tbtppblogs

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Entry 7: Reflection on the subject with respect to your starting point, new learnings, and experiences, and how this will assist you from a career development perspective.

Transition to professional practice has been an intense subject but has provided me with a better outlook on the internship. Throughout the subject, I have been taught about the different aspects of an internship and the key things that organisations are looking for. I started this subject not knowing a great detail about the internship that is upcoming. Throughout the weeks I have learned a great deal of information that will help me to prepare for my internship. I started the subject with an outdated resume and no cover letter as I had never had to utilise one for the roles I applied for. I have since learned how to ensure my resume needs to be structured with my experience and work experience in order of most recent. When applying for a role within an organisation, it is important to utilise their vision and values to further benefit yourself (Manson, 2016)

I learned the importance of amending your resume to depict what attributes the organisation is looking for when they are hiring. Ensuring your resume depicts what the organisation is offering for the position, it is more likely to reflect better for you as they will see you have the attributes that they are looking for. I also learned about PD’s which is where the organisation provides Holmesglen with the role they are offering as an internship and how to incorporate what they are looking for into my resume and my cover letter.  

Transition to Professional Practice will assist me in ensuring my resume and cover letter are up to the best standard for me to achieve what I am applying for. It has enabled me to ensure I am utilising the correct information provided by the organisation to help my opportunities in securing the role. It has also helped me in reviewing the job description and the PD that they provide and how I can mirror my cover letter and resume to depict what they are looking for.

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Entry 6: Critical reflection on your experience of and performance in your interview practices and assessment. How have you developed your technique? What do you need to focus on? Use your peer feedback to assist.

Reflection is extremely important when it comes to performance in my interview as I am able to look back and what I did well and what I need to improve on. By reflecting on your work, it can provide growth and development as a person (Fowler, 2014). Reflecting on my interview, I believe I did well even though there were areas I can work on for my actual interview. After the mock interview, I was able to reflect on how I went and noted the areas that I needed to improve on such as asking questions at the end to the interviewer and ensuring to use of workplace examples frequently.

I believe my interview went extremely well. I felt confident throughout all the questions that I was being asked and believed that my responses were relevant to the question. I also believed that I used good examples such as using my current workplace or a recent workplace situation as an example to relate to the question. I did, however, not succeed in asking the questions back to the organisation part, as I completely forgot all of the questions that I was going to ask. I stumbled over my words and the interviewer had to wait for me to think of some questions to ask. For my proper interview, I will ensure that I am more prepared with questions and not overthink them. I need to focus on not overthinking and ensuring that I take a breath every now and again to not overwhelm myself and rush through the important information that may be beneficial to the interview.

I have recently written up some strong questions that I will be able to use to ask the interviewer and will help to benefit me in my interview. I am developing my technique by ensuring that I am prepared and have utilised a trick by putting the questions that I have at the back of my resume that I will bring with me to the interview. This will help to ensure that if I do freeze again in the interview, I will have the questions in front of me and will not stress out to try and remember them.

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Entry 5: The importance of organisational culture and being a high-performing intern and team member.

The importance of organisational culture within a work environment is crucial to ensure success across all levels of the business. A structural culture allows team members to understand clear expectations of the business and their work. These strong guidelines that all members follow allow personnel to be more engaged with their work tasks and interactions with others; ultimately driving productivity. An organisational culture and work environment allow a fair opportunity for all members to receive the same tools and resources to complete their duties to the highest standard possible. When team members receive the necessary tools and guidance to undergo their work, this sets clear guidelines and a structured work environment for each team member.

Organisational culture also allows for clear pathways for team members to reach out regarding their concerns and questions, utilising the proper chain of command to ensure that team members are supported and reassured by secure leaders within the work culture. A new study commissioned by global software firm ‘Achievers 2021’ outlined that a survey conducted of 1,500 Australian citizens showed only 72% of team members feel engaged within their work environment. This statistic examines how there remains a large indication of individuals who are not engaged in work culture ultimately representing less efficient and supportive employees. This statistic can be increased with the implementation of a secure organisational culture in which team members have clear guidelines and expectations, as well as offering engagement and interaction opportunities within the business itself. When organisation culture is supported in the workplace this also falls within the productivity of the employees and the efficiency of the entire business.

High performers take initiative and strive to perform above what is expected. When team members perform at high levels this can motivate others to do the same, ultimately working progressively towards a common goal of success on a personal and professional level. When working as an intern it’s vital you create a memorable experience within the work environment. This may mean performing above and beyond to impress employers to ensure future job opportunities within the business.

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Entry 4: Critical analysis of your internship applications relative to best practice using peer feedback.

My peer feedback was provided by Darshil, who stated what I did well on my cover letter, LinkedIn, and resume, and what I needed to improve on for them as well. For my positive feedback, he stated that I laid out my supervising experience well and talked about my experience within the sporting industry well. For my LinkedIn profile, Darshil stated that I had a nice cover and profile picture that was welcoming to the viewers of my account.

His need to improve on feedback consisted of needing to talk about the skills that I have obtained through my university degree and also only utilising a few of my past employments as I have had a large list of jobs throughout the years. Darshil stated that if I was to list the most recent and most relevant work experience to the job that I am applying for then it may suit the resume more. For my LinkedIn profile, he stated that I need to start creating posts and gaining more connections to have a stronger presence on LinkedIn. I agree with Darshil, that I need to improve my LinkedIn profile as I have only just recently created it for the Internship.

