Let’s Celebrate Volunteers: Membership Team

It’s national Volunteers Week (1-7 June) and we’re excited this week to be releasing a series of blogs to celebrate the impact that our amazing volunteers make to CIEEM! Kicking off proceedings, read on to find out about volunteering in our Membership Team.

Did you know, CIEEM relies on a team of dedicated volunteers to process membership applications? We are grateful to have volunteers on our side who are dedicated to building the Institute, and supporting our members (both new and established) through our standing committees and working groups, including our various Membership Assessor roles those sitting on the Membership Assessors Committee (MAC), who oversee implementation of the membership regulations, keeping membership eligibility criteria under review and undertaking assessment of membership applications for professional membership grades.

The CIEEM Membership Team Staff at the Secretariat say: “we are so hugely indebted to every one of the 50 or so volunteers that support the membership team all year round, whether through playing a role in standing committees or by assessing applications to higher grades of membership and chartership. Quite simply, without the input of these volunteers the application process would quickly grind to a halt and CIEEM would need to put considerable time, effort and resource into creating an entirely new system. We very much view these volunteers as an extension of our team and take a great deal of pride in the fact that every one of our current Associate, Full and Chartered members has achieved that status due to the input of at least two of their peers, acting as volunteers.”

Why do CIEEM members volunteer for the CIEEM Membership Team?

This is what they said…

Mark Lang CEcol CEnv MCIEEM – CEcol & CEnv Assessor

“I volunteer for many reasons. Once, a long time ago, someone who didn’t know me that well supported my CIEEM membership application. I have over the years got a lot out of being a CIEEM member and to some extent I wanted to give something back. Also I have found the act of assessing applications very rewarding especially the professional interviews.

You get to meet really committed and interesting people. It helps set your own career development and aspirations in context which I have found helpful when assessing the direction my career has taken, and what aspects I want to focus on in the future with my own development. Knowing that there are committed and motivated people gives me some confidence that society can address the big environmental issues that we face and CIEEM will be key to this. I would definitely say the more you put in the more you will get out of CIEEM and the rewards you gain are worth the effort.”

Amanda Elliott CEnv MCIEEM – MAC member, Associate and Full Application Assessor

“Why I volunteer for CIEEM? I’ve been lucky enough to work as a professional ecologist (my dream job) for over 30 years. I wanted to give something back to the profession and volunteering for the professional body seemed a good way to do that. On a personal level getting involved with my professional body has increased my network opportunities. It also provides me good evidence for my organisations performance management system of how I can demonstrate ‘going above and beyond’ what is expected of me.

What do I most enjoy about the role? Assessing membership applications and sitting on MAC is a very different skill set to reading and writing detailed technical reports, which is my day job, so it makes a useful and welcome break for me to carry out this volunteer role. That and working with the lovely CIEEM Membership Team!”

Dr Amy Hall MCIEEM – Vice Chair of MAC, Associate and Full Application Assessor

“I volunteer for CIEEM as a way of ‘giving back’ to professional body that I have been a member of for the last 13 years. I think it is important to volunteer in a time where finding volunteers for committee roles seems to be increasingly difficult – even a few hours a month can make all of the difference.

The thing I most enjoy about the role is its variety. As Vice-chair of MAC, and as an assessor I review batches of applications from both those applying to join CIEEM, but also those looking to progress from one grade to the next. I enjoy reviewing the application submissions and learning about the breadth of the work carried across not only the UK, but also internationally for all of the different competencies that we assess. I also enjoy learning more about CIEEM and its governance and procedures.”

A final word from the CIEEM Membership Team

“Thank you so much for all the amazing work you do as a volunteer to support CIEEM’s application and assessment processes for membership and chartership. Quite simply, without your collective effort we’d have very few members! To each of you it might feel like just giving a little back, but between you the time and expertise you volunteer allows CIEEM to continue to welcome record numbers of applications at a time when environmental professionals are needed more than ever. We really enjoy working with you, and hope you feel suitably proud of your contribution too! Onwards and upwards, your colleagues in the Membership team.”

We are now recruiting for more volunteers to join our Membership Team!

Now, perhaps more than ever, it’s vital that we continue to welcome new members into CIEEM because the greater our numbers, the harder we are to ignore and the more we can drive positive change for a greener future. We need more volunteers to join our team of (non-MAC) Membership Assessors. For more details and to apply, please email membership@cieem.net.