[SOLVED] The business environment

Description/Requirements: The business environment is constantly changing and evolving. This leads to changes in business expectations
of current and future employees, graduates and interns. The assessment in this Unit is designed to give you
the required skills to assist you in your career journey. Assignment 1 commences this process and requires
students to:
• Examine personal capabilities and analyse their impact on career aspirations
• Critically review industry trends and the impact on future employment expectations.
• Analyse real-world requirements of potential future careers.
The remaining assessment in this Unit builds on students developing knowledge and requires students to
develop their professional profile (Assignment 2) and prepare a position application (Assignment 3). All three
assessments are designed to give students the skills to be career ready in a changing and dynamic
employment market. This is consistent with the Unit Learning Objectives:

Unit Learning Objectives 1: Develop a personal action plan with the context of 21st century career opportunities. 2: Understand the role and importance of professional communication as required within organisations and develop professional communication skills. 3. Critically review industry trends and the impact on future employment expectations.

Deakin College Transitional Attributes • independent learner • knowledge base • research skills • time management skills • report writing skills • awareness of ethics of tertiary education • use of appropriate technologies.

* All times are Melbourne time, AEDT
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Assignment 1 tasks and sections
This assessment comprises five (5) key sections of content that must be addressed. In addition, this is an
academic business report and therefore must be formatted according to the criteria set out on page 12 of
this document.
You are required to set out your report using the following section and sub-section
numbers and names. Follow the order provided!
We have provided, for your convenience, a report template. We
encourage you to use this if you wish.
Title page
Include this title – ‘Assignment 1 – My Opportunities’ = center, upper third of page.
Bottom right corner: your name, your ID, MWL 101 Professional Insight, Lecturer’s name,
trimester = 202102, total word count (From Intro to Conclusion ONLY). No page number!
A bit like this:
Executive Summary
The executive summary should be a maximum of 300 words in length. The executive
summary should be the last thing you write (even though it is placed at the start) and must
summarise the key findings of your report. Please note an executive summary is not an
introduction. Please refer to Appendix 1, p.9 for more information and a sample.
Table of Contents
• It lists ALL sections that come AFTER this page.
• It includes the page number of where each section starts, only. Make sure that page numbers
are used in the report and that they match this table!
• Use the instructions on Page 7 for how to create an automatic one, or draw up your own.
MWL professional Insight
Assignment 1
My Opportunities
Fred Nerk
FRDND202001
Lecturer: Josef Stalin
202101
1767 words
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1.0

Introduction This will include:

(Approx. 200 words)

• a statement of your purpose / intention (eg: ‘The purpose of this report is to …’)
• a general statement about your chosen industry’s trends
• and a statement of where YOU fit in to these changes in relation to your studies and
skills.
2.0 My Capabilities
This section of your report will be comprised of two (2) parts:
2.1 My Professional Dashboard
Your Professional Dashboard is a one page ‘snapshot’ of your current capabilities and areas where you are
developing skills and knowledge. Please refer to the Assignment 1 Resources for the dashboard template
and the assessment template. You must use the template provided and complete every section.
Your Professional Dashboard must be included in this section of your report in landscape format
Use the TEMPLATES that have been provided. Be sure to use the LANDSCAPE format so that it all fits, by
doing the following in Word: PAGE LAYOUT > BREAKS > SECTION BREAKS – NEXT PAGE to create the
LANDSCAPE format for this dashboard, and to repeat this process to return to PORTRAIT.
Follow this format.
On the next page are the specific requirements for this dashboard. Please follow these directions.
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Professional Dashboard Requirements

Section	Description	Inclusion	Notes
Personality Take test: https://www.16personalities .com/	Personality tests help us understand who we are and why we do things the way we do. They can give us insights to help us understand individual differences.	Dashboard Avatar and Personality type. Appendix 1 A screenshot of the summary of your 16Personalities test results (Personality Type, Individual traits including percentage, Role & Strategy) as evidence of completion.	Dashboard – example of image to include: Appendix 1 – example of image to include:
Work Style Do the quiz: https://joboutlook.gov.au/ca reer-tools/career-quiz#/	Work style tests help us understand they type of work and work environment we enjoy allowing us to choose careers that we enjoy and leverage our strengths.	Dashboard Your Results chart Appendix 2 Screenshot of top 3 detailed insights of work style	Dashboard – example of image to include: Example of detailed insight of workstyle Ignore recommended job – Instead click on the što gain detailed insights into your preferred work style

