CIPD Student Stories Student Stories:
CIPD Student Stories: Steph Tommen | Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management

Steph has always worked in people-focused roles but after a department move, quickly found some gaps in her knowledge and was keen to fill them with a CIPD Level 7 course.

With a passion for people, I have always worked in team-focused roles. My career has taken me from customer success to the People team, and even counting my existing experience, I quickly realised that I didn’t have all the knowledge needed to be effective in my role.

I evaluated several providers and went for ICS Learn. They had excellent reviews and the course content seemed to fit exactly what I wanted. I liked the flexibility when it comes to payment as well, it is much easier to commit.

While I have done a lot of online learning through short courses, I never had the opportunity to take such a large-scale course. I’m particularly impressed by the platform and how things are laid out. The induction made it easy to understand how the system works, how to connect with my fellow students and more importantly where I can find help if needed.

Although I’m early on my learning journey, and the course content is clear and comprehensive. As I haven’t actually studied in a long time, I find the training plans, templates and other study resources particularly useful as they help me frame and organise myself.

The tutor for the course is lovely, and very responsive, both on the forum and via email. She helped clarify a few things that, at first sight, I found a bit daunting.

I’m part of a (still small) scale-up, yet our plan is to double in size by the end of this year, and again by the end of next year. I can see how learning with this course will help me support the business as we grow and create a great experience for all our team members.

I would recommend ICS Learn to anyone who is considering growing their career in a similar direction. I enjoy the fact that it mixes both theory and practical applications of learning, and that I can tailor my learning plan to what I want to achieve in my job.

If you've been promoted in your current role like Steph and looking to fill some of the gaps in your knowledge, enrol in one of our CIPD HR courses at Level, 3, 5 and 7 or speak to one of our advisors today!