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Backing up experience with a professional qualification - where to start?

Hi all

I work for an SME with 20 employees.   I've been with the company since it started 10 years ago and there were only 3 of us -  there was minimal HR required at that time as it was just the 2 founders plus me and I had worked with them previously.  As the company grew and took on more people I picked up the HR element.  I've always been proactive in terms of trying to keep up to date with HR practice/employment law - attended HR briefings/signed up to access resources such as CIPD/ACAS etc and am really motivated to develop a culture whereby we develop HR systems/processes which are proactive rather than reactive.  I've  seen / experienced other companies who often view HR as being something which is just a troubleshooting function to deal with a problem when it arises rather than trying to prevent the problems happening in the first place!  I've recently been awarded a promotion to Director and have discussed with my boss about underpinning the promotion with a formal HR qualification.  However, I'm not really sure what would be the most appropriate qualification to do so I'd really appreciate some advice/guidance on this - given the size of the company it's very much an HR generalist role.

I look forward to hearing any thoughts on the best starting point.

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  • Hi Nicola, good luck with your plans and research. While you wait for any thoughts from the community you may like to look at the careers section on this website, link is: https://www.cipd.co.uk/careers
  • Hi Nicola - my background in terms of company size, and ‘picking up’ the HR function. I’ve just received my certificate for the Level 5 Diploma that I completed via an apprenticeship at our local college. I would recommend this as a good route to a practical, on-the-job qualification. It took about 18 months start to finish.
  • Using the CIPD professional map to map out your skills, gaps and areas of interest (for you and the business) is a great start. It sounds like you have invested in your CPD so you are not going at this from a standing start so I would check out the formal training options on offer and then match the content, time commitment, location, method of learning and costs against your criteria. If you don't have criteria it might be worth starting there. I did my CIPD qualification a long time ago and there are more routes now so a call to them might help.

    I did a MA in HRM because I was paying for it myself, needed something outside of work so did evenings and also could not imagine doing it via distanced learning as I like the discipline of fixed study times. I am a different kind of learner now but it started with a bit of an assessment and a checklist and then I also asked around for courses with good reputations. Hope that helps and good luck. I don't regret the investment and still have very good friends who I met on my course too.
  • Steve Bridger

    | 0 Posts

    Community Manager

    22 Oct, 2020 14:29

    Hi Nicola - here's the link to the Profession Map...

    peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map