Surveying Work
Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Wednesday 4th August 2010
quotequote all
Good morning fellow Ph'ers

I am currently looking for employment and thought it may be worth mentioning on here. I have posted in the employment section but thought it may be more relevant in here (Please don't delete Mods!)

I am looking for work in the construction/property industry as a Building Surveyor or similar. I have just have just finished a Building Surveying degree and have 7 years experience working for main contractors in Estimating, Maintenance and Project Surveying.

Ideally I am looking for work towards the south west, preferably south of Oxford and west of Portsmouth.

If anyone knows of any similar positions please let me know.

Many thanks

Johnniem

2,735 posts

246 months

Wednesday 4th August 2010
quotequote all
Matt, it's definitely tough to get work out there! Do you have a degree that is accredited by the RICS? Are you trying to get your APC done to become Chartered? if so, contact the RICS careers department and speak to them. Go on the RICS website and check our careers section. Most of all, network as much as possible! Good luck, it'll happen fella.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Johnniem said:
Matt, it's definitely tough to get work out there! Do you have a degree that is accredited by the RICS? Are you trying to get your APC done to become Chartered? if so, contact the RICS careers department and speak to them. Go on the RICS website and check our careers section. Most of all, network as much as possible! Good luck, it'll happen fella.
Yes my degree is A BSc Hons which is accredited with the RICS. I have not tried speaking to the RICS careers department, but I am on the careers page almost daily. I am finding it hard to find intermediate positions as I am being told I am either to experienced/overqualified for graduate schemes, or I lack the relevant experience in Building Surveying for assistant/junior positions. I hope somthing comes up soon or its back to QSing for me!

Cheers for the advice.

sleep envy

62,260 posts

272 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
PQS sector is starting to boom again (private sector only)

once the last pips have been squeaked from the public funds expect there to be a shortage of positions (again)

imo, I'd get back into QSing pdq

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
sleep envy said:
PQS sector is starting to boom again (private sector only)

once the last pips have been squeaked from the public funds expect there to be a shortage of positions (again)

imo, I'd get back into QSing pdq
I will if I have too! But the reason I went back to Uni is so I could move away from the commercial side of things!

sleep envy

62,260 posts

272 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
That may be the case but I dint think anyone can afford to be picky about work when public sector work is being slashed

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
sleep envy said:
That may be the case but I dint think anyone can afford to be picky about work when public sector work is being slashed
You may well be right! Im fast running out of time!

davidjpowell

18,596 posts

207 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
I have seen a few well 'mature' Grad's on the GP side. They have all struggled and even wider experience have had on a Grad role. Without the qualification your value is more limited.

I am sure that you have tried contacting individual offices, rather than personnel who would look after graduate recruitment, if you have not do so.

Make sure your CV is up to date, well prepared and gives the right information. Don't rely on recruitment agents, they are in it for the money, and if they can spend time putting in place a £40k candidate or a £15k grad guess who gets the time.

If there are any BS RICS events they are worth attending, hopefully depending on the uni you were at you have already been at these for the past 6 months.

Nothing to stop you hitting the phone as well. If you can't speak to Head of Department / Office ask for a email address. A well worded email, is more likely to get attention or at least a reply in my opinion (this used to work before the days of spam. I'm not quite as sure now).

Best of luck.

silverthorn2151

6,356 posts

202 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
I think it's worth persevering and don't underestimate the value of experience when looking for the right sort of position.

I'm a APC assessor and the difference in candidates where they are experienced can be quite significant. Not so much in technical responses to questions but in a more general, confidence inspiring way.

Sorry that I don't know of any opportunities off the top of my head but I'll have a think. Are you aiming for residential or commercial slanted work?

Johnniem

2,735 posts

246 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
MonkeyMatt said:
Johnniem said:
Matt, it's definitely tough to get work out there! Do you have a degree that is accredited by the RICS? Are you trying to get your APC done to become Chartered? if so, contact the RICS careers department and speak to them. Go on the RICS website and check our careers section. Most of all, network as much as possible! Good luck, it'll happen fella.
Yes my degree is A BSc Hons which is accredited with the RICS. I have not tried speaking to the RICS careers department, but I am on the careers page almost daily. I am finding it hard to find intermediate positions as I am being told I am either to experienced/overqualified for graduate schemes, or I lack the relevant experience in Building Surveying for assistant/junior positions. I hope somthing comes up soon or its back to QSing for me!

Cheers for the advice.
Don't quite understand Matt, how can you lack the experience for an assistant/graduate role? I would have thought that if you have experience you are a better candidate than most greenhorns straight from Uni (I can tell you this through personal experience with a recent BS APC candidate!). If you want to avoid commercial why not try building control with local authorities or work for an housing association? Avoiding commercial property firms is avoiding 75%+ of the potential job market but if that's what you want! Ever thought about other markets? UAE, Australia, NZ, Hong Kong, USA? 'The world is your lobster'. As a young'un, I'd look to the far shores sir!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Johnniem said:
MonkeyMatt said:
Johnniem said:
Matt, it's definitely tough to get work out there! Do you have a degree that is accredited by the RICS? Are you trying to get your APC done to become Chartered? if so, contact the RICS careers department and speak to them. Go on the RICS website and check our careers section. Most of all, network as much as possible! Good luck, it'll happen fella.
Yes my degree is A BSc Hons which is accredited with the RICS. I have not tried speaking to the RICS careers department, but I am on the careers page almost daily. I am finding it hard to find intermediate positions as I am being told I am either to experienced/overqualified for graduate schemes, or I lack the relevant experience in Building Surveying for assistant/junior positions. I hope somthing comes up soon or its back to QSing for me!

Cheers for the advice.
Don't quite understand Matt, how can you lack the experience for an assistant/graduate role? I would have thought that if you have experience you are a better candidate than most greenhorns straight from Uni (I can tell you this through personal experience with a recent BS APC candidate!). If you want to avoid commercial why not try building control with local authorities or work for an housing association? Avoiding commercial property firms is avoiding 75%+ of the potential job market but if that's what you want! Ever thought about other markets? UAE, Australia, NZ, Hong Kong, USA? 'The world is your lobster'. As a young'un, I'd look to the far shores sir!
Sorry I didn’t make it very clear! I have been told I am over experienced/qualified for most of the graduate schemes, but lack the right experience for more senior positions. As for the commercial bit, it’s more steering away from QSing and estimating rather than working for commercially orientated firms.

I'm off o see a careers adviser on Tuesday so hopefuly they can critique my CV and give me a few new ideas!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for the advice so far chaps!

Johnniem

2,735 posts

246 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
MonkeyMatt said:
Thanks for the advice so far chaps!
PM me with your CV and I'll let you what my thoughts are as an employer of building surveying graduates (sorry fella, no places at the moment!)

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

77 months

Thursday 5th August 2010
quotequote all
Johnniem said:
MonkeyMatt said:
Thanks for the advice so far chaps!
PM me with your CV and I'll let you what my thoughts are as an employer of building surveying graduates (sorry fella, no places at the moment!)
I'll get it across to you after Tuesday when the careers folk have had a look at it.

Thanks!