Olivia Humphrey: My journey through CIPS
After joining NOE CPC in 2021 through the NHS Procurement Graduate Scheme, Olivia has gone on to complete the advanced practitioner CIPS qualification while managing a full-time role in the procurement operations team.
Olivia discusses why she chose the assignment route over exams, how the course helped her view the organisation in a new light, and what it was really like trying to balance study with work.
"I joined NOE CPC in 2021 as part of the NHS procurement graduate scheme after completing my marketing degree at Lancaster University. As part of the graduate scheme, I completed my CIPS Level 4 apprenticeship over the two-year programme and I had 20% dedicated study time which worked well on the graduate scheme. Once I had completed the graduate scheme and I started working as part of the procurement operations team I chose to continue my CIPS, there are two routes that you can take, there’s an exam-based route and assignment-based route. I learnt through doing my Level 4 that I prefer assignments so doing the assignments was a good option for me so I could spend more time writing one essay and getting it perfected, and I feel like I have learnt more from written assignments.
"What I have done is the advanced practitioner which is Level 5 and 6 combined into one course that is about two years long so it’s more of an accelerated route to complete CIPS. There are lots of different ways to do CIPS, for example through your employer or a training provider so you can find the best option to suit your needs.
"I have felt through doing CIPS it has given me a new perspective on our organisation; because the CIPS modules for the advanced practitioner course had more of a business focus, for example there were modules on change management and leadership theory. It allowed me to speak to different people within our various teams that I wouldn’t interact with daily, so it helped me learn about the different working practices in the organisation. In some ways it was more like doing a business course than procurement.
"I’ve had great support from the whole NOE CPC, they’ve been amazing throughout my CIPS journey. Every time I have completed a module someone has offered to read my assignment, people have volunteered their time to attending focus groups, interviews, helping me build surveys. I want to especially thank Natalie Ledger, Alastair Clay and Fiona Kirby because they have all been quite instrumental in helping me get to this point. Fiona was a great support in helping to develop my surveys; Natalie and Alastair spent a lot of time reviewing my final project which was 10,000 words on sustainability. It was brilliant to have subject matter experts within the team to input on what I was writing, Alastair from a sustainability and social value theory, and Natalie was great at putting into a procurement context and how it applied to NOE CPC.
"Completing my CIPS qualification alongside my day job has been a challenge. I think sometimes people don’t realise you can’t do it within your working day; even though we get allocated study time it’s not possible to complete the level of detail in the assignment that is expected within two study days. So, I spent a lot of time in the evenings and weekends going over assignments. I did six modules each with a 2,000 to 5,000-word assignment so it was very labour intensive. Obviously trying to do six modules with thousands and thousands of words of assignments is tricky to do as you are balancing between your job and your own time. But also, sometimes the course requires you to apply senior level knowledge within your own role which can be a considerable challenge. However, it did provide me with the opportunity to talk to a lot of different people within the organisation, particularly for my final project that I wouldn’t have much day-to-day contact with hearing from various categories about how they procure goods and services.
"I chose the assignment route as it allowed me to spend more time learning about different elements of the organisation and getting into the finer details. If I had gone down the exam route, I wouldn’t have been able to conduct surveys on how we perceive leadership in our organisation or how do we perceive change. It’s given me an insight that I wouldn’t have got revising for an exam.
"But it’s not just about getting the assignments right, it’s about learning the content and applying it, remembering how to reference correctly etc so I was lucky in that I wasn’t long out of university when I started CIPS, so I was still in that mindset.
"I enjoyed some of the aspects of the group work when we were mixed in with others for tasks or workshops. It was interesting as there was a diverse mix of other companies and businesses in attendance, so it was an opportunity to hear about how other businesses do things, particularly in the private sector."