Quote: a person judged to have expertise and years of experience, capable of managing all aspects of complex projects
I have always taken the above to mean, within their specific expertise. I and some colleagues/friends work in post ex and within that capacity often manage all aspects of that area of the post ex process, from processing the finds/enviro to assessment, to report, or contacting relevant specialists, costings etc. Similarly I know surveyors and illustrators who manage all aspects of their work, from dealing with the client, whether in house or externally, to creating the product. To me 'all aspects' applies here. I would not expect a manager in fieldwork to be able to manage the often complex ins and outs of the post ex process just as I wouldn’t wade in to organise machine hire.
This is the only way it can currently be interpreted to make room for all the non-fieldwork staff who have held these grades for years! I do not think that prospective employers only look at the IFA grade and comment to themselves 'well...they have MIFA so they can manage putting in all these trenches, the post-ex management and survey the whole site'. That is ludicrous, they look at where their relevant experience lies and within that experience they have achieved competence to whichever IFA level (Mifa Aifa Pifa etc...). This is certainly my experiences from when I have applied for jobs but understand that others may have different experiences.
.....Yes it isn’t ideal BUT surely the issues here (in this specific discussion) are not about the unsuitability of IFA grades in general. They are about the proposed AAI&S merger. I can understand why people are worried about an already confused grade being combined with a completely different set up. For my part I am more worried about the difference between MIFA level in the IFA and Member level of the AAI&S. It is very easy to build a portfolio up in a year or two, I have myself done illustration work (and considered applying for membership!! Just to get the MIFA when they switch! And I can tell you that a lot of other illustrators, many fieldwork staff with part time experience, have implied the same to me because they know they have no chance of getting MIFA otherwise).
As I said above, to my mind the ‘all aspects’ applies specifically within YOUR area of work. So to me a MIFA illustrator would be a graphics person with experience doing costings/dealing with clients/using adobe CS/autocad/whichever other programmes to create illustrations/managing timetables/managing staff etc……ALL aspects involved in a graphics department. Granted many illustrators are freelance but this would still involve personal management/dealing with clients/costings along with the actual illustration expertise. This is what I would expect and this is not going to be the case!!! If the proposed goes ahead there will be some very low level staff with a decent amount of illustration expertise but no higher level responsibilities holding MIFA over much higher level colleagues in other specialities (including fieldwork) who are mostly at Aifa grade.
Hope all that makes sense
written in a bit of a rush!