Join through CIPD Experience Assessment

CIPD membership is globally recognised in the people profession. You’ll be joining a thriving community of almost 160,000 members. Membership showcases your knowledge, behaviours and impact in today’s workplace. Whilst demonstrating your commitment to the highest professional standards.

We’re your career partner, whether you’re just starting out or you’re working in a senior position. Being a member means we’re here to encourage your development and learning. Ensuring you’re professionally recognised for your skills and abilities. It will also boost your career prospects and earning potential. Whilst giving you access to a range of exclusive member benefits. Adding value to your day-to-day work.

What are the different membership levels and what do they mean?

• Associate Membership is for people professionals whose work is operational with some complexity. You’re beginning to contribute your thinking to people issues and solutions.
• Chartered Membership is for people professionals who work strategically and operationally with some complexity. You’re actively driving and managing change to meet your organisation’s needs.
• Chartered Fellowship is for people professionals who combine strategic insight and people expertise with commercial acumen. Focused on changing the way organisations think about their people and have long-term impact.

How do I achieve a higher level of membership?

CIPD offers several paths for progressing your membership. Try our handy decision tree for guidance on the right path for you.

Are you a current Chartered or Associate Member with an Advanced Diploma?

If yes, you may be able to use our easy upgrade process. 

If no, try our comprehensive decision tree for guidance on your next steps.

To discover if Experience Assessment is right for you and if so at which membership level, try our online pre-assessment. It's free and only takes 10 minutes to complete. The tool provides you with an immediate outcome and can help you identify development areas. You can use the tool as many times as you like. Test out the different membership levels to see where your experience best fits and if EA could work for you.

If – based on your responses in the pre-assessment tool - it looks like you have the right experience, it's up to you. Decide if you'd like to continue to the full assessment. We'll let you know what to do next once you've completed the online pre-assessment. 

Is Experience Assessment different to a CIPD qualification?

Yes. The key difference is that studying for one of our qualifications is all about learning and gaining knowledge.  If you do this successfully, you’ll get a CIPD qualification which will give you a membership outcome. 

Whereas the Experience Assessment route is purely an assessment of what you've already done in your career over the past five years, and the impact you've made. You're assessed against our membership standards. If successful, you’ll gain professional accreditation through our CIPD membership.

We know that qualifications aren't right for everyone. We designed Experience Assessment for those who have already gained work experience. It's for people who want to gain recognition and accreditation for their on-the-job learning, rather than a qualification.

To help you decide what’s right for you, why not try our decision tree. It will help guide you through what we offer depending on where you are in your career.

Can I use my international experience and/or qualifications in Experience Assessment?

Yes, you can use your international experience. All relevant people practitioner experience from the last 5 years can be shared through the assessment process.  This does not need to be specific to the UK or gained whilst working in the UK. Hundreds of global candidates have successfully used our Experience Assessment route. Gaining membership to join our global membership community of nearly 160,000 members.

There are no current exemptions applied in our Experience Assessment route for prior academic study or qualifications. We assess you on the primary evidence you share during the assessment process. (These are examples of your work and the impact it's had.)

You will need sufficient literacy skills to complete Experience Assessment and achieve CIPD accreditation. (If English is not your first language, you’ll need to have an English level equivalent to International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test minimum score of 6.5 / TOEFL 79 - 93 IBT score. IELTS have over 900 test centres around the world. You can book a test here.)

To achieve the membership level you’re looking for you’ll need to meet the membership standards for that level. These are based on our Profession Map. 

The Experience Assessment route to membership uses an assessment of your people practitioner work over the past five years to assess your knowledge and behaviours across the key areas of people, work and change.

The assessment has two parts:

1. Written submissions via an online portal. Here we’ll ask you to share a range of examples of your work to answer questions on people, work and change. You will also ask two stakeholders to give feedback, this is easy for them to do via the online portal.
2. Professional Discussion. This is a 2–2.5 hour video discussion with a CIPD assessor, where they will explore your evidence with you. It’s a great way to showcase your work and impact as a people practitioner.

What do the written submissions involve?

