No this isn’t a Work/Life Balance related post and nor is it a criticism of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) for whom I have an immense amount of respect.
It’s more something that I have become very aware of as I am now actively in job search mode and looking for a new role as a Learning and Development Professional. One of the things I have noticed is that there seems to be an increasing number of employers and their recruiters who are stipulating CIPD as a requirement for Learning and Development Professionals roles. That would be fine if that was the only qualification in town however, as those who operate in the L&D arena will be all too well aware there are various institutes focused on the profession whose qualifications and related post-nominal letters are based on practical as well as theoretical understanding of the L&D arena. For those who may not be aware of them they include
- BILD – British Institute of Learning and Development
- ITOL – Institute of Training and Occupational Learning
- LPI – Learning and Performance Institute
Those readers of a similar age to me may well remember the ITD (Institute for Training and Development) which was the preeminent L&D organisation before it merged into the IPM to become the CIPD. Many members of the ITD never felt quite at home in an Institute which at that time had a primary focus on the Personnel side of Human Resources. That’s why many of the Learning and Development Professionals that I know migrated to the organisations I mentioned above. They are all institutes which are focused on certificating high standards of delivery from Learning and Development professionals
So why is it that we don’t see any mention of the three Learning and Development focused Institutes? I think it comes down to a lack of awareness. Many of the recruiters who have come from HR backgrounds will be familiar with (and probably have) the CIPD qualifications. Therefore when a client/employer asks them what a relevant qualification is they will automatically think of the CIPD and the client will accept their suggestion.
So what needs to happen? Well obviously there needs to be more awareness raising across the recruitment industry as a starting point and we need to see ITOL, LPI and BILD doing more to promote the relevance of their Institutes to the Learning and Development profession.
I mentioned this yesterday on Twitter and was delighted to see an almost instant response from BILD and also from two of the HR Recruitment Agencies in Manchester/North West – Adam Recruitment and Ashley Kate HR. They all indicated that they wanted to talk to one another. Now, having facilitated the start of a conversation, by introducing them to one another, I will watch with interest to see what comes of it.
ITOL and LPI the ball is in your court! What are you going to do to connect with recruiters and start raising awareness of the Institutes so that those Learning and Development professionals who have not gone down the CIPD route don’t find themselves excluded from roles which only stipulate CIPD? I look forward to seeing what happens there too.