We caught up with our Assessment Team Manager, Nevra Sezgin, to find out what a typical day is like for her, what she finds most challenging and rewarding, and the single piece of advice she would give to someone studying for an ILM Award.

What’s your main role at Impellus?

I am the Assessment Team Manager.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

I like helping people, whether that's people in my team and people that I work with or learners that are doing the ILM Awards. Often people that are doing the ILM Award haven't studied or written essays since they've left school or university so to suddenly be doing one again could be quite daunting. They do in fact have all the tools and knowledge they need to complete the assignments that they must do as part of the Award but sometimes they don't know how to answer the questions or put their knowledge into words on paper. So, I like to help them do that, help them understand the questions on the assignments and ultimately to help them pass.

What’s most challenging?

Keeping my concentration levels up when I am reading several long assignments in a row. The assignments range from about 4,000 words up to 15,000 words!  Balancing this with the other responsibilities I have as the Assessment Team Manager can be quite tricky when there are lots of deadlines that need to be met.

Briefly describe a typical day or week.

I start my day by looking at emails, feedback requests, submissions and queries from learners to make sure I get to anything particularly important first. I usually have a couple of meetings every day, learner work and I work on my own projects. My day and my week are always planned out with all the things I have to do but I always leave time for things that pop up during the day. My team and I keep in touch all day on Microsoft Teams which helps us to discuss and share anything we need to. Although we work remotely, it’s nice to know there is always someone around to help or get advice from.

What single piece of advice would you give to someone studying for an ILM Award to maximise their chances of success?

Start early, don’t leave things to the last minute, and get in touch with the Assessment Team at the beginning. We are a team of helpful, friendly and knowledgeable people and we are here to help every step of the way on your ILM journey.