CIPR

The questions below are being put to Hilary Berg, a CIPR Online Diploma graduate.

What is your current role?

I have worked in public relations for over 25 years, with a number of in-house jobs, including head of PR at Iceland Foods, and I have run two consultancies. I am currently Associate Director at Corporate Culture, working between the consultancy's offices in London and Liverpool.

Corporate Culture does some really ground-breaking work in employee engagement, sustainable business and social marketing for household name clients. I work on communications strategy and behaviour change campaigns for a wide range of public and private sector organisations.

In my own time I provide communications advice to social enterprises and community groups, along with training and capacity building. As part of this, I am an expert witness in communications at the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Why did you undertake the CIPR Diploma?

I love working in PR because of the experience and challenges it brings. I have worked for all kinds of organisations from as far afield as Europe, Africa, Asia and the US, and feel that I have been learning constantly during my career. I recently visited the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and found it an incredible learning experience.

CIPR membership has given me some great personal development opportunities through short courses and masterclasses, and I have always been a voracious researcher and reader, but the Diploma really appealed to me because it provided formal study and an opportunity to interrogate the theories behind the techniques I was using to develop strategies and advise clients.

I am also a big supporter of the CIPR's drive to professionalise the sector, and give practitioners the stature they need to be taken seriously as professional advisors, and I'm keen to be involved in this drive.

My colleagues and clients are great at understanding and interpreting theory. Our work is grounded in research, but there is also a real drive to question, debate and generate new thinking. I felt that the content of the Diploma would help me add to the discussion from a PR perspective.

How did you manage your time to complete the Diploma?

The Diploma took a considerable amount of my personal time, averaging about eight hours per week with added intensive work around the three assignments. The course standards are high and this meant that I had to be disciplined in managing my time, usually spending most of Saturday and a couple of evenings during the week on study. However, I found this was far from a chore.

Like most PR people I was not put off by the idea of working long hours, but studying gave me the luxury of exploring new ideas and reflecting on them. The team running the course at the PR Academy were incredibly generous with their time in sharing information and, along with fellow students, created a lively community, sharing and learning together. While time was at a premium, actually doing the work was a very enjoyable experience.

I met one real challenge during the course, with client commitments meaning it was impossible to meet an assignment deadline. I spoke to the PR Academy team in advance and they were sympathetic and supportive, allowing me to defer the work until it was more manageable.

My final project assignment gave me a unique opportunity to undertake a piece of research for a client, comparing PR practice in the US with that in the UK. Rather than work remotely, I offered to cover my accommodation and travel costs to manage the project face-to-face and they responded by giving me access to their New York contacts. So for the cost of a cheap air ticket and a few days' annual leave I delivered a useful report to a client, completed my project and had a professional experience which was inspiring.

What are the benefits of undertaking the Diploma online?

I live quite far away from any of the colleges delivering the course and have an unpredictable lifestyle in terms of working hours and client demands, so it would have been challenging for me to attend formal classes.

Online study was a new experience for me and I was pleasantly surprised by the accessibility of the website, resources and people, and by the sense of community among students. The variety in our ages, roles and locations, with people as far away as Azerbaijan and Australia provided real value from shared experiences and perspectives. Also, it was possible to have an ongoing conversation with friendly academic experts without having to arrange meetings or times to call.

Flexibility of study was the real advantage, with students online at most times of the day and night, and resources easily available. Web conferences and more formal elements of the course were planned well in advance with a number of opportunities to take part, and everything was recorded online for future reference.

How did completing the Diploma benefit you professionally?

I strongly believe strongly that you have to open doors to new experiences in life and the Diploma does just that. It gave me the unique opportunity to uncover new thinking and ideas, and enter into debate with academics as well as my peers. In a profession where it is easy just to focus on the challenges and deadlines of day-to-day work it gave me the luxury of time to think and reflect. I will certainly go on to study for a master's degree in the future.

The Diploma has been the starting point for personal investigation and study which inevitably means I am more thoughtful about my work and more confident in exploring new directions. Ultimately I think professional qualifications can only be a good thing for the PR profession in terms of added stature and credibility.

Would you recommend the Diploma to colleagues?

Absolutely. Theoretical understanding, combined with practical experience, can only enhance the ability of PR practitioners to deliver sound advice. However, the benefits are much wider than that – building knowledge in this way is not only personally enriching, but also builds confidence and opens doors to new experiences and opportunities.

* If you are interested in studying public relations, there is still time to enrol in the CIPR's Diploma and Online Diploma.