1. My Work Record What are we looking for? We are seeking to establish whether applicants are competent to practice So we are looking at the extent, depth and coherence of their work experience

2. Evidence of competence We are asking you to show evidence of the skills you have learned through work experience The Institute has identified a large number of Competencies, grouped into thirteen Competency Areas, against which you should record your experience These Competency Areas and Competencies are detailed on our website

3. What is a Competency Area? 1. Business and Management Skills 2. Forestry and Woodland Management 3. Arboriculture and Urban Woodland Management 4. Environment, Biodiversity and Wildlife Management 5. Recreation Management and Planning 6. Public Consultation and Participation 7. Tree Nursery Management 8. Harvesting, Marketing and Utilisation 9. Forest Engineering 10. Timber Conversion 11. Policy Development and Strategic Planning 12. Forestry and Arboricultural Research 13. Forestry and Arboriculture Teaching

4. What is a Competency? For example, Competency Area 2. Forestry and Woodland Management, competencies range from, 2.01 Planning and design of forest planting schemes. 2.02 Forest site preparation. 2.03 Planting.

5. What can I claim for? To claim time against a Competency an applicant has to have been actively involved in that particular activity or operation at a level which includes planning, performing, supervising, reporting, studying through observation, or any combination of these.

6. Distribution of competencies All applicants must accumulate at least 500 hours under Competency Area 1. Business and Management Skills If experience in a particular Competency Area is to be counted it must contain a minimum of 200 hours Typically applicants will be recording under four or five Competency Areas, although as few as two are acceptable

7. Accumulation of work experience Recording is on an hourly basis against each Competency until you reach at least the required total of 2,600 hours Normally you should demonstrate a breadth of experience by recording in more than 25% of the Competencies listed in any Competency Area A Competency Area with more than 1,100 hours is regarded as a Major Competency and can be claimed as a speciality

8. Real time or retrospective? The Institute prefers you to record your Work Experience as you go along However, all or part of your Work Experience can be entered retrospectively provided you have the necessary records and documentation to show to your Verifier The Institute is more likely to ask to see your evidence of work if claims are submitted retrospectively

9. Two years or more? Evidence may be accumulated over a longer period under circumstances such as, Career breaks Disruptions relating to changing jobs or other factors Where you believe more time is needed to develop a balanced portfolio

10. The Members’ Area

11. My PME: Recorded online

12. My Verifier

13. My Work Record

14. What information do you record? You will be invited to record a block of Evidence, including a title, a description and hours worked under a maximum of eight Competencies Click on a PME Competence magnifying glass and select the Competence Area from the drop down menu presented Chose the Competence you want to enter hours under by selecting the competence code hyperlink

15. Blocks of evidence Your Verifier, and the Exam Assessors, will be better able to judge what you have been doing if work is presented to them in the form of discrete tasks, termed blocks of evidence. A block of evidence, therefore, is no more than a task covering a range of related competencies.

16. An example The feasibility study and creation of a cider orchard might comprise of, Project management (1.01), Grant applications and advice (1.08), Costing, tendering (1.09), Planning and design of urban/parkland planting schemes (3.01), Site preparation (3.02), Planting in the urban/parkland environment (3.03) and Tree protection (3.06).

17. My Work Record: Title and Description For the example just cited, these might be, Title: Cider Orchard Trial Description: I was tasked with establishing a traditional 2ha cider orchard in Somerset Park on Hilton Estate. As part of the task, I had to establish if the site was suitable for apple trees, if there was a market for the fruit, the planting style, stock procurement and tree protection. I contacted specialist nurseries, cider producers and conservation bodies. I explored various funding avenues for the work, and developed a business case for the orchard. Once authorised, I arranged for the estate farmers to prepare the site, put the job out to tender, procured the stock and managed the successful contractor during planting and aftercare.

18. The Cider Orchard Trial

19. The Cider Orchard Trial:

20. How big is a task? Blocks of work experience should represent discrete tasks Normally a discrete block of work experience would cover 40 to 200 hours

21. Competency limits The recording system only allows a maximum of eight Competencies in any one task or block of evidence The Institute believes that tasks with more than eight Competencies are too large for assessment purposes Where a task exceeds eight Competencies it should be divided into two or more tasks

22. Dividing a task In the example of the Cider Orchard Trial, the applicant may want to include the additional competencies, Management of a work force (1.02), Financial analysis (1.11), Soil and site classifications and surveys (3.08), Adherence to Health and Safety Requirements (3.21) and Informal liaison with the general public (6.04).

23. Verification of a Work Record Once a block of evidence is completed it should be emailed to your Verifier for approval In order not to over-burden your Verifier, material should not be sent until about 300-500 hours or more have been accumulated

24. My Verification

25. Select a block of evidence

26. Email your Verifier

27. The Verifier request

28. Your Verifier’s response

29. Potential problems? On occasion, we find that a Verifier’s security software might block your submission or divert it into the Junk folder. Therefore, it is advisable to email or phone your Verifier to warn them to expect a submission of block of evidence.

30. Simple and straightforward Once you get into it you will find that the process is straightforward and can easily be integrated into your routine.