Becoming an Assessor

At Accredit UK, we are always on the lookout for the best people in the business to become independent assessors. 

The Profile of an Assessor

The core requirements for an Assessor can be described within three areas of expertise:

ICT Experience and Skills – the critical requirements are:

• Comprehensive experience of ICT in general and the Segment(s) in which they operate;

• Extensive experience of emerging ICT trends and technologies, ICT development methodologies, acceptance and release methods, and issues such as security, resilience, and agility;

• Management experience covering the broad processes that are assessed within the Accredit UK programme.

Assessment Skills – the applicant will be expected to have had experience of conducting assessments; specifically:

• Different assessment methodologies;

• Familiarity with the Accredit UK assessment model;

• Evaluation of the evidence that is being presented;

• The ability to detect situations in which the applicant is “economical with the truth”;

• Able to analyse deficiencies and express them in a proactive way;

• Capable of summarising and report writing.

Personal skills – the key ones are:

• Personal presence and gravitas;

• Empathy with and understanding of the issues facing small businesses;

• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to relate at multiple levels of the organisation;

• A team player able to actively participate within the assessor community of practice.

The Job Description of an Assessor

The following job description has been established for the Accredit UK assessors:-

Click Here to View Job Description (pdf document) 

The Accreditation Process

All assessors will undergo thorough induction and training in order to ensure that they meet the very highest standards. This training will then be validated by an examination. Only then will an Assessor be accredited and allowed to represent Accredit UK

Maintaining Consistency and Standards

It is a requirement of the programme that consistency is maintained across all assessments by the different assessors.  The induction process ensures that is the case when an assessor starts the programme, and that consistency is maintained throughout the assessor lifecycle as follows:-

• The assessor’s view following the visit will always require formal ratification before it is considered final; all reports are peer reviewed;

• In the early stages of report development, the assessor’s reports are reviewed in full;

• Once there is a record of high quality reports, the peer review will focus on high scores and low scores only – although full reviews will still be done at random;

• All high and low scores will require access to the knowledge base and confirmation that either, the entry is still up-to-date or an update is recommended;

There will be 6-monthly meetings of all assessors; these will focus on the latest entries on the knowledge base and the standards that are being applied; in extreme circumstances, an assessor may miss a quarterly meeting, but if an assessor misses more than 1 meeting within an 18 month period, they will no longer be treated as a qualified assessor.

The Application Process