What makes a good APC program?

Passing your APC and becoming Chartered is key to progressing your career and developing your earning potential. APC should be 1st on your list when choosing which company you are going to spend these all-important first years with.

Your starting salary or the cachet of working for a company with a prestigious name may seem important at first but in all my years recruiting Surveyors for companies across the country, there is nothing that is valued more on an applicant’s CV than those 5 letters… MRICS.

Becoming chartered is the goal and working hard within a company that can offer a good breadth of experience alongside a strong APC program is the key to reaching that goal.

So, what makes a good APC program?

"Structure and support is key, graduates need allocated question and answer time on their APC each week, an expert training adviser and quarterly assessments, etc.".

Peter Roberts from Currie & Brown is a Chartered Building Surveyor who has received specific APC Supervisor training. He then went on to say that,

Having a structure in place will become more and more important as surveyors become higher in demand and they have a choice of companies to go to

The APC is hard work and requires self-motivation and a lot of input from you but if you don’t have support then this will become a whole lot harder, more stressful and could swamp you.

So, what's on offer?

When discussing a new job with a small Chartered Building Surveying practice in Petersfield, I asked what their APC program looked like and was impressed by how complete it was, especially when compared to the offerings from some of the prestigious “names” in the industry.

Below is their offering and IMHO this could be the ultimate APC program, they offer: -

• A Wide range of project and professional work
• Guidance with competencies
• An APC supervisor and mentor who is accessible whenever you need advice
• Study days
• Workshops for presentation or case study
• Mock assessments
• Help from internal assessors and colleagues who have recently passed
• Paid RICS fees
• Paid CPD, training and networking events run by the RICS
• They will even pay for a hotel when training takes you away for any length of time!

This is an APC program that fully empowers you to achieve your APC within 2 years, but remember that you must be proactive. Chartered status is highly valued and like anything important in life it is hard to achieve and requires real effort. To get the best of your employer you will need to evaluate your own progress; if you don’t believe you are getting sufficient experience to achieve the required competencies, raise the matter with your line manager and APC supervisor. It may be that you can be moved to a different project or get involved with a different type of work.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the APC, whether it is positive steps that your employer has taken or situations where you haven’t received the support that you were led to believe you would receive.

If you’re in a situation where you’re not receiving the support you need, feel free to contact me directly as I would love to help – roger@hdsurveyors.com

About me:

I am the founding Director of HD Surveyors Ltd, specialising in bespoke job searches for Building Surveyors and Quantity Surveyors across London and the South East. Please get in touch if you would like some advice or if you're considering a move in the future.