An RICS assessment professional plays a vital role in making sure that only those who fulfill RICS ethical standards and professional competency requirements become RICS-qualified professionals.

The role:

RICS’s global assessor community has more than 3000 active assessors. These professionals are responsible for ensuring that the high professional standards of RICS are upheld. They work as the gatekeepers to the profession and give their time, commitment, professionalism and expertise to evaluate potential new professionals, either by written submission or interview. The following are four roles you may perform as an RICS assessor:

Associate Assessor: Evaluating a candidate’s written submissions for the Associate qualification (AssocRICS).

Preliminary reviewer: Reviewing a candidate’s written submissions to approve him/her for chartered interview (for MRICS).

Interview Assessor: Evaluating a candidate at an interview for the Chartered qualification (MRICS).

Interview Chairperson: Handling the interview and helping interview assessors for the Chartered qualification (MRICS).

Eligibility criteria:

To fulfill the eligibility criteria to become an RICS assessment professional, you must complete the RICS assessor training course, specific to the assessor role you fulfill. This training will offer you the necessary knowledge and understanding to participate in RICS assessments and ensure that, irrespective of qualification, all evaluators apply a consistent approach. 

To continue as an RICS evaluator, you have to adhere to the general RICS CPD requirements, complete ethics training every three years, and attend refresher training every three years.

Benefits of being an assessor:

Although demanding, being an assessor is a hugely rewarding role, as it will allow you to access the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the qualification process and take part in one of the major stages of a surveyor’s career. The following are the major benefits of this role:

1.   Being a part of the RICS global assessor community

2.   Recording your assessor training as formal CPD

3.   Updating and developing your professional knowledge

4.   Claiming informal CPD hours from reading candidate submissions

5.   Maintaining professional standards

6.   Developing future professionals

7.   Having satisfaction from giving something back to the profession

8.   Networking and sharing knowledge and experience with your peers

You will get all the above-listed benefits as an RICS assessor whose role is to help in the Assessment of Professional Competence (RICS APC).