The test score above shows my level of creativity. Surprisingly, I got 65 points which is relatively high, although I did not consider myself a creative person because I am not good at design or art.

However, I will take into consideration my weak spots and will continue developing the skill further.

 

SWOT

 

SMART Goals

The table below represents a brief plan of achiving five prioritized goals. 

CV

VELIKANOV GLEB

Email: glebvel@gmail.com

London, United Kingdom

 

EDUCATION:

     Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland                 

      BA Hospitality Management -  Hotel Development and Finance Specialisation 

              (July 2018 – February 2021)

     OnCampus London                                                                  

     MFP Business 

              (September 2021 – onwards)

WORK EXPERIENCE:

     Ritz-Carlton, Hotel Arts Barcelona, Spain                             

      Food and Beverage Trainee: service and bartending in P41 bar

               (January 2018 – July 2018)

     Sommet Education group, Montreux, Switzerland    

      Internship Office trainee in Glion Montreux Office

               (September 2019 - February 2020) 

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Leadership skills

Communication abilities in the international environment

Organisational skills

Effective as a team member and individually  

Responsible and dedicated

 

 

Leadership and managerial 

 

·      ·      Assembled a group for final Hotel Development project; I gathered a team of four students and assigned roles for everyone, so there was no confusion

 

·      Managed a team of four trainees in F&B sector; being an experienced intern myself I took responsibility to guide new students at work

 

·      Supervised students during internship search process

 

·      I was responsible for all necessary documentation between companies and students

 

·      Trained students for job interviews

 

Organisational

·      ·      Organised ski trip in to Verbier, Switzerland; outside of academic environment the organisational process is getting much more challenging, however the trip was a great success.

·      Helped to organise recruitment day at the university

Other Skills

·      Currently learning French

·      Intermediate level of Spanish 

·      Team-working abilities

 

QUALIFICATIONS:

·      Quantitative modelling

·      Driving license

·      IELTS 7.5EVIDENCE: 

The Video of creative way to ski, Verbier 2021

Part of the ski group I assembled, Verbier 2021

Certificate from University of Pensilvania - Fundamentals of Quantitative Modelling

IELTS Certificate 

The poster that was made by my PSD team, represents our teamwork abilities

Reflective report-Term 1

Essentially, higher education, in general, requires autonomy from the learners to be able to reflect on their performance, make decisions, and subsequently take responsibility for them. Candy (1991) has defined the concept of independent study as: “a process, a method and a philosophy of education: in which a student acquires knowledge by his or her own efforts and develops the ability for inquiry and critical evaluation.” However, self-study may be different depending on the cultural environment and country. 

 

Personally, being an international student in Switzerland I have gained a strong academic foundation and independent study experience before moving to London for my MFP program. Regardless of certain similarities between the EU and UK academic environment, during this course, I was able to look at myself from a different angle in terms of educational approach and defined differences from my previous experience.

 

As an international student, I was startled by the amount of work outside the classroom when I moved to Switzerland for my bachelor’s degree. My high school program in Russia was based on memorization and repetitive exercises, restricting the ability to critically thinking. At that time, I did not realize the weaknesses of the method as I had no chance to compare it with other systems.

 

Initially, moving to the UK, I thought that there is nothing new for me to adapt to, as I was already an experienced student in the international environment. Nevertheless, I realized that I was mistaken and to study successfully I had to analyze my experience and expand the set of academic and personal skills. 

Firstly, the major difference I have perceived was the number of individual assessments. I was not used to working on my own on composite projects but worked commonly in a group where all tasks were divided between members blurring the responsibility of the result.

 

For example, currently, I am finishing the research project for my “Quantitative Methods” class. With time, I found myself frustrated working on the project reluctantly. My approach brought about a lack of coherency and occurred to be irrelevant for this type of work. The reason was me paying attention to small details in each step rather than looking at the bigger picture. Having analyzed the outcome I now know that I must keep in mind the main aim and reason for anything I work on to achieve great results and keep motivation.

 

Time management with no doubt has been my major weakness. According to Macan (1994), time management means “setting goals to achieve the needs or wants and prioritizing the tasks necessary to accomplish them”. However, I could not evaluate the significance of that skill due to the tight schedule at the university and frequent supervision meetings with tutors, which did not allow me to fall back. On the contrary, for the last few months in London, I have been planning my schedule thoroughly as an essential part of my independent study. As a result, I improved my efficiency, productivity and learned how to manage my time to achieve my own established goals.

 

Additionally, I noticed that other factors such as dress code have an impact on self-study management. Back in Switzerland, I had to wear a certain uniform and groom appropriately. Having eliminated these standards in the UK, I became more flexible and was able to put more time and effort into my academic routine.

Throughout my first term in the UK, I have gained a better understanding of my personality. As for Honey (1982), I am a pragmatist, meaning I rush to action without thinking and enjoy solving problems. Thus, it proves that I lack skills such as time management and planning which I intend to continue improving in the future.

