Starting in Compliance
What to expect when you’re kicking off your compliance career
New compliance officers often start in the job without much idea of what the work really entails. This can happen even if you’ve done your homework about the council you’re joining, and you asked all the right questions during your recruitment interview.
Once you’ve become familiar with your council’s setup and systems, you will be making your first site visit. Usually, it will be fairly straight forward, but you might come across someone who isn’t particularly cooperative. When you’re a new compliance officer, it’s hard to know what it’s really like being out there face-to-face with someone who is reluctant to comply with a piece of legislation or a rule in your district or regional plan. The following tips should help.
Take the time to talk
Sometimes the public are confused by what they are required to do by law, and this can result in them appearing at first to be difficult to deal with, but if you take the time to build relationships with them and give them the information they need to understand their obligations, they are generally relieved and more pleasant to deal with. Gaining trust of the people you need to deal with is essential if they are going to become compliant with whichever law they have been breaching.
You’re not alone
If you’re in a larger council, you will have other officers who can help you become accustomed to the role and if you’re lucky, you will have a buddy who has the task of helping you. However, if you’re the only compliance officer, you will still be able to talk to other council staff such as your team leader and experts in relevant fields. It can be a big task coming to grips with the complexity of the work due to the broad range of laws, regulations, and rules it encompasses. Even if you’ve moved from a different part of your council into the compliance position, you can be surprised at just how complex the work is.
Nobody knows everything
It's really important to remember that you don’t need to know everything about compliance. Nobody does! It’s completely acceptable to say that you’re not sure and will check when you return to the office and get back to them. This way you won’t give someone bad advice simply because you’re reluctant to admit you didn’t know something.
Remember that the work is usually trouble free and enjoyable. One of the most satisfying things about working as a compliance officer is that every day you are making a positive difference to the environment and your community.
Janet Whiteside – September 2023
