ICS Real Stories: Jae | Online CIPD Level 5 Review

CIPD student Jae Bennett reviews her journey to finding her dream job just 7 weeks after starting our CIPD Level 5 Certificate.

A career in HR is something that I have always wanted to pursue and something that I have been interested in since leaving Sixth Form in 2013.

After leaving Sixth Form, I had planned to complete the CIPD Level 3 but after starting my apprenticeship in recruitment (my first “real” job!) life ran away with me and I didn’t have the time or funds to put myself through the course.

Fast forward four years and I was working as an Executive Assistant with the same company, but my role allowed me to also support our HR Business Partner with a lot of administration and projects.

The experience I gained in this role and other roles in the last four years has been invaluable. It enabled me to gain the knowledge I needed to push myself forward and start researching the CIPD qualifications available, in the hope that this would be the start of a brand new career in HR for me.

I was initially interested in attending evening classes at a local college to study the CIPD Level 5. My thoughts were that if I had to attend the course, it would ensure I did the work.

I gave this a lot of thought and realised that if I really wanted to do the course and complete it to the best of my ability, I would complete it no matter where I did it.

I decided that I may not want to spend 3 solid hours once a week working on it.

The college course not only limited me to the times of the week, but also limited me to the units that I could complete.

I was keen to look at Employment Law within the qualification and the college course did not offer me this.

I did a lot of research on various distance learning providers, and ICS Learn came out on top every time.

From the interaction I had before I committed to the course, to the glowing reviews from previous and current learners, I knew ICS Learn was for me!

I enrolled and was immediately drawn in to the flexibility that ICS Learn provided me with. I often worked long hours so it was important that I could pick up and put down the course when I needed to.

What I loved most about ICS Learn was that it made me excited to get started with my course. It gave me great hints and tips for completing the qualification.

I now study one hour per day and I try to stick to that no matter what I have going on. If I don’t, I just make the time up on a different day.

The online classrooms are great, they are a perfect way to get an insight into the assessment before you complete it and it’s great to understand other learner’s opinions of the course.

I have been studying with ICS Learn for 7 weeks now and I am just about to submit my first assessment.

I have recently secured a brand new role as an HR Assistant with a global company that I am due to start in a few weeks.

I believe that having the CIPD qualification on my CV was something that set me apart from other applicants.

I have landed my dream job and I’ve only just started my course.

Knowing that I am going to learn so much more is such a driver for me to keep going with the course, and it is so interesting that I WANT to keep going!

I can’t wait to write my next blog post in 10 months when I have hopefully completed my course. Wish me luck!

Inspired by Jae's story? Find out more about studying CIPD 100% online.