SAMPLE FROM PDP WORK:


Name: Ed Walsh
Address: Flat 3
Merrivale Court
Mapperly Park
NG3 5DL
D.O.B: 22/10/85

Profile
I am a hard working, self motivated and responsible individual with an outgoing personality and excellent communication skills. I enjoy meeting challenges and seeing them through, whilst remaining confident and good-humoured under pressure. I adapt well to new situations and am able to work well as a team member.

Education

2004-Present Nottingham Trent University, NottinghamBa(Hons) Multimedia
1997 – 2004 Caerleon Comprehensive School, Newport
10 GCSE’s
3 A-Levels
1 AS level

Previous Employment

2007 – Present Stone Soup Project
At this community based charity company I work as a tutor and mentor to young people with problematic educational backgrounds and learning difficulties. This job has been the most rewarding to date. I regulary give life advice to young people and see them change from bad to good. This has given me a real sense of responsibility as working with children is not something to be taking likely. The environment I work in is also testing. The children have extreme behavioural issues and personal problems which means everyone has to be approached differently in order to reach them and help them discover passions that will help them succeed in life. My communication skills have improved greatly since at this job, I now know how to speak on a level with people that many organisations find it impossible.

2006 Rescue Rooms Nottingham
Here I worked in a kitchen preparing and cooking food for customers and bands playing at the venue. It was a very pressure intense job as I was on my own in a kitchen and often had orders exceeding 45. This job was again a chance to develop my organising skills as lack of organisation meant I would fail to meet the expectations. I found it invaluable in developing my working under pressure skills and found I did perform well under the pressure. I left the job due to its late hours that effected my studies. This was a positive move showing that I am able to shift my responsibilities to meet priorities.

2006 – present Ambush Promotions
This is a company that I set up in January 2006. Following the success of working for Detonate promotions I took the skills learnt to develop my own events company. Since its establishment we have organised over 30 events and successfully sustain the company into all aspects of event
organisation and management.

2004/2005 Detonate Promotions
I did promotional work for detonate club night. My duties include placing promotional material in and around the city area and organising a street team to do more promotional work. I was giving a lot of responsibilities in this role as the promotion of the event was key to its success. I developed a lot of skills from this job, this helped to move on set up my own event company.

2004 – 2004 Ocean Night Club Nottingham
I worked as a member of the restaurant team which involves mainly bar work. I did also get moved around to the club bars, which was good bar experience under such a busy environment.

2001 – 2004 Celtic Manor Hotel and Resort, Newport
I worked as a silver service waiter, bar staff and golf club staff member at this five star hotel. I was an extremely valued member of the team and worked on high profile occasions such as serving PM Tony Blair and Prince Charles. The environment of the resort allowed me to develop the skills of communicating with people from areas of life unlike my own. I quickly moved up the ranks and was constantly in charge of wedding and conference functions – this not only tested my leadership skills but also showed my how to handle responsibilities.

Extra Curricular Interests
A lot of my spare time is taken up by running my company Ambush Promotions. This has given me focus and a real sense of direction in to what career paths I may go into. Most of my other activities I have tried to relate to the work I do for Ambush/University/Stone soup. I make music in my spare time and I am part of a music group which performs live, this is linked to Ambush and the work I do as a tutor. I am currently in full time education and have two jobs – this means I do not get much social time (I work 5 days a week and university 2) but when or if I do I like to do activities that most enjoy (the cinema, music nights etc).
A strength that I have developed to maintain that I am always active in a positive direction is tie my extra curricular activities with what I do in education or at work. This gives me real direction and is also vital to understanding where I fit in society.

Strengths
By far my biggest strengths are organisation and communication, this is reflected in the jobs I have and what I currently do in and out of education.
I have a real passion for the things I do and like assert myself fully on any task taken, no matter its size or importance. My work experience has allowed me to really develop holding responsibility. I am constantly in charge of decision making and carrying out tasks that require trust from those setting them. From this I have found myself a natural leader in teams and groups, being able to motivate those around to achieve.

Weaknesses
I would say that my weaknesses are getting to carried away with things and taking to much on. As I mentioned earlier I am very passionate, this sometimes blinds me from seeing new or different ways to approach tasks, I tend to stick to my original goal and keep trying to pursue it even if sometimes a re-think is needed. However I do feel I am a quick learner, because I am young I feel that it is the right time to sustain my passion.
Also taking to much on. I am extremely good at organising so I never let one thing shadow commitments to another, this point is more to my own personal health. I sometimes think I engage in too many responsibilities and tasks which does leave me tired and often stressed. Again I don't feel this is too much of a problem at my age – I believe that when you are young you must push yourself so achieve a standard you're content with when you get older.