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Peer Learning Discussion – 8

Quang Le (2126836)

University Canada West

HRMT 622-02: Talent Management

Dr. Gifty Parker

March 5, 2023
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Assess personal strengths and areas to identify what knowledge, skills, and attitudes are

needed for career development. This week, I will share the knowledge and professional skills I

have learned in the positions I have worked for 15 years in my home country Vietnam as an

MEP contractor in the building systems industry (Schwind, 2019).

Core knowledge, skills, and abilities learning from former positions.

The employability skills at work that I learned are both personal management and

teamwork skills. It includes communication, problem-solving, positive attitudes and behaviours,

adaptability, working with others, and hard skills (science, technology, and using engineering

softwares) during my work in different positions such as listed below (Schwind, 2019).

Personal management skills

• Project site engineer:

- Learning science, technology, and mathematics skill: As an HVAC

engineer at the new-entry level, I learned well these hard skills to adapt to the

work tasks. For instance, I gained knowledge about central air conditioning

(chilled water system). Besides, I made the blueprint (shop drawing) with

AutoCAD software for site workers to install.

- Demonstrate personal positive attitudes and behaviour: I have built good

relationships with my co-workers by being kind to others, honest, and having.

Last but not least, I am always interested in my work and strive to complete tasks

on time.

• Project manager

- Adaptability: I have had a two-year change of location in northern

Vietnam. The place is said to have a less open culture due to being heavily
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influenced by Socialist and Communist-influenced, and the personality is

somewhat different from the south where I live. However, I became aware of the

problem of adaptability quickly.

- Multiple tasks: I have learned to perform many tasks, including tasks that

should be done at the company office, such as quotations, checking commercial

contracts with suppliers, and interviewing and recruiting the workforce for the

project.

- Work independently with the project team: we are trusted by the

company to empower them to work proactively on the project. During the project

implementation, the company rarely interferes with the project because everything

goes according to plan.

Teamwork skills: I helped build the team by sharing information and expertise with

young engineers so that they could quickly grasp the work. As a result, most of these people

worked together with me for almost a decade. Recognize and respect members' differences and

perspectives to appropriately assign tasks and set job expectations. In addition, I also learned

how to mediate conflicts between members when problems arise.

Career planning and development and highlighting the core employability skills my

position requires.

I would say that my career planning and development in the next three years in Canada is

likely the same my entry-level in former companies in my hometown. I want to experience the

technical work at construction project with CAD operator or site engineer. After experience

ignite, connect, and contribute stages of one-year onboarding period, I can prepare and show a

well-design of my career planning and development to company’s HR department. I expect that

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this activities help the company see my clear expectation and goals. In turn, they may put me in

qualified applicants pool in order to fill internal jobs or projects incur. In addition to my

knowledge and skills while working in Vietnam in this same job and position. I need to improve

my English verbal communication. Also, because technology changes so quickly, I had to switch

from 2D to 3D technical drawing (Revit MEP) to be able to start working as an engineer right

away. Last but not least, I had to learn about local construction/HVAC industry standards and a

code of practice and gain a certificate to work legally (Schwind, 2019).

History career ladder and identifing my existing gaps

My professional trajectory in Vietnam has been relatively fruitful. I overcame powerful

candidates who were senior managers to be selected as a project manager by the board of

directors and then promoted to branch manager. Sincerity dictates that I did not write a career

development plan for myself, but I did work hard and achieve exceptional job performance in my

position and job. Due to my prioritization of the MBA program, I have no work experience in

Canada. But the areas in which I am most deficient are speaking English, presentation skills, and

public speaking.

In conclusion, self-evaluation of employees’ strengths and weaknesses in choosing a

career and having an effective career development plan is vital to career success. Some

organizations have adequate human resource policies that assist in evaluating and orienting

training and career development. However, workers must still be proactive in improving

themselves, constantly learning to achieve further along their career path.

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References

Schwind, H. F., & Uggersley, K., & Wagar, T. H., & Fassina, N. (2019). Canadian Human

Resource Management. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited.