What Happens Once I’m A Qualified Assessor?
In our recent blog, we explained the levels you can assess up to after completing your Assessor qualification. If you are recently qualified, congratulations on passing the course – all those months of hard work have finally paid off and you can enter the big wide world of assessing. That may seem a little daunting to some of you, so let’s explore the options available to you now you are fully qualified.
Become A Freelance Assessor
Many people choose to go down the career path of an assessor in order to have flexibility in their work. Life as a freelance assessor is completely different to the usual 9-5 and you have to be an extremely motivated person in order to make it work.
One thing you need to be aware of is that you can’t just go assessing on your own once you are qualified. ‘Freelance’ in this instance means that you will be working on your own, but under the umbrella of a college providing the paperwork.
Freelance positions may just involve holiday cover to begin with, but sometimes it is just a case of getting your foot in the door with a training company. You never know, you could be called upon again when they go through a busy period. Another great place for newly qualified assessors is LinkedIn. Start building up your network, posting about your experience and skills and you could well find yourself head-hunted.
Set Yourself Up As A Training Provider
Setting up your own business is an extremely challenging thing to do, but it can also be very rewarding. Let’s assume you aren’t fresh out of being a qualified assessor and you have training experience too (if not, have a look at our Assessor Training page for advice).
In order to start your own accredited training company, you will need to be an approved centre for an awarding body that offers the courses you want to deliver. You need to have financial reserves for this stage, as fees can be anything from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds. The awarding body will also need to visit your centre, so there are lots of requirements you need to pass. We have gone into more detail about this on our starting your own accredited training company page.
If you really are serious about setting yourself up as a training provider, take the time to research this thoroughly, and ask for advice. You can always book a consultation with our industry experts to help set you on the right path to begin with.
Taking Up A Full-Time Position
You may have become a qualified Assessor in order to move up within the company you work for. Employees have a much greater chance of receiving a promotion by taking online courses, so let’s hope your hard work is rewarded. By studying alongside a full-time job, this not only shows commitment to the company you are working for, but also shows initiative.
There are lots of full-time opportunities available to you once you have qualified as an Assessor. You may decide to work specifically for colleges or independent training providers. If you’re more interested in assessing in Apprenticeships, there are two ways you can go about this. Being the ‘on-programme’ Assessor and helping the Apprentice throughout their studies to prepare them for the End-Point Assessment. Alternatively, if you’d rather be assessing the Apprentice at the very end of their Apprenticeship, you may want to look into becoming an Independent End-Point Assessor.
Undergo Further Training
If you are not quite ready to step back into the world of full-time employment, you could always look at improving your skillset further and undergo more training. Lots of our newly qualified Assessors go onto the Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) course as this allows them to qualify as a tutor or trainer. This is the perfect qualification to take if you are wanting to work as an On-Programme Apprenticeship Assessor.
You may have also realised throughout your job search that the IQA Award (Internal Quality Assurance) is often included as a requirement for both traditional assessor and End-Point Assessor roles. There are lots of other benefits of completing your IQA qualification, but the most important advantage is that it will help you to become a highly qualified assessor. If you understand how assessments are quality assured, you can prepare your learners in the best possible way.
So as you can see, there are lots of different opportunities available to you once you have become a qualified Assessor. It really is a case of choosing what suits you best, and taking the time to explore all of the options available to you. If you would like any more help or advice, please feel free to give us a call on 01205 805 155 and we will be more than happy to assist you.
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.