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15 December 2014
When it comes to Competency schemes for freelance personnel, 2014 has been a crucial year. The biggest step that Atlas has taken so far is creating the new Atlas Professionals Competence Programme. A trial group of professionals will start using the actual Programme from 17 December 2014, the date the Atlas Competency Programme will go live.
Atlas found that the MTCS Competence scheme suits the requirements of professionals, clients and Atlas best. The current programme covers all areas of development for Surveyors, Engineers, Data Processors, Party Chiefs and Client Representatives. In order to ensure Geophysicists could partake as well, Atlas and MTCS also developed assessments for this group.
A trial group of professionals, MTCS and Atlas have collaborated in achieving the grading for the professionals. Something which couldn’t have been accomplished without contribution of all people involved!
The results so far show that out of the group of 32 enthusiastic participants, 13 professionals are graded, holding a total of 17 Certifications. These 13 professionals have been provided with a Candidate Action Plan (CAP). Their CAP can be carried out using the scheme as a practical tool.
Dingena Theunisse, Competence & Training Manager at Atlas explains: “How well the Programme works will depend on Atlas’ active guidance through the programme, willingness of clients to partake in the assessments taking place on board and most importantly the pro active role of our professionals. So far all parties involved are equally enthusiastic to make it work!”
Although Atlas is excited about going live, there is a realisation that continuation of development and support from all parties is required to make this a success. “Although the first group has started their programme, we still have quite a few hurdles to overcome. For one, we have to focus on the group of professionals who try to gather all their documentation, but face severe difficulties collecting the evidence to support this. Especially as it involves contacting all the different companies they have previously worked for. Secondly, we have to ensure that our professionals who partake in the programme have the knowledge and tools to work with the system.”
“Furthermore, entering into the current Competence Programme can become a lengthy process, which runs the risk of professionals not applying to the scheme. The market we operate in requires quite a bit of flexibility from companies and professionals involved. We strive towards the same flexibility within competence management. I have no doubt that we will be able to take the steps toward achieving this! There is a lot of enthusiasm around the idea of Competence for Freelancers, which makes us even more determined to implement this further in 2015.”
The Atlas Competency Programme plans to go ‘live’ on 17th December 2014! MTCS is an accredited assessment centre which follows the guidelines set out by IMCA.
