Hello Cheryl - firstly good luck in your transition, I wish you all the very best. I think you have had the best and most interesting comments that I have seen on the forum for somewhile - there are some fantastic people here that's for sure!

I echo Robey's comment "Regardless, a hard fact I had to confront when moving from military to civil HR practice is that there are both cultural and legal differences to overcome that make moving into civil HR practice in a management or leadership role immediately very difficult"

Having lived with my ex Royal Navy (actually - no such thing as an Ex serviceman) Husband for over 43 years and working with an ex (as above) Army Sgt Major for the last 17 years! I can only add there is a huge difference between civilian and military personnel mentality and thought processing -

When given a task - a civilian will more than likely say - "I've got other things to do, its my lunch break, I might get it done by next week but its not looking good," whilst a Military person will have it done before you finish asking and ask for more work to complete.

I'm trying to add some humour here - (I'm not disparaging civilians - I am one! ) But speaking from experience; When my colleague joined he had a lot of issues giving tasks and instructions to his team who couldn't comprehend the urgency or the time requirement for completion, which was frustrating for him. Over the years this has changed, (obviously) and his military training has been a huge benefit to the running of our business and he is a fantastic asset to us - but it took time and support.

(Equally - I'm never late for appointment - often arriving well before the time !)

Good luck with your new career - Rose.

Hi Cheryl, agree, it is somewhat of a challenge trying to contextualise how HR is played-out in a civilian organisation, my HR experience in the Army (Royal Artillery - 32 yrs) was somewhat limited so as part of my resettlement package I seized an opportunity to spend sometime with QinetiQ who invited me to spend 2-weeks working alongside different HR departmets throughout the UK to get a feel of how daily operations were played-out in a civilian People Team, of course I was unable to experience anything confidetial but what I was glad about is that from what I learned through my IHRM(D) MSc and successful completion of my Experience Assessment I felt a lot more comfortable when applying for HR roles, I am sure if you wrote to one of the Senior HR Directors within QinetiQ they would oblige. In respect of routes-in to qualifications, I would recommend you pick-up an actual qualification (Advanced People Management) and as alluded to by Jackie Allen you could offset the cost through your ELCAS credits. The benefits of cohort learning is that you can pick-up snippetts/experience of those operating in those environments that you are unfamiliar with. Happy to discuss further, please be mindful I am unable to change my contact email address on here, it is steve.m@busecnova.co.uk

In reply to Steve:

Thanks Steve. There are a few CIPD study centres that are registered for the ELCAS scheme. You can find them here and along with the information on eligibility.

www.enhancedlearningcredits.com/.../provider-search

Recommend checking provider websites for pricing as the system is tricky to update.

I work with a few students on this programme so am happy to chat through the process if helpful.