Ravinder Bains: Young Property Professional Blog: Fifty shades of planning…7th August 2012

Ok, this is not as exciting as fifty shades of grey, but it will hopefully enlighten you about my experience of being a graduate in the property industry.

Having graduated with an MA Town and Country Planning degree in July 2011, I am amazed at how quickly a year has gone by, and how much I have actually learnt through on-the-job experience.

By way of an introduction, I would say I am a typical girly girl who works hard, and the social side of the property industry has been as enjoyable as getting to know the work!

My journey from graduation to landing a job

With advance warnings (and lectures) from everyone around me commenting on how difficult getting a job would be, particularly during the recession, I anticipated that finding a job would be like pinning jelly to a wall ... especially as I had not completed any work experience prior to graduating.

I decided not to let this faze me. I was committed to getting a job so I devised a plan of action with my secondary school teacher’s wise words floating back to me: "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." I succumbed to my inner geek and even made a jazzy spread sheet - which actually helped keep things organised.

Using all resources, I made a list of all the planning firms in Birmingham (where I live) and started reading up on various company profiles.

I then rang every firm (yes every one!) to enquire about potential job vacancies or failing that, work experience opportunities. One lady put the phone down before I’d even finished asking (how very rude…).

But little me plodded on, applying online as well. I got through to the last stage of a rigorous application process for one firm, only to be told they had decided not to recruit due to the recession, but tried not to lose heart and in the end, my perseverance paid off.

I was invited into Jones Lang LaSalle office for an interview for a two-week work experience placement, which I was pleased about as they were on my original short-list.

Their Birmingham office sounded a good place to work, and - unlike some firms - they had kept their graduate recruitment programme going, so although I applied centrally, I thought it worth putting in that extra bit of effort, and rang them a couple of times to see what they thought of my application.

Fortunately, I was successful and my two-week placement was progressively extended. I ended up completing a six month placement and thankfully, off the back of my performance,  I was offered a permanent job.

I conducted a mini-interview of my own, with my line manager to provide (what I hope is) some useful information to prospective graduates:

Ravinder: Why did you offer me a work experience placement at Jones Lang LaSalle?
The boss: Your CV was strong, you were persistent, and we always like to have a chat with applicants who have a bit of something about them.

Ravinder: Why did you offer me a job on a permanent basis?
The boss: We knew what we were getting - you had successfully demonstrated your capability and enthusiasm, and the feedback from people in the office was positive.

Ravinder: What makes an applicant stand out?
The boss: A relatively concise and well-prepared CV. Just about every applicant nowadays has good academic credentials, so although having been to a good university does help – and you’d been to Manchester - it’s more about an individual’s personality and if they seem to be confident and out-going.

Another thing that really differentiates an applicant from others is putting in the effort to put in a call as opposed to just e-mailing their application. You’d be surprised at how many applicants rely solely on email.

Ravinder: Which qualities do you think are most important for a candidate to possess?
The boss: Presentation - how a person holds themselves, and having confidence in their abilities, but without being cocky. Our industry is all about people and relationships, so the ‘softer skills’ are very important.

There we have it. My advice for either graduates/University students would be work experience, work experience, work experience! Lecturers drummed this into me while I was studying, but I didn’t realise the importance until I was gaining practical experience in the real working world.


Job Role - Planning

It’s been almost five months since I was permanently employed as a trainee planning consultant at Jones Lang LaSalle and I have already been involved on numerous exciting projects.

From providing a supporting role and working on submitting planning applications for major developments (for a 2,500 residential and 20ha employment land scheme by Nurton Developments (Quintus Ltd)) to working individually and submitting a minor amendment planning application.

Depending on the individual projects, my day-to-day job tasks vary, of course. The planning team here is very busy and there’s always something to get your teeth into.

This is an exciting time for the planning industry with it recently frequenting media headlines and it will be interesting to monitor what impact this has upon development and growth especially during a recession.