 

Furthermore, by implementing a reflective journal into my weekly schedule, I can stand back and get perspective of issues I face and decisions I make. Therefore, I will focus on self-studying and adjust my schedule better according to the goals I pursue.

 

 

Reference list

Candy, P. (1991) Self-direction for lifelong learning: a comprehensive guide to theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. 

Honey, P. (2006). Learning Styles Questionnaire. Peter Honey Publications Limited

Macan, T. H. (1994). Time management: Test of a process model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(3), 381–391. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.79.3.381 

Creativity

Personally, I have never considered myself a very creative person in terms of visual art. However, I noticed that when it comes to a problem that needs an urgent solution, I find a creative way to solve it under pressure. Therefore, for me, the most suitable definition of creativity is the ability to create something new and useful in given circumstances (Sternberg, 1999). 

Having thought about extreme situations where I used creativity, I came up with the example from a few years back that I want to share. In the second year of my undergraduate program in Switzerland, one of the societies decided to throw a party called “Culture fair”. The idea was to make a market where students would represent their home country and share national cuisine. For everyone, the market was a big deal because there was competition among different nationalities, and every student was eager to win. The problem occurred just the night before the competition. In the evening, my team realized that we did not have all the ingredients needed to prepare our traditional dishes. Everyone was so focused on the decorations and costumes that nobody controlled the stock. Eventually, when we found out that there was not enough food to participate, it was already late, and all the supermarkets closed. Everyone panicked and was ready to give it up. However, at that time, I got an idea: I knew that some of the restaurants in the town were still open, so I decided to drive there and get everything we needed straight from the kitchen. Initially, the chef did not want to talk to me and refused to sell, but I was persistent and made a fair proposal. I asked him the food I needed in exchange reservation at his restaurant for a big group of people. Luckily, the offer was accepted, I got everything our team needed for a low price, and we were saved. The success was guaranteed because of the “win-win” situation, where I bought the food, and the local restaurant was supported by many students from the University. 

I believe my approach to the problem was a good example of thinking outside the box in stressful situations. I was forced and motivated to find any possible solution that had even a tiny chance for success. Moreover, I have never seen anyone buying food directly from the restaurant’s kitchen, so to me, it was a new experience, a fresh idea that I like to think was creative, or maybe it is all luck.

Reference:

Sternberg, R.J. ed., 1999. Handbook of creativity. Cambridge University Press.

Leadership experience

 My own experience convinces me that it is hard to succeed without a strong leader in any teamwork or organisation. My leadership skills have been developing since high school, where I was a volleyball team captain.

 However, I believe that the most valuable experience as a leader I received was working on the final project at the university with a team of four students. When all the teams were established on the first day of the project, I took the lead as I was very interested in the topic. The first challenge was to assign different parts of the projects to my teammates. I knew only two students in my team well enough to decide where they would be most effective and did not know the strengths and weaknesses of the rest of the group.

 Initially, I proposed everyone pick the topic that they would be happy to work with as I had to rely on their feelings as well. Unfortunately, I realised that it was my mistake as a manager. I did not take into consideration that one of the students was able to participate only online and let her take the complex part of the assignment. While the whole team was working together, she was working mainly on her own, and I could not control the pace and quality of her work. Consequently, it resulted in miscommunication and issues that we had to fix at the last minute. Moreover, another teammate had personal problems and could not finish his part of the work; therefore, I decided to do it myself as most of the tasks I delegated to the others and had some extra time. 

Despite all the limitations that my team had, we successfully completed the project and received an excellent grade. Frankly, I really enjoyed being in charge. I realised that I am a responsible person and that every problem can be fixed if you make an effort.

 According to Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014), leadership is when the leader tries to encourage people to work voluntarily to achieve a common goal. Now I completely understand that freedom is essential for each person and that I could do better if I listen to others.

I believe that my style of leadership is leaning towards democratic. I seek control over the group to be able to respond to the problem as soon as possible, but at the same time, I encourage them to be involved in any decision I make. 

Reference:

Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. and Swamy, D.R., 2014. Leadership styles. Advances in management, 7(2), p.57. 

Introduction

Dear guest,

 

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Velikanov Gleb, and I am originally Russian. In February 2021, I completed my bachelor’s program in Switzerland in Hospitality Management, and currently, I am a master’s foundation (MFP) student at OnCampus London. 

 

My goal was not only to receive an international degree but at the same time to obtain knowledge and practical skills that will help me in the real business environment. Throughout my previous education, I have been focused on developing certain skills that are essential for my future career in the international environment.

 

 I strongly believe that in the contemporary world, the most important skills are communication, resilience, and stress resistance. However, I have never properly planned my development of these skills. Only during my postgraduate studies at OnCampus, I have started to realise that to be able to successfully progress, I have to reflect on my academic and personal life. 

 

In this blog, I will be posting my academic achievements and pieces of work that are related to my path to the desired career and personal achievements. Feel free to join and to comment!