Reflecting as a professional
Employability development is lifelong
Your employability development isn’t static. It doesn’t stop when you get a job or a promotion. If you want to progress in your career, build on your skills and capabilities, and be ready to take on new opportunities as and when they arise, you will need to continue to reflect on the experiences you have at work, and consider how you will use what you have learned.
Reflecting for employability as a professional is a process of understanding what you are good at and building on these skills and attributes, as well as identifying areas of weakness and challenging yourself to improve. It is also about continuing to engage in and learn from a range of experiences that will help to enhance your employability.
The same methods of self-reflection for employability that you used as a student can be applied to unpack your experiences as a professional. If you haven’t self-reflected for employability before (or need a refresher) see the student toolkit.
As a professional, you use self-reflection to essentially evaluate your attitudes and behaviours, which in turn affects performance in the workplace. This will facilitate your growth so you can continue to develop as a professional and ensure that you are doing your job effectively and making an ongoing contribution to your organisation.
For example:
You may be in a situation where you need to bring colleagues around to your way of thinking, but you are having some trouble with this. This could be an opportunity for you to identify how to build your capabilities in this area and to formulate strategies to allow you to be a more effective communicator and collaborator in the future. These strategies could involve anything from attending formal training to finding someone to mentor you, to just discussing the issues with a trusted colleague. The point is that you have acknowledged an area for improvement and you are prepared to address it.
This is what we mean by lifelong learning and how important it is to your ongoing employability development.
