“I’m not looking to move.”It’s probably one of the sentences I hear most often.And that’s absolutely fine.Because a conversation about the rural surveying market doesn’t have to mean someone is looking for a new job.
After years of working in agricultural and rural recruitment, and having spent much of my career surrounded by the land agency and rural property world, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to thousands of rural surveyors across the UK.
Graduates figuring out where they want their career to go.
Experienced surveyors weighing up their next step.
Chartered Surveyors building their client base.
Associates and Directors thinking about progression.
Partners thinking about succession and the future of their practice.
I’ve heard about the good, the bad and the occasionally frustrating.
I’ve heard what makes people stay. I’ve heard what makes them leave. I’ve heard what firms think candidates want – and what candidates actually tell me they want.
And when you have enough of these conversations, you start to notice patterns.
So, here are 10 things I’ve learnt from speaking to 1,000s of rural surveyors.
1. Rural Surveying Is One of the Most Varied Careers in the Property World
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way.
If you’ve never worked in the industry, you could be forgiven for thinking rural surveying is mainly about walking around farms with a clipboard.
There is certainly some of that.
But there is so much more.
Estate management. Valuations. Land agency. Landlord and tenant. Rural planning. Development. Renewables. Compulsory purchase. Diversification. Environmental schemes. Natural capital.
The list goes on.
And that’s one of the things I hear people talk about most positively.
You can build a career around a particular specialism, or you can develop a broad rural skillset that takes you across a huge range of work.
It’s difficult to get bored when your clients, projects and challenges are constantly changing
2. Salary Matters. But Ask a Rural Surveyor What Really Makes Them Move...
…and the answer is rarely just money.
Of course salary matters. Everyone wants to feel that they’re being fairly rewarded for the work they do.
But conversations have become much broader than that.
I’m increasingly asked about flexibility, the team, workload, progression, the quality of the work, the client base and – perhaps most importantly – what life is actually like inside the business.
I’ve spoken to people who could have earned more elsewhere but stayed because they genuinely enjoyed their job.
I’ve also spoken to people who have moved for a similar salary because they wanted something different.
More responsibility.
Better support.
A clearer career path.
More flexibility.
A different culture.
Sometimes, the biggest reason someone moves isn’t because they want more.
It’s because they want different.
3. "What's the Progression?" Is One of the Most Important Questions
A good salary might get someone’s attention.
A good career keeps it.
I speak to surveyors at every stage of their careers, and progression comes up time and time again.
For someone working towards their APC, it might be about having the right support, exposure and supervision.
For someone newly qualified, it might be about getting their hands on more interesting work and developing their own client relationships.
For a more senior surveyor, it could be about building a team, developing a specialism, growing a client base or having a genuine route to partnership.
The important thing is that people want to understand what happens next.
Being told “there are opportunities to progress” is very different from being able to see what that progression actually looks like.
4. The Best Surveyors Aren't Always the Ones With the Longest CVs
One thing I’ve learnt over the years is that a CV only tells you so much.
Technical knowledge matters.
Qualifications matter.
Experience matters.
But so does the ability to build relationships, communicate properly with clients and understand what a landowner or farmer is actually trying to achieve.
Rural surveying is a people business.
I’ve met highly experienced surveyors who are exceptional technically but don’t necessarily enjoy the client-facing side.
I’ve also met surveyors who have built incredibly successful careers because they are trusted, approachable and very good at dealing with people.
The best rural professionals tend to bring both sides together.
They understand the property.
They understand the land.
And, importantly, they understand the person.
5. Your Agricultural Understanding Can Be Just as Valuable as Your Surveying Qualification
This is something I particularly notice when speaking to people within the rural sector.
Rural surveying doesn’t exist in isolation.
The advice you give can have a direct impact on someone’s farm, estate, family business or livelihood.
Understanding agriculture – even if you aren’t a farmer yourself – can make a huge difference.
You need to understand why a particular tenancy matters.
Why timing a transaction matters.
Why a piece of land might be far more important to a client than its value on paper suggests.
And why the right answer isn’t always the most obvious one.
That understanding of agriculture and the countryside is one of the things that makes rural surveying so different from other areas of property.
