ICE Chartered Professional review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

ICE Chartered Professional Review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

Introduction
The focus of this workshop is on the traditional training agreement route that I followed. However I will touch upon the career appraisal route (many of the steps are the same). Firstly, the whole process isnt as bad as it looks on paper! However you need to be organised and be prepared to sacrifice some free time in order to succeed.

Steps to get Chartered (in a perfect world)

Please note that these steps are relevant to taking the CPR this year. The ICE have a habit of changing the system/requirements, so please check the website/ask the MDO. 1. Get a relevant university degree DONE. 2. Sign up to a training agreement with Arup where your Delegated Engineer (DE) and Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE) are assigned. 3. Do your quarterly reports. 4. Regularly fill in your Development Objectives (DO) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) record. 5. Meet with your SCE (at least once a year) and fill in the ICE 3144 form. 6. Make sure you have a broad range of CPD (attend more courses if necessary) you need ICE events. 7. After approximately 3 years you should be in a position to sign-off your training agreement with your SCE (a completed ICE 3144 form). 8. For the Career Appraisal (CA) you need to do self-managed professional development and then complete your career appraisal using ICE Form 3126, with the ICE then signing you off (see MGN 11). This takes the ICE approximately 8 weeks. You still need to achieve the Development Objectives, 15 days CPD, and have a Development Action Plan. You also need to create a 2000 word Experience Report in order to apply. 9. Send the ICE 3144 form to the Membership Development Officer (MDO) for signature/completion. 10. Join a Written Assignment group. 11. Try the Preparing for the ICE Professional Review Arup Short Course and the Symmons Madge ICE Written Assignment Course (http://www.symmonsmadge.co.uk/courses/course-details.php?id=141). 12. Begin to prepare for the Chartered Professional Review (CPR) check the Key Dates (http://www.ice.org.uk/joining/joining_keydates.asp). 13. Create drafts of your Project Report and Experience Report. 14. Pull together relevant information for the Appendices of the reports. 15. Prepare your CPD record (you need 30 days by this time) and Development Action Plan (DAP) use the last page of your Arup Appraisals for the DAP. 16. Arrange three sponsors (it is good if your lead sponsor was your SCE) the lead sponsor must be an ICE Member. 17. Send of the application to the ICE (or deliver it by hand), which includes three copies of: a. CPR application form (ICE 3103 form); b. Sponsors Questionnaire (ICE 3123 form) one from each sponsor; c. One page summary of each report; d. Certified copy of your degree certificate; e. Certified copy of your Training Review Completion Certificate (ICE 3144 form) OR Career Appraisal letter; and f. Included the correct fee currently 235! 18. Create the issue version of the Project Report, Experience Report and CPD/DAP report. 19. Prepare the 15 minute presentation and generally revise/prepare. 20. Practise the Written Assignment under timed conditions (remember it is open book so prepare documents to take in with you). 21. Send off your submission to both reviewers two clear weekends before the interview, this includes: a. Cover letter b. Stamped addressed envelope for confirmation they received it
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ICE Chartered Professional review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

c. Copy of your Project Report, Experience Report and CPD/DAP report d. Passport photo of yourself 22. Do a mock interview (or two!), including the presentation. 23. Have the interview and Written Assignment. 24. Keep your fingers crossed for the results!

