I am currently applying for IEng using the IET Career Manager. I find the application process quite straightforward, as it guided me step by step through the requirements and competencies. I have started to record my CPD activities and achievements using it. However, the application does take some time. I have been working on it for on and off for about 5 months, but that’s mainly due to the additional evidence that I needed to upload. Overall, I think the IET Career Manager is a useful tool for professional development and registration.

AMK

Many thanks for your feedback . Good luck with your IEng application.

JP

Hi John,

As a PRA I help applicants use Career Manager for professional registration. The amount of it you need for registration is actually very small, really just a collection of online forms. What you have to be careful is not to use bits of it that you don't need to! I'd say probably the most complex parts are the "self assessment" and "CPD" parts, and you don't need to use either of those for professional registration. You might decide you want to, but you don't have to.

The difficult part of professional registration is the the Employment History section, that's where all your evidence actually goes, but that's just a blank page to complete. It has to be, because everybody's application is different. I find many candidates write this up on Word or similar first until they've got it right, and then just paste it into Career Manager. (And, to be honest, that's what I'd do too.)

Used like that it's just filling in an online form, which I should think we're all pretty used to these days!

It doesn't go anywhere until you decide to submit it, so you can start it and came back and tweak it as much as you like.

Hope that helps,

Thanks,

Andy 

I am a PRA and in general a promoter of career manager. However, it does cause confusion because it is a tool of multiple uses. It is not just a tool for applying for PR and I think this is what causes the confusion for PR applicants. This is because it is not obvious to the applicant what is relevant or not as many of the tools are just an aide memoire and a central repository to dump your stuff. My advice to applicants is to apply for PR using career manager but note that only what is contained within the actual application form is reviewed and assessed along with the mandatory supporting documents. It also doesn't help the applicant that an assessment summary if completed may or may not be sent with the application and that a DAP is no longer required to be sent with the application. I wonder how that nugget of information has been communicated to the PRA's as I was only made aware of it quite by chance in a throw away comment at my refresher training in Sept 2022. Perhaps quarterly change bulletins rather than two a year could communicate such changes in future as refresher training is every three years. I think other confusion arises because the applicant and PRA don't see the same things in career manager.  A poorly suggested workaround to this was for PRA's to run a dummy application but obviously not submit it. 

My final observation is that career manager is an excellent tool for recording and submitting CPD and I strongly encourage everyone to use it for that. It's advice that i always give to applicants of PR and remind them it is part of the "rules" of membership. Albeit CPD can be recorded by other means. However, the "Quick Code" box, on the career manager page for recording CPD, remains without function and i would suggest its removal as it serves no purpose. Again, it is one of those aspirational things that appeared without explanation about 18 months ago, I think, and just causes confusion and frustration. 

Thanks everyone for your views and comments so far.

John P

Hello Roy,

Thanks for your breakdown of the process. If I have read your response correctly, are you saying that the Application is what would be accessed and not the self assessment section? I am struggling to understand what is required and it 's affecting my progress with the application. I looked at the application for Institution of Mechanical Engineers and it's very clear and straightforward. They have a section in their application that list out all the UK-SPEC and you just have to complete each section with your evidence. 

Hi,

Yes that's correct, the IET process is different. The important part of the application is the "Employment History" section. In describing your employment history you need to show evidence of all the competences. For example "I was responsible for ensuring that complaints raised to me by my staff were handled confidentially and were escalated to xxx where required" is evidence for the "Ethics" competence (to slightly simplify). The assessors MIGHT read the self assessment but they might not - that section is really for you to use (maybe with your mentor / PRA) to decide for yourself when you are ready to apply.

Which is why we often say here that it's a really good idea to get help from a PRA when completing your application. 

Hope that helps,

Andy

Hi Muritala

Response from Andy Millar answers your question perfectly. Thanks Andy. 

Just to pick up on Andy's comments re the self assessment.   You may hear this often referred to as a self check that applicants can do against the 17 competencies required.

As a moderator that chairs the Pre pri panels, I am more than happy to read any information provided by applicants including attaching any ASR that they may have produced. (You have the option to do this in CM)  Its a bit like attaching your workings to a problem.  Often the detail included answers queries from the career history and stops us asking for additional information. 

The latest PRA training  from the IET encourages PRAs to work with applicants to produce this self check and to attach it to the application. 

Hello Andy,

Thanks so much for the clarification, it’s highly appreciated.