6. The Best Candidates Usually Aren't Applying for Jobs
This is something I think employers sometimes forget.
Some of the best rural surveyors I speak to aren’t sitting on job boards looking for their next opportunity.
They’re busy.
They’re managing clients.
They’re winning work.
They’re working towards their APC.
They’re building their reputation.
They’re getting on with their lives.
And they may be perfectly happy where they are.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t listen.
Sometimes the right opportunity is simply one that makes someone think:
“Actually… I hadn’t considered that.”
That’s where relationships become important.
I don’t need someone to be actively job hunting to have a conversation with them.
Sometimes it’s simply about knowing what’s happening in the market and keeping the door open.
7. Culture Is Hard to Put on a Job Description, But People Notice It Immediately
You can write an excellent job description.
You can offer a competitive salary.
You can have a great benefits package.
And someone can still walk into an interview and think:
“This isn’t for me.”
Culture is difficult to quantify.
It’s the way Partners speak to people.
It’s whether junior surveyors feel comfortable asking questions.
It’s whether people actually take their holidays.
It’s whether flexibility is genuinely accepted or simply advertised.
It’s whether colleagues enjoy working together.
And it’s whether someone can imagine themselves being part of the business for the next five or ten years.
I’ve seen people turn down attractive opportunities because the culture didn’t feel right.
I’ve also seen people accept a role because, quite simply, they liked the people they met.
You can’t always put that into a job advert.
But you can certainly feel it.
8. The Definition of a "Rural Surveyor" Is Changing
The traditional rural surveying skillset isn’t disappearing.
Far from it.
But the profession is evolving.
Renewables, biodiversity net gain, natural capital, carbon, environmental schemes and alternative land uses are creating new conversations with landowners.
Technology is changing the way information is gathered and analysed.
Clients are asking increasingly complex questions about what they can do with their land – and what they should do with it.
For surveyors, that means there are opportunities to develop new areas of expertise alongside the fundamentals of rural surveying.
The profession isn’t becoming less relevant.
In many ways, the opposite is happening.
The questions landowners are asking are simply getting more complicated.
9. There Is a Generational Shift Happening in Rural Surveying
This is a conversation I have increasingly with both candidates and employers.
Many established rural practices have decades of experience behind them.
At the same time, a younger generation is coming through with different expectations about careers and working life.
They want development.
They want responsibility.
They want flexibility.
They want to understand where their career is going.
And they aren’t necessarily prepared to wait ten years before being given responsibility simply because “that’s how it was done before”.
But there is also an enormous amount that the next generation can learn from those who have spent decades working in the industry.
Client relationships.
Negotiation.
Judgement.
Commercial awareness.
And, sometimes, simply knowing when to pick up the phone rather than sending another email.
The challenge – and opportunity – for rural practices is bringing those two things together.
Experience and fresh thinking.
10. After All These Conversations, One Thing Hasn't Changed...
People genuinely love rural surveying.
This is probably the thing I find most interesting.
Because despite all the conversations about salary, workload, flexibility and career progression, the people I speak to are overwhelmingly passionate about the industry.
And I can understand why.
Where else can you combine property, agriculture, the countryside, commercial decision-making and long-term relationships with clients in quite the same way?
There are difficult days.
There are long days.
There are deadlines.
There are complicated clients.
And, naturally, there is the British weather.
But there is also variety.
Independence.
Responsibility.
Problem-solving.
And the opportunity to work on land and businesses that can have significance for generations.
That is a pretty unique career.
So, What Have 1,000s of Conversations Taught Me?
If I had to boil all of these conversations down to one thing, it would be this:
People want to feel valued.
Not just financially.
They want to feel that their experience is recognised.
That their opinion matters.
That they’re learning.
That they’re progressing.
That they’re working with good people.
And that the career they’re building fits the life they want to have outside of work.
That’s true whether you’re a graduate taking your first step into rural surveying or a Partner thinking about what the next chapter of your career looks like.
And perhaps that’s why I enjoy rural recruitment so much.
It’s not really about matching a CV to a job description.
It’s about getting to know people.
Understanding businesses.
Knowing the market.
And sometimes being the person someone can speak to honestly when they’re not quite sure what they want to do next.