Institution of Civil Engineers Career Appraisal Guidance

Career

Guidance
Appraisal
 Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3
What is a Career Appraisal? ................................................................................................. 3
Who can apply? .................................................................................................................... 3
Support from a mentor .......................................................................................................... 4
What do I have to send? ....................................................................................................... 4
Academic qualifications.................................................................................................. 4
Extended CV .................................................................................................................. 4
Attribute achievement form ............................................................................................ 5
Appendices .................................................................................................................... 5
Continuing professional development (CPD).................................................................. 5
Fee ................................................................................................................................ 5
Submitting your documents ............................................................................................ 6
Assessment and result .......................................................................................................... 6
If you can proceed to applying for the Professional Review ........................................... 6
If you’re asked for more information - resubmission ....................................................... 6
Demonstrating attributes at Professional Review ........................................................... 7
More information and support ............................................................................................... 7

2 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Registered charity no. 210252Scotland no. SC038629
 Introduction
A Career Appraisal is a way to complete your initial professional development (IPD).
This guide will take you through the process. It will help you find out if you’re eligible, tell you
how to apply and what you have to demonstrate.
It can be used by engineers who already have experience and would like to become a
Member of ICE (MICE) and to register as a Chartered (CEng) or Incorporated Engineer
(IEng). It can also be used by current IEng members wishing to progress to CEng via the
Chartered Professional Review Progressive route (see Who can apply, bottom of page 3).
If you want to become a Technician Member (MICE) and register as an Engineering
Technician (EngTech), you don’t need to do a Career Appraisal.

What is a Career Appraisal?

A Career Appraisal is a way for you to demonstrate the attributes that you’re required to
complete for your initial professional development (IPD).
You can achieve your IPD in three stages:
1. Knowledge – a basic understanding and knowledge of the attribute and how you
achieve it
2. Experience – achieving the attribute in different situations, working under supervision
3. Ability – achieving the attribute in different situations, assisting others and working
unsupervised
It’s normally used by engineers who haven’t been able to join an ICE Training Scheme,
Mentor-supported Training or have worked in the industry for some time but never applied
for a professional qualification.
You can apply by sending us an attribute achievement form, a CV and appendices, which
show that you have the same level of skill, knowledge and experience as someone who has
completed an ICE Training Agreement for the same grade of membership.
Once you’ve passed a Career Appraisal you can apply to sit the Professional Review.

Who can apply?

To apply for a Career Appraisal you must:
 Have the required academic qualifications (educational base) and experience for the
grade of membership you want to apply for
 Have enough experience to demonstrate how you have achieved the ICE attributes
for MICE only, IEng MICE or CEng MICE

Please note:
 If you have already completed the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Training
Scheme A for civil or geotechnical engineers, you should apply directly for Chartered
Professional Review

3 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
  If you are currently undertaking an ICE Training Agreement or are registered with IPD
Online to undertake Mentor-supported training, or HKIE training scheme A in the civil or
geotechnical discipline you cannot apply for a Career Appraisal. Please contact
career.appraisals@ice.org.uk for advice on your options.
 If you’re already professionally qualified as a civil engineer with another institution or in
another EU member state, you may be eligible to apply for recognition of that
qualification or directly for Professional Review instead. Please contact erp@ice.org.uk
with your CV and details of your professional qualification for advice.
 If you don’t hold any academic qualifications, you should make a stage 1 application for
Technical Report Review instead
 If you are already IEng MICE and wish to apply for a Chartered Professional Review you
can use the Career Appraisal to ‘top-up’ your IPD, providing you have the required
educational base. You only need to provide evidence against the CEng set of attributes,
when you complete the attribute achievement form

Support from a mentor

It’s a good idea to have a mentor to support and guide you through the Career Appraisal
process. Your mentor can be any senior engineer who is able – and can make the
commitment – to provide guidance. If possible, they should also be an ICE Member at the
equivalent grade or higher to grade you’re planning to apply for.
Your mentor should also, ideally, understand our procedures and standards so that they can
assess your competence and advise you on your submission. It’s also helpful if they’re
familiar with your work and can verify and sign your attribute achievement form.
It’s not compulsory to have a mentor, but it will strengthen your application because they can
verify the information in your attribute achievement form.

What do I have to send?

Your Career Appraisal submission should include:
 A Career Appraisal application form
 Certified copies of your academic qualifications
 An extended CV
 Attribute achievement form
 Appendices
 Continuing professional development (CPD) records
 A non-refundable fee (this is paid online)
You can find details on how to submit and format your documents at the end of this section.
Academic qualifications
We have to verify all qualifications as part of our internal audit process. This means we may
need to contact your university/college to check the authenticity of your qualification.
Extended CV
Your extended CV should be up to four A4 sides long. It should outline your employment
history and the main projects that you have worked on. It should focus on the roles you have
had and the experience you have gained. You need to demonstrate how you have
developed through your career and that you are now working at an appropriate level for the
grade of membership you are applying for.

4 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
 Attribute achievement form
How you demonstrate the attributes is the most important part of the Career Appraisal.
The attribute achievement form is used to record how you’ve achieved each attribute for the
level of membership you’d like to apply for. The form gives detailed advice on how to
demonstrate the attributes. Typically, we would expect to see between four and six
examples of each attribute.
The final page of the attribute achievement form should be signed and dated by your mentor.
If you don’t have a mentor, you can sign the form yourself.
Appendices
Appendices help to show the assessors examples of your work and the extent of your
experience. Where possible, they should be referenced to your attribute achievement form,
with hyperlinks. The appendices should contain no more than:
 Three drawings, which should be legible when printed at A3 size and relevant to your
attribute statements
 Twelve A4 sides of additional information, including any relevant calculations

Continuing professional development (CPD)

When you apply for your Career Appraisal, you’ll need to show a commitment to continuing
professional development CPD. You do this by submitting a current development action plan
(DAP) and a personal development record (PDR) for at least the last three years.
 Your development action plan (DAP) looks ahead and must contain your personal
development objectives for at least 12 months ahead
 Your personal development record (PDR) should describe all the formal and informal
training you’ve undertaken over the last three years or more. As a guide, you should
have at least 30 CPD hours per year

When you apply for a Career Appraisal, you should have achieved the following minimum
hours of CPD:
 90 hours CPD at Incorporated Engineer Member (IEng MICE) or Member (MICE)
grade
 180 hours for Chartered Engineer Member (CEng MICE)
This should include current formal training related to health, safety and welfare.
You can find out more in our CPD guidance document, which includes templates for your
DAP and PDR.
Fee
You need to pay a non-refundable fee before you send your documents. After you’ve paid
the fee online, you’ll be emailed a reference number, which you must include in your
application form.
You can find details of the fee on the fees page of our website.

5 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
 Submitting your documents
Your documents must be sent in the following format:
 One self-contained PDF file
 A4-sized (A3 is suitable for drawings if required)
 No larger than 10mb
 The filename must include your ICE member number or payment reference number,
initials and surname – for example, 62200093_J.B.BLOGGS
 Use an appropriate font and text size
Please ensure that the final document is printable and legible.
Once you’ve paid the fee, this file must be emailed to career.appraisals@ice.org.uk

Assessment and result

Career Appraisals are assessed once a month. Please view the key dates page of our
website for the monthly submission deadline dates and also an indication of when you
should receive your result. These dates will also guide you on when it will be possible for
you to apply for a Professional Review as you need to receive the result of your career
appraisal assessment and address any actions before you apply for a Professional Review.
Your application will be assessed by experienced ICE members and ICE staff, who will
decide whether your experience means you are ready to apply for Professional Review at
your preferred grade.
If you can proceed to applying for the Professional Review
If the assessors agree that you have enough experience and have completed your IPD,
you’ll get a letter, by email, to say you can proceed with a Professional Review application.
The letter may point out where your evidence of achieving the attributes wasn’t particularly
strong. These comments will help you prepare for the Professional Review, so you can
discuss them with your mentor and sponsors.
The Career Appraisal letter must be shown to the lead sponsor for your Professional Review
application who has to declare that they have seen it and that, if appropriate as far as they
can tell, you’ve addressed the assessors’ comments.
Your Career Appraisal letter must be submitted with your application for Professional Review
so your reviewers will see any comments in it.
If you’re asked for more information - resubmission
If the assessors decide that you haven’t given enough evidence to achieve each of the
attributes you will be asked to provide more information or to meet with your Membership
Recruitment Team to discuss your experience before sending the additional information.
Any extra information you submit will be assessed (at no additional cost) in the next batch of
Career Appraisals. The six-week assessment period will start from that cut-off date, which
may affect when you are able to apply for your Professional Review.
You’ll need to clearly list the changes and additional information that has been sent, or show
it in the margins of your revised documents.

6 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
 If you don’t submit the additional information within six months, you’ll also have to send all
the documents from your original Career Appraisal application. This must show how you’ve
addressed the assessors’ comments.
In certain cases you may be invited to meet with your Regional Support Team for advice on
your application before proceeding.
Demonstrating attributes at Professional Review
Passing a Career Appraisal means that you have the required qualifications and appropriate
experience to apply for your chosen grade of membership but it doesn’t guarantee your
success at a Professional Review.
At your Professional Review you’ll have to demonstrate the attributes on the day – in a
report, presentation, interview and written exercise.

More information and support

Our Membership Recruitment Teams (MRTs) can give you advice and guidance on all
aspects of your IPD.
If you are based in the UK, please email membershiprecruitment@ice.org.uk or call +44
(0)121 237 3648 / 3649 for help.
If you are based in Hong Kong, please email membership@icehk.org.hk for help.
If you are based anywhere else please email iceinternational@ice.org.uk or call (+44) 0207
665 2006 for help.
It’s a good idea to attend at least one Career Appraisal workshop before submitting your
documents. You can find out about workshops taking place in your area on the events page
of the ICE website. We also run live and recorded online seminars which provide guidance
on what you’re required to demonstrate and the process itself.

7 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
 Appendix A - Finding sponsors for your Professional
Review

When you eventually apply for Professional Review, you’ll need three sponsors to support
your application. These sponsors must meet particular requirements, which are explained in
the Professional Review sponsor questionnaire.
You don’t need to tell us who your sponsors are when you apply for a Career Appraisal, but
we recommend that you decide now who they will be. If you don’t have suitable sponsors
ready, your Professional Review application will be delayed considerably. If you have a
mentor to help with your career appraisal application, they should, if possible, be your lead
sponsor.
It is your personal responsibility as a candidate to identify suitable sponsors but this can
sometimes be a challenge, particularly for the lead sponsor, if you don’t work directly with
ICE members. If you don’t think you know anybody that meets the requirements, you should
first check whether any of your work colleagues or contacts are members, as they will
already have a good knowledge of you and your work. You can also use our members’
directory to check for ICE members by name, grade, location or employer.
Alternatively, you may need to start networking with ICE members, for example by attending
ICE events in your region. You can find out more about events near you on the regional
pages of our website.
If you can’t find any suitable sponsors after following the steps above, please contact
membership@ice.org.uk for advice.

8 Career Appraisal Guidance Institution

Institution of CivilofEngineers
Civil Engineers
M011 Version 1 Revision 11 – 23 November 2017 Scotland no. SC038629
Registered charity no. 210252
Career Appraisal Guidance
Institution of Civil Engineers

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