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We asked three of our recent graduate intake what they thought about working at Carter Jonas. They've detailed some of their thoughts and experiences below.

Jenna Goodall, 24, studied at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, before joining Carter Jonas’ York office as a rural surveyor.

"I began working for Carter Jonas in September 2008 and passed my Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) in October 2009.

"I felt that Carter Jonas successfully fast-tracked me into taking the APC as soon as possible through the level of support and training offered. Whilst training for the APC I was very much involved with the daily management of various estates across North and East Yorkshire. Right from the start I was given the responsibility of managing my own workload and was given a wide variety of work from letting cottages, undertaking residential and farm rent reviews, environmental stewardship scheme applications to tree survey management and cottage refurbishments. Throughout my training period I was given the opportunity to attend APC training days at least once a month as well as attending other professional seminars. Carter Jonas also have an in-house APC training team who arrange a two day training conference twice a year for placement students and graduates to attend. These have been extremely helpful in preparing you with the knowledge and experience required to pass the APC successfully. These training days are also a fantastic opportunity to meet colleagues from other offices around the country who are at the same level as you.

"Following qualifying as a Rural Chartered Surveyor I wanted to have more experience carrying out valuations which my managers have taken on board and have now given me the opportunity to assist with  various valuation reports.

"The APC is all about you and the work that you put into it but it does help to have a supportive and professional team behind you."


Wendy Platt, 23, studied at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, before joining Carter Jonas’ York office as a rural surveyor.

"I initially worked at Carter Jonas on a placement during my four-year course in Rural Estates and Land Management. When a job came up in the same office, they invited me back.

"It is a great place to work and I’ve been paticularly impressed by Carter Jonas’s flexibility and support for training and external studying. I needed to do one year’s study towards my Assessment of Professional Competence (the other year was incorporated into my studies at Harper Adams), and the firm gave me the time to get the 96 hours’ of external experience I need to qualify.

"At Carter Jonas, professional development is taken very seriously: they listen to what interests you and help you get the relevant experience. For instance, I wanted to work more on the agency side of things instead of concentrating solely on estate management, and my managers have been extremely helpful and understanding. I’ve also been involved with the Energy and Marine Team working on wind farms and anaerobic digestion projects and it has been really exciting to be part of such a new and highly specialised sector. I’ve been given lots of responsibility, but it’s backed up by lots of support.

"If you’re prepared to invest in Carter Jonas, they’re prepared to invest in you. So take the trouble of getting as much work-experience as possible so you can demonstrate that you have a good understanding of the role and show what you can bring to the job. "

 

Ian Lloyd, 22, joined Carter Jonas’ Oxford office as a commercial surveyor in November 2007, after reading Real Estate Management at Oxford Brookes University.

"Working with Carter Jonas has given me a depth and variety of knowledge and experience which my University contemporaries in the larger London organisations are not getting. I’ve been working on rent reviews, lease renewals, valuation, property management and acquisition – all aspects of the commercial property sector. And recently I’ve been looking at the agency side of the business; I’ve been given responsibility for letting a property for a client in Didcot and have assisted in the acquisitionn of half a dozen offices for a national retailer from Birmingham to the south coast. The hands-on experience has been most valuable – I had no knowledge of acquisitions, for instance, before.

"Carter Jonas provides a tremendously supportive environment for professional development. Once it was obvious that I was striving for success, I was given targets to aim for and shown practical ways of getting round things, such as negotiating rent reviews. Being part of a small specialist team has meant that I have been more involved in all aspects of commercial property than if I had joined a larger company. And it has been very beneficial working with a so many people at different levels. I work directly with Robert Dipple, an Associate with Carter Jonas, and with a variety of clients on a daily basis.

"To anyone thinking of applying to Carter Jonas as a graduate, I’d say that although there’s a lot to take in at first, as long as you’re patient, confident and sociable you’ll soon settle in and will enjoy it."