I recently spoke with David Parr, one of our PRAs, who told me his one piece of advice to all candidates applying for professional registration is:

 

“Always have your application looked over by a PRA.”

 

Professional registration advisors (PRAs) are volunteers with detailed knowledge of the professional registration requirements who give their time to instruct registrants and potential registrants to advise on the presentation aspect of making a formal application for CEng, IEng, EngTech and ICTTech.

 

With some simple preparation you can ensure that you can not only get their advice on your application but can also make the most of the assistance they can give. 



When to contact a PRA?

 

Whilst you can contact a PRA at anytime, it is best to seek advice when you think you might be ready to apply.  You may have been working for a number of years and progressed to a level of seniority or have completed a period of structured professional development such as an initial professional development scheme, or may be working toward professional registration using Career Manager and have reached Practitioner level in your self-assessment of competence.

 

What should I do before I contact a PRA?

 

Before getting in touch with a PRA, you should review the list of commonly asked questions about professional registration and carefully read the guidance notes which accompany your application as this may answer some of the questions you have around the application process.

 

If you are using Career Manager to make an application then we also recommend that you read the quick guide for preparing an application for professional registration or register onto one of our webinars.  You can also read our recent blog How To Send A Professional Registration Application To a PRA For Review in Career Manager soyou know how to export your records.



What to send to a PRA?

 

You can find the details of a local PRA on the IET website at: www.theiet.org/advice. 



An advisor will be able to offer more helpful advice if you attach a partially or fully completed application form, or an up-to-date CV with specific questions you'd like to have answered to your request. 



If you are sending an application form you don’t need to fill in all of the sections of the application form but should outline your responses and highlight any areas to the PRA that you’re having particular difficulty with.  You should also ensure that you read the guidance that accompanies the form as this explains how you should complete each of the sections.



How long will it take for the PRA to respond?



Our advisors are volunteers who give freely of their time and may not always be able to offer an immediate response.  The IET understand that you may be keen to progress with your application but we ask that you only contact one PRA and give them time to consider your application and give you an informed response. All of our PRAs are volunteers, if you have not had a response from the PRA after two weeks you should contact the registration and standards support unit (RSSU) for assistance.

 

Finally, I asked David what his top five tips as a PRA were for making the best case possible for professional registration:

 

“1. Lots of "I did this" and "I did that" in section J. No "we did this/that".

2, Presentation is as important as content. Use the same font/size as that used on the application form.

3. Don't include any extra attachments - follow the instructions to the letter.

4, Keep section J to a reasonable size; 2-3 pages maximum.

5, Annotate each paragraph in section J with the relevant competence letters from UK-Spec, making sure all 16 are covered. This provides a sanity check for you as applicant and helps the assessors come to the conclusions you want!”