Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Senior professional assessment

candidate guidance
August 2015

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Published by: RICS, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3AD.

All rights in this publication, including full copyright or publishing right,
content and design, are owned by RICS, except where otherwise described.
Any dispute arising out of this publication is subject to the law and
jurisdiction of England and Wales

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Contents
Section 1
Introduction

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Section 2
The Assessment of Professional Competence

05

08
The objectives of the APC ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................08
Choosing your competencies ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................09
The mandatory competencies .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
The technical competencies ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
What you have to do ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10

Section 3
The requirements

..................................................................................................................................................................................

11
CV ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
Case studies .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
Professional development .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Conduct rules, ethics and professional practice .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section 4
The final assessment

13
Invite to the final assessment ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
The panel ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Structure of the interview ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Special needs and disabilities ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Outcome of the interview ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Notification of the outcome................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
Referral (not succeeding your final assessment) .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14
Appeal (before and after the final assessment) .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15

Section 5
Where to find help

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

16

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section one

Introduction
Are you eligible to apply?

To encourage greater diversity and recognise career achievement,

RICS offers an assessment to membership specifically designed for
senior professionals.

Check the following criteria.

Senior professionals may be either:

leaders, operating at a senior level within an organisation, exercising

extensive leadership and management skills or

expert specialists, recognised for their depth of knowledge and

expertise in their specialist area.

Experience and status

You may be both senior in management terms and an acknowledged expert

in a technical field. However, your application should identify which one is
your particular strength.

If you are senior in terms of high-level leadership and management,

your assessment will focus on management skills

If you are senior in terms of specialist expertise the focus of your

assessment will be on your technical specialism.

10 years of relevant
experience, and now
in a senior industry
position, either in terms of
management responsibility
or acknowledged expert
specialist status.

Your experience is reduced to five

years if you hold:

a first degree and higher

degree (one of the two should be
surveying related); OR

a PhD; OR

a relevant Master Degree

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section one

Checklist 1: senior management position

Checklist 2: expert status

Indicator

Indicator

Position in the organisation structure

Position in your organisation (title, function,

who else in the organisation has your level
of knowledge)

Managing resources (extent, amount, type)

Publications (articles in journals, technical

authorship)

Decision making (level, impact)

Record of specialist consultancy work

e.g. Architects, Engineers

Managing people (level, numbers)

Record as expert speaker at high level

conferences

International dimension

Used by other professional bodies as an

adviser, author, board member

Client base (type, profile)

Exceptional technical knowledge and

expertise relating to a particular building
material or construction method

Recognition (peers, professional organisations, etc)

If none of the above, are there other indicators specific
to you?

What does senior mean?

There is no simple definition of senior: much depends on the world region,
market or technical area you operate in, and the nature and size of your
organisation. For this reason each application is reviewed by RICS prior
to you being approved onto the assessment. They look for indicators such as:

leadership and management of people and resources, at a strategic level

career progression

If you are a sole practitioner, the size and type of your contracts/
client base.

If you are an expert specialist, your application should show outputs that
demonstrate this, and/or third-party confirmation. Examples of an expert
could include someone with exceptional technical knowledge and expertise
relating to a particular building material or construction method, or a valuer
acknowledged as the authority on an unusual asset type, also in some
markets professionals such as architects, engineers, consultants etc who
are operating at a high level in RICS pathways.
Note: you should not expect all of these to apply to you. This is just a guideline.

The following are two checklists that will help you decide whether you are
likely to be eligible to apply for the assessment. They are not exhaustive
lists but simply examples to help you focus on whether this is a suitable
assessment for you, and help you prepare your application.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section one

If you would like to apply for the senior professional assessment to

membership, please send your CV to the National Association of your
country of residence Your CV must include details of your academic
qualifications, membership of any relevant professional organisations and
a brief career history.

You should attach an organisation chart to your CV. In addition, clearly

outline your position within the organisation and describe your roles
and responsibilities.

Assessment of Professional Competence

The Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) is the process by
which RICS ensures you are competent to be a member of RICS.
This guide should be read in conjunction with the APC requirements and
competencies guide, which your local RICS office will have already sent
to you.

