Individual Analysis the Current Job Environment Means

Individual Analysis

The current job environment means that people have to be well qualified for the job they are seeking or they will not be considered a candidate. There are people hunting for jobs who have decades of experience in a particular field, so it is difficult for a recent graduate, even one with a graduate degree and some experience in management, to compete with this type of candidate. This is the situation that I find myself in. I am going to hit the job market with a graduate-level degree and some amount of experience, but very little practical experience. It is possible to entice a prospective employer with the fact that I am young and have recent intense theoretical knowledge (which may help in some instances, but not many), but most employers realize that they have a wide pool of applicants to look through with vastly greater amounts of knowledge of how to manage people. The question then becomes, how can I put my best foot forward in a job search? How can I distinguish myself from other candidates? These are difficult questions, but they can be answered from a business standpoint. Using the same tools with which a business is gauged, it is possible to see the competencies I have that may not exist for a worker who has been in the field for a longer period of time. Identifying these competencies and focusing them into a jo search strategy is the purpose of this paper.

It is difficult to assess what one receives from a graduate education other than a certain amount of knowledge that may or may not be required on the job. I understand that it is difficult to bring to mind a management theory when it is time to use a one for a specific management need. However, hopefully some of that knowledge has become engrained to the point that it has become a part of the repertoire I will bring to a new employer (Hellriegel, 2007). Knowledge is one of the list of competencies that I believe every person matriculating from a graduate program will have. As I have said though, the knowledge may not be readily available unless it is used and engrained which means that some situations mat require a level of expertise that I so not yet possess, or at least is not yet readily available to me through introspection. Thus, it is necessary that I possess the educational competency necessary to get the knowledge from some source external to me (Whiddet & Hollyforde, 2003). Whether that means doing an internet search, seeking advice from a trusted colleague or looking something up in a book, I have to realize when I need to seek the knowledge of others. The competency here is really one of managing myself and my own resources (Whiddet & Hollforde, 2003).

One of the first elements of a successful job, company or location evaluation that the business graduate learns is how to conduct a SWOT analysis. This can work well for a personal evaluation also. Basically, I would conduct a SWOT of the type of job I am going to seek based on the competencies that I possess. Since the job-type I seek is as a business manager, it is necessary that I gauge what I already possess and what I need to acquire to be able to do that job effectively. The first category is that of strengths that I possess to perform the job adequately. Probably the best quality I have, as noted by colleagues and past managers, is an ability to motivate people. I do not have a great deal of experience leading or managing people, but I know from personal experiences that I can empower people. This is a type of change management that can work to benefit an organization (Paton & McCalman, 2008), and that I can point out in an interview using specific examples. However, it is necessary to assess weaknesses also, to make sure that I can be show that I will be a successful manager. I have a tendency to rely on the advice of others at times to much. By this I mean that instead of making a snap decision, I like to carefully consider all options available and make a decision based on all available resources. This is not a detriment al of the time, but it can be if a decision is needed right away with little knowledge (Whiddet & Hollyforde, 2003). The trick is to have a sufficient knowledge base to be able to reliably determine a quick solution that can be better evaluated at a later date (Senior & Swailes, 2010). Another issue that people have pointed out to me is that I can be too vague. Whereas it seems like the instructions are plain to me when I give them, I have had several people tell me that they do not understand what they are reading, or cannot glean the needed information from what I have given them. This is a weakness that is easily remedied. The main issue here is to pay attention both to how I give instruction and to make sure that the other person clearly understands what is expected of them (French, 2005).

The last two parts of the SWOT analysis are to determine opportunities and threats. It is more difficult to imagine threats in a personal evaluation, but they do exist, so it is necessary to identify them (Smither, Houston & McIntire, 1996). Opportunities exist in the fact that I have a network of people that I talk to via email who give me advice, and who may be useful during a job search. Having and establishing are necessary competencies also when it comes to being a manager (Hellriegel, 2007). Threats come from personal inadequacies that I fail to either realize or address. It is necessary to make sure that I eliminate every personal flaw that could thwart my path as a business manager, or at the very least that I recognize what they are and try to reduce their impact.