Why did you choose to do your APC?
Having decided on what I wanted to do for my career I worked hard and got my degree and then it just felt like a natural next step for me to want to achieve Chartership status with the RICS. After learning more about the process, I realised it was going to be a big commitment, but I really wanted to take on the challenge for my own development and for the opportunities it would unlock in my future career.
The process can be challenging, and it takes a genuine commitment to take the route to Chartership. I enrolled early in my career at Assistant level. Level 3 competencies have a clear focus on advising clients which was initially quite a tough learning curve. I started to think about every experience as teaching me something and that mindset helped me to keep driving to learn more. Sometimes you don’t realise it at the time but my early experiences were really important for me in my final assessment.
Why should other Quantity Surveyors do the APC?
The Assessment of Professional Competence is globally recognised so the skills you are learning are universal and you will have them for your whole career. It teaches about every aspect of being a Quantity Surveyor and it has taught me so much about my role on a day-to-day basis, how to develop myself and stay organised, the part I play in my role at Vextrix and the importance of relationships with my team and my clients. When you are actually in the process you are learning how to deliver industry best practices and this gives me confidence in everything I do. It also gives clients a guarantee that you are delivering to the correct standards, whether domestically or internationally and gives you opportunities to progress further in your career.