Sean Tompkins, Chief Executive RICS 

Fancy building the 2022 world cup stadium in Qatar? Or advising the Bank of England on subsidies for first time buyers? Perhaps being part of the Disaster Emergency Committee tasked with rebuilding Haiti following the earthquake?  Or working with the United Nations to ensure global food security? 

The scale of these world challenges mean we need the brightest and the best to work in the UK and overseas and to do that means tapping into talent from diverse backgrounds and skillsets across the full breadth of the UK workforce. 
 
As the CEO of the world’s largest professional body, which sets and enforces standards across land, property, infrastructure and construction, Sean is passionate about diversity in all its forms. He is launching ‘Surveying the Future’, a new campaign to attract more talent to this rapidly changing industry.
 
“Organisations within the industry recognise that greater diversity of thought is likely to be their biggest business advantage in the future.  One of the problems is that influencers, such as teachers, parents and careers advisors are not aware of the broad range of surveying careers.” 

President of RICS, Louise Brooke-Smith, firmly believes that one of the greatest challenges is the leadership deficit, particularly in a number of areas where skills and collaborative leadership styles excel:
 
 “Encouraging people to do better and achieve more can be helped significantly by making success visible, and that’s relevant across all career paths. Our campaign will really drive through change in this area and highlight a broad diversity of talented professionals who are shaping the world we live in.”

 Find your profession in the industry, visit: www.rics.org/uk/the-profession and follow us on Twitter: #SurveyingtheFuture

Name: Richard Owen

Age: 29

Location: Yorkshire

Employer: Fox Lloyd Jones Ltd

Role: Chartered Quantity Surveyor

“I came to surveying via a slightly different path to most, as my GCSEs and A-Levels were very much geared towards a business-related career. However, having worked on a number of construction sites as a labourer in my summer holidays, I became really interested in the built environment and the career prospects it could potentially hold for me.

“Having finished a Business Management degree, I soon embarked on a RICS-accredited conversion course; a Quantity Surveying Masters’ degree. As well as studying for my Quantity Surveying qualification, I also took a graduate position at a London-based surveying firm, which was just as important in helping me acquire the skills and experience I needed to become a fully fledged Quantity Surveyor.

“Having secured my qualification and become fully Chartered with RICS, I’m now employed by Fox Lloyd Jones Ltd. Drawing on the skills I’ve honed over the past few years, I act as a consultant on the costing and budgeting for new building projects. I support clients in helping them understand how much a planned project will cost, as well as advising on the professional team members and connections needed to deliver the project.

“Surveying is the type of career that gives you a huge range of transferable skills. For instance, my role involves me using my procurement, financial and project management skills in order to paint a clear picture for my clients. What’s more the softer skills, such as communication and team work, are required in abundance if a planned project is to be taken from the page and physically built.

“My advice to anyone looking to join the industry would be to work hard, but also be as proactive as you possibly can. Having the right qualifications isn’t enough on its own - you also need to put in the leg work when it comes to setting up work experience and placements.”