- Baback Yazdani, dean, Nottingham Business School
You have to remember that, overall, there is growing demand to be a CIPD-qualified professional. If people didn't think they had some value, there would not be the demand for it. The CIPD is not some centralised organisation that rules from the top. Its membership is made up of HR professionals themselves, and they know what they need to take the discipline forward. The point is that the CIPD sets a good minimum standard. The quality of what is delivered is something different.
We have our own specialised masters programme in strategic HR management that is CIPD-accredited but we blend other elements into it that would take the course to above minimum CIPD standards. Our first cohort of students from BP will be finishing their diplomas in May next year and a major differentiating element is that this course teaches the business context from the outset. I'm not saying the CIPD minimum doesn't do this, but business schools can obviously add to it. We're fortunate that we have our own professor of talent management who already advises and consults with the likes of Rolls Royce, so that all course material is taught fresh, is relevant and is applied.
- John Maxted, CEO, Digby Morgan
When it comes to finding and selecting people for senior HR positions, CIPD qualifications are really irrelevant. I think the CIPD is aware of this too. My feeling is that they are detached from what is really happening in HR. This discipline is strange though. You can't sign off accounts without being a chartered accountant, yet HR has no minimum qualification equivalent.
I think track record and impact are more important than qualifications. After all, HR's job is about influencing people. In the 21st century, HR professionals are business partners. When some of these people ask me what they need to be a FTSE 50 HR director, my answer is always this: gain experience in rewards, talent management and industrial relations, but fundamentally, you have to have experience in running the P&L for a business. Historically, not many candidates have all of these characteristics. The top HR professionals I've worked with have tended to come from the likes of M&S, Ford, BA and GE - organisations that are all very commercial. The younger people coming through are starting to demonstrate business aptitude, and those that take real MBAs - at London Business School and INSEAD, for example - have tremendous value to add because of their business skills. These people know what levers to pull. There are many in this industry who call themselves business partners, but a lot of them are not. The problem is that no one is training HR professionals any more. A sheep-dip approach to learning does not works for most other training, and it certainly does not work in HR.
