Project Management vs HR - which training option

[SystemParanoia]

So casually surfing the company intranet, i have discovered that my employers offer several training opportunities free of charge ( nice of them to tell me )

Anyhow, the most interesting options are

Project management

What appears to be the full range offered by the PMI ( PMP PMI-ACP etc.. )
Prince 2 ( bias towards gvn't projects )

Human Resources

PHR & SPHR

in my brief searches today, the project management seems to have the highest "potential" pay ceiling.. so im leaning that way at the mo.

although the company seems to have employment opportunities in both disciplines on the internal jobs board popping up all the time.

basically im asking you guys to look into your crystal balls and possibly give me a clue as to which one will offer the greatest job security in the future?

although im free to do all courses on offer, so i could in theory do both and hedge my bets

[edc]

Do you work for a US company and are these courses shown on your online catalogue? The reason I ask is that the HR stuff you list is from memory a US based certification. I have never looked into it as the UK equivalent is the CIPD. I'm also not sure whether the PHR is a certification/accreditation rather than a training course and qualification.

[SystemParanoia]

UK Company, but worldwide presence ( judging by the jobs on offer in the falklands, USA and Abudabi etc ).
Ill double check the HR stuff tomorrow as there are so many letters for stuff its silly lol.

[edc]

Operations into senior ish HR roles in not uncommon. Depending on industry and experience you can earn a very healthy wage. I have hired project and programme managers in previous roles and IMO they are not any more well paid than an HR person with similar levels of experience.

[SystemParanoia]

hmm, so back to square 1 in terms of making a decision then lol

[edc]

Put it this way, I was hiring PMs for a software company in the financial services space. Candidates were mainly developers or analysts into PM and had a few years PM experience and typical age 35 to 50. A good HR person can certainly easily be on a par. I am at the lower end of that age and experience spectrum but am earning towards the higher end for what we would have paid the older more experienced PMs. Having said that I do see lots of relatively poorly paid HR roles too. You may also be surprised to see the salaries paid for senior HR roles in organizations like the BBC, FSA or other government related organisations. How about £300k+ for Lucy Adams at the BBC and she came from facilities from memory ...

[SystemParanoia]

Im definately going to look more closely at the hr option on offer, thank you.

Compared to what im being paid now, either role will be massively life changing. So im grabbing this opportunity with both hands!

[edc]

To have the opportunity to get some decent qualifications and training is great. But, you need to get the experience to build on it quickly either whilst training or not too long afterwards. Otherwise the training will just be like your degree or A levels when you are in your mid-thirties. Useful barometer but by then the subject doesn't matter. Arguably, this is more important for the HR roles rather than PM as HR is quite an evolving industry where you need to be in touch with current practice and thinking.

[SystemParanoia]

The range on offer is:

ASQ (Six Sigma and CMQ/OE) - Green Belt, Black Belt and Manager of Quality

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) - Certified Business Analysis Professional ( CBAP )

Project Management Institute (PMI)- CAPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Prince2

ITIL - Foundation and Intermediate

ScrumAlliance - CSM

Professional in Human Resources (PHR) - PHR, SPHR

[Bullett]

What do you want to do?
Have you any experience in either field and which did you enjoy most?

I would think going into any field completely cold will be a steep learning curve.

ITIL - What category does that fit into, it's an IT service management/support framework.

[SystemParanoia]

I have no project management exp, and a small ammount of hr exp from when i used to do recruitment.

Either choice would result in me working at a site closer to home. 3 miles instead of the current 35

So i can afford to go in at the bottom as i wont be wasting 2.5k on fuel every year.

Finally, as long as i can show decent prpgress and keep line managers appraised, ill be elegible to do the job on a secondment basis so that i dont risk my current job, but gain the experience i need, and hopefully the networking connections to make the change.

[SystemParanoia]

Ill have to call HR when i get a chance to and ask them why they offer the US of A quali instead of the UK one

[anonymous-user]

The are some good specialisms in HR that can boost your earnings levels and help push your career in a certain direction which can be more rewarding/challenging if your that way inclined.

Organisational Development or Compensation & Benefits specialists generally earn more than equivalent level HR generalist roles, although you have to be in a pretty big organisation for their to be enough roles to provide a suitable career path in these specialisms, the alternative route for these specialisms (as per Project Mgmt) is to get a grounding and a qualification and then go contracting.

[Podie]

SystemParanoia said:

The range on offer is:

ASQ (Six Sigma and CMQ/OE) - Green Belt, Black Belt and Manager of Quality

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) - Certified Business Analysis Professional ( CBAP )

Project Management Institute (PMI)- CAPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Prince2

ITIL - Foundation and Intermediate

ScrumAlliance - CSM

Professional in Human Resources (PHR) - PHR, SPHR

PM experience may well be useful in general - can't comment on HR stuff, I have no experience there.

If you want something useful on the CV, then Prince2 is probably the quickest qualification to get. It doesn't make you a PM, but it is seen as a requirement these days.

PMI stuff is good if you want to move into project management properly, and the 6-Sigma stuff is useful in manufacturing situations (sadly it's bastardised these days into other fields).

None of these will make you a good PM though.

[edc]

Unless you have at least 3+ years HR experience, and I don't mean HR admin/query answering, then I would not recommend specialising in any specific area yet.

[SystemParanoia]

Just spoke to HR ppl today, and they said they will look into why they dont offer the CIPD and find out if they can include it.

Unfortunately they dont offer tue examinations for all these courses.. they have to be paid for.. but all the prep and materials are free.

Plus side, ive been passed info on the learning and development sponsorship programme that i may be eligible for to do the CIPD externally

[edc]

SystemParanoia said:

Just spoke to HR ppl today, and they said they will look into why they dont offer the CIPD and find out if they can include it.

Unfortunately they dont offer tue examinations for all these courses.. they have to be paid for.. but all the prep and materials are free.

Plus side, ive been passed info on the learning and development sponsorship programme that i may be eligible for to do the CIPD externally

A bit like the PM qualifications, the CIPD is a UK known qualification. It will give you some good basic theoretical and academic frameworks. It will open doors into that job market. But, in the real business world you do not start talking the language you learn on these courses. Firstly, unless you work in a massive HR department and never deal with other functions, other people just don't get the jargon and frankly don't care. Secondly, the CIPD training doesn't really teach you much about real contextual decison making. It might say her is 'best practice' or this is the law but in reality you build your approach on the desired outcome and that means evaluating the risks and then choosing the best option. To supplement this you need some real 'case studies' and a professional network you can bounce ideas off. You can start off with some of the local CIPD meetings.