PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
Diary of a student…
Christine Gregory BA (Hons)
How important is this degree in relation to your future career? It allows me to apply for jobs in the future with confidence, and hopefully it will give me an edge over the competition. When I come to apply for payroll roles I have the technical knowledge from the CIPP Foundation Degree and the wider business knowledge from the BA (Hons). I can see where payroll fits in within a business and how important it is, for staff and management, that the department is as accurate and efficient as possible. How do you cope with the work life balance and include your study? It wasn’t easy to study around my three children; usually at night time or on weekends. I didn’t have a job at the time so regarded studying as my work, and allocated time for this. It wasn’t all smooth sailing – I have pulled the odd all-nighter. I had to just keep my goals in mind and carry on, knowing that it will greatly benefit me and my children in the future. For someone who is thinking about studying for a CIPP qualification what would your advice be to them? Don’t be put off by the time it takes to complete the course. Once you start and take small steps, one module at a time, it flies by; and you study around commitments. I really enjoyed the qualification and each module is different and interesting. It opened my eyes towards the workplace: how different leadership styles can affect performance and staff attitude, how important effective communication is; and budgeting and project management. Both qualifications give you technical knowledge and a rounded view of how the sector plays a part in business; and pride in being able to put them on your CV. n
Can you give us a brief background into your life? I left high school in 2002 and didn’t really know what I wanted to do for a career. The payroll/finance sector was never mentioned in career guidance at school; instead, it was focused around vocational roles such as tourism or beauty therapy or gearing pupils up to study A Levels and then onto university. Towards the end of college studying leisure and tourism, I got a part-time office job and it’s there that my love for figures and processes grew. I left college, went on to study accounting and secured a job as a sales ledger clerk. The company I worked for was small, with no room for progression; so I applied for a job as an assistant payroll officer in the National Health Service (NHS) with further prospects and training. I was surrounded by knowledgeable colleagues and with their guidance, patience and training I was promoted to payroll officer in eighteen months. I love how payroll has a start and beginning every month and a deadline to work towards with a few technical adjustments to boot. I enjoyed every minute of my four years but unfortunately the NHS made big budget cuts and I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave. I knew payroll was my calling so I frantically searched for another job in the sector. I managed to get one at The Co- Operative bank headquarters as a pension payroll advisor when my first child was five months old. As time went on he became poorly and it was discovered that he had really bad allergies and eczema so when
he was ten months old I gave up work to look after him. During my time at the bank I saw a difference between the public and private sectors. The private sector expects all their employees to have higher qualifications to back up their knowledge: many of my colleagues were studying towards the CIPP Foundation Degree in Payroll Management. On my last working day in the Co-Op I enrolled on the CIPP Foundation Degree. I knew that I would be giving up work for a few years to look after my little boy, so needed somehow to keep up with the competition and have something for when I returned to the workplace. Why did you choose to study the BA (Hons) in Applied Business and Management? very well structured and professional with great tutors. The final year unit ‘personal effectiveness and professional development’, which made me think about my career, required producing a five-year career/life plan and describing ways in which we would keep our continuous development current. I realised that not being in the workplace for a few years – by now I had two children under two years old – meant I needed to carry on studying to keep up to date. So I enrolled on the BA (Hons) in Applied Business and Management straight after the Foundation Degree. I thoroughly enjoyed The CIPP Foundation Degree in Payroll Management course, which was
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | May 2017 | Issue 30 10
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