By becoming a Chartership Assessor, you are taking another step in your own professional journey. Here are some of the benefits:
- Give back to the Earth sciences community;
- Demonstrate your seniority;
- Contribute to your CPD record to maintain Chartered status by reviewing applications;
- Expand your knowledge of the innovative work emerging throughout the sector;
- Gain valuable interview experience; and
- Enjoy networking opportunities with other experienced professionals.
An additional Assessor benefit is access to any online Geolsoc Training Course at a highly discounted rate. This rate is 75% off the full fee (or 50% of the advertised Fellows rate).
The benefit can be used once per year. This could be for one multi-part course, or for one single module, or for one-day/part-day course. Almost all our courses are online so a wide range of topics is available to you. All registered Assessors who undertake a Chartership volunteer role within the same calendar year are eligible. This role could be a Chartership application review, a defer review, taking part in the CPD audit or in the Chartership audit. Please contact us to take up the offer.
We are excited to be able to share this benefit with you from 2024, and thank you for your hard work in supporting the Chartership application and review process.
Chartered Fellows with over five years' experience post-Chartership, or with a considerable number of years' experience pre Chartership, are encouraged to apply to join the panel.
To apply, you must be a current Society Fellow and have held CGeol or CSci status for at least five years (but fewer for those very experienced prior to gaining Chartership).
Maintaining your CPD records is a mandatory requirement to keep up your Chartered status, even if this was not the case when you originally attained Chartership. Our guide to CPD is here.
Training is provided, including regular workshops with other Assessors. Details are available from the Chartership Officer.
Apply using the online application form below. You will need to include a short CV and your latest two-year CPD record.
Chartership application deadlines are four times a year and the Chartership Officer assigns the Assessors in pairs to each candidate. Assessors review the application documents and make their decision to proceed to interview stage.
The validation interviews are generally carried out online, and the Assessors pass their recommendation to the Professional and Chartership Committee via the Chartership Officer.
Most assessors aim to commit to one review per year, or as many as you are willing to undertake. On average, the time taken to carry out an application review is ~8-10 hours including the evaluation of documents, completion of review forms and the online interview itself.
If you have any questions, please contact the Chartership Officer [email protected].
Guidance documents about being a Chartership Assessor are below.
1. What is the timeline for carrying out an application review?
Once you have received the application pack, you usually have four to six weeks to complete the pre-interview form. During this time, there will be an interim deadline for requesting any additional information from the candidate if needed, to determine whether candidate is ready for interview stage.
During this time, we identify a provisional interview schedule within the interview window, which is usually three weeks. At the end of the window, the Chartership Officer collates the recommendations to present to the Professional & Chartership Committee.
Overall, assessors have approximately two months from receiving the application pack to completing the interview and reporting.
It is important that assessors adhere to the advertised review schedule when they commit to undertaking a review, in order to complete all reviews/interviews on time, and so candidates can be provided with sufficient notice of their interview slot.
The total time inputs by assessors for carrying out a documentation review and interview (one to two hours), as well as completing the pre-interview and post interview forms is estimated at eight to ten hours in most cases.
2. How do I decide if the candidate is ready for interview stage?
In your pre-interview form, following the review of the documents, you should be reasonably confident that the candidate is likely to be recommended for Chartership, scoring 'C' for each of the criteria.
If you think there are any gaps that might be readily addressed by the candidate, please ask the Chartership Office to provide a clear request to the candidate for them to provide additional information.
3. How do I request additional information from the candidate?
In the pre-interview form, you can list the information you are requesting in the relevant section, and the Chartership Office will pass it on to the candidate. Alternatively, you can email us, and we will pass this on.
We do not share the identities of the assessors with the candidate until the interview is arranged, for assessor safeguarding. Therefore, all communications with the candidate are undertaken via the Chartership Office.
4. How do I organise an interview?
You will be contacted by the Chartership Office to provide your availability during the interview window. A provisional (placeholder) time/date will be arranged whilst you are still completing your review so that everyone can plan ahead. If you decide to proceed to interview, the Chartership Office will set up the interview. If you decide to Postpone the application, we will advise the candidate and cancel the placeholder appointments.
5. Are all the interviews online?
Our interviews are now primarily conducted online via Zoom or Teams. If any candidate or assessor requires an in-person interview in relation to EDIA needs, please let us know at the earliest opportunity so that we can help facilitate this.
6. What if I'm unavailable on the interview date?
We aim to accommodate everyone's availability. If an interview has been scheduled and you can no longer make it, please contact us immediately so we can make new arrangements.
7. What are the supporting documents for?
The Supporting Documents are the portfolio by which the candidate demonstrates their evidence for meeting the Chartership competency criteria.
8. Is an M-level equivalence report (MLER) the same as a candidate having a Master's?
The MLER is for those candidates who have not completed a Master's level qualification (UK QAA Level 7), and it aims to demonstrate that they have gained the same level of technical knowledge difficulty through their experience in their professional career.
9. Do retrospective applications need interviews?
Retrospective applications are those made by candidates within two years of being awarded a Geolsoc professional qualification i.e. CGeol candidate who previously gained CSci or vice versa.
These candidates do not need a further interview, and their competencies are assessed based on only their submitted information, some of which is updated material from the initial application.
As a new assessor, you will first undertake one or more observer roles during an online interview to become familiar with the assessors' approach to the interview process. We also hold Chartership Assessor training events, in which we provide updates and guidance to our registered Assessors on the application review process, and give the opportunity for Assessors to convene to:
- share their review experiences;
- discuss benchmark standards for Chartership within their areas of expertise;
- highlight best practices and great examples; and
- exchange ideas on review and interview approaches.
The next online Assessor training events are:
Please register well in advance of the event so that we will be able to issue you with any study materials in advance of the session, to help you get the most out of the training.
We welcome new assessors to join our training – please apply to become an assessor and be approved on the register before signing up for training.