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Section	Description	Inclusion	Notes
Experience Review	Undertaking a review of your experiences both identifies experience gaps and helps you identify the skills you are developing through your experiences.	Dashboard Review and include current experiences both work and non- work. Include two (2) skills you are developing from each experience	Use the skills list with the Week 1 resources to help you identify what skills you might be developing. This will also be covered in the Week 1 seminar
Academic Review	Thinking about the areas of study that interest you can help you develop insights into the type of role you would like to obtain when you graduate.	Dashboard Your intended major and academic strengths	If your degree does not have a major, please identify your area of study
Values Do this quiz: https://personalvalu.es/	Values reflect the things that are important to us. You are more likely to be successful and satisfied with your career if you work in an organisation with similar values	Dashboard Your top 3 values. From your test results choose the 3 values that resonate most with you. Appendix 3 Screenshot of values list	Appendix 3- example of image to include:

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2.2 My Capabilities – analysis (approx. 500 words)
Using your Professional Dashboard, address these three tasks:
2.2.1 Findings of my tests
Explain whether you agree or disagree with results presented in your Appendices. Refer
to these appendices by doing something like this: … (See Appendix 2). In other words, tell
the reader, in summary, WHAT your results are and WHY you agree/disagree with these
results. Your appendices are your PROOF or EVIDENCE. Refer to them.
2.2.2 My Strengths and Weaknesses (Areas for Improvement)
Briefly describe these and refer to the relevant Appendix/ices to support your claims.
Refer the reader to your Professional Dashboard and any relevant appendix.
2.2.3 Impact of these strengths and weakness on my job or career choice
(a.) Identify what job or career you would like. (b.) Explain the effect these strengths
and weaknesses would have on what you might need to do apply these strengths and
how to overcome the weaknesses. Try to be SPECIFIC. For instance, avoid writing
something like this: ‘I might need to improve my communication skills’. Instead, maybe:
‘I could focus on developing my public speaking confidence and so learn to control my
shyness.’
Refer the reader to Appendix ‘whatever the number is’ to support your claims.
NB: In referring the reader to an appendix, do this at the end of your sentence, like this: (See
Appendix 3). [Obviously use the relevant appendix number!]
3.0 My Industry Requirements and Trends
This section of your report will be comprised of two (2) parts:
Most of the content here will come from your sources. Do not copy and be sure to cite!
Use these sub-sections to respond to this task:
3.1 My Industry Dashboard.
Include the ‘MY INDUSTRY DASHBOARD page (landscape format**). REQUIRED.
Complete this sheet with as much detail as possible. You will need to include CITATIONS
within each cell of the table. Uncited content will be considered plagiarism. Your 5 – 7
sources must be evident in this dashboard (via citations). If done properly, this dashboard
will be quite long. The Industry Dashboard must include the FIVE (5) elements related to
YOUR target industry.
**Use the TEMPLATE that has been provided. Be sure to use the LANDSCAPE format so that it all fits, by
using the following: PAGE LAYOUT > BREAKS > SECTION BREAKS – NEXT PAGE to create the LANDSCAPE
format for this dashboard, and to repeat this process to return to PORTRAIT.
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Industry Dashboard Requirements for 3.1:

Section	Description	What you must Include
Industry Name	Identify the area of the economy/industry that interests you.	Dashboard Industry Name
Industry Trends – growth areas and challenges	It is important to understand the industry you are interested in so that you can develop the skills required for the future and be prepared for challenges this industry faces.	Dashboard From your research list the main growth areas and challenges in this industry
Jobs of the future	The job market is rapidly changing due to globalisation and technology, to improve your success in the graduate market it is important to understand where the skills shortages will be.	Dashboard From your research, list the ‘jobs of the future’ in this industry. Note these are the jobs that you have identified from your research as growing in the future. They may be existing jobs and emerging jobs
My top 5 organizations	Your top 5 organisations are the organizations that you would like to work for, it may be because they are the market leaders or their culture aligns with your values, or they may be the top 5 for another reason that is important to you.	Dashboard From your research, list who you would like to work for in your industry.

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Transferable skills and technical knowledge

The key selection criteria are the essential skills, knowledge, qualifications, and experience required for a job. Similar roles have similar key selection criteria. It is important for you to understand what graduate employers are looking for so that you can develop the skills they require while you are at university.

Dashboard Analyse a minimum of 3 graduate job advertisements (by using UNIHUB) and identify from the key selection criteria the most important transferrable skills and technical knowledge required of graduates. List these key selection criteria.

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3.2 My Industry Requirements and Trends – analysis
Suggested word count: 500 words (approximately). Minimum number of references: 4
Critically analyse your industry dashboard trends. You must:
3.2.1 Address all aspects of the dashboard, this includes justification with
references on how you developed each section, and
3.2.2 Forecast what these trends mean for the industry and your own
employability over the next 5 years. Support your claims with
reference to your sources.
Cite any words (as quotations) or ideas taken (paraphrases) from your sources.
SOURCES – must be no older than January 2020. If older than January 2020,
then content will be invalid and marks will be lost.
4.0 My Skills Analysis
This section of your report will be comprised of two (2) parts.
Prepare a skills analysis table using the provided template. Your table must compare your
target industry’s graduate criteria (industry dashboard) with your personal current
knowledge, skills, and experiences (professional dashboard).
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4.1 My Skills Gap Analysis Table
This MUST be in a table format and placed in the report body.
Skills Analysis Table Requirements (please also refer to the Week 3 Resources):

Section	Description	What must be included and Notes
Industry Required Skills and Knowledge	These are the skills and knowledge areas that graduate employers are requiring in graduates	List the graduate criteria transferrable skills from your industry dashboard from most important to least important. In the last row include any required technical knowledge (not your degree). If your industry does not require additional technical knowledge, then you should include an additional transferrable skill.
My Current Skills	Identify through your experiences how (if) you have developed these skills. Employers will ask you for examples of how you have developed the required skills so you must be able to provide evidence of them.	Using the experience review section of your professional dashboard list how you have started to develop these skills. For a skill to be fully developed you must be able to provide examples of it in different forms from at least three areas of your life. If you don’t have evidence, you cannot say you have developed the skill.
Skill Developm ent Areas	What areas do you need to work on to be ‘graduate ready’ – the whole skill or aspects of the skill?	If you have no evidence of developing the skill you can write ‘all’ and discuss this in your analysis. If you have some evidence of aspects of the skill you can include this. For example, you might have strong written communication, but need to focus on verbal communication (e.g., getting your ideas heard in the workplace). You don’t need to say how you will develop your skill; you will do this in Assignment 2.

