Graduate Attribute Requirements for Real Estate Consultancies: Perspectives from Human Resource Managers

This paper builds upon previous research that investigated the critical factors and essential elements for professionally accredited real estate degree programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the UK (Poon, Hoxley and Fuchs). The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the perspective of human resource (HR) professionals with other stakeholders and to identify preferred knowledge, skills and attributes. The previous research targeted real estate professionals (employers) and recent real estate graduates (new entrants) by way of questionnaire survey. The survey enabled a detailed analysis of the knowledge, skills and attributes that employers required and a comparison with those that recent real graduates considered they had gained from their programme of study. The survey results were complemented by detailed interviews undertaken with a small number of course directors of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited programmes delivered by UK universities. One of the interesting comparisons illustrated by the survey data was the relevant weighting given to the importance of technical knowledge compared with ësofterí skills and attributes such as communication, time management, negotiation skills, interpersonal skills, and adaptability and flexibility. This aspect has been investigated further by undertaking a series of detailed interviews with HR professionals working for leading real estate consultancies in London. Initial results, perhaps not surprisingly, suggest that HR professionals attach greater weight to ësofterí skills and attributes than either employers or recent graduates. The perspectives of HR professionals are of significance for new entrants to the real estate profession. They are important gatekeepers in designing and implementing selection processes and in providing graduate surveyors with appropriate in-house support and training to successfully proceed to full professional membership. The interviews also provide further illumination to the on-going debate about whether undergraduates who have completed a dedicated professional degree or non-cognate postgraduates are most suitability equipped to secure employment in the current extremely competitive market for new entrants to the profession.