It seems like only 5 minutes since I was at Cheltenham Racecourse doing final assessments of candidates seeking their professional qualifications (the letters MRICS are what they are after!). I remember the last session well – I got food poisoning at the lunch – which helped with my weight loss, but did little for my appetite!

I find the assessments useful on three levels – it helps me keep up to date with changes in the profession, it lets me see the general standard of surveyors coming through and it does help my firms own candidates as I can ‘guide’ them better through the process.

I read a really interesting article on the BBC’s website at the weekend about the myths of an Oxbridge Interview. Mary Beard, a University Teacher is about to hang up her boots – she sets the record straight about the interviews students are put through. Amongst the amusing anecdotes (I love the question “would you rather be an apple or a banana”!) was a statement that rang true with me. She said, “my priority is to get the kids to talk themselves into a place, not talk themselves out of one“.

And this is something we try to tell our RICS candidates. They should enter the interview in the knowledge that they have passed. They just need, for one hour, to talk themselves into membership. So often they talk themselves out. In my experience because often they haven’t grasped what we are after.

In essence we are ‘testing’ that they have reached a standard we require. It a measurable test of competency. We know that they are not going to have been able to value a £1m shopping centre or negotiate a rent review on a football stadium – you tend to need grey hair to do that. But we do expect them to have been involved in jobs, to have observed, to have taken part. More importantly to have given their work some thought. We want them to have reasoned opinions.

We need people who can think, process and give reasoned advice. If they have done the background and been paying attention, this should not be difficult…