Hi - I’ve just joined this community as I’m keen to start studying towards the CIPD qualifications.
I’m mid-40s and haven’t studied or written an essay for over 25yrs so am a little daunted by the prospect. However I have been with my current employer for 23yrs (!!) starting as a junior secretary and working myself up to be what I see a comparison as an opps manager. My role entails people management and I’m starting to get involved with reward, employee engagement and org structure for the team and therefore see myself moving into a HR role for not only promotion/financial purposes but also career progression!
I have looked at the 3 different routes for Level 5 and think that with my experience I should be ok for the Diploma. I’m really asking for any advice from anyone who has been in my position and how they found going back to studying and any top tips whilst working full-time alongside studying! Thanks in advance
I am also in my late 40's (er a little older today!) and I found it quite hard to do the citation at the end of the assignments. I used Cite This For Me and found it very useful. The upshot is I completed the course at college and I am pleased that I did.
If you feel that you'd benefit from some more support in completing the diploma I'd suggest using a training provider that will give you in-person taught sessions rather than completing it yourself online.
A friend of mine completed the Level 5 with distance learning quite happily and with success, but I did it as a taught course over several months. They started with an induction lesson about the structure of the course, what was expected from written work and how to do citations, etc. Then each module was covered by a tutor in a teaching day once a month, which meant I had lots of opportunity to ask questions about the writing/marking structure as much as the course content before going home to write the essays! A supportive tutor will give you feedback on draft essays and once you've got one under your belt, the rest will go much easier!
I totally agree, I did mine with term time college one afternoon/evening a week. It helped to have other people on the course who could also give support as well as the lecturers.
