Early career training of quantity surveying professionals

This research project addresses the issue of learning and development for new graduates in their early career. It is recognized that early career experience can play a significant part in lifelong professional capability and the support and knowledge gained during the early years of post graduate employment can influence future career direction and success. As a consequence, there is a need for stakeholders, including employers and professional bodies, to contribute to the transition from university to workplace so that the construction industry can benefit from the improved application of a more relevant set of graduate skills. Whilst there are prescribed models of graduate development relative to the surveying professions, for example, those relating to the Assessment of Professional Competence, there has been little evaluation in terms of their relative contribution to career success. Based on a research project which is focusing upon the early career development of quantity surveying professionals, this investigation employed the use of a questionnaire survey to explore the extent to which new graduates perceive themselves to be competent in various major quantity surveying tasks and correspondingly, the range of graduate training provided by the employer. The main conculsions drawn from the study are that: new graduates exhibit a high level of self-doubt in professional competence; task competence is influenced by frequency of application, and; employer type has an impact on levels of employer support.