Human Resources

This time it’s personnel! When you make the leap to the civilian workplace, human resources could be the career for you. Here’s what the job involves, how CIPD qualifications work, what you can earn and how your Service experience fits in.

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What’s it like to work in HR?

Human resources (HR), or ‘people’ work as the profession increasingly calls it, covers everything to do with managing people as a business resource: recruitment and selection, training and development, pay and benefits, employee relations, employment law and organisational development. Day to day, that means things like bringing new starters on board, running training programmes, managing appraisals, handling grievances and disciplinaries, and making sure the organisation follows employment law and its own policies.

The job never stands still. Legal, cultural and diversity issues throw up new challenges all the time, and HR professionals need to keep on top of areas such as:

Sex, race, age and disability discrimination
Reasonable adjustments for disabled staff
Maternity, paternity, adoption and parental rights
Religious rights
Working hours and patterns, including flexible and hybrid working
Pay, including the National Minimum Wage and pay transparency

Right now the big one is the Employment Rights Act 2025, the largest package of employment law reform in decades. It is being phased in through 2026 and 2027: a new Fair Work Agency to enforce workers’ rights started in April 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights, employment tribunal time limits were extended from three to six months from 1 October 2026, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims is cut from 1 January 2027, and further changes on zero-hours contracts and ‘fire and rehire’ follow in 2027. Every employer in the country needs people who understand these changes, which is good news if you are looking for a way in.

There is no one-size-fits-all model for good HR practice, because organisations differ so much in industry, location and stage of development. Managing people is complicated by nature, and over the years the balance has shifted towards employees, backed by legislation, with higher expectations around work-life balance and job satisfaction.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for HR and people development in the UK, and the biggest in Europe. Its qualifications are the recognised currency of the profession, and its Profession Map sets the standard for what a good people professional knows and does. Most HR job adverts ask for CIPD membership or a CIPD qualification at some level, so it is worth understanding how it works from the start; see below.

Fact File

WHAT DO HR PROFESSIONALS DO?

What lands on an HR professional’s desk each day depends a lot on the size of the organisation. A big employer may have a whole team, each covering one specialism, while a small firm might have one person doing the lot. Typical roles include:

human resources management
– HR administrator or assistant
– HR officer or adviser
– HR business partner
– compensation and benefits manager
– employee relations officer
– equality, diversity and inclusion officer
recruitment
– recruitment consultant
– talent acquisition or recruitment manager
training and development
– learning and development (L&D) officer
– IT trainer
– organisational development specialist.

So you can see that this is a pretty wide-ranging employment sector!

WHAT CAN YOU EARN?
As a rough guide from 2026 salary surveys: HR administrators and assistants around £24,000 to £30,000; HR officers and advisers £27,000 to £40,000; HR managers £40,000 to £55,000, and more in London and larger firms; HR business partners £45,000 to £65,000; heads of HR and HR directors £75,000 to £120,000 or more.

Transferable skills

Plenty of people in the Armed Forces have serious training and experience in managing people and developing their skills. If you have been involved in recruiting, selection, career management or appraisals, you already understand what HR is for. Be ready for the differences, though: military and civilian practice can be further apart than you expect, and civilian workplaces have their own expectations.

The Services have an excellent record in leadership, recruitment, training and personal development, and are often ahead of the civilian world in those areas. What Service life may not have given you is much exposure to things like reasonable adjustments for disability, trade unions, job-sharing and the finer points of employment law. That is exactly the gap a CIPD qualification fills.

Some military courses across the Services are accredited by the CIPD, which is a real head start if you are thinking about HR after you leave. Enhanced Learning Credits (ELC) can be used for qualifications at level 3 and above, both while serving and for up to five years after you leave, and CIPD qualifications are open to all ranks. Getting to the right membership grade may mean extra modules and some evenings at the laptop, but you end up with a qualification that is valued inside the military and out. Senior NCOs in particular can often use their Service experience and paperwork to evidence a good chunk of what is needed.

How can I qualify to work in HR?

HR is a competitive field and formal qualifications make a real difference, so it pays to get the right ones early.