We understand that you’re keen to know what sorts of questions we’ll ask you and what we’re looking for in a response. The important thing to remember is that all questions asked relate directly to the membership standards. And we're looking to see evidence of you being an expert in people, work and change and that your work has had impact.

We ask different questions according to which membership level you’re looking to achieve. The questions will explore the scope and complexity of evidence we’re looking for to meet the membership standards.

What do we mean by 'evidence'?

This is you sharing examples of your work, quite simply, what you’ve done (within the last 5 years) and the impact it has had.

The written submissions are a range of questions on people, work and change. It is not essay style, but shorter responses of typically around 200–250 words per question. 

An example of a sample question on 'Change' at Chartered Member level.

Q: Tell us about a time when you've taken a leading role in planning and implementing change that has had medium term impact.

We also provide you with some prompts to help you answer the question and be clear on what we are looking for in your response.

Experience Assessment is not about showcasing your knowledge of academic research or theoretical models or concepts. It’s primarily about you sharing your evidence with us by answering a series of questions. It’s about using your work experience and being able to demonstrate the impact this work has had.

Knowledge and Impact report

Demonstrate your expertise in people, work and change, and show how your work has made an impact.

Behaviour report

Demonstrate the behaviours needed to be principles-led, evidence-based and outcomes-driven.

Your professional development

Reflect on your strengths and potential areas for progress. And show how your professional development is refining the way you work.

Stakeholder feedback

Provide feedback from two people you work with.

Can I do it online?

Yes. You upload your written submission (the first part of the assessment) to our on-line portal. And we run the Professional Discussion as an online interview, often via MS Teams.

How long will it take?

Candidates complete our Experience Assessment route in around three to four months.

You’ll have eight weeks to complete your written submissions. And the Professional Discussion takes around 2–2.5 hours.

Candidates typically need to be able to invest around five to seven days to complete the assessment.

Experience Assessment Example Timeline

By successfully completing Experience Assessment you'll gain professional accreditation through our CIPD membership. You'll join or progress within our thriving professional community. We'll post a membership certificate to you. And you can use the relevant designation after your name. As part of your membership, you'll have access to a whole host of CIPD membership benefits.

Remember, the Experience Assessment route does not give you a qualification. This route is an assessment of what you've already done in your career over the last five years, so there's no studying involved.

What are the pass rates?

We understand that investing in our Experience Assessment route to gain CIPD membership is a big commitment. Thanks to our online pre-assessment, over 96% of all candidates gain the membership level they were looking for. On completion of the full assessment, candidates are delighted to join our ever-growing people professional community.

What if I don’t meet the minimum result?

We do have a very small percentage of candidates who don't meet the membership standards for the membership level they were looking for. In this instance, where possible, your assessor will review your evidence against the membership standards for the grade below. If your evidence meets these standards, that level of membership may be awarded.

Where this happens, or in instances where we’re unable to award a level of membership, you’ll receive a personal feedback report. The report covers areas of strength and those for development. Together with suggestions to build into your continuing professional development.

We want to give you every chance to successfully complete Experience Assessment. We've developed a complete range of support tools and experience assessment tips to help you every step of the way. On starting your Experience Assessment journey you’ll receive a comprehensive Candidate Guidance pack. This guides you step by step through the assessment process. This includes full details of each stage of the assessment and a planner to help you manage your time. It also includes examples of the types of evidence we’re looking for and the impact you've had. You'll also find helpful resources and FAQs on the online portal. 

If you feel you'd like some additional 1-2-1 support, why not invest in a 1-hour coaching call? (Note: there’s an additional charge for this service.) One of our assessors will discuss your evidence with you, give feedback and answer any questions you have. Additional services can be found here.

Join the Experience Assessment Community group for peer-to-peer support throughout your assessment.

Reasonable adjustments

Please let us know if you need reasonable adjustments. Complete the reasonable adjustments section of the registration form. We’re committed to supporting all candidates through their Experience Assessment journey. We aim to do everything possible to give you the best chance of a successful outcome. A dedicated assessor will contact you to chat through what adjustments you may need and how best we can accommodate these.

Our aim is that the Experience Assessment route to membership is inclusive and accessible to all people practitioners. We work with all candidates as individuals and with sensitivity.