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Membership benefit: CPD opportunities

Continuous professional development for civil engineering surveyors is, as the name suggests, an ongoing process that should span your entire career.

It’s imperative for any CES to make CPD a clear commitment, not least due to the pace of change in areas like:

  • Technology and innovation
  • Legislation and compliance
  • Sustainability best-practice
  • Societal and community
  • Research and development
  • Evidence and data

This perpetually shifting landscape requires different skills, specialisms and experience, in order to design and deliver the environments we will inhabit.

You can stay at the forefront of your profession by maintaining, refining and enhancing your existing knowledge and abilities - and acquiring new ones.

Why do I need CPD?

As well as the career boosting motivations detailed above, there are numerous reasons a civil engineering surveyor should undertake CPD activities, including:

  • Demonstrating your professional proficiency for potential employers and/or clients
  • Increasing your (and others’) confidence in your working processes
  • Improving likelihood of ‘buy-in’ and support from relevant stakeholders
  • Adding to your own knowledge and skills base, to improve personal and team standards

By advancing your own performance through CPD, you are contributing to building better organisations and systems to drive the sector forward.

And within CICES, relevant activities are taken into account during assessment for membership upgrade applications.

What types of CPD can I do?

The most important question to answer when considering continuous professional development options is; ‘is it relevant?’.

There are few restrictions to the type of CPD a civil engineering surveyor can engage in - but it’s advisable to select ones aligned with your objectives.

These might be relevant to your current specialism(s), or an adjacent area you want to progress into, or a more senior/advanced role you are targeting.

And if you’re not certain how to shape your own career development this way, mentoring from other CICES members can form an important part of CPD.

Other forms of available (but not compulsory) continuous professional development may include:

  • Formal study leading to a qualification or private study for personal development (Reading manuals, books, online material and periodicals)
  • Short training courses or hands-on workshops
  • Receiving mentoring (see above) or providing mentoring for others
  • In house organisational/corporate training and seminars
  • Attendance at relevant/related conferences and exhibitions
  • Other relevant events run by CICES HQ, by regional committees, other professional associations or voluntary organisations
  • Career development/progression within your own organisation (evidenced by promotions and appraisals)
  • Authorship or articles, periodicals and books on subjects related to CICES competencies
  • Community or societal contributions and involvement (such as charity work, volunteering or trade bodies)
  • Involvement in CICES committees or acting as an examiner

What doesn’t count as CPD?

Within CICES, members are entrusted to arrange and assess CPD activities as they see fit.

A wealth of support is available via the institution and fellow members but there is no formal requirement of a set number of hours.

This is because members are encouraged and empowered to manage their own CPD using a combination of their own judgement and CICES guidance.

But some activities without a clear or justifiable relation to your professional objectives may not be considered as CPD.

These could include purely informal networking or social events - even though these are still encouraged for personal development and enjoyment.

There is no ‘cookie cutter’ approach when it comes to what constitutes acceptable CPD for a civil engineering surveyor.

Everyone’s needs are different, depending on one or more factors such as:

  • Career stage or level of experience
  • Type/approach of the organisation you’re employed by
  • Personal preference in relation to interpersonal communication
  • Work/life balance or time commitments
  • Neurodivergence or differing learning pace/styles

To get the best out of your CPD as a CICES member, aim for activities that add to your skillset, build your confidence and address weaker specialisms.

This will improve your day-to-day experience and improve your potential as a candidate for future promotion or progression opportunities.

And for employers, encouraging your team members to pursue CPD opportunities with the support of CICES adds value to your operations.

A more rounded and continually improving staff body should generate improvements in areas such as:

  • Thought leadership
  • Credibility
  • Competitive tendering and project commissioning
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Employee training
  • Churn reduction (Staff retention and recruitment)
  • Benchmarking for interviews and appraisals

How can I learn more about CPD?

You can contact us to talk to someone from HQ or to be put in touch with an appropriate CICES member if you’d like more information on CPD.

To stay up-to-date on upcoming CICES events that might qualify as relevant activities, please check our events page.

Published: 27 February 2023