Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Nothing significant to report from site, where there is a bit of a hiatus as paperwork catches up to progress and the design office where I am writing up results of surveys. However in the sidelines I am now Chartered, as a manager. So I thought it worthy of a blog.

For those who haven’t seen 2014DIN07-093, here it is hosted from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) website.

http://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Angela%20Media%20Library/pdfs/Armed%20forces/Defence%20Instructions%20and%20Notices%202014DIN07-093v3.pdf

The offer runs out in April 2016, though new direction may/may have come out. This DIN allows you to apply for a qualification from either the CMI or the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). I elected for a level 5 certificate in Management and Leadership from the CMI, which came with a year’s free membership. I elected to go with the CMI qualification as it led towards Chartering through the CMI’s fast track route and I thought that this would be a good way of demonstrating management capability in the future. Clearly I am now on the hook for both future management CPD and further professional fees, but at present I see it as complimentary to my engineering development. It also provides another independent verification on elements of competencies C – E.

I have to say the application process underwhelmed me; I put a couple of evenings into my 1200 word application form and was told I would be informed within 10 days. This turned out to be less than 24 hours which either says there was a super fast-track approval system where they see the words ‘Army Captain’ and reached for the ‘Tick VG’ stamp. When comparing the system to Chartering as an Engineer the two biggest differences are:

• Education: A level 5 certificate is clearly significantly lower than a Masters degree. This is true in volume when one considers finishing phase 1 of PET would count as a certificate. It is also true in level of thinking, with a Masters sitting at level 7 in the NVQ scale; I’m sure everyone is familiar with the term ‘Masters level learning’ by now…
• Application and interview. Whether it is the 1,000 words for the CMI, 3,000 for IMechE or 6,000+ for the ICE the form is about demonstrating applying theory into practice, experience and lying about keeping up a CPD record. The interview though I think is very different though, because of the lying piece. I spent a bit of time putting together my application but without seeing me how can the CMI verify it was me that wrote the application form or even did the work. It makes it difficult to maintain a standard.

I have not looked into any other industries to see what their requirements are but I think, unlike George Orwell’s animals, all Charters weren’t created equal. To track back to engineering the American equivalent of CEng is P.E., simply Professional Engineer. This is considered a licence and like most professional licences is administered at State level. The prerequisites are a Batchelor’s Degree and 4 years of experience. Then you are able to take the PE exam, this is a 4-hour morning paper followed by the same in the afternoon. This appears to have scarred the people in my office to an equivalent degree to Ex Longreach or Worst Encounter as it often pops up in conversation. So as far as comparing the UK and US approaches they appear equivalent to me as I think, without seeing a copy of the paper, that it will be at ‘Master’s Level’. That said, I would say that the PET course has caused me to be far more analytical as a result of writing TMRs and AERs, something I wouldn’t have got from a big exam.

Conscious that I haven’t given Mike any pictures yet, one thing that is better over here is you can buy a PE bumper sticker:

If you want one get your bids in…

In other news, don’t go to New York City in December, it is full of people. As you can see below even Picasso’s goat is unimpressed with the crowds.