IAM Business Qualifications Help Specialist Admin Trainer To Upskill Administrative Professionals

Background

Adam Fidler has been teaching Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants and Business Support Staff since 2011. Championing the profession for increased professional recognition, he is also the author of the “EA Manifesto: What I Am” – a new definition of the role of the Executive Assiatant, which has over 90,000 views on social media alone. Adam strongly believes that EAs and PAs need to enhance their experience with formal qualifications and learning, which has lead him to deliver a number of best-selling programmes. These bring management training, and the topics that managers would learn, to the mainstream PA/EA audience in the UK. Alongside the increasing diversity of responsibilities that PAs, EAs and office professionals have, there is a shift for administrative professionals seeking training and development opportunities. 

As a qualified teacher, Adam felt there was a gap between “training” and “teaching” and says “I’m a teacher, first and foremost, and not a “trainer” – and there is a huge difference between the two”. 

The Solution

Whilst many of today’s EAs and PAs are graduates Adam wanted to be able to offer those that didn’t have the opportunity to do a degree when they started the role the chance to gain credible qualifications. Through the IAM’s close partnership with awarding body, Industry Qualifications (IQ) we can ensure that qualifications reflect content and knowledge relevant in today’s workplace. The IQ IAM business and admin qualifications give Adam the opportunity to offer students formal qualifications. 

Adam commented: “I had been aware of the IAM qualifications for many years and, quite simply, when I compared the specification and content of the Level 3 and Level 4 qualifications with my own material, there was an immediate synergy between my ethos and the content of the IAM qualifications”. Adam offers the IQ IAM Level 3 Award in Professional PA skills and the IQ IAM Level 4 Certificate in Office and Admin Management. 

The Outcome 

Many of Adams students completing his stand-alone courses now have the opportunity to continue their learning and complete a full qualification. In 2017 he also launched his EA Diploma which has additional bespoke units following on from the IAM qualification units, so learners are able to complete a formal Level 3 or 4 qualification and be taught additional units to prepare them even further and make them very desirable candidates in the current market place. 

Adam is looking to offer the IAM Level 5 Admin Diploma in 2019, so his Level 4 students are able to progress even further. 

Our General Manager says, “I love what Adam is doing with our qualifications and, having observed his teaching personally, I’m 100% happy to recommend him. There is a lot of talk in the profession around raising standards: this is where the rhetoric becomes reality. Any assistant or administrator who is serious about their professional and career development should complete these qualifications, and remember, if you are an IAM member you get a preferential rate.”

The IAM works in partnership with Awarding Body Industry Qualifications to provide input to content of our IQ-IAM regulated qualifications.