How training can change your career

Training offers many benefits to employees and businesses. It provides reassurance to customers, while promoting professional development, generating additional skills and encouraging pride in the workplace.

For some of our auditors, training has had a significant impact on their careers. Making them not just better at their jobs, but opening the door to new careers and opportunities.

All auditors for BM TRADA product certification must attend and pass an IRCA-approved ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor course. IRCA (the International Register of Certificated Auditors) is the world’s original and largest international certification body for auditors of management systems and is a division of the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI).

Being IRCA certified means quality assurance. For any company looking to become ISO certified – whether to ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 14001, ISO 44001 or ISO 45001 - it is important to ensure the certification team is working to the highest standard.

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Lead Auditor Training 

Joe Pike, client manager at BM TRADA took the ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Training course in July 2019. With a background in quality assurance and ISO 9001, but no former auditing experience, this was a defining moment for Joe. He explains:

“It’s safe to say I wouldn’t be in the position I am now if it wasn’t for ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Training. It was the main reason that I got my job.

“I had spent seven years at Swan Mill Paper Company working in quality assurance, but I also spent four years in the army which meant I became part of the MOD’s Enhanced Learning Credits Scheme (ELC), which promotes lifelong learning and provides funding towards training courses. While researching new courses, I spotted the diploma in quality/ISO 9001. With a basic understanding of ISO 9001, I planned to do the diploma, then investigate the lead auditor course the following year. Without completing the diploma, I completed the lead auditor course and passed first time.

“I hadn’t expected to get a new job, but shortly after I passed the course, an external auditor suggested that I look into auditor roles. I applied for a job and the training played a big part in me being offered the position. While it was an investment to pay for the course, I made the money back well within six months due to the increased salary in my new role.”

As well as boosting career prospects, IRCA training such as the ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Training course also improves skills and demonstrates confidence and ability to be able to audit. Joe adds:

“As I’d done the training before working in an auditing role, it gave me a really strong footing. I passed my probation much quicker and easier than those in the same position who hadn’t yet done the training. It definitely put me one step ahead of my peers.

Philip Bushnell, also a client manager at BM TRADA, followed a very different path from Joe, but IRCA training had a similar effect on his career.

“I did the training in a bit of a backward manner,” explains Philip. “Unlike Joe, I already had auditor experience before doing the course, but I was unable to become an approved auditor because I didn’t have IRCA training. The course was interesting for me, because I already the practical skills before I learned it in a classroom. I found it incredibly helpful, providing me with a better understanding of the framework of the systems that we run and the impact of what we do.

“As with Joe, IRCA training gave me a brand-new direction. It not only provided me with the ability to carry out my role and made me a better auditor, it also acted as a full stop and new paragraph in my career. I’m ex-military, studied law and had spent 15 years in the fire service, so I had very specific skills. This training was a real turning point for me, making me eligible to apply for so many more jobs and led to me being successful in my current role. Now I’m back in the fire industry, but this time I’m on the preventative side of it – it’s the ideal job for me.”

The CQI and IRCA approved BM TRADA ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Training course is available at our High Wycombe premises. It comprises assessment during role-play, seminars, exercises, audit workshops and presentations, concluding with a two-hour written exam. Joe adds: “It was an intense five-day course, but it was interactive and really good fun. There were five of us taking part in the training and we all bounced off each other, which made it entertaining and enjoyable.”

For further information on our full range of training services, please click here. It could change your life!