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Assessment Title ASSESSMENT ONE: Written Report – 20%

Learning Outcomes: L1. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of “work”.

L2. Identify the generic competencies required by employers in a chosen
industry.
L3. Describe how educational achievements and life experiences relate to
occupational opportunities.

Programme Title: General Studies

Course No.: GSP 6203

Course Title: Market Yourself

Student Name & ID: Zahra Kamal - 201401188

Tutor: Laura Lobato

Due Date: 12th April, 2018 Date submitted: 12th April, 2018

By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the following:

 This assignment is my own work

 Any information used has been properly referenced.
 I understand that a copy of my work may be used for moderation.
 I have kept a copy of this assignment

Do not write below this line. For Polytechnic use only.

Assessor: Date of Marking:

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Comments:
Table of Contents
...................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Findings ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Interview ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Interview Findings ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Required Competencies ............................................................................................................................ 4
Recommendation...................................................................................................................................... 5
Research ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Independent Research .............................................................................................................................. 5
The Requirements ................................................................................................................................. 5
Skills....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Certification........................................................................................................................................... 5
Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Reflection ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
References .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................... 8
Interview evidence.................................................................................................................................... 8
Consent Letter........................................................................................................................................... 9
Interview questions ................................................................................................................................ 10
Introduction
Exploring my potential capabilities, skills and qualification in order to discover which career suits me
perfectly. This report identifies one aspect of those capabilities and examine whether I am suitable for it
or not. The data used in the report was elicited mainly from a primary source I have made which was
interviewing with someone who is holding a similar job I would like to have in some phase of my life. The
secondary source is my independent research via several websites.

After considering my skills, I have discovered that I do have a sense of organizing and I enjoy it. The field
I have chosen to work in and get to know more about it is event manager. Below are the results of
Career Voyage test I have done previously which shows that I have a high rate in social services and
health care. Moreover, the test suggests some jobs that meet my skills and desires. One of suggestions
was a position of a counsellor, and based on that I prioritized that job among the others.
Findings

Interview
Interview Findings
The person who I interviewed with is the entrepreneur Fatima Alansari, the owner of Deniz events.
Deniz events is focused on managing and organizing events as birthday and graduations parties, as well
as baby’s receptions. The meeting was held in Costa café in Zayed Town on the 9th April. It is not an
exaggeration if I said that I look up to myself at Fatima’s personality. When I asked her about the nature
of Deniz events, she said it is specialized in decorating special events in the lives of the customers. She
added, the purpose of all of this is to create joy and do not let those events to be forgone. The way she
was answering, you can tell that she is doing her job with full of passion and pride.

Fatima is holding a Bachelor degree in Business Marketing from university of Bahrain. Which it matches
the work she is currently doing. Despite the fact that Fatima has a certificate, however, it is not a must in
order to have such business (Alansari, 2018). This was by chance because Fatima has not planned this
from the beginning. It is so challenging to be your own boss, from Fatima’s view it allows the person to
make all the decisions in the business. As well as, it helps in building rapport with the companies and
individuals. Furthermore, the owner will gain all the profits the business makes in contemporary with
the losses along with the tension and tiredness. That was some of the advantages and disadvantages of
being your own boss.

Fatima values independency in her working and she refuses to be leaded by someone. That is why she
decided to own a business rather than a routine typical job. She chose specifically this field because she
is seeing a growth in it in this region. Regarding what she has learnt about the experience. Alansari,
stated that this experience has added a lot to her achievement in terms of self development and
personal knowledge as she gained self conscious and confidence also her sense of responsibility has
raised since she opened the business. The skills and qualities required to run a business based on
Fatima’s opinion are communication and time management skills, besides risk taking.

Required Competencies
Every and each job has different requirements in terms of the skills, personality or values. For instance,
an event manager has to have a perfect communication and negotiating skills, as it all depend on the
meetings and the talking with the various kinds of people. As for the personality, the most critical
characteristics the mangers in this industry should have is flexibility and adaptability. Because of the
different people that they will go through, that they might like or dislike what is being offered to them
but eventually they should have to be flexible with their customers. One issue that my interviewee gone
through is that some customers cancel their request in the last minuets. So she had to deal with these
customers with patience and a good manner.
Recommendation
In order to be successful, Alansari advised me that the business world is so huge, full of opportunities
and it is all right in of my eyes, but I need to find the appropriate choice by researching about every field
and what it suits me. At the end she has insisted on doing the work with full of passion otherwise it does
not worth it.

Research
Independent Research
The function of an Event manager or organizer is to let the the owner of the event to be comfortable
and free from the mini responsibilities such as that cause tension and instead assign someone to do
these tasks for him in a professional way.

