I have developed a HR role for a small company without any previous HR experience or training.

I have taught myself on the job over the past few years through the odd day course, management coaching, the internet, a few workshops and books – as well as the hard mistress that is experience. I'm lucky that so far this has worked out extremely well. However, we are growing and I now have a small team.  I want to turn my attention to my long term professional development and I am finding the array of courses on offer from CIPD confusing. The number of different providers is also making it difficult for me to make a decision about what would be best for my company and my career.

I called CIPD directly and was told that due to my existing experience I could go straight to level 7. Someone from a local university that I met through work recommended an MA course with them, saying I was already implementing high level management. He also said the networking opportunities would be beneficial.

Having looked into CIPD courses in more depth, though, I am not sure if an MA would be necessary to advance my career.

Would an MA really make that big an impact to my skill set and career opportunities? What about all this diploma and certificate stuff? What is the benefit of doing one or the other? And what of the on the job assessments? I am already running a successful HR department. A lot of the course materials seem to cover information I already know and implement on a daily basis.

I’m also dyslexic so I am looking for a course that will not put me at a disadvantage with this. I know universities would offer extra time in exams and I could get a DSA grant from them, but if I didn’t have to sit exams and could work at my own pace without relying on traditional teaching I might not need any additional support.

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.