CIPD level 3 or 5 and when to do it?

[Jerryyyyyy]

Can anyone help me with this please?

I've been teaching for 11 years and looking to leave teaching. I'm really interested in a career I'm HR.

I've read that as I have a degree, the level 5 CIPD course would be the right one for me rather than level 3. Does this sound right? Would I go for assisstant/administrator roles with a level 5?

To get into HR do I need to fund and start this course myself in order for my applications to be considered or should I wait for a potential employer to pay for it?

Thanks so much - any info much appreciated!

Have you considered L&D rather than HR? As a teacher you have a lot of transferable skills!

What's L and D?

Learning and Development - you can get CIPD qualifications in that professionalism as well. HR and L&D are very close in the corporate world, with some overlapping responsibility but usually quite a different skillset.

I did level 3 and it was tough enough fitting it in around work. There were at least 6 modules and each one had at least two assignments. Looking back on it though, I probably should have done the one that would have set me on the way to a degree. Because quite often the hardest part of any assignment is sitting down to do it

Ahh interesting ok. I'll look into this too. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks @xxJ0y . Can I ask what you mean by the one that would have set you on the way to a degree? I currently work pt as a class teacher so sort of thinking if I start cipd now I'll have a couple of days a week for studying.

You don't need cipd to get into hr. I've not even got a degree and have progressed my career just fine!

I did level 3 as I needed a CIPD qualification to work in HR in the UK, even though I had an associate degree and a few years experience in HR already.

Level 3 was easy for me, basically it was stuff I did already, but I had others in my class who had no prior HR knowledge/experience and they found it useful.

Personally if I were you, and I was committed to doing further study I'd do level 5.

Thanks @PinkPrettyAndPointed So if I got a level 5 qualification what level of job should I apply to with that?

Ahh this is interesting. Quite a few of the entry level hr assistant and hr administrator job adverts I've seen have said either obtained or working towards cipd level 3.

I worked in HR for about 4 years and then went straight to Level 7 which was cheaper and quicker. Skip 3, get some experience and then consider going straight to 7

HR advisor here, been in the field for 6 years and worked my way up from HR administrator even with a HR degree.

There is a lot of 'depends on' factors to answer your question:

• depends on whether you are looking for generalist or specialist, HR admin/assistant would be a generalist role working on all aspects of HR. L&D that a PP mentioned would be a specialist role only working in that area of HR. Different sized businesses will structure their HR differently.

• as you have a degree a level 5 CIPD would translate to the right level of study for you. However, even with the level 5 it's likely you would start at entry level HR admin/assistant role. The field although recognises formal qualifications requires real world experience which just takes time to gain. Even with my HR degree I still started at HR admin level and took years to work up to HR advisor level.

sounds like you'd have some transferable skills though, and it's definitely a field that if you have the interest and passion for it you will succeed. 😊

Oh also, my degree was level 5 accredited (so I got my degree and level 5 in one go) but haven't gone on to do my level 7. So you can still progress up to a certain level (if you wanted to) without having to do a level 7.

If you go onto the CIPD website there are various career paths, HR & L&D. I'm in L&D (learning & development) and imagine there are lots of transferable skills with classroom teaching. I completed a level 5 and found it about as taxing as my degree but was working in role when I studied.

You'll start at admin level, regardless of your qualifications. As @Sagittarius25 said, you need to work your way up in HR. Time and experience.

I'm now a specialist having spent time as admin, advisor, talent acquisition over the last 15 years.

Ah! This is so helpful, thanks so much.

So level 5 CIPD and look for Assisstant or Admin roles with aim to progress after a few years?

Thanks everyone for all your quick replies. Been so helpful. Had an awful day in school and so makes this feel more urgent to figure out!

Yes so even if the job ad didn't say to have level 5, or if it just said level 3, having a level 5 would only put you at an advantage over other candidates who didn't have it. For one it shows are serious and committed about your career choice.

