Initial Personal Development Plan

My Initial Personal Developmental Plan.
Study skills.
During my GCSEs I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of life. I chose to study French, Graphics and History. I enjoyed French the most and did quite well in it, however if I had concentrated more I could’ve done a lot better. I was also working in my dads’ café. I enjoyed working at the café a lot. It was hard at times to manage my time between School, working at the café, going to football practice and also making time to do homework and revision. In class I enjoyed myself a lot and got my work done fast so went on to do extra question or ‘bonus questions’. When I was in the classroom environment I felt more confidant in my work as I had the teacher to double check if I had any doubts but because I didn’t go over my work at home I feel it put me really behind .However having to juggle school, work, football and revision was very stressful and I didn’t do well as well I would have liked which put education in a negative light for me. I did consider at one point to stop my education after leaving school while I was at school because I didn’t believe I would be able to handle the pressure, however I knew that education is a very big part of my life and my family’s life as everyone has been to university in my family so I felt I had to go to college and further my education. Through this time my teachers were very helpful, I found it hard to ask for at first but when I did seek advice it was definitely the right choice. It made it clearer what I wanted in the long term and helped boost my confidence a bit in my work.
After school had finished, in the summer I worked full time in my dads’ café and learned a lot of new skills. I worked at the front of the shop. This made me in charge of taking orders, making sure the customers were happy, making sure the chef understood what the customer wanted, deal with complaints and come up with a fair solution. I got to experience what it’s like to run a business first hand, I got experience in taking stock, ordering stock, deliveries, cash handling, making targets, pushing sales, customer service and sorting the rotas out. This was my first time having a proper full time job, it was hard at times as at the beginning it a new environment and I wasn’t used to it, however I soon realised that one of my strengths is that I can adapt to new environments rather fast which has helped me in other jobs.
While at college I studied Psychology, Sociology and English language/literature. I preferred psychology to my other subjects as I find behaviour very interesting and the cause behind it. Studying at college was a completely new environment, I didn’t have the same pressure as I did at school from my teachers, but however I had more pressure on me to get my work done on my done. I got a part time job as sales assistant in a mens shirt shop. The job was a one person shift job, so it was all up to me to make sales, attending to all the customers, making sure the shop was in a selling state. I soon moved from being just a sales assistant to supervisor which gave me more responsibility, I opened and closed the shop, cash handling, did the banking, ordering stock, sorting the delivery and sorting the rota. Again working and studying was quite stressful, but as I was enjoying my courses at college I did not find it as stressful as I did at school. I had more freedom and also more time so I was able to manage my time a lot better without the pressure.
When it comes to my strengths and weaknesses, I sometimes feel my strengths can by my weaknesses. I have a strong sense of empathy which makes it a lot easier for me to get along for with different people and be able to communicate with them on their level. Also being able to speak more than one language has helped too, I speak English, Kurdish, Arabic and a bit of Swedish. Having a strong sense of empathy can be a weakness as I can be too pleasant towards people and can be a push over, but I can stand my ground if need be. I am very strong about my morals and I know where to draw a line between what’s right and wrong. I believe one of my biggest strengths is my will power. I’m very driven when it comes to my work, when I’m in a selling environment I’m very comfortable. Sometimes I am too driven and I can ignore things on the side. Being a very goal oriented person I sometimes forget to enjoy myself and spend too much time achieving my goals. Coming for the middle east a region that is very rich in oil and gas, I am inspired to work in the field. Not very many people from my part of the world work in managing our local resources, I wish to be able to work managing oil and gas and ensure all members of society benefit from the riches of the industry. One of my life’s dreams is to open an orphanage and educate the less fortunate. I firmly believe that an education is the only way to eradicate the social ills affecting my region. I am a firm believer in the fact that education is the cure for all evils. I hope by educating myself as a women from a region where education is not very common I hope to able to stand on my own two feet so as to be able to help others better themselves.