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Supervised experience, and who may sign for it

Time worked only counts if somebody qualified will attest to it. The requirement is not merely that you did the work; it is that a person the board recognises confirms what you did, for how long, and under what supervision.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a qualified accountant. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

It changes how you choose a job. Two roles can teach the same things and only one of them can be signed off, because of who supervises it. Finding that out at the end, when the signature is needed, is the single most costly discovery on this road -- the work was real and it cannot be counted.

How to think about it

Before accepting a role you intend to count, establish who would sign for it and whether they hold what the board requires. Then keep your own contemporaneous record of what you did, because you may be asking for that signature from somebody who has moved on.

Worked example

Work done under a qualified supervisor
Countable, provided the supervisor is who the board requires.
The same work with nobody qualified to sign
Genuine experience. Not countable.
A supervisor who has left the firm
Still able to sign, and much harder to reach. This is why you keep your own record.
Your own contemporaneous note of the work
Not a substitute for the signature, and what makes obtaining it possible later.

Your turn

Name what experience needs besides having been done.

Experience counts only when a qualified person will  for it

The trap

Assuming a good job at a respected employer must count. The question is never the employer's reputation; it is whether the person who supervised your work holds what the board requires them to hold.

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