You've spent months working on your Police Station or Magistrates Court Portfolio, ensuring you've included as much detail as possible, you've stated the correct law, the client's details are anonymised and you've analysed every point. But so often we receive Portfolios in the office that are not technically compliant, with missing forms, insufficient dates or sections omitted.
If a Portfolio is received on a deadline day that is not technically compliant it can't be sent for assessment, meaning that a candidate has to wait another month to submit their work and potentially lose out on further work or a duty rota slot. And if it is a police station Part A it may mean the cases you've attended become out of date and you have to start the process again. Nightmare.
The content of your cases is most important; this is what you are assessed on and demonstrates your competence. Many candidates forget that the Portfolio is a professional document - submitting a neat, technically compliant piece of work is also crucial.
So here's 10 handy tips to follow to ensure the hard work you've put into your Portfolio doesn't go to waste.
1. Read the Regulations. That's it. Not hard at all, is it? The Regulations have been (pain-stakingly) put together by our Accreditations Team to cover all aspects of the assessment process. Print out a copy and have it to hand when compiling your Portfolio.
2. Highlight what is required. There's a lot of information in the Portfolio (which is all important) but just highlight the parts you need for the Portfolio to avoid being overwhelmed!
3. Have your supervisor/collegue/partner check the Portfolio for you. When you've been working on something for so long, a fresh pair of eyes may spot something you've neglected.
4. Double check. Before parcelling the Portfolio up, just have a quick check that everything is included and a rogue form hasn't fallen down the back of your desk. (It's happened to me).
5. Secure your Portfolio by using treasury tags or binding. This looks neat and professional. If a Portfolio is sent as hundreds of loose pages, parts are easily lost by the Assessor (it also annoys them). Don't send your Portfolio in a ring binder, they're really heavy and will cost more in postage. They'll also break our Administrator's back taking them to the post office.
6. Try not to submit your Portfolio when your cases are close to expiring. If something is missing and we have to send it back, it could mean cases fall out of date and you have to start the Portfolio again. No one wants that.
7. Try not to submit the day before a deadline date. You don't want to rush your Portfolio and you have a lot of work on, but leaving your submission until the last minute will cause mistakes and omissions. There also won't be time to rectify these and you'll have to wait another month to submit.
8. Send the Portfolio recorded delivery. Special, tracked, signed for. Things do get lost in the post and we have had candidates miss deadlines because of this, which is easily avoidable and out of our hands. And if you are sending it the day before the deadline, make sure it is guaranteed for next day delivery!
9. Keep copies of your Portfolio cases and forms. Keep a hard copy. Keep a copy on your computer. Keep a copy on your mate's computer. Every Portfolio is returned by us. But again, these can go astray and be sat in a post room in your firm collecting dust. If you need to resubmit you'll need a copy. So don't just rely on one of everything.
10. Re-read the Regulations. Honestly, everything you need is in there. But if you're unsure of anything, get in touch. Even if it seems like a silly question, we've heard them all (believe me) and we're always happy to help.