips on developing your academic English and contact academic-english@herts.ac.uk if you have any questions.
• For help with Turnitin, look for the ‘Check your Work’ (Turnitin Originality Report) practice assignment in the Assignment section of all of your modules. For help with understanding plagiarism and how to make changes to your assignment, contact academic-english@herts.ac.uk.
• Use the Online Library to access quality business information resources:
• Library Search will help you find books, journal articles and more.
• Use the Subject Toolkit for Business to access industry standard databases.
• Use Library SkillUp for guidance for searching and referencing.
• Get help: use SkillUP module chat, visit the Study Success Hub, or book a 1:1 with a librarian.

Please Use This Document To Submit Both Parts Of Coursework 1

PART A – Recorded Presentation:

Please cut and paste the link to your recorded presentation here:

PART B – Executive Summary (750 Words)

Please write your executive summary below (followed by your references list)