“Why I renewed my MCIOB”

Receiving his CIOB membership was one of Danny Butcher’s proudest moments, and one which earned him praise from friends and family around the world. But after being made redundant left him feeling underappreciated and unvalued, the Irishman was ready to let his membership lapse when it came up for renewal at the end of 2023. 

However, encouragement from his wife and colleagues and a reminder of the hard work he had put in to gaining the membership resulted in him deciding to renew, a move that help him land his current role.

“I felt so disillusioned” 

Danny gained his MCIOB on 20 November 2021 after being sponsored by his previous company, where he worked for nearly seven years, most recently as a finishing foreman. He had ambitions of progressing further up the company ladder and had been planning on working towards becoming a site manager.

However, Danny returned from two weeks holiday in the autumn of 2023 to find he still hadn’t been allocated to a new project and was instead going to be temporarily laid off. After taking another two weeks leave, he was offered redundancy which he decided to take following discussions with his colleagues. 

“I felt so disillusioned about everything,” he says. “They obviously had no faith in me or saw that I was not worth promoting which to me was a waste of their money. I was just so disgruntled, a mixture of not feeling wanted and not feeling useful.”

This was soon followed by the reminder to renew his CIOB membership, and Danny says his initial thought was to let it lapse. “I thought ‘what’s the point, it’s never done me any good before’,” he says. 

Renewal 

However, his mind changed following discussions with this wife and other CIOB members, including Roger Gillespie FCIOB, past chair of the CIOB Norther Ireland Hub and Managing Director of Training LMS, who had taken Danny through his membership application and singled him out during his graduation speech to highlight the challenges he had overcome to reach that point. The graduation itself was held at the same location as Danny’s son’s graduation, further adding to the significance of the day. 

Danny says Roger reminded him of the work that he had put in to gaining the membership, and urged him not to go back to step one by letting the membership lapse. 

Danny’s wife had also shared a photo of his graduation on Facebook, which garnered him praise from friends and family around the world including Australia, Canada, and America, and Danny says these comments were also a reminder of how special his achievement was.

“Not everybody knew I was doing it, but once the wife posted that on Facebook, the number of comments I got was unreal. That was my driving force. Roger always said to us use your graduation as motivation. The whole time I was doing my MCIOB, there wasn't a day I didn't have it on my head.

“People were looking at me and thinking ‘he must be a smart cookie to get that award,’ and this was exactly the reaction I was hoping for and worked so hard for in achieving my CIOB.”

Membership benefits

Renewing his membership and keeping the MCIOB postnominals has already proved worthwhile, as Danny says they help him secure a new role in December 2023 with P Mc Vey Building Systems, a company making modular buildings. 

“When I put that on my CV, it makes a difference,” he says. “People recognise it and know that I’m MCIOB qualified.”

The job has also worked out better, and he is currently able to travel home to Limavady in County Derry for the weekends, as well as earning more at his previous job. His current employer has also used his CIOB qualification when tendering for new work, showing the value that they put in it, something Danny says was missing from his last role. 

Looking back, Danny says he knows he would have regretted not renewing his membership, and encouraged others unsure about keeping theirs to reflect on their reasons for going for it in the first place. 

“It was just the frame of mind and the mood I was in at the time,” he says. “I know right now I would have regretted it.”