Useful Information
You need at least 5days of CPD per year. 4-5 ICE events a year is recommended. 1 day of CPD = 6 hours. CPD record is the same as your Personal Development Record (PDR). 25% of Applications are incorrect, so double check it. Also double check the submission as it looks very unprofessional otherwise (it is their first impression of you). The pass rate for CPR is typically around 75-80%, with 1200 candidates a year taking it. In autumn 2008 Arup London had 35 candidates, the average age was 28.9 years and the pass rate was 77%. The reviewers have a meeting every year where they focus on a key topic that they think the candidates have been weak on. That translates to them asking more questions about that key topic in the interview. This year it was Engineering Principles, previously it has been Health and Safety, Sustainability There is a 1kg weight limit on your submission. Stick to it because they check! You must make sure the submission (reports) gets to your reviewers two clear weekends before your review. You must arrive 30 minutes before the interview and the Written Assignment. You will spend about 80% of the interview talking, with the reviewers only doing 20%. The interview is your 15 minute presentation followed by a 1 hour Q&A/discussion. Try to write at least 1200 words in the Written Assignment. You can write it as a report rather than an essay, i.e. use headings, short paragraphs etc., because we all write reports at work, so it is more familiar. The Written Assignment is 2 hours long, suggested timings: 5 mins Choose best question 15-20 mins Think, plan 5 mins Write outline plan 80-85 mins Write it stick to your plan 10 mins Check and re-read Appendix A Attributes (you must satisfy all of them and they relate to the DOs): Engineering Knowledge & Understanding Engineering Application Management & Leadership Independent Judgement & Responsibility Commercial Ability Health Safety & Welfare Sustainable Development Interpersonal skills and Communication Professional Commitment

My best tips (some of which I didnt do, but you should!)

General BE PREPARED and START EARLY, you will be less stressed. Make a programme and try to stick to it. Unfortunately you will get stressed and have a moment of panic! Talk to someone and break down the steps into manageable chunks. It is all do able. Gather PDFs/files/hard copies of relevant documents NOW. Use Google to find ICE documents and parts of the website. Refer to other peoples letters, documents etc. to ease you along the process. It is one of the only times when you get to be totally self promotinguse I did NEVER We did in the reports, presentation, interviewThey know what you

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ICE Chartered Professional review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

company can do, they want to know what YOU can do and what your involvement was. I found this wasnt natural and therefore it was very easy to say We did. Be aware of the requirements for H&S and Sustainability read MGN 20 and MGN 24. I would say H&S, Sustainability and Contracts awareness dont come naturally to us in Arup, but they are key requirements of the CPR, so gem up on them a lot. Use the Appendix A attributes table to split up your preparation, topics to cover in your report etc. Also try to use these words in the reports and interview. Know your projects inside out. Save back-ups of your reports etc. all the time and in several places. They only know what you tell them. DONT put anything in your submission you arent comfortable getting quizzed on in the interview

During training agreement Do your quarterly reports, it will make the whole preparation process much easier. Sign off your training agreement as soon as possible. Be bold with your DE/SCE. Some things you will be put back on, but you never know.

Application Give your sponsors plenty of time and make sure they are going to be around. Keep pestering them. The application deadline is a fantastic way of forcing out the drafts of your reports. Prepare the letters, forms, application documents early, so there is less stress as the deadline approaches. Note that the application date is quite far in advance of the review date and you only have a one week window in which to apply.

Reports Get your reports reviewed by as many people as possible (both junior and senior staff, technical and non-technical people). Try to get at least one person to read your very first draft and also the final version (it a good independent comparison/check). You can do the reports double sided, it looks good (sustainability) and means you cut down on weight. Within your Project Report mention what you are going to cover in your presentation (if you can be that organised). I found the Project Report easier to write and did that first. The Experience Report has a very limited word count and typically takes a lot of time to decide what to say but then be able to say it concisely. I found the reports to be the hardest part of the whole process and very time consuming.

Submission Prepare the letters etc. early, so there is less stress as the deadline approaches. Dont send it registered post as then they have to sign for it. Just use a Record of Postage from the Post Office and include a postcard or stamped addressed envelope, addressed to yourself asking the reviewers to post it back to you on receipt of the submission. It gives you piece of mind. Pulling together the issue version of your report takes a lot long than you think. Factor in this time.

Preparation Ask a lot of questions to people you have worked with. Practise, practise, practise. This is especially relevant to the presentation and written assignment, but also the interview. Try to find out what the reviewers do, i.e. their background, big projects their company are involved in. At all costs do a mock interview. It is much better to get flustered and mess up the answers in the mock than on the day.
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ICE Chartered Professional review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

Read current affairs as well as the NCE. You need to be aware of what is going on outside of your direct experience (including outside of Civil Engineering!). E.g. economy and politics, as well as Crossrail and Structural Engineering. Keep a note of questions people ask you (e.g. in the mock interview or when they commented on your reports). If you can answer them all you are doing well.

