Making an advance

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Just over 15 years ago, our new century was still in its infancy. The Queen was celebrating her Golden Jubilee, Arsenal beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final and Ford stopped manufacturing at its Dagenham car plant. Meanwhile, in the more specialised world of market research, the Market Research Society launched its Advanced Certificate qualification. 

It was the start of what’s turned out to be the MRS’s biggest qualification – a vocational equivalent of an undergraduate degree. Taking about a year to complete, it’s become the benchmark for competence in the research sector. Today, up to 400 people take it each year and, since its launch, 6,500 candidates across 40 countries have studied for it. But what about those who were there at the start? What do they remember of it and how have their careers developed since they started to study in 2002?

Martin Wootton was at RS Consulting, and he is still at the same business – only, now, its called Breaking Blue and he’s research director. For Wootton, as for many who study for the qualification, the Advanced Certificate was part of the agency’s graduate trainee scheme. 

“It had a weekly graduate training schedule for the first two years, during which you learned the basics, and it ran in tandem with the MRS. So you were sent on the summer school, and were expected to take the MRS diploma and certificate alongside our own work,” he says.

Doing the course on top of his day job was, Wootton says, surprisingly easy, because it fitted so closely with what he was doing. “A lot of the qualification was directly relevant to a project I’d just done. I could see why they wanted me to look at this – I was already aware of the complications and the issue. It’s very much learning on the job, and the summer schools were good for speaking to people outside of the company,” he adds.

Dema Metreweli is now head of business insight at BT, and sat the Advanced Certificate while working in BT’s research team on its web channel. Metreweli had started in marketing, but decided that was “a bit fluffy”, so moved into market and customer research. Once there, her manager was very supportive of her doing the certificate – but what does she remember about the studying? 

“I recall it being in the dying days of paper-based training – I was frequently lugging a large file around with me, including on holiday. As well as my day job, I had a toddler and a baby on the way – so studying required good time planning,” she explains. “But, as I was at the start of my market research career, I viewed it as an opportunity to be more effective at work, and a timesaver overall. 

“An abiding memory is taking the exam at a university in East London, nine months pregnant on a very hot day, and being told the exam room was on the 9th floor and the lift was broken! I spent the exam praying that the baby wouldn’t decide to make an appearance before I’d managed to get back home.”

Andrew Dalglish, now managing director of Circle Research, was at BPRI, WPP’s specialist B2B research division in 2002. “I pushed to study for the Advanced Certificate shortly after I got through the door for three reasons: I like learning; I recognised that if I was going to be an expert in research, I needed to have a solid understanding of the core principles; and I thought it would benefit my career prospects,” he says.

Dalglish found it demanding to fit study around life working in an agency, but by pencilling in a set time each evening he could make steady progress without it becoming overwhelming. “I’d advise anyone studying for it to keep in mind the idea of short-term sacrifice for long-term gain,” he says.

So perhaps the most important question of all – has it helped people’s careers?

Shehnaz Hansraj, head of research at Viking Cruises, says that although employers were less aware of it back then, doing the Advanced Certificate gave her valuable confidence in her ability early in her career. 

“I joined forces with a fellow colleague on the assignment – we had so much fun bringing together our different perspectives when working on our assignment entry,” she remembers. 

Metreweli also sees it as an excellent starter in terms of the tools and techniques needed. “I think it helped me get my career off the ground and build credibility more quickly. It also got me back into studying and learning; I’ve done a few things since, including other MRS courses, Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications and another degree.”

Dalglish agrees that it can be a boost to your career. “As I could design quality research projects early on in my career, I quickly became trusted to write proposals – and, with that, came ownership of the project and the client relationship. These are tasks normally reserved for the upper echelons of an agency, so I quickly progressed through the ranks. The certificate also demonstrates to an employer that you take your work, and the way in which you represent their brand, seriously. That oils the promotional wheels,” he says. 

Having letters after your name sets you apart, argues Wootton. He always encourages graduates to do it and Breaking Blue is an accredited centre for sitting the exam. “It’s the one thing you can do to have an academic view of research. There are a lot of people in the industry – great researchers – who have learned on the job, sometimes at the expense of a more academic view. The theory behind it complements what you learn day to day,” he says.

Would it make a difference to him when hiring? “It might separate two close candidates. You have to put in the extra hours outside the office to study for it. It shows you’re a go-getter.”