82 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 4 CAREER PROGRESSION EMILIA McDONALD As chair of the South branch and a trustee of the IHBC, I am often asked by members and prospective members what help the institute can give with training and career progression. Affiliates are usually most interested in progression to full membership, while full members tend to be more concerned with the ongoing CPD requirements of membership and how to get the best, most relevant CPD training with limited time and money. This article aims to provide some useful tips and pointers to help members achieve these goals. BEFORE APPLYING FOR FULL MEMBERSHIP Firstly and most importantly, check that you are eligible. Usually applicants who have passed an IHBCrecognised conservation course need to have then completed a minimum of two years in practice to reach the level of skill and experience required to meet the competence thresholds. For those who have not studied a recognised course, we recommend five years in practice, as this allows time to get to grips with the philosophies and context of conservation and to build up practical competences. People often ask whether they can apply early. However, we would advise against this as, in our experience, people who apply early are not usually able to fulfil the requirements. If you want to apply for full membership at the earliest opportunity, start working up examples and case studies which demonstrate your competences early on. Keep a log of the work that you have done, recording suitable examples of your experience under each of the competence headings (see page 10), as this may help you to resolve any potential problems. For example, if you lack experience under the Research, Recording and Analysis competence, see if you can find a CPD course on building recording or characterisation (you’ll find regularly updated online events listings at www.ihbc.org.uk/ events and www.buildingconservation. com/events/events.php). You could also volunteer with a building preservation trust or local history society and help them with a research project, or undertake a building analysis project or conservation area appraisal with a suitably experienced colleague. By systematically working through the eight competences in this way, you will ensure that by the time you have completed the minimum number of years in practice you will have plenty of examples of work which demonstrate the required competences. COMPLETING THE TESTIMONIAL Achieving full membership can be as much about overcoming the psychological fear of the application form as about demonstrating competences. The first stage is to read the guidance on pages 5-6 of the form. The new guidance tables are extremely useful as they provide advice on the kind of information that is required but also because they demonstrate that the institute is not looking for a ‘perfect score’ in every category. Of course it would be nice to notch up ‘expert’ status in all eight of the identified competences (see table, below right), but that is likely to be a tall order. In fact, all that is required is the middle of the road ‘Capable’ category to be reached and, depending upon the nature of your work and experience, you may even find that ‘Capable’ or ‘Skilled’ in a number of the competences, combined with ‘Aware’ in the other areas, is sufficient to progress to full membership. The only category that we need to avoid completely is ‘Unaware’. When you fill in the form you might want to start with the competences that you are most comfortable and confident with, those where you are aiming for ‘Skilled’ or ‘Expert’. You could start by noting down in a few bullet points things you associate with that competence. For example, if you were tackling Legislation and Policy, you might note down the various guidance documents and pieces of legislation that you use regularly. If you work in a local planning department in England, you might use the National Planning Policy Framework on a daily basis when dealing with planning applications, or the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. What about some local policies, such as your area’s local plan or local Branch-level CPD: an IHBC South East branch visit to Grade I listed Hadlow Tower (1838) near Tonbridge, Kent. The subject of a 2010 compulsory purchase order, the tower has been converted into holiday accommodation by the Vivat Trust with financial assistance from the HLF. (Photo: Peter Mills)
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