RICS will review your CV and will let you know whether you meet the criteria
of this assessment. If so:

An account in MyAPC (the online APC portal) will be opened for you
by your local RICS staff member once your assessment to membership
has been confirmed

You will be sent an automated message from the online portal,

called MyAPC

You will be invited to complete the APC Passport (application form

on line) available in MyAPC

You must complete the APC passport application, including:

competencies declaration for your chosen APC pathway

contact details

upload your academic certificates

counsellor details

pay the required application fee

NB: You must appoint a counsellor, to help you prepare in the best possible
circumstances for the final assessment. A counsellor must be a chartered
surveyor and is usually (but does not have to be) appointed at your workplace.
Your APC passport application will not be approved unless your counsellor has
signed your application to confirm he/she is willing to act as your counsellor.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section two

The Assessment of Professional Competence

The objectives of the APC

In addition, you must also demonstrate that you:

Each surveying discipline is covered by a professional group within RICS.

The RICS qualification covers many different professional disciplines
in land, property and construction. For each discipline, the pathway
concerned has identified the set of competencies you must achieve before
you can become a chartered surveyor (a competency is a statement
of the capabilities required to perform a specific role). These sets of
competencies are known as pathways. If, for example, you are employed
within building surveying, you will follow the building surveying pathway,
which comprises the competencies required for that role.

Are a good ambassador for the profession, RICS and your employer
(if applicable)

Are aware of the professional and commercial implications of your work

Understand your clients and employers objectives

Have an up-to-date knowledge of legal and technical matters relevant

to the work you do and the law of the region or country in which you
practise.

RICS will consider whether you meet the requirements to become a

member by ensuring that you:

Have learned to apply your theoretical knowledge through professional

experience

Have achieved a level of understanding and application of the skills

that form the knowledge base of your chosen pathway

Are aware of the need to pay attention to accuracy and detail to

safeguard the interests of employers and clients

Can communicate effectively orally and in writing

Act in accordance with RICS rules of conduct, possess the highest

level of professional integrity and objectivity, and recognise your
duties to clients, employers and the community.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section two

Choosing your competencies

The APC pathways are as follows:

Arts and antiques

A competency is a statement of the capabilities required to perform

a specific role and is based upon APC behaviours, knowledge, skills and
attitudes. RICS competencies, detailed in the APC requirements and
competencies guide are written in 3 levels of expertise:

Building control

Built Infrastructure

Building surveying

Commercial property practice

Level 1 Knowledge and understanding

Environment

Level 2 Application of knowledge and understanding

Level 3 Reasoned advice and/or depth of technical knowledge
Each pathway requires you to demonstrate three types of competency:

Mandatory competencies personal, inter-personal, and business

skills common to all membership assessments and compulsory for all
candidates

Facilities management

Geomatics (including hydrographic)

Infrastructure

Management consultancy

Minerals and waste management

Core competencies which are compulsory and relate to the primary

skills of your chosen faculty

Planning and development

Project management

Optional competencies which are chosen by you as additional skill

requirements for your chosen pathway.

Property finance and investment

Quantity surveying and construction

In addition, candidates following the senior management option must

demonstrate competence in leadership, managing people and managing
resources to level 2. This will form an important component of your
pre-interview documents and the final assessment.
NB : Those Senior Professionals who are following the senior expert option do
not need to complete the additional management and leadership competencies
as above.

Research
Residential
Rural

Taxation allowances

Valuation

Valuation businesses and Intangible Assets

Please note : The APC pathway you select is the designation you will be awarded if
you are successful at the final assessment. eg. if you select Valuation, you will be
awarded the designation - Chartered Valuation surveyor.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section two

The mandatory competencies

What you have to do

These competencies are a mix of the professional practice, interpersonal,

business and management skills that are considered common to, and
necessary for, all surveyors. These competencies are compulsory for
all candidates.
You must achieve the following minimum standards:

Once you have been accepted for this assessment and your APC passport
has been approved you will be asked to submit various pre assessment
submissions and attend an interview at which a panel of RICS members will
discuss your experience and form a judgement on whether you are competent
to practise as a member of RICS.

to level 3

Prior to the interview the submissions you will be expected to complete and
upload onto your MyAPC account as follows:

Details of the continued professional development you have undertaken

during the last three years

A CV of experience relevant to the technical and mandatory skills required

by RICS

Three 500-word case studies. Alternatively you may substitute up to a

maximum of two case studies with published articles or presentations
before the interview. You should limit each document, wherever possible,
to 500 words.

Conduct rules, ethics and professional practice

to level 2

Client care

Communication and negotiation

Health and safety

to level 1

Accounting principles and procedures

Business planning

Conflict avoidance, management and dispute resolution procedures

Data management

If you have worked in more than one country, at least one case study must
be based on a project in the country in which you are being assessed.
You will have to demonstrate that you have met both the mandatory as well
as the technical competencies required by your chosen pathway and satisfy
the interview panel that you are aware of, and intend to act in accordance
with, RICS ethics, professional identity and accountability.

