By Pratima Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Career paths have been plotted, exotic holidays are there for the taking, they can afford the car of their dreams and all the designer clothes they desire.

But for many young professionals, something's missing -- and they're turning to dating agencies to find the partner who will listen to the career worries, share the holidays and admire the smart clothes and the fast car.

"They (dating agencies) have certainly taken off in the last two years -- in a specific section of the population which is the single professional in their 30s," said Lynda Davies, chairman of the Association of British Introduction Agencies.

Many new dating agency customers are young women who, armed with a better education than their predecessors 20 years ago, have invaded professions previously seen as the province of men.

"Young women have the trappings (of success)...as they get into their 30s suddenly they realise there is something missing...a partner," Davies said. "They then make a very conscious decision to do something about it."

Dating agencies were once sniggered at as the last resort of those too diffident, dull or undesirable to find a partner in the normal course of their social life.

But now widely used by lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, scientists and bankers, most agencies aim to give their matchmaking an image of clinical professionalism.

FAMILY CHOICE

In many ways dating agencies fill a role played by family elders in the arranged marriages that still take place in many societies around the world and that were normal in the upper echelons of British society 100 years ago.

Then, Victorians with aspirations to title, money or land, armed with a belief that they knew best, introduced their children to suitable marriage partners.

Growing affluence, independence and more equality between the sexes eroded the influence of the traditional matchmakers and as the 20th century advanced, love matches became the norm.

They still are. But as the working day gets longer and people concentrate on establishing careers, opportunities to meet and make friends have dwindled.

Add to this the breakdown of local communities and extended families, which used to introduce young people to each other, and agencies say they are providing a much-needed service.

"The market place has definitely grown in recent years," said Mary Balfour, owner of the agency Drawing Down the Moon.

"If you're a busy professional, the chances of you meeting someone through work are very low...and besides, workplace romances are not advisable."

For many, September 11 was the final push to start a search that would require commitment, time and money.

APPRAISAL AND REJECTION

Davies at the Association of British Introduction Agencies says that soul-searching after the attacks on U.S. landmarks prompted a surge of around 40 percent across all age groups in the number of people using dating agencies in Britain.

"People suddenly realised that none of us know what's going to happen tomorrow...it hit home to a lot of people in a lot of different societies and age groups. People saw the devastation, how quickly it happened...it stopped them in their tracks."

The problem with meeting people on the off-chance that something might click is that it involves two things people like the least: appraisal and rejection at a very personal level.

But "people who live in the modern world are increasingly cosmopolitan...they can take it on board," said Michael Clarke, reader in sociology at the University of Liverpool.

"They don't find it threatening or shameful. They are more pragmatic...It's a significant change."

In Britain, many dating agencies are located in southern England where the high density of population means people usually don't have to travel far to meet their blind dates.

Professional matchmaking is harder in places like Wales and East Anglia because potential partners are likely to live further away and "people tend to be far too inhibited to do what's necessary," Clarke said.

LOVE ON THE WEB

Signing on with an agency costs between 200 and 2,000 pounds, maybe more.

If money is short, then there's the internet. Agencies based on the Web have spearheaded growth in the market for introductions over the past two years.

"A Web-based service can be quite low-priced because members do all the work themselves," said Jackie Elton, owner of IvoryTowers.net. "They create their own profiles, search the database and decide who they want to contact.

"Our customers tend to be younger people in their 20s, 30s or 40s. Our site starts off more popular with men who don't want to be bothered with interviews...They like the independence and are more prepared to go for it."

Agencies can start and end life very quickly, experts say.

Many underestimate the cost of start-up, advertise and recruit indiscriminately or fail to set up an efficient system for pairing off the people on their books.

But the market is sizeable. Clarke at Liverpool University estimates that in Britain roughly 200,000 clients a year are now joining dating agencies.

"If an agency has survived for three years it's probably doing something right," he said. "I identified 117 (such agencies) around the country...that's quite a lot."

But how do you measure success? "The paradox is that people want to join an agency with the largest numbers," said Clarke. "But the agency you really want to join is the one with few members...all previous members have successfully met someone."