IEASA National President elected as vice-chair



Mr Bill Rawson, national president of the Institute of Estate Agents, has been appointed a member of the Property Chamber of the Services SETA, and the chamber has elected him as its vice-chairman. The SSETA is responsible for promoting education and training in the country's many service industries, including estate agency. It is funded by monthly levies paid by employers in the service industries. "Skills development is one of the greatest challenges facing the estate agency industry," says Rawson. "The industry has become highly competitive, and technically complicated. Today's estate agent needs far more than just basic selling skills. He or she needs to be computer-literate and to understand and be able to apply a rapidly increasing body of laws and regulations. Principals need good business management skills and a good working knowledge of labour laws." National qualifications, consisting of a certificate for candidate estate agents, a national certificate for non-principals, and a tertiary diploma for principals, are currently being developed. The intention is to make them compulsory in due course. "The Institute of Estate Agents has been at the forefront of industry training for the past sixty-six years," says Rawson, "and is gearing itself up to help launch the national qualifications as soon as they are ready. For this reason, the Institute needs to be represented on the Services SETA. The two organisations have different roles to play in training our industry, and co-operation and co-ordination is very important.