Learning globally recognised skills

Q: How did you first hear about quality as a job?

A: Quality has always been part of any role I have undertaken during my 30+ years at Unipart Rail. The majority of my career has been within the warehouse and distribution teams, and for the past six years, I have been looking for a suitable apprenticeship that supported my work, as I was the 'go-to' person for writing standard operating procedures, work instructions and being the point of contact for audits.

Q: What was your first quality role?

A: My official first quality role was undertaken in early 2022 as Quality Support Manager, providing divisional quality support and training in relation to documents held in the quality management system.

Q: Why did you decide to undertake further learning?

A: It expands your career opportunities; what is better than studying while you are working and getting a qualification at the end? The skills that I have learned or improvements in myself are transferable and recognised globally.

It underpinned what I was doing in my job but allowed it to be elevated to the next level.

"The traditional perception of an apprentice would be that it was for a young person/school leaver, but this is no longer the case."

Jayne Nixon PCQI, Quality Support Manager at Unipart Rail, UK

Q: Why did you decide to choose this course/qualification?

A: The apprenticeship stood out as one of the few that were available to me at the time. I was not looking for a long-term course and the duration of this apprenticeship suited me as it fitted in with work and the career path within quality.

Q: What objectives and outcomes did you hope to achieve, and has it met your expectations?

A: The objectives and outcomes that I hoped I would receive were to elevate what I had already learned and experienced. An example of this would be actions around auditing. I had only experienced being audited, so the course was able to show me how audits are planned, as well as system, product and process audits.

Another important skill was learning about how to plan, measure, manage and monitor quality objectives.

Overall, the course has been fundamental in developing my quality knowledge, which has led me to providing a more structured approach to tasks and opportunities.

Q: What were the key highlights of what you learned?

A: Believe in yourself; the course has given me the confidence to talk quality with all levels in the business, regardless of management status. Using the new skills I have learnt, the structured approach, alongside quality thinking, has benefited the business as I work on the various projects and quality activities.

Studying alongside the other cohorts from different business backgrounds allowed sharing of varying experiences.

Q: How has this course impacted you and your work?

A: I have become more confident and a better team player, and I am using the skills learnt in a practical way, applying them day to day. My role at work has become divisional and has led me to work with the Head of Rail Quality in putting together a standard solution and approach to different teams across the rail division.

Being a member of the CQI is also giving me access to multiple webinars, reading material and other quality professionals.

Q: What advice would you give to others who are considering doing this qualification?

A: I would say, do it. The traditional perception of an apprentice would be that it was for a young person/school leaver, but this is no longer the case.

If you are new to a quality role, thinking of this as a career, or just starting your quality journey, then this will be the course for you.