Smiles
All Round at the Cullen Scholefield
Awards Event
An awards ceremony for some of our successful was held before Christmas at the Oxford Circus Holiday Inn, London. Afterwards over 50 candidates joined the Cullen Scholefield team for lunch in the hotel restaurant. Some, we learn, adjourned for shopping, bravely submitting themselves to the angst and crowds that go with the territory at this time of the year.
How did everyone view the experience of developing their careers with Cullen Scholefield? How will qualifying help in the organisations they work for? The decidedly mellow feelings among most candidates, were (we thought) not entirely attributable to luncheon wine and Christmas cheer!
PAC Candidates Storm the Ramparts!
As a group our PAC candidates were superb! Three out of five went straight into Chartered Fellow status, an award which is not readily given. Of the remaining two we have now learned that Claire Harris has submitted a successful Upgrade to Fellowship application, and the final candidate, William Hague was simply too young to qualify for Fellowship yet.
Kerstin Bloch Chartered Fellow CIPD
American Express is a diversified global financial services company based in the United States. Kerstin is a programme manager based in the Finance Division of the company. She is responsible for recruitment of MBA graduates and professional development in the company world-wide.
‘It took me about a year to complete the process of qualifying through PAC. I felt I really needed to have a professional qualification that reflected and built on the HR experience I have.
American Express strongly supports the idea of professional development and my role is to foster this cause, so it was important for me to practise what I preach. I am happy to have been supported actively in the PAC process by my employer.
I feel Chartered Fellowship of the CIPD is highly valued, though I doubt it will be recognised so readily in the United States. Nonetheless, it will probably help me in my career.’
Clare Harris – Chartered Fellow CIPD
With over three thousand people in 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States, Lovells is one of the largest business law firms in the world. Clare Harris is Graduate Recruitment Manager, responsible for recruiting young lawyers in the UK and has HR responsibility for the 140 trainees on training contracts in this country. Clare was awarded Chartered MCIPD status and has submitted her Upgrade application form for Fellowship.. (We are keeping our fingers crossed Clare!)
‘I have had ten years in HR but I came into this through a non-traditional route with a background in advertising and marketing. In the 1980s I worked for an organisation helping firms market graduate careers. Then I turned to HR and came to work for Lovells.
I decided that the time had come when I had better consolidate my HR experience and follow the PAC route to qualification.
One thing it has taught me is how much I have dealt with over the years. It is gratifying to know that this is recognised by the CIPD. I have been impressed at how the business agenda links with people. If we don’t get our people policies right organisations will struggle and find themselves in crisis.’
Amanda Humphrey Chartered Fellow CIPD
Amanda is Director of Resources and Company Secretary of the Roffey Park Institute, an internationally recognised trust engaged in training and research into human aspects of management.
Before joining Roffey Park, Amanda was Business Planning Manager at the Sussex Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Prior to this, she spent five years as Group Operations and Personnel Director for Fruitful Fundraising, an organisation assisting charities in fundraising campaigns.
‘I followed the PAC route because I wanted the qualification and I thought it would help in my career. I found the research project particularly interesting. I chose the title, “Introduction to Diversity Policies within Management Education Centres.”
The research involved contacting other management education providers and benchmarking practices against those in operation in Roffey Park. As we are looking at how we might become a more diverse organisation, it will be useful for us to know what our competitors are doing and be able to respond.
It will be highly relevant to the job I do and it is obvious that from
where I sit in Roffey Park, we will be well placed to take on board
some of the findings of my report.’
Judy Pearson – Chartered Fellow CIPD
When we spoke Judy was in her third week in a new job as Head of UK Human Resources for Save the Children. Her previous role was as HR Director for Quantum Homes. The organisation provided residential c are homes for older people and according to Judy, ‘Staffing issues are absolutely crucial to the success of the organisation’. Judy was a member of a four-person senior management team. The company runs 27 residential care homes and employs 1,800 staff.
‘Why did I want a CIPD qualification? I had eleven years in human resources, training and development jobs before coming to Quantum in 1999. I also had a Master’s Degree in Management and spent some time assessing and advising people against the national Investors in People standard. However, I felt that my qualifications had not been formalised and I wanted to put this right. Hence my decision to follow the PAC route.
