Professional qualifications 5 May 2022 at 11:55AM in Employment, jobseeking & training 11 replies 334 views

El_Rey

I am currently stuck in something of a career rut and would like to undertake a career change. Unfortunately I'm not sure what I would really like to do for a living.

I know the PRINCE2 course is short and I may be able to get it funded by my current employer as it is relevant to my role.

Are there any other professional qualifications that can be attained after a short course? I don't have a degree so realise that may close off my immediate entry to some courses. 

400ixl

What career are you pursuing?

If a project manager role in the tech industry for example then agile methodologies and scrum master qualifications will hold far more weight than Prince2 these days.

El_Rey

400ixl said:

What career are you pursuing?

I'm not entirely sure at the moment. Is PRINCE2 more recognised within the public sector?

400ixl

Depends what sort of projects, Prince2 came out of the Stationary Office many years ago and is still the main methodology used in Public Sector. So if you are delivering project such as estates management, business change etc then Prince2 is sought after.

However, if delivering projects which are deploying technology the hot skills are more in Agile methodologies with product owner and scrum manager skills.

Penguin_

El_Rey said:

I am currently stuck in something of a career rut and would like to undertake a career change. Unfortunately I'm not sure what I would really like to do for a living.

I know the PRINCE2 course is short and I may be able to get it funded by my current employer as it is relevant to my role.

Are there any other professional qualifications that can be attained after a short course? I don't have a degree so realise that may close off my immediate entry to some courses. 

Just be wary you may be asked to repay any training costs if you leave within a certain timeframe of completing the course.

Jillanddy

PRINCE2 may be short. That doesn't mean it is easy to obtain. Don't confuse the two. Also, to be utterly honest, if you don't have experience to sell, then PRINCE2 won't sell you to many employers. Having a qualification in French won't get you a translators job. It's the same principle. We employ a fair few (mainly senior managers) PRINCE2 qualified people (of which I am one), and there is no way, if the qualification is required, we would appoint without an awful lot of experience too. For more junior staff we have inhouse project / programme management and apprenticeships at varying levels - and the pay, whilst not terrible, reflects the evolving experience of staff. We would only fund PRINCE2 or other such qualifications in rare circumstances. 

Getting a (very expensive) qualification without any idea of what you want to do is not sensible. Decide what you want to do them construct what bricks are missing in your qualifications and skills - then decide what courses you may need to do. 

Edit: - Just to add, I have just glanced through your posting history, and trying to be as constructive as possible here, but you have been posting questions like this since at least 2018. If continuing to try to chase qualifications for a career move that you haven't yet found isn't working after 4 or more years at this, then you absolutely need to approach this differently. Qualifications won't do you any good on their own.

Two other points - I see you work for the NHS. So @Penguins_ warning is very well placed. If, and it is a big if, the NHS was willing to fund a PRINCE2 for an office manager then there would be repayments and strings attached to the cost. No doubt at all. 

Secondly, sorry, but an Office Manager (assuming that is what you still are - your post suggests that is the case) does not need PRINCE2. I don't wish to denigrate what office managers do. The role is important, and a good office manager makes life simple for everyone. But PRINCE2 type projects are a stratosphere away from office management. To be blunt, managing a large number of project and programme managers, I would consider you without PRINCE2 for entry level project management, but nothing higher. Possessing PRINCE2 wouldn't get you anything different - without an awful lot of experience you would still be entry level. You might be lucky elsewhere in the public sector, but I very much doubt it. It's the experience that is useful, and the qualification is icing on the cake (or only necessary for senior managers designated on certain types of contracts).

The NHS is a huge employer of many different fields - what have you done to look at what opportunities it might offer to move into a different area or field? Given you would retain pension rights etc., that would seem to be at least one obvious line of enquiry.

El_Rey

Jillanddy said:

PRINCE2 may be short. That doesn't mean it is easy to obtain. Don't confuse the two. Also, to be utterly honest, if you don't have experience to sell, then PRINCE2 won't sell you to many employers. Having a qualification in French won't get you a translators job. It's the same principle. We employ a fair few (mainly senior managers) PRINCE2 qualified people (of which I am one), and there is no way, if the qualification is required, we would appoint without an awful lot of experience too. For more junior staff we have inhouse project / programme management and apprenticeships at varying levels - and the pay, whilst not terrible, reflects the evolving experience of staff. We would only fund PRINCE2 or other such qualifications in rare circumstances. 

Getting a (very expensive) qualification without any idea of what you want to do is not sensible. Decide what you want to do them construct what bricks are missing in your qualifications and skills - then decide what courses you may need to do. 

Edit: - Just to add, I have just glanced through your posting history, and trying to be as constructive as possible here, but you have been posting questions like this since at least 2018. If continuing to try to chase qualifications for a career move that you haven't yet found isn't working after 4 or more years at this, then you absolutely need to approach this differently. Qualifications won't do you any good on their own.

Two other points - I see you work for the NHS. So @Penguins_ warning is very well placed. If, and it is a big if, the NHS was willing to fund a PRINCE2 for an office manager then there would be repayments and strings attached to the cost. No doubt at all. 

Secondly, sorry, but an Office Manager (assuming that is what you still are - your post suggests that is the case) does not need PRINCE2. I don't wish to denigrate what office managers do. The role is important, and a good office manager makes life simple for everyone. But PRINCE2 type projects are a stratosphere away from office management. To be blunt, managing a large number of project and programme managers, I would consider you without PRINCE2 for entry level project management, but nothing higher. Possessing PRINCE2 wouldn't get you anything different - without an awful lot of experience you would still be entry level. You might be lucky elsewhere in the public sector, but I very much doubt it. It's the experience that is useful, and the qualification is icing on the cake (or only necessary for senior managers designated on certain types of contracts).

