In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
The minimum standard is Experience for both Incorporated-Member and Chartered Member.
What strong and weak evidence look like
Look for
- A programme you built, what went wrong with it, and how you recovered.
- A resourcing decision with a real constraint behind it.
- A time you changed a colleague's approach by persuasion rather than authority.
- A quality process you changed because it was not catching what it should.
- Development of a specific person: what they could not do, and can now.
Watch for
- A job title offered as evidence of management.
- "I managed a team of six" with nothing about what managing them involved.
- Attending meetings, described as chairing them.
- Long lists of responsibilities with no decision in them.
Portfolio items that tend to work here
Suggestions, not a required list. What matters is that the item is yours, that it is annotated, and that it demonstrates the standard rather than the subject.
Questions to ask yourself
- When did I have to choose between two things I could not both do?
Management evidence is made of trade-offs. Without a constraint there was no decision.
- What did I delegate, and how did I assure myself it was right?
Delegation with retained accountability is the pattern reviewers look for.
- Who is better at their job because of me?
A specific person and a specific improvement answers this; a mentoring policy does not.
The same objective, in different kinds of work
| Setting | What the evidence tends to look like |
|---|---|
| Consultancy | Running a work package to a fee and a programme, and renegotiating scope rather than absorbing an overrun silently. |
| Contractor | Sequencing a possession, deciding what to drop, and holding quality under programme pressure. |
| Client organisation | Directing a supply chain towards an outcome without designing it for them. |
Illustrative. The objectives are written to be met in a range of ways by anyone practising as a structural engineer.
How reviewers tend to approach this objective
- Asking about a time the programme went wrong and what you personally did.
- Probing a conflict and how you handled it.
- Asking how you knew delegated work was right.
- Asking what you would do about an under-performing colleague.
There is a bank of original practice questions in the interview question bank, filterable by objective and by grade.
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.