‘I built a four-month career gap in between moving from my previous job to my new one and this helped me find the time to complete the work books and management report. The experience has been good for me. I think it provided the ideal amount of intervention. It was a spot on process to gain a qualification.’
William Hague Chartered Member CIPD
William is a Civil Servant at the Department of Work and Pensions, an organisation employing 120,000 staff. William is currently Head of Senior Civil Servants and Honours Team. He was brought in specifically to manage the transformation of HR services for Senior Civil Servants (SCS) within the Department.
‘As a fresh graduate entrant to the department I certainly didn't expect to move into HR, I started as a policy adviser on disability benefits policy and then moved on to do some work with the then secretary of state Alistair Darling. However I soon realised that I enjoyed the cut and thrust of recruitment, case management and pay and reward and moved permanently into this area.
Last year I felt that it was time to ensure my professional qualifications
matched the experience I had gained in my HR roles and therefore looked
to the PAC route to attain that.
I found the whole PAC experience extremely rewarding as it consolidated my current knowledge, helped me to build on that knowledge and the management report in particular gave me an opportunity to delve deeply into a relevant HR issue that I had been curious to analyse in the Department for a while. All in all extremely worthwhile!’
Certificate Candidates into Polished Trainers
Our Certificate in Training Practice (CTP) candidates reckoned they got value for money in terms of enhanced career prospects. In some cases, their new certificates were not even pulled out of their cardboard tubes before they had won promotion!
The Valuation Office Agency (which maintains business rating and council tax valuation lists for England and Wales) had three of its staff attending our award ceremony. Joanne Clegg, Lisa Tansey and Ian Bowden were all presented with Certificates in Training Practice. Peter Wotman, their line manager and Dave Lanning were there to help them celebrate.
‘I asked all training consultants employed by the agency to try to achieve the certificate,’ says Peter. ‘Joanne, Lisa and Ian took up the challenge. We adopted the policy because we could see the results the CTP brings. We see the confidence of trainers being enhanced and in my view they gain a lot from the workshops and practical sessions. It is important that trainers understand the theories behind learning, and the course delivers this too,’ he said.
‘Much of the work comprised practical assignments based on our work in monthly meetings,’ explained Lisa. ‘It was nice to have one another to feed back to, in between the hard practical graft.’
The course had its lighter moments too, as Lisa pointed out. ‘We enjoyed the quizzes and games and came to understand the reasoning behind them, how they contribute to the learning process and so on. Interestingly, as you sit in the training room as a candidate you do get a different angle, and begin to understand more about the classic methodologies for delivering training and learning,’ she said.
Helen Durie, an HR consultant for the Royal Bank of Scotland and fellow student on the same course, offered her perspective. ‘I decided to do the CTP course to benefit my career,’ she says. ‘Previously I didn’t like presenting, but now I find it much easier and am quite polished at it.’
As part of her research for the course, Helen had to go and speak to trainers and participants in the courses run by her employer. It was through this that she gained a promotion opportunity. ‘They asked me if I wanted to go and join them and I was seconded to the training department for a year. Now I am permanent. It led to a good uplift in my salary so it has been a good career move for me,’ she commented.
Developers Developed
The Department for International Development (DFID) is the UK Government department that manages Britain's aid to poor countries. It has 25 offices overseas and over 2,500 staff, almost half of whom work abroad. Two of DFID’s employees, Paula Mason and Elizabeth Moriba, were among successful candidates for Certificates in Personnel Practice (CPP).
Paula commented 'I was encouraged by my employer to do the course. It took two years, though I had a break of six months following the death of my mother. I managed to get going again and am pleased I finished it. The qualification will improve my career prospects. I have found it helps my self esteem and confidence.’
Paula is due to commence a
new post as Assistant to DFID’s Director of HR. ‘The CPP
was an important factor in me getting the job,’ she said.
Elizabeth Moriba works in DFID’s Department of Human Resources,
dealing with senior civil servants and majoring on diversity issues.
‘I already had an HND and I had studied personnel management modules
for this, but I thought refreshing myself and my knowledge was really
important,’ she stated. ‘I have found the Certificate
particularly relevant to diversity and employee relations issues. I
enjoyed the course and found it definitely worth doing.’
Elizabeth enjoyed the award presentations too. ‘It was a lovely
event. Full marks to Cullen Scholefield for setting it up!’ she
said.
