What women do matters: a Q&A with UCEM Student Candace O’Brian
Posted on: 16 April, 2024
We spoke to Candace O’Brian, a Jamaican real estate professional and UCEM student, to get an international perspective on what it’s like to be a woman in the built environment.
It’s no secret that industries like construction, real estate and surveying are typically associated with men. While representation among women is slowly rising, just 17% of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) members across the UK and Ireland are female.
However, it’s not just in the UK that more work needs to be done to improve diversity in the built environment. According to data from February 2022, women represented only 18% of RICS’ then 139,000 international professionals across 23 pathways.
In the latest of our Q&As for our Be Part of the Change campaign, we sat down with Candace O’Brian – a Real Estate Professional and UCEM student from Kingston, Jamaica. She gave us an impression of the built environment landscape in her country and shared her journey to studying with UCEM and pursuing a career in real estate.
This interview was conducted by Charlotte Thackeray, Outreach and Inclusion Lead, and Daniel Ashton, Content Marketing Manager.
About Candace
Candace is a Real Estate Professional who specialises in land economy and property consultation. Before pursuing a career in the built environment, she studied operations management, later switching to a degree in land economy and valuation surveying with the University of Technology, Jamaica. Today, she is currently studying the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Construction and Real Estate with UCEM.
Candace is a member of the UCEM Learning Experience Consultation panel, and was previously part of UCEM’s Responsible Futures Working Group. On top of this, she’s a member of the Association of Land Economy and Valuation Surveyors (ALEVS) in Jamaica, and a student member of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
Q: What is real estate like in Jamaica, and how does it compare to the UK?
A: Real estate is very similar here to how it is in the UK, but right now, post-COVID, there’s a lot of demand for residential properties – especially in areas with access to urban conveniences. As a result, if you were to travel around the country, you’d see there’s a lot of construction work going on.
The real estate industry has always been very vibrant here, owing to the importance of tourism in our country. Tourism is a big part of the government’s budget, because as a tropical destination, our hotels and resorts are so important.
Q: What inspired you to start a career in real estate and the built environment?
A: I’ve always been fascinated with properties. When I was younger, I often explored Jamaica and its many different parishes with my father, so I naturally developed an interest in buildings and the built environment.
I started a degree in operations management but ended up questioning why I was even doing it, which led to me pivot to valuation surveying.
After completing my valuation surveying degree, I decided I wanted to take a step further and obtain membership with RICS. In Jamaica, I need a Master’s alongside several years of practicing before I can apply for the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC), which led me to study the MBA in Construction and Real Estate with UCEM.
Learn more: Be Part of the Change podcast episode 1 – women in the built environment
Q: How much is the bult environment talked about during school in Jamaica?
A: When people think of real estate here, they often think of salesmen; nobody knows about land, valuation, quantity surveyors or even land economists – the people who consult about property. People in Jamaica don’t know about these things until they’re in a position when they need the service, so if they were to buy a house for instance and the bank says an appraisal needs to be done. This is one of the reasons why the cohort of students studying from Jamaica is so small.
Q: Why should women pursue a career in the built environment specifically?
A: There’s never a dull day in my role, and I believe careers in the built environment are very diverse. There are so many opportunities to meet like-minded individuals and share knowledge and experiences.
What I’d also say is that women’s opinions matter, and what we do matters – it contributes to the overall built environment. We bring value to the sector.
Learn more: Giving the construction industry a second chance – a Q&A with UCEM Apprentice Jodi-Ann Morgan
A: To be recognised and licensed in Jamaica, you need several years of experience, along with relevant qualifications, which is one of the main challenges I’ve faced. Because of this and my age, I’m often still seen as young and inexperienced.
I’ve also faced challenges as a female. Traditionally in Jamaica, females work in the office – they do the administrative work and so people don’t believe we should be in the field.
Q: Did people question why you wanted to work in real estate and the built environment?
A: Definitely. When I tell people what I’m studying and the profession I want to work in, they’ll say “you really want to do that?” They tell me I’m going to end up working in the office and I tell them no, I like to go outside, I want to be on site, doing inspections, in the field.
I get this a lot from people, but you have to have trust in yourself. If you know what your aims are, your goals and objectives, you have to have faith in yourself that you can do it. You need to have the confidence in yourself so that other people can see that.
Learn more: Pursuing a career in a male-dominated industry – a Q&A with UCEM Programme Leader Priti Lodhia
Q: Do you think the lack of female representation in the built environment will change with younger generations?
A: Yes, I do. Our generation believe females can do it just as well as males can, and more and more women are pursuing this career path.
There’s a lot of work to be done still, of course. During my Bachelor’s degree, I was president of the club and tried to be part of career days, so I could do my part and have an influence on people that were interested in the profession. I hear about how I’ve had an impact, so there’s a little bit of change, but there’s still so much more that needs to be done.
Q: What would be your advice for someone starting out in the real estate industry?
A: My biggest piece of advice is to be open to learning, because learning is a continuous thing. I’d also say that your voice and your contribution matters – aim high, work hard and don’t limit yourself. We should never let the challenges we face stop us from moving forward in your career.
Q: What do you think needs to change to encourage more people from underrepresented backgrounds to consider a career in the sector?
A: Focusing specifically on Jamaica, where I have my experience, I think it’s important to have greater acceptance from our male counterparts already in the industry. We need to champion the successes of female professionals in the built environment.
If there was greater education being put in secondary and high school, where you start to have career days, you could have female built environment professionals going to these schools and inspiring people to consider a career in the sector.
For instance, just the other day I saw a feature on four 28-storey towers that are being built in Jamaica – they’ll be the tallest buildings in the Caribbean, and the leadership team is all female. Sharing and publicising stories like this will inspire other females to think “hey, you know I could do that.”
To find out more about the Be Part of the Change campaign and get involved, visit the homepage. If you’d like to get in touch with our Student Ambassadors for EDI, email outreachandinclusion@ucem.ac.uk
