Hi Ed

Back in the days when closed shops were legal, I can remember several union officials who were thorns in the depot manager’s side and were neutralised by being offered offered management jobs. I don’t know if that still works!

When I have vacancies in my team, I look to see what qualifications applicants have but I don’t really pay much attention to how they got them. However, our Finance Deprtment has several members studying at the moment and they are all using BPP, who also offer HR qualifications.

In reply to Elizabeth Divver:

Thank you for your reply Elizabeth. I've had a quick look at what they offer, but it is not quite what I am thinking off. There is a lot to consider and I am leaning more towards distance learning at the moment. My circumstances have changed unexpectedly and I am still trying to navigate the turbulence. Trying to piece all the parts together in some sort of coherent arrangement.

Hi Ed,

I actually made this transition myself and have now been working in HR since August 2015. Obviously I don't know how long you've been teaching, your reasons for wanting to leave or whether you have any other work experience outside of teaching but undoubtedly you will have a lot of transferable skills. The main thing to bear in mind is that having changed career, I have had to start right at the bottom again so you need to be aware you will be earning significantly less. Obviously that depends on your individual situation. However I can only see benefits of starting as an HR Administrator as you learn all the procedures and types of queries that come up. Plus it took me a good couple of years to adjust to standard holiday entitlement after 11 years of school holidays. I am not trying to put you off as I don't regret my decision but these are all things to take into account.

What I will say is there is a lot of competition to get HR jobs so gaining a qualification would be helpful. However in saying that I have found it more useful to start a qualification after working in HR for a while as I am able to put theory into practice and have a general understanding of HR processes and policies.

I am currently studying a Level 5 CIPD course with ICS Learn through distance learning. Having never studied this way before I am finding it harder than a more traditional learning route. However it does offer a lot of flexibility as to when and where you can study and the ability to work at your own pace.

Hope this helps!