4.2 My Skills Gap Analysis (Approx. 200 words)
Describe in detail:
1. How do your skills meet the industry required skills?
2. What skills do you need to develop to match those required by the industry you
have chosen?
3. What you see as the main challenges, facing you as a
MWL 101 202103 A1
graduate, to obtaining a role in this industry.
5.0 Conclusion
Suggested word count: 200 words (approximately).
This is the end of the written part of this assessment item. The information you have gathered and
analysed in this report will form the basis for Assignment 2, My Profile. What have you ‘found’?
Please see Appendix 1 below for guidance in writing a conclusion.
References
• Use ONLY the DU Harvard referencing format. GO TO THE GUIDE HERE.
• Use in-text, DU Harvard citations. [eg: (Smith 2019) ]
• Citations must match the listed references
• Use alphabetical order.
• Place this list on a NEW page.
Appendices
• Each appendix must be numbered: Appendix, 1, Appendix 2, etc. and named.
• Each appendix included here must be CITED in the report, such as (See Appendix 2) or (See Appendix
3). If there is no connection between an appendix and the report, then the included data has no
relevance/value! Refer to your appendices!
• Use appropriate methods to ensure that inserted images are clear and complete.
• What will be in this section?
▪ Appendix 1 – A screenshot of the summary of my 16Personalities test results
▪ Appendix 2 – Screenshot of top 3 detailed insights of my work style
▪ Appendix 3 – Screenshot of my values list.
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Presentation, formatting and submission instructions
File type
Assessments must be submitted as WORD documents (.docx / .doc) only. Assessments submitted using other
file types WILL NOT BE MARKED. Microsoft Word is available to students free of charge, please see:
https://software.deakin.edu.au/
Formatting
The assessment must be presented in a Business report format. You must use the above format, as stated
above.
Further tips on how to structure a business report can be found here:
https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/report-writing. As a
business report, it is expected that your work will be free from errors (spelling and grammatical). It is
strongly recommended that you proof read your work and use a grammar and spell check application prior
to submission.
How do I create a Table of Contents?
MS WORD can help you set up a table of contents. To do this, go to References in the top MS WORD toolbar
(alongside Home, Insert, and Design). Then click on the Table of Contents icon. When you need to update
your Table of Contents, simply right click on the table and select update entire table. The MS WORD table of
contents creator requires that you make use of the Style ribbon and the Heading outlined within.
Writing Style
Although not typical for business reports, as this report is a personal review it is appropriate to write in the
first person (e.g. ‘I’, ‘me’). But, avoid YOU or YOUR.
Use clear, precise language for all sections. Business writing requires the author to write for a business
audience. Business audiences expect that you will introduce the topic, present all the key findings or
information and then provide a clear result. The result may be a summary of your findings or conclusion at
the end of this assignment.
Font and Line Spacing
• Use a clear font such as Arial, Calibri or Tahoma. Text font size should be 11 pt. Any tables or diagrams
should be 10 pt. Do not use SimSun or DengXian or Times new Roman.
• All reports must use 1.5 or double line spacing.
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• Headings and subheadings must be bold. Use headings effectively to show the reader how you have
structured your work. It is useful to number your headings; effective number can help the
reader/marker identify content relating to the three areas outlined above.
Extension Requests
Extensions to the dates for submission of this Assignment will be considered only if a written request with
supporting documentation is submitted and negotiated with the Unit Coordinator. See the form under in the
Assessment tile. Extensions can be granted for documented serious illness (not just on the day the
assignment is due!) or for compassionate reasons under special circumstances. The Unit Coordinator can ask
to see how much work has been completed before granting an extension. You will be asked to provide
evidence to support your request. Work or holiday reasons or other assessments are NOT grounds for an
extension – you are expected to manage these issues as part of your studies. You are strongly encouraged
to start early and to continually backup your assessment as you progress. Computer crashes or corrupted
files will NOT be accepted as valid reasons for an extension of any length.
Penalties for late submission
The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an
approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that is
submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked. You will receive 0% for the task.
Turnitin
Students are strongly recommended to check originality through Turnitin, prior to submitting the final
assessment. The core report must be your own work. Your appendices may show a similarity level of more
than 20% due to the similarity of headings and explanations. You can submit your draft Assignment to the
assignment submission link to check your originality percentage as many times as you like prior to the actual
submission date and time. You cannot re-upload an assignment after the due date/time.
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism and Collusion
Plagiarism and collusion constitute extremely serious breaches of academic integrity. They are forms of
cheating, and severe penalties are associated with them, including cancellation of marks for a specific
assignment, for a specific unit or even exclusion from the course. If you are ever in doubt about how to
properly use and cite a source of information, consult your lecturer or Study Support
• Plagiarism occurs when a student passes off as the student’s own work, or copies without
acknowledgement as to its authorship, the work of any other person or re- submits their own work
from a previous assessment task.
• Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent
purpose, with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assessment or other work.
Work submitted may be reproduced and/or communicated by the College for the purpose of assuring the
academic integrity of submissions.
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Can I recycle my own work?
Put simply: NO! If you are repeating this unit, you CANNOT
simply re-submit work done previously. You will need to
update/revise content. (Note that for Assignment 2, you will rely
on information you developed for Assignment 1). BUT – you must
speak with your class teacher first. Do not make this decision
yourself.
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Appendix
Writing an Executive Summary (ES) and a Conclusion
An ES is NOT an Introduction even though they might share some similarities. You cannot just copy the
Intro and use it as an ES, or vice versa. The ES is written AFTER the report has been written, but is the first
thing that is read.
An ES usually has three core parts: a generalised statement of purpose, that draws the reader from the
wider world into the world of the report and creates the CONTEXT of the report in relation to the broader
topic or field of knowledge; a statement of the report’s FINDINGS – what the writer has discovered
from research and other work; and a statement of generalised recommendations about what might
come next or might need to be done.
Below is a sample Executive Summary that demonstrates these three parts.
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Assignment 1 Sample Executive Summaries and Conclusions
The following examples have been written by students in past trimesters.
EXECUTIVESUMMARIES
1. This report analyses the sectors related to my employability in Research and Development
Management. Its aim is to critically review industry trends and the impact on future
employment expectation, analyze real world requirement of potential future career and
examine personal capabilities and compare them to industry requirement. After close
examination, the report has found that as technology advances, more employers seek
transferrable skills that are not directly related to the industry. (=72 words)
2. The purpose of this report is to investigate the changes in the industry (ED – Student does
not name the industry!), to find out what jobs are likely to disappear and what were the
causes of the jobs to be disappear or taken over, comparing your skills, habit, attitudes,
preferences and strategies. Google, Yahoo and other search engines were used to the
research. The report found that there are many jobs are going to be disappeared or taken
by the technology and then in the gap analysis found that what the major firms require to
hire an accountant. (=99 words)
3. This report provides an analysis of the sports management industry, which is based on the
basics of the management industry. In addition, my self-evaluation covers most of this
report. The aim of the report is to give the reader a better understanding of the chosen
industry and my abilities to meet industry standards. The information and findings of the
report provided are taken from approved sources such as the textbook (Skills for Success),
websites, documents and academic articles. The report found that sports management
industry is growing as the demand is increasing which will create a challenging environment
for the industry. I have discussed the skills and knowledge expected from the sports
management industry, which I have used in order to see my strengths and weaknesses.
Using the information, I have found an understanding of what I need to improve to meet
industry standards. (=145 words)
The 3rd executive summary is the best of the three. It’s longer and a little more detailed than the
others. The A1 Instructions require a max. of 300 words (and a minimum of about 250 words).
The third sample is still quite brief, so a bit more detail is needed. The bold and underlined
parts need to be developed further.
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CONCLUSIONS
This item must be about 200 words in length (+/- 10%.
1. To conclude this report, as technology advances and the industry changes, it is fundamental to not
only focus on the technical side of skills because they’re not going to be extremely relevant in the
future. Experiences that are gathered from our studies and work may not be directly linked to
the preferred field however the transferable skills that are gained with will be a high strength as
they’re going to be very desirable. (=74 words)
2. After all the research and analysis the major finding is that most of the jobs will be taken over
by technology and having good technical and interpersonal skills and experience are critically
important for accountants and for the ones who are going to take accounting as their future
career. (=50 words)
3. We can finally conclude that the industry expects a manager to have well-developed soft skills
and technical knowledge to be able to participate in this industry. T here are many areas to
choose from. Briefly, it is an industry that provides many opportunities to a person if the
person is able to meet the standards. (=55 words)
These examples are OK but each is too short and therefore unacceptable.
As a guide, a conclusion could have TWO parts. Each part can start with these phrases: In conclusion,
…
AND In my opinion, … The first part explains what I have FOUND^ or DISCOVERED* in my
research etc. For example:
In conclusion, this report has focused on several important areas, namely on my capabilities in
relation to my chosen industry (HR) where I have analysed by skills in terms of their strengths and
weaknesses, as well as an examination of the HR industry both in Australia an overseas. These
analyses reveal^ a variety of gaps in my hard and soft skills, as well as the fact that significant
changes are happening within this industry. One fact is clear*; some new opportunities are
developing because of the impact of AI in recruitment of HR graduates, but success if closely
aligned with skills and experiences possessed by such people. In my opinion, the challenges that
face graduate recruits are both frightening and exciting…
(I might go on to explain in what ways they are so). (=121 words so far). The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment The business environment