PPD FOUNDATION DEGREE summer term session 1

1. PPD FOUNDATION DEGREEsummer termsession 1 Jacqui Adams, Yvonne Halloran, Roger Rees

2. support you in the final submission for the PPD assignment consider how you might link this assignment to finding opportunities (for work placement, career options) build confidence in using this assignment as a basis for effective self promotion inform your strategy for ‘surviving and thriving’ beyond this year Aim of this session is to

3. Outcomes By the end of the session you will have: • ideas on improving your assignment for final submission (therefore improving your grade) • identified puzzles and potential pitfalls regarding interview and self promotion • examples to inspire your final submission which focus on ‘depth’ and ‘connections’ • some useful tips on improving your interview skills

4. A session of 2 halves- • 1st part looking at the assignment • 2nd part looking at preparing for interviews

5. Learning Outcome 4 ( LO4) • Collect and present evidence of competencies and skills

6. An example of a weakness / goal - time management • I’m not very good at time management so I will start my assignmentsearlier’ • Good start but now needs to have more depth and make connections

7. ‘I’m not very good at time management and I yet know from my research on work placement, from talking to xyz and by looking at job descriptions on the Skillset website that it is a requirement of being an editor to be able to manage time effectively in order to successfully meet editorial deadlines and work effectively with others.( connection) Therefore I will help myself by using a wall planner/colour stickers/ask a friend to text me each week to keep me on target/talk to others about what they do/seek advice or support form my peers and tutors in order to develop a useful strategy (depth) ‘ ‘Also I knowthat it is a requirement for successfully running a shooting schedule which is a requirement for next year’s programme when I will need to be handing in assignments, doing practical work and organising work experience/networking’ (connection) An example of a weakness – giving depth and making connections

8. Example from Roger • I want to improve my time management and hand everything in on time. I am therefore aiming to finish projects ahead of time. This involves planning projects more carefully including how I will use my time and use to keep on track. I have realised that I often think I am doing well with a project until near the end, so I don’t think about time, so I get caught up in less important things. I will try to overcome this by having a more realistic plan and reviewing it every week. Also I will try to choose from my ideas more carefully.

9. An example of a strength- team work - From Self evaluation • ‘ I work well in teams’ • Good start but now needs to have more depth and make connections

10. An example of a strength – giving depth and making connections • ‘I work well in teams - an example was being a member of a team of 5 for xyz assignment where the objective was to….. The outcome of this project was…(range). I understand from researching my long term career goal to be a camera operator through asking questions and observing on a recent placement, that team work is crucial.( connection) The roles I take in a team are sometimes to take the lead and other times to be the thoughtful and reflective one, asking useful questions. ( depth) An example of leading a team was …… (range) A challenge that I found working in a team included where 2 members were unwilling to attend meetings- What I suggested was……(depth)

11. Add more examples (range) and give them more depth Make connections between your skills/strengths, weaknesses to your career goals Research career ideas Plan clearer and more concrete steps within your short, mid and long term goals Imagine you are using this as a basis for a CV / Interview preparation Share with a mate! Points for improving your submission

12. Improving your Reflective Commentary • ‘I took the role of producer for this project and ran 3 productive meetings where roles were assigned and ideas discussed and agreed. In running meetings I ensured that everyone had the chance to put forward their ideas and each one was discussed. This wasn’t as easy as I expected and it helped me to see that listening sometimes takes more skill than talking but is a vital part of communication. One of the difficulties was that everyone had a very different views on what we should do and how we should do it. Although this was difficult to manage we were able to work successfully together. This experience helped me gain confidence in working with a range of people. My enthusiasm was important in motivating the rest of the group and I also kept going and worked even harder when things went wrong’

13. Interviews Applying this to interviews

14. Challenging interview questions In small groups: • Make a note of any questions you think you may be asked in an interview that would be challenging for you. • Nominate someone to feed these back to the rest of the group when we get back together Work together for 10 minutes then we will come up with smart answers.

15. Everything you wanted to know about interviews but too scared to ask • For the next session: Come prepared with any questions at all about interviews that you would like to know. You will be asked to write them down on a post it note