I recently had a chat with a guy in a pub, we were watching football, and we got talking about the game, life, and work and so on.

He said to me ‘what do you do?'

I said ‘I'm a QS'.

‘Oh', he said, ‘what's that then?'

If I had said ‘architect' there wouldn't have been a problem, instead I found myself trying to explain what the job is. Funnily enough it took me about 10 minutes and by then I think the guy had fallen asleep. If I had a pound for every time someone has asked me that question. And I bet I'm not the only one either.

What I'm trying to get at is the fact that the profession, and the RICS, are guilty of non promotion of the .

When I was leaving school I was lucky enough to have family in construction, so I sort of had an idea of what I wanted to do. But even knowing what I wanted wasn't enough, I had to seek out the route to become a QS all on my own. I had to find out about colleges that run courses, universities for degrees and try to find an employer. It's not easy to find employment because QS practices are not exactly household names.

The only press and advertisement for a QS is within the industry press, it's not necessarily something you find on the shelf at WH Smith, therefore it limits its audience and excludes itself from the general population. This exclusion has meant that bright young people have gone on to do other things when perhaps they could have excelled in surveying/cost management.

When I was studying for my degree, which I only passed two years ago, we did not hear from the RICS once (in three years). Looking back on it, they should have come in every year and held an open day and presentation on how to become qualified. This would have at least got the students excited at the prospect of becoming chartered and perhaps would have even created a bit of a buzz, and left students saying ‘wow, can't wait to be chartered'.

Some of my colleagues from university are doing their APC, some aren't, some aren't sure how to do it and some aren't sure what it is. Basically the direction of the RICS is a big disappointment, and certainly they face a challenge to justify what it is they do with the fees they charge to become chartered and what it is they offer back to the profession.

I'm probably nagging a bit here, but you tell me how many school leavers this year are likely to become a surveyor. I guess not many.

Matt Elmes

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