Aiming high in the Premier League
Vicky Peters, HR Manager at Fulham Football Club, completed a CIPD Advanced Diploma with Watson Martin. Vicky explains how studying for the Level 7 qualification has improved her HR knowledge and her confidence at work.
HR Manager Vicky Peters is currently working at Fulham Football Club, promoted to the Premier League last summer. The Whites’ won promotion to the Premier League after beating Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. Having spent four years away from the top table of English football, the Club, its players and its supporters are adjusting to life in the Premier League.
Fulham has all the usual functions of any large business and with 190 permanent staff plus a casual workforce of 500 including stewards, coaches and medical teams, Vicky’s job is busy and demanding. Supported by an HR Assistant, she looks after all the people related issues for the Club which could be anything from recruitment and training & development to employment relations.
“My role covers all areas of HR. It’s all-encompassing however the main challenge I find is the volume of work, which understandably has increased since our recent promotion. Having returned to the Premier League, the Club has plans to grow which includes further opportunities for recruitment.”
Providing a further insight into the role Vicky added:
“Our day to day role varies, however working for a football club the focus of all employees, including myself, is to ensure our preparation is at the highest level prior to every matchday which involves supporting all business functions. The majority of our administrative staff are based in New Malden where the training ground is located. This facility is shared with our First Team and Academy Squads and offers a unique, vibrant and positive working environment where people are engaged and motivated. We share a common goal; we all want Fulham to win, we support colleagues to reach our commercial goals and to be a successful organisation.”
Vicky joined Fulham 16 years ago as an HR Assistant and after gaining experience was promoted to a management role. She decided to study for her CIPD Advanced Diploma but put it on hold when she started a family. She returned to studying two years ago and has just completed the Masters level qualification with Watson Martin, a huge achievement having left school with only GCSEs.
Studying for a high level professional qualification with a busy job and a family is a juggling act but Vicky believes it is worth the effort as the knowledge gained has given her more confidence to succeed in her role. She followed WM’s mixed mode learning route for the Level 7 qualification which uses work-based evidence to support academic learning. She now thinks more outside of the box to find solutions and is able to apply HR theory to practice.
Choosing the right training provider was a major decision and for Vicky, having one-to-one support from a personal adviser throughout her qualification was a key factor in the selection process. She was allocated to WM’s Director Melanie Martin, whose guidance, she says, has been “invaluable”.
“Having the ability to meet with Melanie, even to have that contact time in person for just an hour, was more beneficial than learning online. Having that opportunity to discuss areas of my coursework and its relevance to the programme has been very useful. Melanie has been understanding and supportive in terms of my workload and managing deadlines. We developed a rapport which is important and I couldn’t have got through it without her support.”
WM is a specialist training provider delivering HR and L&D qualifications, soft-skills training and HR consultancy. We are an approved main provider on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP). WM is one of only 12 CIPD centres (out of 275) approved to enable the use of workplace evidence alongside a mixture of learning input and support to suit the needs of individuals. For more information about the training we provide and our delivery methods visit: www.watsonmartin.com or contact our advisers on 020 7932 2760.