And then yes when in the role; having a level 5 means you aren't limited to progress up if you want to, along with having gained experience.

But as others have said, it's not entirely impossible to get into HR without CIPD.

I don’t care whether candidates are CIPD qualified as it tells me nothing about your ability to do the job. Having a level 5 qualification but no experience won’t make you able to step into an HR manager job as opposed to admin.

what interests you in a career in HR?

I have level 7, and have worked in HR coming up to 15 years.

If you’re on Facebook take a look at ‘hr ninjas’ group … it’s insanely active and will give you a feel for the profession. There is also a thread on here about jobs that sound good but aren’t in reality and vice versa (HR comes up a few times!). It may be worth taking a look at this too - www.cipd.co.uk/careers/career-options#gref or the ‘disrupt hr’ website.

Re level of qualification. You don’t need CIPD to work in HR but it can be a tick box for recruiters. Maybe look at jobs, pick a few that sound exciting (to you) and then look at what they’re asking for. It is a diverse profession - you can work in so many different sectors and do so much in HR itself…. As others have said learning and development could connect nicely with what you do now but equally you may want something completely different. I used to manage someone who really wanted to be a HR advisor to begin with (it was her first hr job), but ended up really loving HR systems so ended up moving on to do that (someone else I managed… became a yoga teacher!)

Honestly I'm still finding out about HR. A friend is head of HR for a law firm so we're meeting for a chat about it in a couple of weeks. From what I do know, I like that there is progression, its working with people with is important to me. I've read that there are elements of conflict resolution which I can imagine would become frustrating but equally (and maybe I'm naive) I think this would draw on some of my skills from teaching. I like that there seems to be some variety and it is a role that can be transferred to different organisations so potential to work with different types of people too. The pay is similar to teaching. I dint know what the hours are like but I imagine office hours and I have to be honest this is also appealing. I have 2 young children and I've jad to go part time with teaching, which has halved my salary but I couldn't cope working full time - it was every night till 9/10pm plus half a day or more every weekend. Its doesn't spill into family time now but I work so much on my days off.

I’m doing on demand CIPD level 5 and it is really quite a commitment on top of a day job. Enjoyable but rigorously assessed. The level of referencing, style, word counts is similar to degree level study, I would say.

Yes this, it's definitely so diverse in itself. I've always worked generalist side, so went HR admin > HR assistant > HR advisor and now I work in a company where half my job is HR advisor for UK and half managing the HR systems globally, so even within roles themselves you can have blends of things.

My dd has recently finished a masters with CIPD level 5. It was "full time" for a year at the same time as working PT in an admin role. She had previously done a BA hons in a business subject and after a year of working in that field decided she wanted to go down the HR route. She was lucky to secure the admin role and then started the masters. It was done online (not because of covid!). And could have been done PT over a longer period of time. Within a few months of graduating she secured a better job that she now loves. Having or working towards CIPD was essential

Lol - You would entirely be able to transfer your skills in conflict resolution with children to adults!! Honestly, a lot of people don’t really grow up…..they just get legal rights and some people become more advanced and creative in how they cause conflict!

A lot of HR is common sense and building relationships…. Wouldn’t necessarily say go into hr if you ‘like people’. But if you find people interesting, it’s interesting …… I’m very very very nosy, that helps. Common sense plus curiosity, and the ability to smile your way through some interesting (sometimes gross) situation is useful.

I'm moving over to L&D senior admin support in Higher Ed after doing a bit of training/support/development in my last role (Uni Research). I also have experience with VLEs.

Have you considered working for your local Uni? Not in admin roles but supporting learners on teaching pathways ? Lecturing ect?

I'm not sure if CIPD will be right for me as I'm not interested in generalist HR, even the L&D diplomas have that but then again I'd love to work in something like EDI support in the future.

We'll see ...I start Monday! Once I drilled down to exactly where to change my career focus , and I knew what elements I could concentrate on proving I had the skills for, it became easier to find relevant job roles.