Sustainability
Teamworking

In preparation for the interview the panel will consider your submissions.
These will form the basis of the discussions. The objective of the interview
is to allow the panel to decide whether you are competent to practise as a
member of RICS.

The technical competencies

For each APC pathway, specific technical competencies must be achieved.
These are divided into core and optional.
It is important that you give careful thought to your choice and
combination of competencies. The combination of core and optional
competencies will reflect the work you do in your day-to-day environment
(driven by the needs of your employer/clients). At the final assessment
interview, the assessors will take these choices into account and will
consider their appropriateness.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

10

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section three

The requirements
CV
The CV you submit at application will form part of your final assessment
submissions. It will include details of your academic qualifications,
membership of any relevant professional organisations and a brief career
history. You will need to demonstrate your experience relevant to the
technical and mandatory skills required by RICS.

If you are being assessed on the basis of expert status, at least one case
study should focus specifically on your area of key technical expertise.
It should show the extent to which you personally provided professional
advice in your specialist area which was essential to the outcome of the
project, and which could have been given by few others.
You are recommended to adopt the following format for each case study:

A brief overview of the key issues

Although senior professional assessment applicants are likely to be

concentrating either on management and leadership or on their area of
specialist expertise, RICS need to be assured that you have a reasonable
breadth and level of experience, consistent with a professional level of
practice. RICS strongly advise you to read your pathway guide in detail in
preparation for your interview.

Your role / personal involvement

An outline of some of the problems faced and the experience you have
used to resolve these problems

A note of the outcome and successful delivery with emphasis on the role
you played.

If you are approved for interview on the basis of management/leadership,

your rsum must reflect your experience in three extra competencies:
leadership, managing people, and managing resources (excluding
human resources). If you are approved for interview on the basis of
expert specialist status, your rsum must identify which of the technical
competencies cover(s) your area of special expertise.

These reports will add to and enhance the information provided in your CV.

Your 10-minute personal introduction at the final assessment interview

will be based on your CV.

You may replace up to two case studies with published articles or

presentations dating from a maximum of three years before the interview.
You should keep, wherever possible, to 500 words for each. Articles should
have been published in a professional journal or relevant trade publication.
Presentations should be selected only if they were given by you as part
of a structured event for fellow professionals. Articles and presentations
should relate to the competencies of your chosen pathway.
You will need to complete your case studies and when they are completed
and you should upload them as pdf (only) onto your online MyAPC account.

Case studies
You will be asked to submit three 500-word case studies based on projects
you have worked on.

Reminder: one of your case studies must be on a project in the country you
are being assessed in.

If you are being assessed on the basis of management and leadership,

at least one of your case studies must focus on the management and
leadership competencies. You are recommended to select projects in
which you have played a leading role in terms of strategy, management,
decision-making, problem-solving and client relationship management.
It may well be the case that the detailed technical work of the project was
dealt with by employees or contractors under your supervision.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

11

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section three

Continued Professional
Development

Conduct rules, ethics and

professional practice

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an important part of

professional identity and is a requirement for RICS members.

There will be a major emphasis on professional practice in the interview.

Your CPD records should clearly demonstrate how your learning is

appropriate. It should show how you have continued to develop your skills,
and how you have organised and structured your learning to suit your
circumstances. It should show how you have demonstrated your CPD to
meet your own professional needs; sourced specific activities under the
plan; and reflected on the learning outcomes.
The ongoing requirement for RICS members is 60 hours over a three year
period. During the interview, part of the discussion will focus on CPD that
you have been involved in during the last three years.
The templates to complete your continued professional developed are
stored online in your MyAPC account.

This is one of the most important areas for a senior professional

candidate. The interviewers will place great importance on
this competency.
You must be able to demonstrate:

knowledge and understanding of the role and significance of RICS

and its functions

an appreciation of your personal professional role and societys

expectations of professional practice

an understanding of RICS Rules of Conduct and Regulations, including

the general principles of law and the legal system, as applicable in your
country of practice.

In particular, you will be asked questions about business ethics. You

must do your research on the RICS rules and ethics as if you do not
demonstrate a good understanding of the ethics, you will be referred
at final assessment.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

12

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section four

The Final Assessment

Invite to Final Assessment

The panel

Final Assessments sessions are set at different periods throughout

the year, and differ from region to region. You will be invited to the final
assessment by your local RICS office but you are also advised to check
the website for dates so you can plan and prepare well in advance of
your interview.

