Early career development of candidate quantity surveyors : a focus on soft skills development

Abstract

Academic and professional knowledge, together with sound technical skills will always remain the foundation of quantity surveying, but this alone is not sufficient to cultivate the required professional skillset to help early career candidate quantity surveyors succeed in this profession. Soft skills development in the construction industry has not yet received the attention it deserves. Stakeholders such as the SACQSP, ASAQS, higher education institutions and quantity surveying employers, play a key role in terms of supporting the soft skills development of candidate quantity surveyors. This study aimed at determining how stakeholders can better support the development of soft skills among early career candidate quantity surveyors in South Africa. It utilised a soft skills gap analysis to determine possible gaps among this cohort. A quantitative research approach was adopted making use of a structured questionnaire as data collection tool. The questionnaire was administered to quantity surveyors registered with the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) as well as members of the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS). Responses received were analysed by using descriptive- and inferential statistics and an exploratory factor analysis. Findings from the empirical part of the study revealed that 95 per cent of respondents agree that it is important to cultivate soft skills and 75 per cent agree that a soft skills shortage exists. Four soft skills clusters that early career candidate quantity surveyors need to develop to succeed in their profession were identified. These clusters are “self-management”, “analytical”, “interaction” and “professionalism and ethics”. This study further identified several soft skills gaps at both pre-professional- and professional development levels. This includes among other a gap in perception and gaps related to teaching-, training- and assessing soft skills. This study contributed to the field of inquiry by proposing a soft skills development framework for the quantity surveying profession in South Africa. This study will be of significance to key stakeholders in the quantity surveying profession such as the SACQSP, ASAQS, higher education institutions and quantity surveying employers. Suggestions for further research include a longitudinal study to investigate the impact of implementing the proposed framework in practice.