Receiving a referral on the way to chartership

Receiving a referral on the way to chartership: ‘Not a race to the finish line, but instead about getting to the start of a marathon’

‘I regret to inform you…’ is true. No assessor enjoys referring candidates. So, let’s dispel any myths about referrals. Assessors genuinely want all candidates to do their best and pass. If nothing else it means they don’t have to draft a report!

But…the APC is not easy, it is a tough standard to achieve for a reason. Not meeting that standard ‘on the day’ is something that happens to quite a few candidates – the stats speak for themselves: around 30% of candidates will be referred.  And this is all that’s happened – the standard required was not met – on the day. 

To be clear then, referral does not equate to FAILURE! It simply means you need a little more time and experience before trying again. 

That’s not to underplay the disappointment of not passing but is to put it in perspective. There may be ‘failures’ along the way, failing to adequately prepare; your support network failing to fulfil their duties; failing to place adequate importance on RICS principles. BUT, even with all these in place you just might not hit the mark during your 60-minute interview.

How then can you deal with a referral?  This can depend on a number of things.  The obvious one of personal deflation – the months and weeks of preparation, practice and revision – all seemingly for nothing. There’s the professional bump in the career progression, delayed promotions, bonuses squandered, possible reliance on job retention and security, peer perception – any number of these will impact how you might ‘feel’ about your lack of successfully passing your APC.

Taking these in turn, the level of personal disappointment will depend on the individual. If you truly believe you put every ounce of effort you could into passing then you will suffer the most. Emotions such as indignation, disbelief, anger, self doubt, incredulity – often all at once – will wash over you. This is of course perfectly understandable and to be expected but, stating this is not, in itself, very helpful.

The key here is to be aware, acutely conscious, that what you are feeling will be raw emotion and is likely to be irrational, or at least not 100% objective. This is not, therefore, the time to make any decisions, whatsoever! Period. Save any decisions until your referral report is published and a period of reflection has passed.

To the candidates who know they didn’t put everything they could into the APC preparation – and they will know in their hearts – the referral is likely to be not unexpected and should be treated as a wake up call to these candidates, take heed!

Once the initial wave of emotions has subsided and some objectivity creeps back is the time to sit down and reflect, preferably with your counsellor. Referral reports are sent about three weeks after the result, thus giving you time to deal with the initial shock and for emotions to stabilise. This is the time to analyse your performance, both in terms of preparation and state of readiness. It is not the subject of this article to discuss appeals but this is the time to consider whether the result was influenced by a failure in the process. 

Be brutally honest with yourself because all a successful appeal does is give you a ‘free shot’ at another interview.  The time and effort required for an appeal is, in all probability, best spent dealing with any shortcomings that may have led to your referral in the first place.

Once you have acknowledged the result – after careful analysis and honest appraisal of the report and performance – it is time to re-engage in the process. By this time, you need to have identified the areas for improvement and put in place a plan (together with your counsellor) towards re-submission.

Bearing in mind submission deadlines, candidates should make sure they have allowed enough time for their preparation – this could be curtailed if you have taken a break to recuperate. Resubmitting the immediate session following your referral is often too soon to be able to address everything. So careful consideration should be made as to whether you should skip an assessment window to make sure you have addressed everything you need to. Remember, it is not a race to a finish line, rather a training build-up to the start of a marathon which, in this case, is your career as a Chartered Surveyor.