The CV is dead! All hail the competence portfolio!

After consultation with its members, IMCA has developed a new tool which will standardise the way skills and experience are shared among the industry.

The Personnel Competence e-Portfolio is basically a customisable Excel spreadsheet, which is enhanced by the additional of four documents for observation records, witness testimonials and candidate testimonials.

It’s intended to be a dynamic document used to record tasks showing the freelancer’s different competencies and therefore suitability for a role. Everyone offshore knows how precious time is, and nothing is more important than knowing with confidence the person next to you can do the job. This – hopefully – will help with that.

However, there’s no denying that this is a major shift for freelancers – and without their absolute buy-in, it won’t achieve the desired effect. That’s why Precise Consultants is developing a pilot group of freelancers which it will work with for two months and support the transformation from the old to the new.

Director Pete Thompson shares his thoughts on how this will work, and how we can avoid the pitfalls.

“This really goes a step beyond what we’ve been doing to date, right across the industry. Yes, I would probably say clients can very quickly understand from the types of CVs we’ve put out whether it’s worth their while digging through it all, but I know this isn’t always the case. It depends on the content. What the portfolio will do is really put everyone on an equal playing field – so it doesn’t matter if your agency helps you or not to produce a document – what will matter is how thorough you are at recording your accomplishments and what your colleagues say about you.

“Our main worry is – this looks like extra admin for freelancers when they’re thinking ‘I’m getting offered so much work at the moment – why am I getting lumped with this?’ – and they won’t engage.”

That’s why Precise Consultants has held discussions with some of the team who developed the portfolio, to understand ways of making this a smooth transition.

“In truth, short of an agency renting a vessel and putting freelancers on it to watch them do certain tasks – it’s difficult to get a true assessment of people’s competencies. This document will ultimately make everyone’s lives easier. But there’s no denying in the short term –it’ll increase our workload because clients won’t rely on it alone: we’ll still have to update CVs too.

“But we’re invested in our freelancers’ success –that’s always been the way we’ve worked – so we’re creating a group who are willing to engage with the portfolios and help them develop them.”

Pete says that even back when he was working offshore, there was always a question about how you can guarantee good people. You can’t always rely on being able to access a personal recommendation. But with the witness testimonials, that problem is addressed. That’s why he wants this to work.

“If freelancers want to play a senior part on projects this is something that they need to do. If a question is asked continually – there’s a reason why it’s not gone away.

“IMCA contractors have recognised that more and more the workforce will be made up of freelancers and they’ve made a commitment that they want them to be good, to be competent and ensure that the industry doesn’t suffer from a severe loss of expertise and valued skills. If freelancers can’t progress, that is what will happen.

“We know before it hasn’t always been the easiest thing to ensure that competency assessors work with freelancers – preferring to oversee their permanent staff instead – but IMCA has been able to deal with that, and everyone will be on the same playing field. Now there’s an expectation that people will have testimonials and statements every time they leave a job.”

The ideal scenario is that two years down the line, everyone is using the e-portfolio, which is updated after every trip.

“We’re not blind to the fact that there are some freelancers out there who have solid reputations that precede them – but this tool will really benefit early adopters and in particular the new recruits. It’s for those people who want to develop their career over the next 20-30 years.

“IMCA are doing a great job by tackling an ongoing problem – and the more people who engage in the process and support it, the better.”

You can get in touch with Pete or any of the team at Precise Consultants, to find out more about the pilot group and get help with your e-portfolio.