Arcadis’s Ayrton Dhillon holds the title of being the first recipient of the Associate Chartered Management award receiving the double accolade after four years in the profession.
Associate is designed to be an important milestone to mark quality and achievement on the journey to be fully chartered. While you need to have been a consultant for five years for full chartered status, professionals on the journey can have their progress recognised by applying for Associate after three. It also makes the last leg of the chartered journey easier.
Ayrton said:
“I am at that four-year mark so it was too soon to go for full chartership. The Associate award looked like a really exciting prospect so when it came around it just seemed tailored to someone at my stage in their career.”
Ayrton has been inspired to pursue chartered by those around him and in the wider profession. He said: “A lot of my role models within Arcadis and the wider industry have gone on their journey to chartership so for me this was a way of echoing the steps of those mentors and role models. It was that seal of quality for both my clients and Arcadis.”
Ayrton believes that awards like Associate allow an individual to show they are at a level beyond what might be expected from their years in the profession.
He added:
“Management consulting is one of those industries where it is fantastic to get more clarity about the role. Previously, the measure of skill was primarily based on one’s industry experience. ChMC has helped me understand what it means to be a good management consultant and given me a framework through which I can develop. I have tried to upskill myself beyond the level which people might expect from my level of experience. I have done this by drawing on my passion for my sector and for continuous improvement, which has enabled me to generate opportunities to challenge myself, with the support of my colleagues at Arcadis and the client’s that I work with.”
Ayrton recommends the Associate award for those who are mastering the demands of management consultancy and are looking for more clarity about what to do in the future.
He said: “People who have got a feel for management consulting and who are asking themselves, ‘what kind of management consultant do I want to be?’. It wasn’t just about assessing my progress to date, but it had an emphasis on where I wanted to go. I found it really valuable, not just on judging my progress to date but also where I want to go. That really came across in the documents associated with the AssocChMC award and definitely in the professional discussion which was very much a forward-looking discussion.”
For more information on the Associate award, go to www.mca.org.uk/chartered-management-consultant-award