When the Government announced in last month that it planned to shed another 8,700 roles from the core public service over the next three years, my thoughts went immediately to the people behind that number.
Sometimes you simply need a way to get across what's changed, refresh what you know and recharge your confidence.
So whether you're returning, regrouping, retraining or simply ready for a change, you're very welcome here – and you'll find the training and professional development you need to move forward with confidence.
Because 8,700 jobs means thousands of people facing decisions they hadn't necessarily planned to make. What next? Where next? Is my experience still relevant? What has changed? What do I need to know now?
And this didn’t happen in isolation. It followed earlier rounds of public sector cuts and redundancies elsewhere, with many experienced professionals already finding themselves job searching in a difficult market.
Some of them have joined us at PR Knowledge Hub.
Over the years, people have come through our courses while between jobs, after redundancy, returning from career breaks, retraining or simply trying to work out what their next professional chapter might look like. Many have been women returning after time away. What everyone has in common is that they're backing themselves – often quite literally, because they're paying for their own professional development.
Being out of the workforce for a while doesn't erase your experience, judgement or capability. Losing a job doesn't suddenly make you less good at what you do. But practice moves quickly. AI alone has altered aspects of our work at extraordinary speed, alongside changes in digital practice, data, reputation, risk, crisis, engagement and the expectations organisations and communities place on us.
Sometimes you simply need a way to get across what's changed, refresh what you know and recharge your confidence.
So this is your reminder that the Back Yourself Pathway is there to guide you forwards.
It isn't a separate or remedial programme. Every PR Knowledge Hub course is suitable for Back Yourself learners. The courses I've highlighted in the pathway are simply a starting point – a flavour of areas you might want to refresh, recharge or get up to speed with as you prepare for whatever comes next.
And you don't have to spend anything to get started.
The PR Knowledge Hub Briefing Room has free reports, resources and readings, while this blog - Think Forward, the PR Knowledge Hub blog - explores the ideas, developments and challenges affecting practice.
If you want to go further, you can choose an individual course or back yourself with a subscription that gives you 12 months' access to learning across the programme. Take it at your own pace, dip in when you need something or feast on the learning and get yourself ready to go.
Affordability is critical when the training budget is coming out of your own pocket. Accessibility is vital too when you need to carve out time to move yourself forward. Both of those considerations have been at the centre of my thinking when designing and building the PR Knowledge Hub Learning Centre.
So whether you're returning, regrouping, retraining or simply ready for a change, you're very welcome here – and you'll find the training and professional development you need to move forward with confidence.
Back yourself. You've already done the hard part of building the experience.