Recruitment Advice

General

It is quite reasonable for a person to ask ‘What are the benefits?’ or ‘Why should I join’ or simply ‘What do I get?’ This page provides convincing answers to these questions.

Membership of The Institute can and should be promoted on the basis of the benefits that it brings to members. Some of these benefits are tangible and some are intangible and difficult to quantify but very real, nevertheless.

If the prospective member remains unconvinced or is seeking more information you should refer them to The Institute via;

Benefits

The very real benefits of membership are summarised below. More information can be obtained from HQ and the website.

Information

At a time when technology, legislation, standards and practices are changing rapidly it is essential that the modern manager maintains and up-dates his knowledge and skills. The Institute offers opportunities for members to learn through attendance at local monthly meetings of the Branches, the annual conference, special seminars, safety days and technical visits. The monthly journal Quarry Management is included in the subscription.

Competency

Members of The Institute can register on the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme and obtain advice upon the planning and recording of CPD. You should ensure that any prospective member is aware of the requirement by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) for all managers with responsibility for health and safety to undertake AND record CPD. It must be accepted, however, that some managers may be recording CPD through a scheme operated by another professional body especially, The Geological Society, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Engineering Council.

Membership of The Institute in a corporate grade, Member or Fellow, carries with it the right (granted by the Government) to use the designatory letters MIQ or FIQ respectively. This is very visible evidence that the member has gained a recognised qualification and accumulated substantial experience in a responsible management position.

Defence Cost Insurance

With litigation becoming more common, it may be attractive that The Institute affords protection to its members if they unwittingly contravene several Acts of Parliament including the Health & Safety at Work etc, Racial Relations, Sex Discrimination and Data Protection. The insurance pays the legal costs of defending the member against prosecution.

Networking

The events organised by The Institute are occasions where employees of different operating companies and suppliers of equipment and services to the quarrying industry meet informally. It is an opportunity to share and exchange ideas, information on new technology and practices and, most importantly, problems, solutions and experiences in a congenial atmosphere.

Social

The Local Branches organise a wide range of social events for members and their partners including dinner & dances, quiz evenings, sports such as golf and go-karting and visits to sites of historic and other interest.

A great deal of pleasure and support may also be found in the company of people sharing similar jobs and lifestyle.

Costs

Reimbursement

A prospective member may be very encouraged to know that all of the major quarrying companies will reimburse employees for the cost of joining through expenses claims. The only company which will not, at present, reimburse the cost is UK Coal.

It should be recognised, however, that some operating companies e.g. Hanson, may not reimburse the cost of belonging to more than one professional body. It is unrealistic to expect that a professional person would surrender membership of a Chartered Institute such as Institute of Materials (IoM3), The Geological Society or Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in favour of IQ.

Income Tax

For those who are unable to reclaim the cost from an employer, subscriptions to a professional body are tax deductible.

Application form

The bother of getting an application form can be a deterrent for prospective members so remove the hassle! The application form can be obtained by;

  • Downloading the form from the Membership page of the website, www.quarrying.org
  • By sending an email request to mail@quarrying.org
  • By telephone call to Alicia on 0115 945 3880.

The other concern of the prospective member may be the signatures of the ‘proposer’ and ‘seconder’.

You are in the best position to provide one of these signatures and to inform the person of meetings of the local branch where other supporters may be found. Information upon all Branch meetings and Officers is available on the website {Branches} or from HQ.

New Members

If it is difficult to recruit new members then it is well worth taking care of those we have.

Look out for new members and make sure that they are welcomed at Branch meetings and introduced. Their election will have been notified to the Branch Secretary .

At the request of the Branch Secretary, membership certificates can be sent to the Branch for award during a local meeting.