Phase 5 · Build your portfolio
Mapping evidence to the ten objectives
Building the grid of objectives against evidence, so you can see coverage rather than hope for it.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage ·Mentors
Ten objectives, one portfolio, one form each. A matrix is the only reliable way to see which objectives are carried by real evidence and which are being carried by hope.
Why a grid, and not a list
The portfolio is sub-divided by Core Objective and must allow easy cross-referencing with the IPD final report forms. That structure is a requirement, but it is also a diagnostic: build it early and empty sections announce themselves.
A list of your projects cannot do this. A grid can, because the two axes are the two things that have to meet — what you have, and what is being assessed.
Down the side: the ten Core Objectives, with the minimum standard for your grade written next to each. Across the top: your projects, or your evidence items. In each cell, one line on what that project actually evidences for that objective, and at what level.
Reading the grid
Three patterns show up, and each has a different fix.
An empty row. No evidence at all for an objective. This is the one that ends interviews, and it is usually sustainability, commercial and legal, or management — the objectives that feel like someone else's job until you look at the standard. The fix is experience, not writing, so find it early.
A row full of the wrong level. Plenty of evidence, all of it at Experience, for an objective set at Ability. Common in analysis and sizing for candidates who have always worked under a checker. The fix is to find or create work where you carried the decision and advised someone else.
A column doing all the work. One project carrying six objectives. Reviewers expect examples from a variety of projects, so a portfolio resting on a single job is fragile — and if that job is the one you cannot discuss freely for confidentiality reasons, it is worse than fragile.
Keep it as you go, not at the end
The matrix is most valuable two years before the interview, when what it reveals can still be acted on. Built the month before submission, it is only an inventory of what you failed to collect.
Building it
- 01
List the ten objectives with your grade's standard
Knowledge, Experience or Ability for each. The standards are held per grade and they are not the same for Incorporated and Chartered, so use the ones for the grade you are applying for.
- 02
List the projects and roles you can draw on
Include pre-graduate experience. The guidance is explicit that all relevant experience may be considered, and candidates routinely leave placements out.
- 03
Fill in what each project genuinely evidences
One line per cell, naming your contribution. If you cannot write the line without describing what the team did, the cell is empty — write nothing rather than something generous.
- 04
Mark the level, not just the tick
A cell that evidences Experience against an objective set at Ability is a gap, and marking it as a tick hides that.
- 05
Re-read it every quarter
On the individually managed route this fits naturally alongside the quarterly report forms, which are already asking you to record progress against each objective.
The shape of the grid
| Objective | Standard (CM) | Project A | Project B | Project C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Concept creation and design | Ability | Led scheme options | — | Sketch options only |
| 4 Analysis and sizing | Ability | Sized and checked | Sized, checked by others | — |
| 6 Sustainability | Experience | — | Reuse study | — |
| 9 Management | Experience | Ran the workstream | — | — |
Illustrative only, with fictional projects. The value is in the empty cells: objective 6 rests on one project, and objective 4 is carried at the wrong level on Project B.
Evidence matrix
Your projects down one side, the ten Core Objectives across the other. It shows coverage, including the gaps — it does not assess anything.
The minimum standards differ between the grades at one objective.
Add the projects and roles you can draw on — including pre-graduate experience, which the guidance explicitly allows.
Everything here is stored in this browser only. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is analysed, and clearing your browser data will delete it — so export anything you want to keep.
Related pages and tools
- EvidenceThe difference between describing a project and evidencing a Core Objective, and what reviewers are actually reading for.
- Gap analysisWhat to do about an objective you cannot evidence — and how long each kind of gap actually takes to close.
- Core ObjectivesWhat IStructE assesses, what Knowledge, Experience and Ability actually mean, and where the two grades differ.
- StructureSub-division by Core Objective, the hyperlinked index, cross-referencing to the forms, and how to spend 300 pages.
- Quarterly reportsThe records the individually managed route requires, and how to keep them so they are useful later.