During the interview you will spend 60 minutes with a panel, made
up of minimum two RICS members who are trained to assess senior
professional assessment candidates.

You will be sent an invite email with details of when you can apply for
the final assessment and you must ensure you have completed all of
the necessary requirements to apply (eg completed your APC passport,
paid your fees, uploaded your case studies and CPD) within the required
timeframes you are given (otherwise your final assessment interview will
be deferred till later on in the year).
Once your submissions have being uploaded, you will be allocated a final
assessment date and time through your MyAPC account. Your local RICS
office may also email you separately confirming your date and time.
Important note: Please ensure you take the time to go through your submissions
with your counsellor and you proof read everything. You must only submit and
upload your submissions once you and your counsellor are confident they are
of good quality. The assessors will not accept poorly written submissions and
do have the right to refuse poor submissions, which will result in your final
assessment being deferred.

If you are not ready and need to postpone your final assessment, contact
your local RICS office immediately. Failure to do so and not attending the
final assessment will result in RICS having to charge you a no-show fee.

Structure of the interview

The interview will last for 60 minutes and will follow this structure:
Chairmans opening and introductions

5 minutes

Your personal introduction where you will be

given the opportunity to brief the panel on your
background and career history, based on the CV
you submitted

10 minutes

Discussion of your case studies or published

articles/presentations and wider experience to
include leadership, managing people and resources,
or on your specialist expertise and particularly
professional ethics

40 minutes

Panels closing remarks where you will be given the

opportunity for any final comments or clarification.

5 minutes

Total

60 minutes

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

13

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section four

Notification of the outcome

During the interview you will be expected to demonstrate that you:

Have wide experience as an experienced professional

Meet the competency requirements of your chosen pathway, with an

emphasis on leadership, managing people and resources OR a deep
knowledge in your area of expertise

Have a high level of understanding of professional ethics.

You will be advised of the outcome by the panel chairman. This will be
followed by formal confirmation from the relevant National Association
within 21 days. This will include confirmation of the election date of when
you will be formally elected as a professional member of RICS (MRICS)
(usually approximately 2-3 weeks from your interview).

Special needs and disabilities

Following this, a formal election pack will be sent to you, including:

RICS will be responsive to candidates with special needs or disabilities.

It will do its utmost to ensure that suitable arrangements are made to
assist candidates. It is, therefore, essential that you give suitable notice
to RICS of any special needs or disabilities you have, to ensure appropriate
assistance is available at the final assessment.

A new membership card with your MRICS designation

Outcome of the interview

Following the interview the panel will review your experience and will
reach a conclusion. In broad terms the weighting placed on the various
components of the final assessment is as follows:
Mandatory competencies (of which 25% should be applied
to leadership, managing people and resources OR for expert
specialists, your responses on your specialist technical area)

50%

Technical competencies

25%

Ethics, professional identity and accountability

25%

Welcome letter from the President of RICS

*An election invoice detailing the election fees you need to pay.
* Please note: In addition to the original APC application fees you paid at
registration, once you are elected as a professional member into RICS
you will be required to pay further fees.

If you are successful, you will be able to apply to become a Fellow of

RICS (FRICS). For further information on this please contact your local
RICS office.

Referral (not succeeding the final

assessment)
In the event of a referral (not succeeding the final assessment) the panel
chairman will arrange to discuss the outcome with you in more detail,
giving guidance on areas of concern so that you will be better prepared for
a future assessment. You will also receive a formal referral report within
21 days that will help you address any deficiencies for your re assessment.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

14

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section four

To be eligible for re-assessment you must provide the following documents:

the original record of professional development and any CPD undertaken

since final assessment

the original resume

the 3 case studies (redrafted or updated if required in the referral report)
the referral report
a report stating what you have done to address the shortcomings
identified in the referral report
pay a re sit fee before you are entitled to re-sit.

Appeals
After final assessment
If you are referred after your final assessment, you have 10 days from the
date of the results letter received from your National Association to appeal.
You must contact your local group immediately after your final assessment
result, if you wish to appeal, who will then provide you with the information
on how you can appeal.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

15

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC)

Section five

Where to find help

Completing the APC carries with it responsibility and commitment.
Extensive support and guidance are available for candidates and
employers. If you need any help during the training period please contact
the National Association of your country of residence.

Senior professional assessment candidate guidance

16

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