Finding a CORU period of adaptation placement: CORU does not arrange it, and the site can say no

If you have chosen a period of adaptation as your CORU compensation measure, the first thing to understand is what CORU is not going to do. It will not find you a placement, it publishes no list of approved sites, and the organisation you approach is free to decline you.

CORU’s applicant guidance says it in one sentence: “It is the applicant’s responsibility to locate a POA location and a supervisor willing to provide a suitable POA to address any deficit(s) identified by the Registration Board.” And the acceptance decision is not CORU’s: “the acceptance of an applicant for a POA is at the discretion of the specific POA site and supervisor.”

Everything below is the published mechanics. It is worth reading in full before you send your first email, because most of what a prospective supervisor needs to say yes is something you have to supply.

Who may supervise

One rule, stated the same way in both CORU documents: “To be a POA supervisor, you must be a CORU registered member of the profession in which the applicant is seeking supervised practice.”

That is the whole eligibility test as published. Not a grade, not a number of years, not an employer type — registration with CORU in the same profession. It follows that your search is bounded by which registers are actually open, which is not all of them; see which CORU registration board covers your profession.

The placement itself must be in the State: “A Period of Adaptation (POA) is a period of supervised practice, which must be undertaken in the Republic of Ireland, and under the supervision of a CORU registered professional.” CORU’s policy repeats it: “Periods of adaptation, including additional academic training if applicable, must take place in the State.”

The document that gets you in the door

The decision letter from your Registration Board is the working document of the whole process, and CORU tells you to lead with it.

“The applicant must provide their chosen supervisor with a copy of the decision letter from CORU to enable the supervisor view the deficits in the applicant’s application.”

And, on first contact: “When contacting POA sites, the inclusion of the decision letter is to enable potential supervisors decide if they can assist an applicant in achieving the learnings and experience required to address the deficit(s) identified.”

The letter contains three things a supervisor needs: the deficits, the scope of the POA, and the duration the Board has set. The supervisor guidance adds a detail worth flagging to them early — “The duration of the POA does not include an induction period or time required to become familiar with local policies and procedures.” Local mandatory training and induction sit outside the POA hours, and CORU says the applicant “must be informed of this prior to commencement of the POA.”

What has to be signed, and in what order

The sequence is fixed and there is no way to run it backwards.

1. You find a site and a CORU-registered supervisor in your profession.
2. You and the proposed supervisor hold a preliminary meeting. CORU recommends covering the decision letter and its recommendations, expectations, the structure of the placement, local policy and induction requirements, and recommended reading or self-directed study.
3. You complete the POA proposal form together. It “must align with the specific deficit(s) in the application and duration of POA recommended by the Registration Board”.
4. Both of you sign it. It is “co-signed by both the applicant and the supervisor, which the applicant then submits to CORU either through the online Portal, or via email”.
5. The Registration Board approves it. CORU’s policy: “Approval by the Registration Board must be granted in advance of commencement of the period of adaptation.”

Once approved, the proposal is not just paperwork: it “acts as the learning plan between the applicant and their supervisor and is the baseline for the evaluation of progress during the POA.”

Two timing rules sit around this. The POA “shall be of three years’ duration at a maximum”, and it “shall normally be required to be initiated by the applicant within eighteen months of the Registration Board approving the period of adaptation proposal”. Eighteen months from approval — not from your decision letter.

The attendance rule people underestimate

“Full 100% attendance is required during the POA. This should be as per normal working hours of a full-time member of the profession (normally a 35-hour working week).”

Absences are not written off. “Periods of absence must be addressed by extending the duration of the POA so that the total number of hours of the POA is equal to that outlined in the decision letter from the Registration Board.” Holidays must be agreed in advance and documented in the proposal; sick leave must be medically certified.

Read practically: this is a full-time commitment in Ireland for the period the Board specified, and the clock only counts hours actually worked.

The meeting and reporting structure

CORU issues four templates and requires them to be used — “The CORU report templates provided must be used by both the applicant and the supervisor, as they provide for ease of use, consistency, accountability and transparency”: the POA Proposal Form, the POA Interim Review Meeting Report, the POA Final Applicant Report, and the POA Final Supervisor Report.

Three meetings are recommended as a minimum:

• Initial meeting, “within the first week”, to discuss the induction plan and implement the approved proposal.
• Interim meeting, “midway through the POA”, recorded on the interim template. “If there is a lack of progress, an action plan must be drawn up and agreed to by both the applicant and supervisor.” Where progress is unsatisfactory, “there may be a requirement for a third party from the profession to attend … another CORU registered professional.”
• Final meeting, “during the final week”, and only after 100% attendance has been achieved. A third party may attend if there has been a lack of progress, if either party requests it, or if the applicant “has not addressed all deficit(s) during the POA”.

CORU also names a single point of contact for supervisors with concerns: “a single point of contact in CORU is available for a phone conversation, which is the head of recognition”, reached through the registration mailbox.

At the end, three reports go to CORU — the interim review, the final applicant report and the final supervisor report. “Once the Registration Board has approved the completed Period of Adaptation the applicant will be recognised and can progress to registration.”

If it does not go well

CORU publishes the fallback in the supervisor guidance: “If an applicant fails their POA, there is an option to choose between doing a second POA, or to undertake an Aptitude Test as their second and final attempt to successfully complete a compensation measure.”

Two attempts is the ceiling across both measures combined, and the cost of both sits with you: “Any costs associated with a period of adaptation or aptitude test must be borne by the applicant.” The full comparison, including the €500 aptitude test fee, is at CORU found substantial differences in your qualification.

A realistic search plan

CORU publishes no site list, so this is our reading of what its own documents imply, not CORU guidance.

1. Bound the search by the register. Your supervisor must be CORU-registered in your profession. Start from the professions with open registers.
2. Lead with the decision letter. CORU says explicitly that this is what lets a site decide. An enquiry without it asks the reader to guess what you need.
3. Ask about supervisor capacity, not vacancies. The binding constraint is a named registered professional willing to hold responsibility, complete the proposal, hold three formal meetings and sign two reports. That is a personal commitment, not a staffing decision.
4. Name the duration and scope from the letter. A supervisor has to judge whether the deficits can be addressed in the time the Board set — CORU tells them to “consider what is achievable with available resources and the time required”.
5. Ask what induction the site requires. It is separate from your POA hours and extends your total time in place.
6. Budget for the eighteen-month initiation window. It is generous, but it is not indefinite.

What this page does not do

It does not list placements, employers or supervisors, and it is not a recruitment service. CORU does not publish such a list either; if you are told someone can arrange a CORU placement for a fee, check what they are actually offering against the approval sequence above, because the Registration Board’s advance approval is the only thing that makes a placement count.

It contains no clinical guidance of any kind. Everything here is administrative process, taken from CORU’s own published documents.

Whether any particular proposal is approved is a decision for your Registration Board alone.

All quotations were read from CORU’s published guidance and policy on 3 September 2026.