Hi Kim and welcome. I know someone who is in a very similar situation and they have opted to go for level 5. (which I am also studying) I get the impression that they have a lot more to learn and a little more work to put in, compared to myself, who has 3 years experience in HR and I've completed level 3. it may be worth researching the modules for each level and assessing your own academic ability. as either may suit your current experience. I hope that helps. Gemma

Hi Kim,

I thought I'd share my experience because I also started a career in agency recruitment and then eventually found my way into HR. Be prepared it may not be as simple as just doing your Level 3 or 5 and then falling into a HR job. I had to do some side/backwards steps in terms of job title/job description/salary/authority but nevertheless it was worth it.

I did agency recruitment for around 4 years and although I was good at the sales aspect, I knew I wanted to go into HR eventually. I did my sales stuff to keep the managers happy but always asked to help in developing the culture of the business and other bits of HR-ish stuff. I then went into internal recruitment as a side step and gained a load of experience in relationship management with line managers/stake holders. I then dropped down again into a HR Shared Services Admin and I'm now progressing upwards.

I'm rambling a bit but I would go straight to the Level 5 - I found the level 3 too easy (the modules sounded harder than they were) and I don't feel it added any value or that it gave me any greater understanding of basic HR. Self-funding my Level 3 was what caught my old managers eye and made my application stand out from the rest of the administrators (a lot from agency recruitment) stand out, though.

Good luck :)

In reply to Rachael:

Thanks for sharing your experience, Rachael.