Training/future progression. I just don't know!

[BrightonRox]

Hi, I'm in my 40s and for the past 10 years I have worked for the same organisation. My job history has mostly been in Admin. I have no formal qualifications except a few old Pitman courses from many, many years ago. I left school with pitiful exam results and went into lower admin jobs, call centre etc. In my late 20s I did go back to college and completed a course which was equivalent to A levels, but this was in a subject far removed from admin.

For years I've thought about doing a degree through the OU and deliberate between studying something for total career progression or for my own interest. Also, over the years working for my organisation I've risen up the ranks from just being Admin to an Executive position. The Chief Exec has indicated when they retire, they would only trust one person to take over - me.

This isn't a corporate organisation, but within the 3rd sector and not a lot of funding has gone into training etc over the years. I have basically learned on the job! I'd like to get some formal qualifications under my belt, but really have no idea where to start. Doing a degree in Business just leaves my blood running cold. I don't mind funding courses myself, but would approach my organisation for flexible time to study which I am confident they would support.

Does anyone have suggestions of courses I could look into? I do a lot of managing projects, organising events and working closely with Local Authorities due to the nature of the work we undertake. I feel like and absolute fraud at times, because I imagine the people I meet in other organisations at my level, are fully qualified.

an not and* sorry for typos.

It sounds as though you are suffering a bit from 'imposter syndrome' - something very very common in senior leaders, especially women, I think you'd be surprised at how many of the apparently confident, competent people you meet suffer from it! It sounds as though your real life experience is massively valuable, far more so at this stage than any classroom qualifications.

That being said I am a big fan of lifelong study and self-improvement so sounds like some formal education could enhance your career and get you ready for the next step up the ladder. It sounds like you have a great relationship with your chief exec, could you steel yourself for a really honest conversation with them about what they see as your 'gaps' and how you could improve and put yourself in a good position for the next step? A informed but neutral perspective could be really useful. You could potentially do a project management qualification like Prince2, although TBH I think these things can be a bit of a waste of time for people who are already really experienced in the 'real world' of delivering projects - they are often very geared up towards large corporate environments where there will be big teams of people managing large scale projects rather than the kind of day to day activity you get stuck into in a small cash strapped public sector organisation or charity. Or maybe some practical 'management' courses on how to run an organisation like finance, people management, charity governance, information governance etc. might be more useful if your next step is CE? Take a look at ILM courses as a starting point?

Or failing that, studying for a degree though the OU simply for the interest and the joy in your subject is a wonderful thing to do, it can really enhance and change how you feel about yourself and your life, and give you an interest outside of work which after all is important in itself. Plus you can get a real self-esteem boost/validation from doing well in a high level academic qualification, which sounds like it might be just as valuable to you as the actual knowledge/skills gain? What would you choose to study if it was purely about what you are interested in - a language, an arts subject, literature, a social science? If you can afford it and think work would give you the flexibility even if the subject isn't directly related then why not seize the opportunity?