Please complete your application using our online Chartership application form.

Once you have completed your application, an email will be sent to you with a copy of your application, and a link for your Supporter to complete the online Supporter’s statement form. It is your responsibility to ensure they have all the relevant details to do this.

On receipt of your application and Supporter statement, an acknowledgement will be emailed to you. If your application is incomplete for any reason your interview may be postponed to a later date.

When your Assessors have reviewed your application we will let you know if you are ready to progress to the validation interview. Your Assessors will contact you to arrange the time and date of your interview, which is usually completed online. Please do not book time off until we have confirmed that your interview will go ahead.

The Assessors will determine if you have the necessary geoscience/science knowledge and competencies for the area of expertise in which you work. They will look to see that you have demonstrated the use of these competencies in the design and execution of projects, including the collection of data and their use in the development of predictive models and problem solving.

When your Assessors have reviewed your application, we will let you know if you are ready to progress to the validation interview. Your Assessors will then contact you to introduce themselves and arrange the time and date of your interview, which is usually completed online. Please do not book time off until we have confirmed that your interview will go ahead. If you think there might be a conflict of interest, contact the Chartership Officer promptly. The Chartership Officer will ensure that the conflict is resolved either by changing the interviewer(s) or through discussion.

Postponed applications

Having assessed your documentation, if the Assessors determine that it lacks sufficient evidence of your fulfilment of the Chartership competencies, they will request some additional information before agreeing to interview . In some cases, they may then formally Postpone the interview and provide more detailed feedback on what is needed to improve your application in future. This may be because the existing documents do not sufficiently demonstrate the Chartership competency criteria, or because they consider that you need to gain further professional experience before achieving all the competencies needed for Chartered status. Such requests are sent by the Chartership Officer on behalf of the Assessors, so a prompt response will avoid any delays in moving forward to interview.

If your application is delayed in progressing to interview stage, this is likely to delay your assessment and subsequent Chartership election date, which are aligned with the Council meetings. However, it is done to ensure that your best case for Chartership is made and all feedback aims to be helpful and constructive.

A short presentation

Prepare a short presentation (approximately 15 minutes) in which you showcase a project (or projects) or a piece of your work that demonstrates your fulfilment of the Chartership criteria. We recommend that you start preparing your presentation as soon as you have submitted your application, rather than waiting to be called forward for interview first. Although we aim to provide good notice of the interview date, this can sometimes be challenging to find a date that works for you as well as both Assessors.

The presentation could be a more in-depth aspect of one of your supporting documents, or a separate piece of work.

• Do focus your presentation on your best work as this will lead to a discussion around areas you are familiar.
• Do not simply repeat information that the Assessors have already read - such as your career history, or state the overview of the criteria.
• Do practice your presentation beforehand with your colleagues and get their opinions on how it might be improved.

The presentation will normally be done online using screen share. Please ensure that you are familiar with this feature on Teams or Zoom. It may be useful to do a trial run prior to the meeting to ensure your presentation runs smoothly.

Documents

Assessors may request that you bring to the interview a copy of any of your documents for proof or discussion.

For each document submitted, be sure you:

• have full and up-to-date knowledge of the information it contains
• can clearly state your role in the document production
• do not rely only on your memory of previous work

We are now predominantly conducting Chartership interviews online (usually Zoom or Microsoft Teams).

Approach the interview with a positive state of mind

Remember you already have a Supporter who believes you are ready for Chartership, and the Assessors have agreed that your application is now ready for the validation interview.

The interview should be a pleasant and positive experience although you should be prepared for searching questions. Remember that the Assessors are looking to determine what you know and how you are using your geoscience/science knowledge in your work.

Be confident, and show your enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge of any work that you describe.

The interview format

The interview is scheduled for a maximum of two hours, starting with a short (15-minute) presentation. The presentation provides you with an opportunity to showcase your geological or scientific competencies through an explanation of a particular piece (or pieces) of work.

For applicants with 20+ years’ experience, the Society recommends that a longer presentation is made at the start of the interview (approx. 30 minutes) to showcase a range of activities undertaken during their career, and which demonstrates the full range of Chartership competencies.

It also demonstrates your oral communication skills and serves to give the interview an initial focus. The presentation may, however, be extended through discussions with, and questions from the Assessors. The format will be agreed at the start of the interview.

In all instances remember that you are applying for CGeol or CSci. Focus on demonstrating how you meet the geoscientific or scientific Chartership competencies rather than your competency to do your job, which might involve other things.

As well as your two Assessors, you may also have an observer present at your interview. This person is usually a fellow Assessor who is attending for training purposes and will stay off camera and on mute once your interview is underway. Interviews are recorded for training and quality purposes, following consent from all persons in attendance.

Following the interview the Assessors will complete a post-interview report.

The report provides comments on your performance with respect to each of the Chartership competency criteria. For details of the criteria see the relevant guidance notes and regulations . The Assessors will use their experience and training as Chartership assessors, including their professional judgement, to determine whether you have adequately fulfilled the Chartership criteria. In their report, they will provide feedback for your continued future professional development.

The recommendation

The report will have one of three recommendations: ‘Accept’, ‘Defer’ or (exceptionally) ‘Accept subject to' further information

Accept

If your application is recommended for acceptance you will be elected to CGeol or CSci at the next Council meeting. The elections dates are here.

You will be informed of the outcome immediately after the Council meeting by email letter attachment from the Society’s President. This will include feedback from the Chartership Officer that contains the comments and advice from the Assessors.

Defer

If the recommendation is to defer your application you will be informed of this immediately following the Council meeting. Your application and the Assessors' reports will then be sent to two other Assessors for review. Once the review is completed you will receive a letter from the Chair of the Professional and Chartership Committee with the final decision. If the decision is upheld, the application will be deemed to have been unsuccessful on this occasion. The decision letter will contain an explanation of the Assessors’ reasons for their recommendation, and advice on how you might take things forward to a further application.

This review will be completed as soon as possible but may take several weeks to be completed thoroughly and following due process.

It is very important that unsuccessful applicants discuss with their Supporter and/or Mentor the advice provided by the Assessors in order to take on board the feedback and maximise their chances of success in a further application.

Accept subject to

The 'Accept subject to' recommendation is made if the Assessors believe your application is missing some information that you already have and which would justify your acceptance. You will be informed of what is required and will need to produce the information within a short period of time (maximum 4 weeks following the interview).

Please note that this may delay your election date.

In all instances the Chartership Officer will be happy to discuss your application and the advice provided by the Assessors.