Building a Better You
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What is this week's blog about?
In this week’s blog, Eliane Lourenço MRICS, Chartered Surveyor and consultant at Property Elite, shares her recommended approach when answering RICS APC questions. This is essential reading for all RICS APC candidates.
Always a professional
Simply put, you should always treat an APC question like you would an instruction.
Before finalising the terms of engagement and starting on an instruction, you have to fulfil the 3 Cs.
Competence | Conflict | Complaints
Competence - Are you qualified in the area related to the instruction? If not, who will you work with to ensure that the work is provided competently? Or, will you need to decline the instruction?
Conflict – Are there any personal or professional conflicts of interest which need to be disclosed?
Complaints – If you progress with the instruction, you will need to make sure that the client is aware of your company’s complaints handling procedure and that this information can be easily found. Do you have it readily available? Where do the RICS require a copy to be referred to?
You could verbalise this process during your RICS APC case study presentation to set the tone for the rest of your interview.
“After I confirmed that I was competent to act, that there were no personal or professional conflicts of interest and the client was aware of my firm's complaints handling procedure, I proceeded to …”
Think of an easy way to answer questions
When answering assessor questions, you should adopt a simplified thought process. My recommendation is to break it down as follows...
Purpose & process | Information | Delivery
Purpose & process – What do you need to do, and do you need to satisfy mandatory or legislative requirements, or can you rely on best practice?
Information – What do you know that will have an impact on what you do?
Delivery – With this knowledge and experience, how do you provide a professional service? Does your approach help you to mitigate risk?
Passing your RICS APC final assessment interview is somewhat similar to obtaining your driver’s licence; you don’t have to know everything on the day, but you must have a professional, ethical and conscientious foundation. You must be reliable, accountable, fully aware of your capabilities, be willing to learn more, honest, have knowledge of legal & reguylatory requirements and provide a professional service.
In other words, are you a safe pair of hands?
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Stay tuned for our next blog post to help build a better you.
N.b. Nothing in this article constitutes legal, professional or financial advice.