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Level 5 or Level 7 Qualification?

Hi All,

I am looking to progress my career within HR through a CIPD Qualification. 

As a recent undergraduate with 1st class BA Hons Business Management with HRM and new to a HR Assistant role I am in the process of deciding the best CIPD qualification route.

Although, my degree covered various aspect to HRM the overall BA Hons did not account to levels 3 or 5 CIPD qualification. However, as the level 7 qualification is equivalent to the postgraduate standard and level 5 undergraduate I am unsure to the best path considering my experience.

I would like to know whether the Level 7 would be extremely challenging for me as the modules are aimed specifically for Management Professionals? 

Would it be beneficial to begin with the Level 5 Certificate or Diploma as I am at the early stages of my career and then progress once becoming a member of the CIPD by successfullycompleting level 5 qualifications?

Many Thanks!

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  • Welcome to the communities Leah. If you do a search you will see this question comes up relatively often so you can get sone good insight from previous answers.

    My view is you are really asking two questions...


    1) academically which one can I cope with. I would have thought with your background you could certainly do a L7 and have every chance of successfully completing it. Whilst some of it will be more theoretical for you given your level you fmshoukd be able to pass and tick ️ the box.

    2) practically which one will give you most long term benefit for your job. For that I would say the more practical L5 would ever beneficial. It will fill in gaps in your knowledge and also enable you to network and learn from other people at similar levels to you.

    For me learning is best hen it’s most relevant to what you need it for. So I personally would recommend not jumping L5 but using it to build on and consolidate your knowledge.

    Then when you arecat an appropriate level do a level 7 or masters qualification.
  • In reply to Keith:

    Hi Keith,

    Thank you for your response.

    Having looked through previous discussions and weighing up my options, I am steering more towards completing the Level 5 diploma through Avado.

    Before I go ahead and part with £3K in February to fund my qualification, I would like to open the floor to any feedback or advice from those that have studied the Level 5 Diploma with Avado recently?

    Many Thanks
  • I studied Business Management and knew that I ultimately wanted to reach level 7, so I went straight to it. It is heavily weighted towards profession too, I had worked in HR for 3+ years but on reflection I was working as an Administrator so most of my professional knowledge was observed rather than practiced.

    Academically it appears you will cope (1st class), but I would suggest to either start on level 5 or wait until you have more experience before starting level 7 - it will be beneficial to you in the long term if you can put your learning into practice.
  • Hi
    Academically, you will cope with the Level 7.
    However, personally, I liked going through the different cipd levels because the content and modules are different, so I felt I got a good rounded knowledge by working my way up through the modules. It's really personal choice though, and you would cope with level 7.