Demonstrate your professional experience and practice
Chartered membership is a demonstration and a recognition of your housing expertise, your contribution to the housing profession, and your commitment to professional and ethical standards.
The executive route to chartered membership is aimed at housing practitioners operating at director or senior management levels. This includes chief executives, directors or professional partners working in housing or the built environment at strategic levels in their organisations, leaders and influencers of policy and practice agendas locally, regionally and nationally.
This route is an experiential programme that supports your commitment to professionalism, leading to your progression to CIH chartered member status.
Other ways of achieving chartered membership other than this route includes completing the CIH Level 5 Diploma in Housing.
Benefits of taking the executive route to chartered membership
- No course attendance required – a reflective assessment process that is relevant to your role and organisation
- Peer review group dates available throughout the year
- Successful completion leads to CIH Chartered membership and the use of the letters CIHCM after your name to show that you are a competent and committed housing professional.
Eligibility criteria
To apply for this route you must be a current resident of the UK and have UK housing sector experience. International candidates cannot apply via the UK route.
To apply for this route:
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You need to be a current chief executive, director or professional partner working in a housing organisation or the residential built environment.
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You will be required to submit a statement with examples demonstrating your experience and practice at a strategic level in your organisation and how you influence policy and practice agendas locally, regionally and nationally against the criteria for chartered membership.
Please ensure you meet the eligibility criteria before applying. Applications without statements will not be processed.
Presentation and interview
You will be required to prepare and deliver a presentation in front of a peer review group, made up of other candidates and a panel of experienced housing professionals.
This will be followed by a series of questions. The presentation is one hour, 30 minutes for the presentation and 30 minutes for questions and discussion with the other group members.
Interviews are conducted virtually on MS Teams and take place the first Friday of every month (provided there are two candidates minimum; four candidates will be the maximum). Please ensure you can accommodate this before applying. As part of your interview process, you must be present for all other candidates’ presentations.
You are required to demonstrate and present a case on how your professional experience and practice shows that they meet the requirements of chartered membership, which are to:
- Maximise the positive impact of your work with individuals and communities
- Deliver services that are designed to maximise the positive impact on customers
- Work with partners to improve effectiveness
- Contribute to the profession, sharing experience and supporting innovation
- Communicate effectively – taking care to select the right style and method for the audience
- Apply the professional standards framework to the daily role, embracing a reflective practice to contribute to the professionalism of the organisation and the wider sector
- Have an ethical approach to your work - using the CIH ethical framework when faced with dilemmas
- Ensure that you have the right skills and knowledge for the job – scanning the horizon to predict future challenges and preparing effectively
- Embrace non-discriminatory practice and challenge behaviour which works against equality and diversity principles of good practice, reflecting on steps taken and improvements needed for equality, diversity and inclusion
- Support initiatives for delivering services which are socially responsible
- Promote and engage with policies and processes which conserve resources and support sustainable development.
It should also show how your professional experience and practice shows:
- your contribution to the housing profession
- the strategic direction of your organisation and how it meets government housing policy
- your experience in managing resources (people and/or teams)
- a reflection on your professional experience and the importance of professionalism and professional standards
- your practice of professional development and working to code of conduct, code of ethics and the CIH professional standards
- how you continue to influence policy and practice agendas locally, regionally and nationally.
Fees
Please note, that from 1 April 2024 a registration fee of £1605 for UK-based candidates applies. Candidates outside the UK will be advised separately of the fee.
I genuinely recommend the executive route to others in a similar position. I am strong believer in reflective practice, and this gave me such a wonderful opportunity to do just that.
I also made new connections with the panel members, one who has since agreed to mentor me, and it was just such a privilege to hear one of my peers present her case and share in her journey through the executive route too – another wonderful connection made.
Having worked in Housing for 35 years, I wanted to support and be recognised by my professional body, the Chartered Institute of Housing. Having been a director and member of executive teams for over fifteen years it wasn’t before time really.
I have designed both cultural and ethical training for staff, but I had no recognised housing qualification and the process and evaluation felt very different. It was important to me to be recognised as a housing professional and the Executive route gave me this opportunity.
Preparing for the peer group assessment gave me time to reflect on my professional journey in housing and to take the time to review my achievements. We don’t do this regularly enough and the panel were keen to ask questions about my journey. I have to say I felt nervous, in the way you would if you were taking an exam or going for your driving test, or even a job interview. The questions were probing and well thought through.
There were detailed questions that explored my understanding of the CIH’s professional standards and tested my own ethical barometer.
I think it right and proper that directors and senior staff support the professionalisation of the housing industry. The best way to do this is to lead from the front and what better way than to be recognised as a Chartered Member of your own trade body.
The process itself was both demanding and rewarding, you get to meet fellow professionals going through the same experience and create connections as a consequence.
I have no hesitation in recommending the Executive Route to Chartered Membership to others who might be considering this opportunity.
