This information gives some indication of the work involved in the
field of personnel and development.
What will a career in personnel and development involve?
You'll be involved in all aspects of people management, which
includes advising others to develop and plan organisational needs.
You may prefer to be a generalist and do a bit of everything, or
you may want to specialise in areas like recruitment, training or
employment law.
Personnel practice by Malcolm Martin and Tricia Jackson
(IPD, ISBN: 08529 26782) provides a good, general introduction to
personnel work, Also, the Skills and Training Handbook
formerly The Training and Enterprise Directory (Kogan
page) provides comprehensive information on training in the UK.
The Gower Handbook of Training and Development by Anthony
Landale (ISBN:0566 081229) is another useful publication.
Qualifications
It is possible to start a career in personnel and development
before being qualified, but it is a highly competitive area.
Employers often expect a CIPD qualification for middle and senior
management posts. You may wish to take one of our qualifications
after graduation or at a later date.
Employers also want candidates to be flexible and have
transferable skills. You can gain relevant work experience during
vacations. This can provide evidence of good time management skills
and the ability to get on with a wide range of people. Work
placements on sandwich courses and unpaid work shadowing can also
provide you with the opportunity to develop skills, including
- office administration
- organisation
- IT skills.
Holding office in the Students' Union or in a society where
experience of teamwork, attending meetings and learning the
concepts of budgetary control can all be used to your advantage
when applying for jobs.
You must expect to start at a junior level and mustn't expect to
earn a lot of money at first. Salaries will increase with the level
of responsibility and seniority of the job. There may be more
employment opportunities available in other fields, so use this to
your advantage. Once you have gained some work experience and
transferable skills it will be easier for you to move into people
management and development.
Finding a job
Our magazine, People Management (ISSN:13589297), comes
out every fortnight. It is the only magazine that reaches all those
professionally qualified in the field of personnel and development.
It contains interesting articles and has a very good jobs section.
A lot of the jobs advertised are at middle and senior levels of
responsibility, but looking through them will give you a good
indication of current jobs and salaries, what employers are looking
for, and what career progression is available.
Other vacancies will be advertised in the local and national
press, local 'free' press and job centres.
Further information
The Personnel Manager's Yearbook (AP Information
Services) provides detailed information about companies with a
personnel department. Using the contact names listed you could
write to organisations in your locality to see if they have any
vacancies, even at a junior level.
In your last year at university/college, you could consult a
number of other directories. The Prospects Directory
(CSU), GO (Graduate Opportunities) and GET
(Graduate Employment and Training) advertise on behalf of companies
offering training and sponsorship schemes to new graduates.
Related FAQs