When the PSMG collaborated with Cambridge Marketing College to create the world’s only CIM endorsed Professional Diploma for Professional Services Marketing it had two clear aims – to create a bespoke programme that addressed the particular needs and issues faced by marketers in our sector and to put in place a dual qualification recognising the requirement for a transferrable CIM diploma as well as a focused professional services award.

Three years later this strategy has paid off handsomely with well over one hundred delegates either enrolled on or having completed the programme.

For employers too there are huge benefits to be realised by investing in the development of their marketing team; including enhanced skills, increased motivation, improved retention and uplifted morale.

The diploma requires that delegates apply best-practice theory to the real-life situations faced by their organisations. Consequently, delegates learn much more about their firm and the environment in which it operates. By proposing plans to address issues or capitalise on opportunities, they are able to make direct and meaningful suggestions as to how the business might develop. With senior management mentoring, these ideas may find their way from the pages of an assignment into a real-life marketing debate.

However, from the delegate’s perspective, does any of this really make any difference to career progression or attractiveness to potential employers?

I put this question to Tim Skipper of First Counsel, a leading recruiter of marketers in the legal sector. His response sends a clear message: “Without any doubt, in an increasingly competitive job market, those candidates with relevant qualifications focused on the professional services market are at a distinct advantage, whether seeking internal promotion or a new challenge with a new firm.”