Skills in demand

Useful skills for a career in HR include:

Strong interpersonal skills: empathy, tact and discretion
Being comfortable dealing with all sorts of people
Teamwork
Excellent organisational and administrative skills
Good time management
Confidence with IT, including HR systems and data

Course choices

There are several routes to an HR qualification:

CIPD qualifications: the industry standard, at three levels. The Level 3 Foundation Certificate in People Practice is the entry point (typically £2,000 to £3,000 with a private provider); the Level 5 Associate Diploma in People Management suits HR officers, advisers and managers (around £3,300 to £4,000); and the Level 7 Advanced Diploma in Strategic People Management is postgraduate level, for senior and strategic roles (around £6,700 to £7,500). All three can be studied online or part-time, taking anything from several months to a couple of years depending on the level and how much time you can give it, and level 3 and above is ELC-eligible with an ELCAS-approved provider.
Degrees, HNDs and HNCs: UK universities and colleges offer HR management degrees and diplomas, often combined with business studies. Many degree and master’s courses are CIPD-accredited, so check before you enrol.
Apprenticeships: you can earn while you learn at Level 3 (HR Support), Level 5 (People Professional) and Level 7 (Senior People Professional). See the box below.
Short courses and distance learning: local colleges and independent providers offer courses on general HR or specific areas such as employment law, designed to fit around work and family, which suits serving personnel well.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PEOPLE PROFESSIONAL?

The CIPD Profession Map is the standard the whole profession works to. It sets out three things: core knowledge (being an expert in people, in work and in change), core behaviours (the consistent ways of working that make you principles-led, evidence-based and outcomes-driven) and specialist knowledge for areas such as resourcing, reward, employee relations and learning and development. CIPD qualifications, apprenticeships and membership assessments are all built around it, so it is worth reading the map early to see how your Service experience lines up.

Routes to becoming a qualified HR professional

CIPD membership comes in grades, and the grade matters because employers look for it:

Foundation Member: complete the Level 3 Foundation Certificate in People Practice.
Associate Member (Assoc CIPD): complete the Level 5 Associate Diploma or the Level 7 Advanced Diploma, finish a Level 3 or Level 5 apprenticeship, or go through the CIPD’s Experience Assessment.
Chartered Member (Chartered MCIPD): the Level 7 Advanced Diploma or equivalent, the Level 7 apprenticeship, or Experience Assessment.
Chartered Fellow (Chartered FCIPD): the senior grade, by upgrade or Experience Assessment.
Experience Assessment: if you have substantial people-management experience but no formal HR qualification, this route assesses what you already know and do against the Profession Map and can take you straight to Associate or Chartered membership. Well worth a look for experienced Service leavers.
Affiliate and Student membership: open to anyone, giving access to CIPD resources without a qualification.

Annual membership fees for 2026/27 are £199 for Foundation and Associate, £231 for Chartered Member and £261 for Chartered Fellow, plus a one-off £40 joining fee. Members get access to the CIPD’s knowledge hub and helplines, CPD, local branch events and the People Management magazine and jobs board.

HR APPRENTICESHIPS
HR apprenticeships run at three levels: Level 3 HR Support (the usual entry route), Level 5 People Professional (equivalent to the CIPD Level 5 diploma) and Level 7 Senior People Professional, which leads to Chartered membership. Completing the Level 3 or Level 5 end-point assessment makes you eligible for Associate membership of the CIPD. Click here for a guide to the different types and the employers that offer them, or click here to browse vacancies near you.

THE CIPD AND THE SERVICES

Many Service leavers have found that a CIPD qualification gives them confidence in their knowledge of modern people management, and a way of translating Service skills and experience into terms a civilian employer understands and values. A look at the job boards confirms that many organisations treat CIPD qualifications or membership as essential for work in this field.

Use your ELC

Under the ELC scheme, a wide range of learning can be taken, provided it is offered by an approved provider listed on the ELCAS website and is at level 3 or above. CIPD Levels 3, 5 and 7 all qualify with an approved provider. For full details of how to make the most of your ELC, refer to the in-depth features elsewhere on the Quest website