by Alan Melvin RICS Scotland Training Advisor

One of the benefits of the APC/ATC is that it ensures a steady stream of effective chartered surveyors who work their way up through organisations.  The system also provides opportunities for newly qualified people to exercise their management skills as supervisors.

If you are newly qualified and are asked to become a supervisor, you have a great advantage, in that you recently went through the process, and know what is involved.  But you will want to check to see what administrative refinements have been introduced since you got qualified.  Rely on your candidate to brief you on this.

You will want to emulate the example of your own supervisor in providing regular, active support and encouragement to your candidate.  You will strive to create relevant opportunities, but you will not let your candidate proceed to be assessed by the counsellor until you are convinced that anticipated competence has been achieved, and the candidate’s paperwork is up to date.

Many firms see the benefit of giving newly qualified people limited management responsibility  by making them responsible for a specific competence.  But there is no reason why a newly qualified person should not take on the full supervisor role, bearing in mind that they are working under the supervision of the counsellor, and the role is clearly defined in the Guide.

Whether newly qualified or not, if you are asked to become a supervisor, take the time to study the Guides to see the administrative requirements.  The Pathway Guide reminds you of what each competence means, and gives you a reassurance that your interpretation is generally the correct one.  Then ask your candidate to brief you on the procedures and requirements.  What does your firm’s Structured Training Agreement say about which competencies are deemed relevant and achievable?

How competent does your new candidate think they are?  How competent do you and the counsellor think they are?  Once this has been established, you can help to devise a strategy and programme that will get the candidate to final assessment.  The strategy will be based on your firm’s Structured Training policy.  Make sure that it is up to date, then use it and the procedures as a suite of management tools. 

The programme will reflect the opportunities that you can give the candidate.  RICS has devised a procedure that is achievable in 24 months, but you must target specific milestones that will get a candidate to final submission as soon as possible.  Use the programme at each quarterly meeting, and amend it as necessary so that it can be used by the candidate as a management tool.

If you give the candidate the experience defined in the competency definition, and ensure that they have the knowledge and attitudes that they need to be a chartered surveyor, then you should be able to sign them off at relevant quarterly review meetings.  But if you are not satisfied that a competency level has been met, it is easier for you to say “no” if you and the candidate refer to the definition.

Finally, if you are new at this, try and persuade the counsellor to sit in on the first few review meetings, and just because you sign the candidate off at Level 1 doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go back to check that they really do have the ‘up to date and developing knowledge of (relevant) legal and technical matters’ that is referred to in the APC/ATC Objectives in the Guide.

Acting as supervisor is responsible work, but if you do it properly, your reputation, and that of your firm  will be enhanced, and someone will say of you “that person helped me to get qualified.”.

Members in Scotland can contact me at A.Melvin@Napier.ac.uk. Others should seek out their local training advisor.