Industry bodies are part of the QS recruitment problem, not the solution

The organisations whose role it is to support and promote the quantity surveying (QS) profession have lost their way to the point where they are now part of the recruitment problem, according to Stephen Pilling, MD of the Quantum Group.

Like numerous other QS practices across the UK, the Quantum Group has struggled to attract the right calibre of candidates to fill attractive, well-rewarded roles, particularly at junior level. It is a problem which Stephen attributes in part to the way the profession is portrayed to the outside world, and - importantly - the next generation of QSs.

In particular, Stephen believes the imagery chosen by the RICS and the CIOB for their promotional and marketing materials, including on their websites, does not reflect the day to day working environment for many QSs. He believes this is damaging recruitment efforts because it is misleading candidates, who once they get into the industry, realise it is not what they thought it would be. And, on the flip side, the portrayal of an office-based, 'clean' working environment is failing to engage or interest those young people who would like a professional role in a construction site environment.

Stephen says, "I don't believe that RICS portrays the profession in the correct way. You are hard pressed to see an image of a building site in anything the organisation produces. The optics are a very clean, safe environment - not that building sites are unsafe - but that's not the environment that many QSs will be in a lot of the time.

"The imagery is of an already built environment, not an 'unbuilt' environment. What this means is that those who work in the unbuilt environment are not seeing the RICS and the profession as being relevant to them. That's perhaps one of the reasons why I think we are seeing a skills shortage in our profession."

As part of his efforts to understand what the next generation sees in quantity surveying, with a view to improving his own recruitment processes, Stephen has partnered with the first of what he hopes will be several universities. This will give him a chance to present to students, offer paid internships to those keen to get true experience and get valuable first-hand insights into their perceptions, concerns and ambitions.

"My intention is to go around some of the universities and talk to students directly about the quantity surveying profession. I want to try to understand how they see the profession that they're coming into and the career paths they intend to take. I'm very interested in this because I want to ensure that Quantum will adapt well to the future and grow as we plan to.

"We've got to be proactive as a business because I don't believe our industry bodies are helping us a great deal. They have become part of the recruitment problem in quantity surveying, not the solution."

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