Changing Industries - PMQ/Agile/Prince2

[PositiveEnergy87]

Hi,
I came across this group when looking for the above question and found some good responses. I was hoping for some more specific advice based on my circumstances and what course may be the most appropriate for me.

I've worked in an R&D tax consultancy for nearly 8 years, quickly progressing to an operations role and overseeing all aspects of the business, under two directors; we totalled about 40 employees at its peak. We worked to facilitate claims across all different industries and I have knowledge off the types of projects they carried out but I was not hands on with doing the work.
The company has since liquidated and I am trying to find suitable employment in another industry. I realise I will probably have to take a step back in salary and position to do so and have been advised by recruiters and employment specialists that a qualification may be beneficial. I have qualifications up to A-Levels in Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Computing.

Through DWP, I have been accepted onto a funded Agile course which starts on the 12th May. However, my concern is whether this would be the best option if I have no coding experience (I am very technical and good with computers in general). Money is fairly tight at the minute and I can only have one funded course. Ultimately, once employed, I would like to pursue the other options as well.
I would ideally be looking to get into another industry in a management role of some type and work upwards again.
Based on the above does anyone have any thoughts on what the best starting point may be?

I can’t talk to what is most in demand but APM PMQ was actually the most useful PM qual I did. You don’t need any coding knowledge for Agile. Do you have any idea what industry you’d be interested in OP as that might narrow it down? Have you considered seeing if there are any consultancies hiring people to service adjacent industries/capabilities to what you did in house?

Thanks for the response; that's good to know about APM PMQ as I was concerned it might be narrow my future opportunities as well.

Industry wise, I am quite open to most areas. I'm working with a couple of recruiters and checking through job boards and aiming for jobs where I know I could perform all of the duties and where the ethos of the company feels right. (When it shows the company name) I have applied for some areas of logistics and manufacturing where it says experience is desirable rather than a necessity. I have also applied to not-for-profit or more community related companies.

I hadn't considered the angle of looking at consultancies directly, but I do like that idea and will put a plan together to target some tomorrow. I had attended on online entrepenurial session the other week, and I had thought about the angle I could bring in with fresh eyes looking at smaller and medium sized businesses.

I know nothing about R&D tax but I work in big 4 consulting and there’s generally a consulting angle on EVERYTHING. It might be worth looking at some of the experience hire listings - or their capabilities on their websites - and seeing if anything resonates. You can often throw in a speculative CV too. From there if you think there is anything that you could bring value to you can google e.g. government logistics consulting SMEs and also dig out the smaller ones.

Have you considered asking copilot (uploading your CV) or chatGPT what industries and roles you should consider?