Professional Assessment offers experienced practitioners the opportunity to demonstrate their competence against the Chartered Institute Personnel and Development (CIPD) professional standards and gain Graduate membership of the Institute without sitting formal examinations.

The route is open to you whether you are a generalist or specialist practitioner. In either case, you will be working at management level and will have had at least five years' relevant experience, three of which must be in human resources management or development.

Working with a DMS Consultant as your coach, you build up a portfolio to be assessed against the CIPD standards. This portfolio consists of evidence of work you have undertaken supported by a narrative where the thinking (underpinning knowledge) behind the activity is explained and reflected upon.

The programme can be structured to meet your personal needs. DMS offers both on-site support or you can meet your personal consultant at a local office. The level of service is reflected in the price. Typically, it takes between 15 to 18 months to complete all four Fields of the CIPD’s Professional Development Scheme. For the more senior HR professionals, DMS offers Development Mentoring for Seniors, an accelerated programme that can be completed in a short time.

Once your portfolio has been completed to the satisfaction of your DMS consultant you are ready for assessment. This takes the form of an interview with a CIPD approved assessor who will question you on the work in the portfolio and probe the underpinning knowledge.

Successful assessment leads to Graduate Membership of the CIPD. DMS will then support your application for upgrading to either MCIPD (3 years' relevant management experience) or FCIPD (10 years' relevant management experience)

The programme involves a minimum period away from work, making this a very cost-effective route to CIPD membership.