Hello Sarah, if you have started the CIPD qualification you have got different materials to use directly from your tutor. I would also highly recommend to buy different CIPD books that are relevant to the level of course you have started. Good food for thought is e.g.harvard business review or follow HR guru Dave Ulrich.

Having just completed this journey myself and securing my first HR role after many, many ignored applications, my advice would be not to give up.

Ensure you leave plenty of time to complete your assignments, yes they can be done at the last minute under intense pressure but I found it far more rewarding to give yourself the time to fully understand the topic, and the marking criteria, and submitting something that has developed your learning, rather than just scraped through.

Use all of the resources available to you, attend the tutor sessions so you can ask questions and don’t just rely on the recordings. Read the recommended reading and ask your cohort which books they find useful and go with the majority. I spent a lot of money on books that rarely got read.

If you are studying alongside working then make some time for you, your family, friends. The learning experience can become all consuming otherwise and you need to plan in some downtime.

Finally, enjoy the experience and best of luck. Nothing compares to that first day in your new office after so much hard work to get there.

In reply to Graham:

Great post. Thank you, Graham.

Hi Sarah... what qualification have you started?