CQI Membership Experiential Route

Hi all,

I see there are one or two CQI bods hanging out here, perhaps you can help.

I am a british ex-pat who has been living and working in Germany for over 20 years and in Quality positions for something like 18. Im currently european quality manager for an automotive supplier.

For many years now I have been toying with joining the IQA, now CQI, but having just finished an MBA and had a baby, I really DONT want to do any more exams any time soon.

Has anyone here had experince of joining the CQI via the experiencial route? Any idea of how tough it is? Is it worth joining as an associate before going for full member?

Ive got the aplication forms and its obviously going to be a big job getting the evidence documents together, particularly for me as all my documentation is in German and I am unlikely to be able to easily find a solid and acceptable referee.

My motivation, like my MBA, (apart from just fancying being Chartered) is to get formal recognition of my experience and to solidify my position in an increasingly dodgy Job market, although I hope there will be networking benefits too.

Any tips?

Andrew

pog451 said:

Hi all,

I see there are one or two CQI bods hanging out here, perhaps you can help.

Click to expand...

There are indeed. Just for information Andrew I have recently joined the ranks of CQI employees having been a volunteer / student / member for many years. Part of my role is to help applicants for membership (and IRCA Certification) by making the requirements easier to understand. So if you do't mind I can use you as a guinea pig!

pog451 said:

I am a british ex-pat who has been living and working in Germany for over 20 years and in Quality positions for something like 18. Im currently european quality manager for an automotive supplier.

For many years now I have been toying with joining the IQA, now CQI, but having just finished an MBA and had a baby, I really DONT want to do any more exams any time soon.

Has anyone here had experince of joining the CQI via the experiencial route? Any idea of how tough it is? Is it worth joining as an associate before going for full member?

Click to expand...

You look like an ideal candidate (with the usual disclaimers - without predjudice! ) The experiential route has been revised recently so hopefully you will have the latest forms (all available from the site). I'll be honest it is quite a bit of work - only because you have to find evidence of accomplishments that may go back years. Or put another way we are not trying to make it hard but the evidence is often difficult to put together!

pog451 said:

Ive got the aplication forms and its obviously going to be a big job getting the evidence documents together, particularly for me as all my documentation is in German and I am unlikely to be able to easily find a solid and acceptable referee.

My motivation, like my MBA, (apart from just fancying being Chartered) is to get formal recognition of my experience and to solidify my position in an increasingly dodgy Job market, although I hope there will be networking benefits too.

Any tips?

Andrew

Click to expand...

Don't worry too much about the evidence being in German - we have access to German speakers and some evidence we ask for is obvious (like organisation charts).

The important thing is to remember that you need to cover each piece of the body of quality knowledge with a piece of evidence that shows that YOU have done the work to satisfy the requirement (Please excuse the shouting but this is one area of weakness in a lot of applications). Please also remember that

• One piece of evidence (such as a report) may cover multiple elements of the BoQK
• We only need to see 1 good piece of evidence as demonstration of competence

(We are after all a Quality Institute not quantity. )

Don't be afraid to contact the membership team or post on a bulletin board either here or the CQI's own (sorry Marc! )

Good luck. Any problems drop me a PM

Paul,

thanks for that. Its a relief knowing that I can sling German documentation at you with some hope of having it understood. Sitting down and translating all my references was not what I envisaged for the next few weeks or so .

For the moment then, its a case of JFDI (Just F****** Do It). That may take a while...

Ive noted your remark on the ownership issue and Ill see what I come up with. I should have kept a copy of my all old QMHs after all .

I have recently completed writing and giving a series of "Automotive QM for Dummies" training sessions which cover large blocks of the BoQK - Is attaching a copy of those where relevant acceptable evidence?

If I run into any major problems Ill drop you a line.


Thanks again.

Andrew