Presentation Remember that the presentation should add to the Project Report, not re-iterate the same things. DONT do the presentation on a laptop. Use a flipchart style, A4 size. Add in a few tabs/pages that you dont talk about in the presentation or might want to refer to in the interview. It might jog to reviewers into asking you questions about them (which you will already be prepared for).

Interview Make the review day as stress free as possible. Maybe stay nearby, plan your journey, even do a reconnaissance trip! Remember that the reviews hand you back your reports, so you have a lot to carry around with you afterwards. The interview is in a room with others doing their interviews, so it can be noisy, but can also go quiet all of a sudden. The tables are small with the two reviewers on one side and you on the other. It is up close and personal. The interviewers are very very hard to read. DONT let them get you flustered. They played good cop, bad cop very well! No trick questions, but they are purposely creating a difficult environment to see how you react. You are not supposed to be able to answer everything, just have an opinion. Be ready to sketch in the interview. Think about preparing some sketches. Be quiet while sketching, it slows down the interview and gives you time to think, but it is what engineers do and so it looks good.

Written Assignment Use the ICE to join a Written Assignment group, they set this up every 6 months. Try to join it about a year before you plan to sit the review and meet every week otherwise people drop out. Do at least one written assignment practise under timed conditions so you know what its like. Then read it back to yourselfit will tailor your preparation. Dont take too much open book material into the Written Assignment, you wont look at it and cant carry it all. Prepare a folder and thats all you take in. The Symmons Madge Course folder is a good place to start. I found it very easy to do the Written Assignment on the laptop and would recommend it (See MGN 23). It is easy to change things around, make corrections, review it and do a word count. It is also what we are use to at work rather than writing 1200 words by hand. The Written Assignment should be a tidy first draft. You must do a plan and submit it. The plan can help you if you run out of time. You must use clear English and check your spelling. Revert to bullet points of you do run out of time.

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ICE Chartered Professional review Workshop

Jonathan Chew (25/06/2009)

Things other people told me

They are looking for reasons to pass you, not fail you. Be confident in the interview, not arrogant. Would the candidate when in a position of responsibility make the right decision. Its all about your problem solving and lessons learnt. Decisions made by you. Candidates must demonstrate Independent Engineering and Professional Judgement. Chartered Engineers should be: Good communicators; Have broad technical knowledge; Self motivated; Observant and aware; Curious; Clear thinkers (and lateral thinkers); Articulate; Inspire confidence; and A leader or future leader. The chance of success is inversely proportional to the weight of your Appendices. Dont waste your presentation, its your chance to shine. You dont get interrupted. Make sure all the Checked boxes are filled in on calculations within your Appendices. The interview is about the depth and speed of your responses, be articulate, clear thinking, a good communicator. The reviewers have never reviewed together before, but will have discussed you before the review and have planned questions. There is always a lead reviewer (typically a FICE). Typical questions: What if Would you do the same way again? How can this be improved? What are the important factors to be learnt? What lessons are there to be learnt? Why do you want to be a Member of the ICE? What do you want to do when you get Chartered? The Experience Report explains how you developed, where the Project Report demonstrates that you are already at the Chartered Engineer level. Just write the draft of your reports cut them down later. Behave like a professional in the interview dress smart, engage them. When the interview is finished leave quickly, dont hang around!

Useful Links
ICE Key Dates: http://www.ice.org.uk/joining/joining_keydates.asp ICE Membership Downloads page: http://www.ice.org.uk/joining/joining_downloads.asp ICE MGN 0 list of all ICE documents: http://www.ice.org.uk/joining/document_details.asp?Docu_id=1304&intPage=1&fac ulty

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