Wanted: qualified staff

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So says the opening words of a famous 19th-century novel. It happened to be one of the teasers in our inaugural QS Quiz last week, but also could have been written to sum up the present predicament of the QS and project manager (the answer is Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, if you’re interested). The quandary for the industry is namely this: workloads are as strong as ever, bolstered by buoyant public sector spending and now even the possibility of a rejuvenated office market (see pages 16-17), yet it’s never been harder to find staff to carry out the work you’ve won.

Our consideration of the professional skills crisis finds the lack of cognate graduates exiting university construction professional courses is leading to major rethinks of intake policies by firms (see pages 18-19). Companies such as Cyril Sweett and Gardiner & Theobald are now actively encouraging a large chunk of their intake to come from so-called non-cognate graduates. Then there is the influx of skills from Commonwealth countries such as South Africa, Australia and India that are bolstering firms’ numbers.

There is a case to say this isn’t an entirely negative phenomenon. New blood such as Richard Hoffman – an art and design graduate who is now a QS at Cyril Sweett – can offer different skills and fresh perspectives. But it doesn’t disguise the basic shortfall hitting the professions, where some thinking needs to be focused on. Surely a career that has a high degree of certainty, interest and a strengthening pay packet is one that could be sold more persuasively to schoolchildren?

I would think a marketing campaign similar to one selling construction trades to teenagers by the CITB three years ago is a necessity. Non-cognates and imported skills have their place, but too heavy a reliance on them betrays a deeper malaise besetting the industry.