Sally's Story

The Challenge

Sally had been a team leader at a Leeds-based retail distribution operation for five years before taking a career break to care for her father. When she returned to work, she re-entered the sector at a lower level than before and was determined to rebuild her career trajectory. She enrolled on the CMI Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership, self-funding the course as she rebuilt her finances. Midway through her studies, an unexpected household expense created a payment difficulty that threatened to suspend her account and interrupt her studies at a critical point.

Why learndirect

Sally had chosen learndirect after thorough research – the CMI qualification, the online delivery, and the tutor support model were exactly what she needed. The moment that confirmed she had made the right choice, however, came when she contacted the support team about her financial difficulty. “They listened, they didn't make me feel embarrassed, and they came back to me quickly with a solution that kept me on course,” she said. “Other providers would have just paused the account and waited. learndirect treated me like a person with a temporary problem, not a risk to manage.” She was able to continue her studies without interruption.

The Outcome

Sally completed the full CMI Level 5 Diploma and applied for an Operations Manager role at a logistics firm in Leeds – a role she secured partly on the strength of her management qualification and partly on the quality of the competency-based answers in her interview, which she attributed directly to the frameworks she had studied. Her Operations Manager salary is £48,000 – a significant increase on the team leader rate she had re-entered the sector at. “The investment in this qualification paid back many times over in the first year,” she said. “I wouldn't be where I am without it.”