I believe that my internship applications were subpar. I believe that I need to focus more on my cover letter and ensure that I am not repeating myself constantly and that it clearly outlines the organisation’s roles and values. Doing so will allow me to have a better chance of obtaining an internship. All 3 of my applications were for the Basketball Victoria roles as I believe that organisation will be the best suited for me due to my extensive experience in Basketball. I will ensure for my proper submission of my application that my resume and cover letter have been reviewed by one of the Holmesglen staff. This will help to ensure that I am using the information provided by the organisation correctly.

I am excited to obtain feedback from the applications that I have submitted in order to best improve on my actual applications to Basketball Victoria.

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Entry 3:The importance of personal marketing, branding, and your unique value proposition. What is your brand and what areas to improve?

Personal Marketing plays a large role in why organisations hire people. If someone is standing out from the rest of the group, then they are more inclined on choosing them for the role. Personal Marketing is when you are marketing yourself to an organisation or an employer to make yourself stand out and show them that you are the best person for the role.

My attempt of standing out from other people is to use my experience in having many interviews previously and also by including the different variety of experiences I have as my stand out. I try to have as much confidence as I can and not seem nervous as the majority of candidates show their nervousness which is not a good sign for the organisation. They are more likely to employ someone who is confident and knows what they are doing, over someone who is extremely nervous and unsure of their role. Each person markets themselves differently. By marketing yourself correctly you are ensuring you are wearing suitable clothing for the interview and are not dressing, you rather be overdressed than underdressed. It is also ensuring that you bring your resume with you just in case, it shows that you are eager to obtain the role and can also help you if you get stuck in the interview.

I believe my brand is that I am able to appear confident and eager to learn which can help me to obtain a role within an organisation. I believe I need to improve on having a little bit more confidence in myself before the interview so that I can actually do it. Sometimes I can become very doubtful of my skills which can hinder me in the future or in an interview. My main selling point in interviews is my ability to speak freely and be able to answer a question with confidence once I have started the interview. I believe that my communication is one of my most outstanding selling points and will hopefully lead to a role within a sporting organisation for my internship shortly.

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Entry 2: Your preparedness for an internship: your skills (and skills gap), and the importance of a resume and a cover letter with respect to the current status of your own documents.

At the beginning of Transition to Professional Practice, I was not prepared for my internship at all. I was aware that I had to complete an internship as a part of my course but did not know exactly what it required. After completing the subject, I now feel prepared for the Internship, and I know what is required of me to succeed within an organisation. The skills that have been outlined on the Basketball Victoria 2022 PD’s I believe I obtain the skills that they are looking for. As far as skill gaps, I believe that I need to be a little bit more confident in my knowledge and my skills. In previous experiences, I lacked the confidence to utilise my knowledge, which has ended up dragging me down in the past.

Resumes play an important role in helping a person’s application as it is able to show their abilities and experience (Su et al., 2015). Resumes play a great part in succeeding in a job opportunity for an organisation. A resume is something that an organisation skim reads over and should only consist of a maximum of 2 pages. The resume is what draws the organisation’s attention to you and is a great way to display your attributes and work experience, so they are aware of what experience you have. A resume is the first thing that an organisation looks at and it is extremely important to ensure that all your information is laid out correctly and highlights the best parts about you and your experience. My resume is clear and concise with regard to my abilities and my work experience. It is clearly laid out with dates and what experience I have obtained and what skills I gained from that workplace.

A cover letter is an extremely important part of your application process as it outlines what the role you are applying for is and how you are best suited for that role. It is directed to the person that is hiring for the organisation and provides the company with detail on who you are and what you are able to bring to the organisation based on the role they are hiring for. My cover letter outlines my key strengths in relation to the organisation that I am applying for.

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Entry 1: About me page including: a brief on your background, sports interests, work experiences, and career ambitions. In addition: a reflection on your study performance to date and areas to improve, expectations and aspirations for this subject, and your internship.

My name is Teagan Burton, and I am a current Holmesglen student in my final year of a Bachelor of Sports Business.

I currently play professional basketball in the BigV league with the Sherbrooke Suns and have recently joined the Upwey-Tecoma Tigers Football team. I have been playing basketball since 6 years old and have now reached the highest league in the BigV.

My previous work experience involves working in a warehouse for a small company, packing and distributing orders, and continuing to complete the same role at Bunnings Warehouse during covid. I then moved into my current role at Epworth Eastern Hospital inpatient services as a business office where I deal with patients’ health insurance and admit them into the hospital. Within the workplace, it is important that workers are able to express their emotions and their concerns within the organisation (Sloan, 2007).

I am currently unsure of my exact career path and my career ambitions, but I am eager to take on any roles that gauge my attention. I am enjoying my current role at Epworth Hospital working with patients and customers and would love to be able to assist people in the sporting aspect.

In 2020 I completed a double diploma in Sports Development and Event Management. From there I transitioned into a Bachelor of Sport’s business beginning in 2021. My study performance throughout the last 3 years to now has greatly improved since I began this degree. Over the years I adjusted to the large workload increase and provided sufficient work to my assignments. My areas to improve are managing my workload with working and then further adjusting when I begin my internship. My expectations for this year are that it is going to be a year full of work and obstacles but an exciting time as finishing my degree.

I am currently beginning the preparation for my internship and am hoping to complete my internship with Basketball Victoria. I have also been seeking my own internship at South East Melbourne Phoenix which is an NBL club located at State Basketball Centre. I am hoping to obtain an internship with Basketball Victoria or South East Phoenix due to my experience in basketball. I look forward to experiencing my final year at Holmesglen and look forward to the internship that I obtain.