Students all over the UK will be getting their MSc & BSc results in the next couple of weeks, and nearly all of them will think ‘thank goodness that exams are over – never again’.  But of course they aren’t all over, and seemingly never will be.

That’s the cheery thought on my mind because I’m studying again – this time for my Diploma in Career Education Information and Guidance in Higher Education.  This is the third set of professional qualifications for me – I got half way through my banking exams before I moved into HR.  I then studied hard & became a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and now that I’m nearly 3 years into my current career I’m knee deep in prof quals yet again – one module down, 5 more to go.

All this may well be a symptom of the Portfolio Career – ie a career made up of lots of shorter, overlapping careers – which is good news for the Professional Bodies and the training providers who have an ever expanding potential market, but bad news for anyone who doesn’t like studying whilst they are working.  And I don’t – I still can’t read more than 3 lines of an academic paper without my brain glazing over; it’s 20 years since I started my BA so I guess that’s never gonna change.