Taking Advantage of Development Opportunities at Arc

“Make use of opportunities to study wherever you can” our Senior People operations Manager Lizzie explains why working and studying was the best career choice she ever made.

At Arc, we believe it’s important to constantly keep learning and improving. We want to invest in our people and their skills to help the business thrive. That’s why we offer all our full-time staff the opportunity to study for degrees, diplomas and qualifications for free while they work for us.

Over 50% of our full-time staff have taken this opportunity and are currently working towards a qualification.

But what is it like to studying while working full time and how can it benefit your career?

We spoke to Senior People Operations Manager Lizzie, who has just completed a CMI Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management to find out more…

WHY DID YOU WANT TO DO A COURSE?

I wanted to educate myself further on management styles and increase my knowledge of business management. Having not done a business related degree, I needed a qualification and knowledge in a more relevant subject to my job role.

I also wanted to become more confident in my management skills. It helped that it was an apprenticeship, which meant I had to reflect on my performance and skills and use it in day-to-day practice.

HOW HAS IT HELPED WITH YOUR JOB ROLE?

Having the theoretical knowledge and reading about other businesses and managers has allowed me to reflect on my skills. Analysing the business was interesting and it helped to improve my knowledge of financials and how essential it is to understand these as a manager.

YOU TOOK THE LEAD ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING OUR NEW RECRUITMENT SOFTWARE AT THE START OF THIS YEAR. HOW WAS YOUR COURSE HELPFUL FOR THIS?

A large part of my course was to have a project that combined my learning with my role. The overarching proposal had to better the business in some way. Although the project would probably have happened anyway, having to write about it and report on it made me more analytical and enabled me to see it through and keep improving it.

HOW DO YOU THINK STUDYING THIS COURSE WILL HELP YOUR LONG-TERM CAREER?

It’s a recognised qualification that I can add to my CV and I will use the skills I’ve learnt in any future roles.

HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO STUDY FOR A COURSE AND WORK FULL TIME?

It wasn’t easy! I had to be very disciplined and stay on top of it every week. The fact that Arc offer study days was helpful, as this allowed me to dedicate one day a month to purely focus on the course.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND DOING A COURSE WHILE WORKING?

100%. Having another focus outside of work, that still relates to work, stops you getting bogged down with day to day tasks and allows you to focus on the overall strategy and objectives. I think it’s also important to make use of opportunities to study and better your own knowledge and skills wherever you can.