Why I’m going back to University

Graduating within the class of 2020 with a first-class degree in Travel and Tourism Management, with a specialism in Aviation, I’ve always had a penchant for education. Despite the circumstances meaning the last year of my undergraduate degree was far from average, I have decided to return to education to pursue a Master’s degree. This will benefit KC Communications as a company, as well as my own personal growth. 
Over the past year, my role at KC Communications has evolved from being a 16 hour a week administration support role to a full time Operations Manager role, with a strong focus on employee wellbeing and HR. This has in part been driven by the COVID pandemic, meaning enforced work from home occurred where we had to protect employee health and wellbeing, but also ensure productivity and resilience weren’t affected. 
Learning and development are essential aspects of professional growth, something that I head up through my role at KC, ensuring that the wider team is actively pursuing professional development opportunities to help them to achieve their long term personal goals. Studying for my masters at Huddersfield University in Career Guidance and Professional Development, will enable me to drive this further and apply theoretical knowledge to practise. 
Modules within the MA include Building Organisational Culture, The Guidance Network and Team Growth. From the various modules, I expect to learn how best to ensure employee wellbeing, how best to advise the team on how to go about achieving their next career steps and what I can implement to ensure our missions and values are lived by. At KC, we already conduct many activities to encourage the team including coaching circles, book club, Wellbeing Wednesdays and much more). 
By studying these topics further I will have the ability to advise the team on how to perform to their maximum potential within their roles as client servicing colleagues, freeing up time for more senior colleagues to work strategically on client acquisition and growth for the business as a whole. 
The MA is studied alongside a QCD professional certification (which stands for qualification in career development). This is recognised widely in the UK and would place me on the register for qualified career development professionals, as long as I am able to meet the requirements for membership including a comprehensive portfolio evidencing my career guidance activities. 
At KC, I help to guide colleagues ambitions through 1-1 sessions as well as ensuring they are fully utilising their personal training budgets to fill in any skills gap they may need to work on to get to the next level of their career or to use any strength they may have to make it a key trait of their professional offering.  By doing this, it is getting them to think intrinsically about their professional goals, ensuring that they are accountable for their own growth but reinforcing the support available to them through KC Communications as a workplace. 
By using examples of the real life workplace activities I undertake, this will help to reinforce my qualification and for everything to become a seamless offering for the business. As my role becomes more wellbeing and HR focused, having the MA and QCD qualifications under my belt will only equip me personally and the company with further knowledge to help the team around us to achieve their professional goals. 
Have you decided to go back to education this year? I’d love to hear what you’re studying and what drove you to the decision to do so! Get in touch with me on twitter or LinkedIn and we can have a chat!