BPS 4950 Module 1 Written Assignment: Establishing the Foundations of a Career Capstone Project Example

From the Sales Floor to the Training Room: Establishing the Foundations of a Career Capstone

Student Name

Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies, Thomas Edison State University

BPS-4950: Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies Capstone

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

From the Sales Floor to the Training Room: Establishing the Foundations of a Career Capstone

Introduction

I have spent twelve years in retail management, first as a department supervisor and now as an assistant store manager at a home improvement store in Cherry Hill. The part of my job I do best, and enjoy most, is training: I have onboarded more than 200 new associates and built our store's forklift and customer service training schedule. This capstone examines whether I can turn that strength into a career as a training and development specialist. This first section sets the foundation: who I am professionally, what my degree has prepared me to do, the area I have chosen and the questions the project will answer.

Professional Background

My work combines operations and people. I manage schedules, inventory and safety for three departments and supervise about 30 associates. Training has become a larger part of my role over time: I designed a two-day onboarding plan for new hires, coach department supervisors and keep records of required safety certifications. These tasks taught me to break a skill into steps, check whether learners can perform it and adjust when they cannot. They also showed me what I lack: formal knowledge of instructional design and of measuring whether training improves performance.

What the Degree Has Contributed

The Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies let me combine credit for prior learning with courses in business, communication and the social sciences. Three areas matter most for this capstone. Courses in organizational behavior and leadership explained why employees resist change and how motivation works. Communication courses improved my writing and presentations. A course in business ethics gave me a framework for decisions about fairness, which matters when training determines who is promoted. The capstone draws these together into one applied project.

Choosing a Professional Area

I chose training and development because it uses my strongest skill and has a clear path for someone with a bachelor's degree and supervisory experience. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025) describes training and development specialists as planning, conducting and administering programs that improve employees' skills and knowledge, and it lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education. My experience matches many of the duties it describes, such as assessing training needs and delivering programs, but not others, such as designing e-learning.

Framing the Career Goal

Two theories help frame the goal. Hall (2004) describes the protean career, in which people manage their own careers based on their values and adapt by learning, rather than following one employer's ladder. My plan fits that pattern: I am using a degree, earned while working, to redirect my career toward work I value. Lent et al. (1994) propose social cognitive career theory, in which interests and choices grow from self-efficacy, a person's judgment of what they are capable of doing, and from expectations about outcomes. My confidence in training comes from repeated success; my uncertainty about instructional design is exactly the kind of low self-efficacy the theory predicts will hold back a choice unless it is addressed.

Career Goal

Within two years of graduation, I will work as a training and development specialist in a retail, logistics or health care organization in southern New Jersey or the Philadelphia area, designing and delivering programs for front-line employees.

Questions the Capstone Will Answer

1. How is the field of training and development changing, and what does that change mean for a new specialist? (Module 2)

2. What do employers in my region require of training and development specialists, and how does the labor market look? (Module 3)

3. How do my qualifications compare with those requirements, and what gaps remain? (Module 3 and Module 4)

4. What benchmarks and steps will take me from my current role to my goal? (Module 4)

Conclusion

This foundation connects my experience and my degree to a specific professional area and goal. The capstone will test that goal against how the field is changing and what employers require, and it will end with a plan with measurable benchmarks.

References

Hall, D. T. (2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.006

Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79-122. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027

U.S. Department of Labor. (2025). Occupational outlook handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics.