David Shilston issues a call to experienced CGeols & CScis to become Scrutineers
Chartership is gaining momentum across the profession and we are receiving a growing number of applications. This success is putting pressure on our panel of Scrutineers. Can you help the Society?
PANEL
About 10% of the Chartered Fellowship are represented on our Scrutineers Panel, and to date this has been sufficient to deal with the numbers of applications and their range of expertise. Some juggling is involved as, for each application, we must find two Scrutineers with expertise matching that of the applicant, and who are suitably located for an interview session.
For the November 2013 interviews in London we had to contact virtually all Scrutineers in the South East offering Engineering Geology and/or Contaminated Land as a speciality, in order to deal with the large number of applications in these areas. As one might expect, only around half of those contacted were able to help, because of prior commitments. We need to add to our Scrutineers Panel!
If you are already a Scrutineer but have not been contacted recently, then you may have fallen through our net. Please contact the Fellowship Office to ensure that we have your correct details on file (Janine Benn, direct dial: +44 (0)20 7432 0971).
Any CGeol or CSci who has been Chartered for more than four years, or who has more than 10 years’ experience before becoming Chartered, is eligible to become a Scrutineer. Please go to the Society website and look under ‘Chartership’ and ‘Professional’ to find a link to ‘Scrutineers’ where you will find the job description and a short application form that provides us with your contact details and area(s) of expertise.
Should you wish to have more information or have any queries then contact Bill Gaskarth, our Chartership Officer (07916 138631), who will be happy to help and receive offers of help. Bill will arrange for Scrutineer training in association with the Regional Groups if we are able to attract good numbers.
The Geological Society is fortunate to enjoy a great deal of goodwill among the Fellowship, allowing us to hold Chartership interviews regularly. We are also grateful to Scrutineers’ many employing companies for their generosity in allowing them time out. We must not ask Scrutineers for help too often – not more than once a year, ideally. But to achieve this we will need to recruit about twice the number of scrutineers currently on our books.
I know from personal experience that being a Scrutineer is highly rewarding. You meet fellow Scrutineers, exchange views and experiences, and get to know applicants as they take an important career step, secure in the knowledge that you are contributing in a very tangible way to the strength of our Society.