Secretarial Training Results In £34K Salary!
A hard-working student at Pitman Training London (High Holborn) earned a huge return on her secretarial training investment.
Having spent less than £4000.00 on a legal secretary course, she claims she was snapped up by the United Nations on a starting salary of £34K even though it was her first UK office job!
The student, who wished to remain anonymous, previously worked in catering in the travel sector.
Despite speaking 3 languages, she knew career advancement depended on her obtaining a vocational qualification which stated clearly what she had trained to do; in this case to be a legal secretary.
Shilpa Wymer, Principal of Pitman Training in High Holborn explains: “Our experience of working with recruitment agencies is that students are easier to place if that have a clearly defined qualification, such as a secretarial diploma or an Executive PA diploma, or in this case a legal secretarial diploma.”
“This student was successful in her career search for a number of reasons. First, she was highly presentable and tri-lingual. Next, she worked incredibly hard at her legal secretarial training. Then, she stuck at it, even when the going was tough. Finally, she was a very enthusiastic, highly motivated individual and I’m sure this came across at her interviews.”
Interestingly, the student didn’t excel in all her subjects and found great difficulty in learning to type properly and fast enough to satisfy Pitman Training’s examiners, but she persevered and finally graduated with an acceptable touch typing speed.
Shilpa Wymer continues, “What we try to do for all our students, is to make their secretarial skills attractive enough to employers that their investment in courses is liquidated by the increased pay they earn following graduation. It doesn’t always work out that way but that’s our goal.”
Pitman’s secretarial training methodology is different from that of a traditional college or school in that the lectures are pre-recorded, allowing students to study on a “drop-in” basis, much like a gym.
The student mentioned above found this the only way she could study because she was travelling and working shifts so a rigid timetable was impossible for her.
Once in the training centre, the student is supported by a team of friendly trainers who are on hand to help students whenever they get stuck, blocked or demotivated.
Elly Hyde, secretarial training manager at Holborn claims, “We try to give the students as much hand-holding as they need. It’s important that they are able to learn as quickly or as slowly as is comfortable for them and we never want them to feel that they are alone. We’re always here for them.”
Another important factor in such vocational training is that Pitman Training is open long hours which includes evenings till 8:00 pm and Saturdays, so secretarial training and indeed, bookkeeping courses, are available to students, even if they work shifts or are unable to attend regularly.
Shilpa Wymer concludes: “While £34,000 pa is exceptional for a first office job, the student was definitely worth it and over the years we have seen several students, particularly after completing our Executive PA course, earn even more than that.
It certainly makes a compelling reason to enrol on a secretarial training course with us!”
