CONSULTANCY: There are two levels of consultancy in ECAO, namely Membership and Contributors.
MEMBERSHIP
Full Membership of the ECAO is formidable. It requires
1. Exceptional general IQ requirement as reflected by Intelligence requirements
An intelligence score of 1 in 5000 is a minimum for admission to full membership. For comparison this is 100 fold higher than the Mensa requirement or Mensa squared then doubled. If candidates do not qualify based on IQ they may still more qualify as Associates or Affiliates.
2. Exceptional Creative Achievement as reflected by creative achievement.
Exceptional creative achievement requires demonstrable achievement: This may reflect creative academic achievement or demonstrable equivalent public creative achievements. Because of this certain educational minima are required but may rarely be achieved though other mechanisms.
Consequently, progression in ECAO is mainly one of progression in ECA (exceptional creative achievement).
The educational requirement is equivalent to an accredited university doctorate comes in. We realize that there are those who have demonstrated enormous creativity but do not have the formal education. Therefore, although one can score adequately enough to qualify on the educational requirement at the Level 1 Candidate level with e.g., a PhD, there are other tracks, namely university appointments, and publications which may count equivalently.
Additionally, the other aspects of the creative achievement, namely actualization by demonstrable achievement can be in part converted for education points.
This can be attained by presentations, social or individual creative endeavors.
4. Ethical requirements and excellent moral character
This requirement is rather obvious and at a level not only of professional societies with codes of ethics, but of a kind where members must conform to the need to be consultants at a very high level. Because of this, members are required to be recertified every year. Three special major components exist.
1. The consultant must be able to perform appropriately when retained, even for complex and/ or prolonged assignments. Past history of performance is an important measure in that regard.
2. The consultant must retain the privacy of other consultants. That means that the consultant is not required to give out another’s name as a consultant in ECAO. This is important because Sponsors have access to the list of consultants and their backgrounds, but the public does not. On the other hand, consultants can list their link with ECAO on their curriculum vitae provided this is represented properly e.g., Level 1, Candidate Associate, ECAO.
3. Letters of recommendation are required.
However, there is are category of non-member (Contributors) who is also involved with consultancies. These Contributors include Associates, Affiliates and Adjuncts. They have not achieved sufficient criteria to become Members at the Level 1 Candidate level, although potentially being accomplished.
This may be because they have not achieved the 1 in 5000 cutoff on recognized individual, supervised testing or SCHIQ but have achieved the 1 in 1000 cutoff or because they do not have sufficient educational or creativity achievement points. (Associates lack one criterion; Affiliates lack two; an alternative track is Adjunct: Adjuncts do not qualify for Affiliate or Associate, cannot initiate the process and must be invited to apply)
For more details see tiers of membership.