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Introducing Cushman & Wakefield's talented new intake13th November 2012

Left to right: Bethany Ridge, Gemma Butler, Alex Carr and Grace Newman - Cushman & Wakefield's new intake

A Pizza Hut manager, a jewellery buyer, a dentistry student and a real estate graduate – these are the very different backgrounds of four new employees at the Birmingham office of Cushman & Wakefield.

Three of Cushman & Wakefield’s new quartet are setting out on careers as surveyors, and each has come into the profession from a very different starting point.

Alex Carr, 28, who has joined the retail team as an assistant surveyor, was previously working in London as a jewellery buyer, but returned to her home town of Birmingham after being made redundant, where she joined Cushman & Wakefield’s accounts team, initially as a stop-gap measure.

After three years with the accounts team, she decided to take a step up the career ladder and train as a surveyor – in order to do this, she embarked on a Masters degree in surveying (which she has completed in just one year, instead of two).

Alex said: “I didn’t expect the accounts job to be long term, but I enjoyed the camaraderie and felt that the Birmingham office was exciting, engaging and secure.

“I looked for a way to move myself along and I wanted to join the retail team as a surveyor because of my fashion background.”

Another new arrival is Gemma Butler, 23, who has spent nearly five years as a manager at Pizza Hut, which she did to raise funds while studying for a real estate degree at Birmingham City University.

After leaving university, Gemma did work experience at Cushman & Wakefield, and has now been taken on as a surveyor in the asset management team, covering for maternity leave.

Also new to Cushman & Wakefield is graduate Grace Newman, 21, who also studied real estate, at the University of Reading.

Grace, from Sutton Coldfield, has joined Cushman & Wakefield after a two-month internship during the summer.

The fourth new employee is Bethany Ridge, who is an administrator in the asset management team. Bethany, 20, is Birmingham born and bred, and is taking an Open University degree in engineering.

It’s a far cry from her original choice of career, which saw her spend a year on a dentistry course, before realising that caring for people’s teeth was not for her.

After looking at apprenticeships, she found the job at Cushman & Wakefield, which has allowed her to combine full time work with further studies. Also, Cushman & Wakefield are sponsoring her degree course.

Bethany said: “This is my first proper job, and I am really enjoying it. I am hoping that once qualified, I will be able to move up the ranks here.”

Scott Rutherford, head of the Birmingham office of Cushman & Wakefield, said that the varying backgrounds of the four new starters was proof of the flexibility of the company’s approach to finding and developing its employees.

“While all four are Birmingham born and bred, that is pretty much where any similarity ends,” he said. “They have all joined us via different routes and from different educational backgrounds, but each of them is looking for the same end result.

“From our point of view, talent is talent, wherever you find it.” 

Picture caption: New talent at Cushman & Wakefield (left to right): Bethany Ridge, Gemma Butler, Alex Carr and Grace Newman


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