About to be a 3rd member on a PSB.

[the_worrier]

Having already attended a PSB as an observer I have registered my interest in being a 3rd member. This has been accepted and I await invite.

Have you any experience of this yourself (as a board member, not a candidate)? How was it? Thoughts? Comments?

 

[unruly1986]

Done a few PSBs. Been a third member and Pres a couple of times.

In some ways it confirmed to me that the system we have, whilst not perfect, is fairly robust and probably the best it can be.

It also highlighted that a large proportion of SJARs/front pages must be pure dog s*** (remember that in most cases the ones you read at the PSB have ‘made it’ through pre-boarding), as I’ve seen some shockers that were classed as ‘competitive’.

You’ll also realise that the middle of the PSL (before being arranged by surname) is somewhat of a lottery. There is little to separate many candidates and scoring often comes down to ‘feel’ e.g. 6.45 vs 6.29 (you need to score to two decimal points).

I’ve tried to do a board every year the last few years. It’s bloody hard work, but it is rewarding and will improve your own SJAR writing (for yourself and those you write on). I always remember on the Monday morning of the PSB that it can be more intense than doing the day job!

Hope the above helps.

 

[the_worrier]

It really does so thank you. My reasoning for seeking to do this is to improve my report writing as it sometimes occurs to me that I can get a bit wordy which helps nobody. I recognise that a comprehensive and well written brag sheet is essential. I want the subject to describe the impact of the evidence and if I agree- great stuff.

When I submit my own brag sheet to my 1RO I effectively draft my own report.

 

[Dazzy26]

I undertook several in the different roles of 3rd member, specialist and president. In every case found it really rewarding. It is true that the promotion system is not flawless and you can only score on what you see in the SJARs. We had an understanding between the board members that if a candidate took more than 10 minutes to read then so be it. They were given the time we thought was needed. Remember each profession is different and do use different language / abbreviations. The specialist is there to answer any questions you have. We did ask the professions advisor for clarification on one board.

We also declared if we knew a candidate on the grounds of openess. You'll quickly realise that the scoring each of you come up will be in the same ball park, at the end of the day though if you as an individual use the same scoring method for every person you can't go wrong.

Enjoy it, they are hard work so make sure you take regular breaks so you don't become word blind. Over the years people have started to make better use of the front page. I never read the scores of recommendations until after reading the narrative (just my way). Reading a narrative showed me the evidence of what a person has achieved to support promotion, if the evidence is there, the recommendation becomes pretty irreverent.

 

[muttywhitedog]

Rest assured that the RAF PSB is far and away better than the Civil Service "Blag and Bullshit" your way to a promotion, where everything is focussed on what you claim to have done, both in writing and orally and zero attention is paid to your PDRs that show what you have actually done.

 

[unruly1986]

Forgot to add. The time constraints you are under are not to be underestimated.

Any report that was a Dev was effectively ignored (remember you are looking for evidence of suitability for promotion), leaving us time to focus on the Yes/High to get into the narratives.

OPG and ‘scores’ don’t mean much - you don’t have the time to consider them.

A good front page usually means a good SJAR, and therefore a good candidate.