The NHS is a huge employer of many different fields - what have you done to look at what opportunities it might offer to move into a different area or field? Given you would retain pension rights etc., that would seem to be at least one obvious line of enquiry.

Thanks for your advice. My current role does involve some project management around the replacement of medical equipment across the trust, which is why I think my employer would be willing to pay for me to do a PRINCE2 course.

Moving into another field within the NHS is difficult without relevant experience of that area. The majority of vacancies are advertised externally so attract candidates with the necessary qualifications, skills and experience. At the moment I feel restricted to only roles of a similar banding and with similar duties to what I an currently doing. 

Jillanddy

El_Rey said:

Jillanddy said:

PRINCE2 may be short. That doesn't mean it is easy to obtain. Don't confuse the two. Also, to be utterly honest, if you don't have experience to sell, then PRINCE2 won't sell you to many employers. Having a qualification in French won't get you a translators job. It's the same principle. We employ a fair few (mainly senior managers) PRINCE2 qualified people (of which I am one), and there is no way, if the qualification is required, we would appoint without an awful lot of experience too. For more junior staff we have inhouse project / programme management and apprenticeships at varying levels - and the pay, whilst not terrible, reflects the evolving experience of staff. We would only fund PRINCE2 or other such qualifications in rare circumstances. 

Getting a (very expensive) qualification without any idea of what you want to do is not sensible. Decide what you want to do them construct what bricks are missing in your qualifications and skills - then decide what courses you may need to do. 

Edit: - Just to add, I have just glanced through your posting history, and trying to be as constructive as possible here, but you have been posting questions like this since at least 2018. If continuing to try to chase qualifications for a career move that you haven't yet found isn't working after 4 or more years at this, then you absolutely need to approach this differently. Qualifications won't do you any good on their own.

Two other points - I see you work for the NHS. So @Penguins_ warning is very well placed. If, and it is a big if, the NHS was willing to fund a PRINCE2 for an office manager then there would be repayments and strings attached to the cost. No doubt at all. 

Secondly, sorry, but an Office Manager (assuming that is what you still are - your post suggests that is the case) does not need PRINCE2. I don't wish to denigrate what office managers do. The role is important, and a good office manager makes life simple for everyone. But PRINCE2 type projects are a stratosphere away from office management. To be blunt, managing a large number of project and programme managers, I would consider you without PRINCE2 for entry level project management, but nothing higher. Possessing PRINCE2 wouldn't get you anything different - without an awful lot of experience you would still be entry level. You might be lucky elsewhere in the public sector, but I very much doubt it. It's the experience that is useful, and the qualification is icing on the cake (or only necessary for senior managers designated on certain types of contracts).

The NHS is a huge employer of many different fields - what have you done to look at what opportunities it might offer to move into a different area or field? Given you would retain pension rights etc., that would seem to be at least one obvious line of enquiry.

Thanks for your advice. My current role does involve some project management around the replacement of medical equipment across the trust, which is why I think my employer would be willing to pay for me to do a PRINCE2 course. 

You can ask, but I honestly think you are overstating the the project work you do and severely underestimating what PRINCE2 is designed for. You also haven't given a single indication as to why you should do this qualification and what you would do with it - you may (and many people do) hate both the qualification and the work! I will be honest - I b****y hate the methodology and the getting requalified is a pain in the butt (which thankfully I don't have to do any more as my current one lasts past my retirement). But I have to have it because I manage huge £multi-million contracts for the government and others, and it is a requirement of the money that the designated contract holder have it. It really isn't "some project management" terrain around replacing equipment. And I can almost 99% guarantee you that it will not get you a job in project management unless you are prepared (probably) to take a serious pay cut - and you could probably get that lower paid job without it so not tying yourself to the NHS. 

I would still love to know what happened to all the other advice and your many different ideas around changing careers over the last years you have been posting about this. Because I really do think you are focussing on the wrong thing and expecting some qualification to deliver you from a rut that you haven't decided a route out of. You need to decide what you want to do. Not randomly look for short courses because you aren't willing to commit to anything else. I guarantee you that they won't do what you expect them to. 

400ixl

I assume we are talking Prince2 Foundation here rather than Practitioner. The first is actually quite easily achieved with little project management experience, the latter a completely different level and is a lot of effort and not something I would consider without being in a project management role and doing some reasonably complex deliveries.

The Foundation could be useful to move across into an NHS Trust PMO as a junior PM, the practitioner wouldn't really add anything if it didn't come with experience alongside it to get a more senior role.

El_Rey

Thanks 400ixl. Yes, it would be the foundation module. 

Jillanddy

I know it seems like I'm pouring cold water on your ambitions, but I really am concerned about your approach here.  If you did Foundation only - which pretty much everyone in project management considers pointless - then these are the people you'll be up against for jobs https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/management/roles-management/project-manager/training-and-development-project-manager/training-and-development-project-manager These are graduates fast tracking into management positions and being sponsored into qualifications beyond Foundation level and already holding degrees. 

And you still don't even know that you'd like what you think project management of this sort is.

I'm going to ask again,  and then I'll give up - you have had years of threads like this and you have got nowhere. What are you doing to understand what kind of job / career you actually want to do,  and how have you dealt with all the advice you've previously had to come to a decision about a career path? Randomly picking qualifications won't do that. 

And I'll bow out there.