Human Resources
04 April 2022 - 1 min read
Chloe wanted to find a flexible way to advance her career and jumped at the chance to study an online CIPD Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management with ICS Learn. Here's her story.
I’m about to start my first role in HR, having completed a Management Graduate Scheme with my current employer. I enroled on the Advanced Diploma for Strategic People Management in April 2021.
I’d wanted to start my CIPD for a while but had put it on hold when I found out I was pregnant, thinking that attending lectures at set times at a university would be too difficult to manage with a newborn (I hadn’t actually realised that there were other ways of studying for a CIPD qualification other than at a university).
Fast forward a few months to the start of my maternity leave when I come across an advert for ICS Learn offering the chance to study for a CIPD qualification flexibly around my new family commitments.
For me, both the fact that the course was remote and the fact that I could work through the material at my own pace and at any time of the day (or night!) were key.
I was slightly nervous about studying online, partly because I hadn’t heard of ICS Learn before that point, and partly because a lot of my friends and colleagues highlighted that they’d got a lot out of the class interaction side of their courses when they’d studied for their CIPDs in universities. So I was nervous about the idea of going it alone!
Thankfully this hasn’t been the case at all. A group of us who started the course around a similar time made a Whatsapp group together so we could discuss ideas, point each other to useful documents on the course page and ask questions about various assignments.
My tutor’s support has also been fantastic. She’s been quick to respond (always within a few hours, even on weekends when I have a deadline coming up!) and re-phrases her answers to my questions as many times as I need before the penny drops.
I’d recommend ICS Learn, particularly to those for whom, like me, the flexibility of deadlines, workload and schedules is important.
I’d also say that the course advisors who I spoke to before starting the course were fantastic at answering any questions I had, being upfront with all the information I was asking for, recommending a course that might be more suitable for me, and even holding a discount for me when there was a delay in arranging my funding.
Inspired by Chloe's story? Develop your HR career with a professional CIPD qualification that you can complete from home. Download your free CIPD course guide.