The Requirements
Skills: Based on the independent research, I recognized that the majority of researchers had the same
opinion about the most vital skill the managers should have which it is communications skills. In
accordance with Debbie Quain, the founder of Weddings for a Living website. She states, if anyone who
is unable to take any responsibility to be friendly in any form of communication with their customers,
they might reconsider their entrance to this field (Quain, 2016). Other important skills are Planning,
Organizing & Time Management. Connie Amos is Accredited Wedding Planner at Association of Bridal
Consultants. Amos argues, on how important these skills are. He says that the event organizer will
always think it is a short process. But in real it is much longer than what it seems to be. Therefore, the
work should not be delayed to the day of the event (Amos, 2011).

Certification: Belinda Booker – Founder of The founder of More Than Words Wedding Feature and a
journalist in the Eventbrite website – claims that if a person does not have a certificate will not be
disqualified from entering this industry. (Booker, 2017)

Analysis
The future of this job is really pleasing, as it just begun to spread and is about to become bigger and
more professional. In addition, people nowadays are searching for an event management companies for
their events. It is very demanding.

As an entrepreneur, the internal aspects of the business can be predicted such as, human and financial
resources. However, the external factors can not be predicted or controlled. These factors are Political,
economic, social, and technological.
Political: Government and legal issuances could limit the company’s to be successful. For instance,
waiting for your business to get approved in the legal registration. That is as well what Fatima has
suffered from.
Economic: Issues that may affect the company from being profitable.
Social: It can be formed via customer’s buying prefernces and attitudes about what is offered. For
instance, consumers might switch to another cheaper or with more options.
Technological: To illustrate, E-learning. People nowadays are in quick phase of learning that one day
they may no longer need a manger to manage their events. Of course this is good for them, but for the
business owner, proving themselves in the market by creating new and unique ideas could be a solution
not to be replaced.
“The purpose of the PEST analysis is to help companies improve their decision-making and timing” (Jim
Makos).

Reflection
In relation to my own skills and qualifications. I realized I have a lot in common with the
competencies required for this job. As in terms of the skills, I consider myself I have good
communication skills and I believe that my interest to support and help people, will play a vital role
in this job. Regarding my values, I am like Fatima I refuse to be below someone who commands me
to do his work. As mentioned earlier, this business does not need to have a certification to run it,
but since I am already studying Business Management this would not hurt, actually it will add a
value.

Nevertheless, there is some gap between my qualification and what is required. The missing thing
within my skills is time management skills. This skill is important as without it, it will be hard to run
such a business. And the reason is because the events people make are so valuable to them and
would like to be perfect, that is why they hire someone to achieve all the requirements that would
make that event, the best. As a result, poor time management skill will result to last minutes of
work and this may cause the event to be inefficient. In addition, the event manager will be going
through tons of mind stress and tension.

Being an entrepreneur will allow me to have flexible timings of working, which some stable jobs do
not provide. Consequently, I will be working any time I want and even any where. On the other
hand, I might wait so long to wait for an offer to come to me for managing an event.
On the other hand, after knowing what is required from me and what exactly the job needs, I get to
love it more and so exited to have one. I think I would fit perfectly to it.

Word Count: 1528

References
(2011, December 5). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from EventPlanner:
http://www.lynchburgeventplanner.com/myweddingsmyinspirati-blogs/7-tips-for-planning-organizing-
and-time-management/

Booker, B. (2017, January 26). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from Eventbrite :
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/author/bel-booker/

I. (2015, February 26). Internal Factors that May Affect the Business Organization. Retrieved April 12,
2018, from http://pestleanalysis.com/internal-factors-affect-business-organization/

Post, J. (2017, June 22). Retrieved April 12, 2018, from BusinessDailyNews:
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5512-pest-analysis-definition-examples-templates.html

Quain, D. (2016, July 22). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from Weddings For a living:
http://weddingsforaliving.com/wedding-planner-skills

R. (2007, January 29). PEST analysis tool. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from https://rapidbi.com/the-pestle-
analysis-tool/

Solaris, J. (2018, March 2). Top 5 Qualities of a Successful Event Manager. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from
EventManager: https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/top-5-qualities/

White, A. (2010, September 2). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from TheGuardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/careers/what-is-it-like-working-in-event-management
Appendices

Interview evidence
Consent Letter
Interview questions
1. Talk about yourself (name / education / hobbies)
2. Could you briefly define what you are doing? (Nature of your work)
3. What it is like to be your own boss? (Pros & Cons)
4. What are some of the challenges you faced? (Before / During / After)
5. Do you see growth in this field in Bahrain?
6. What did you learn about this business, in terms of personal knowledge & self-development?
7. Is it better to have a stable job or have your own business?
8. What skills / qualities / qualifications are required to start your own business?
9. How did you decided to enter this field?
10. Have you written any business plans when you started the business?
11. If yes, did writing the plan help you? In which way?
12. Do you think the business got you apart from the family life, or didn’t change much?