Build-up to a graduate job
RAFFLES FULTON was around 16 when he began to take a serious interest in the world of property development. Summer work, including a spell at Barnet Council’s planning department, gave him useful first-hand experience. While at the University of Nottingham, from where he graduated with a first in geography with statistics, his enthusiasm for property work was further inspired by an internship at a property development company in New York.
“I knew from way back what I wanted my career to be,” says Fulton. “I also had an idea of the firms I was keen to apply to from my own research. Where I needed help was with understanding and going through the application and recruitment process.”
He made a spreadsheet of companies that interested him, meticulously amassing information, including their achievements, awards, the degree requirements of their applicants and application details and deadlines.
Then he came to Resource and attended its specialist workshops on internships and graduate jobs. These took him through the application process, encompassing CV preparation, interview training, making the most of networking and assessment days.
“When I was in my final year at Nottingham and starting to apply for graduate surveyor positions, my Resource advisor helped me put together an effective CV. Their relationship manager also found me an invaluable month’s internship at the property company Savills. And through the Resource Community scheme, I was introduced to former clients now working within my chosen field who were willing and able to pass on the benefits of their own knowledge and experience. Incredibly valuable,” says Fulton. He continued to apply to companies, using his own research and LinkedIn’s “easy apply” facility.
He applied to “dozens of them. The key thing is, don’t give up, don’t let it get you down. I knew that I was competing with many others for the same jobs but also that I was up against those who had specialist property and planning degrees, whereas mine was less specific. This was where Resource were especially helpful. With one of these assessment days in the offing, I asked to have a mock interview. It was an hour long and I received excellent feedback. And later, when I went for interviews with other firms, my mock-interviewer was at the end of the phone ready to give me good advice.”
Fulton attended a Resource mock assessment day, run in conjunction with professional assessors. “Having experienced a few of these for real by then,” he says, “I was amazed me at how accurate and realistic they were.”
He has achieved his immediate goal of being selected by one of the country’s largest house-builders and urban regeneration companies to join their graduate scheme. “It will comprise a two-year rotation across ten departments... This will be a part of the process leading to chartered status.”
His advice to other students and graduates is to do your research thoroughly on which companies to apply to and understand each one in depth. Look at as many sources as possible, including their websites, social media and traditional media, providing information you can slip into applications and interviews. You want them to envisage you fitting into their team.
“When you do get to the interview stage, carefully assess the kinds of questions an interviewer would ask, both about you and the qualities you could bring to the company and about the company itself. My best advice though, says Fulton, “is to go to Resource, where their professionals will help you with all this and much more. All their services are free and they will work with you through every aspect of locating, applying for and obtaining the career you want.”
Victoria Sterman is chief executive at Resource, resource-centre.org 020 8346 4000