Case studies: Senior surveyor: Kimberley Greenwood

Kimberley is a senior surveyor working for Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), a large London firm.

After graduating in biological sciences, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the property industry. I researched the field and targeted companies offering sponsorship deals for non-cognate graduates.

Although my degree subject was not related to property, the strong analytical, communication and presentational skills that I gained from my course helped me to secure a place on C&W's graduate training scheme. I undertook the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) alongside a part-time MSc in Real Estate and completed both successfully in October 2009.

My final rotation on the graduate scheme was in the Corporate Occupier & Investor Services (CIS) Account Management team and as I really enjoyed the work, I stayed in the team when I qualified.

I work with large corporate clients to provide real estate services to meet their business needs. I identify opportunities to align the real estate to the client's overall business strategy and manage key transactions. A large part of the role is communicating with our clients through conference calls, meetings or company events.

I have progressed from supporting the account manager to now managing accounts myself. This means I have greater involvement with the client as well as the opportunity to help develop the real estate strategy and I am now involved in business development.

I enjoy liaising with a wide range of global contacts on a daily basis. This could be anyone from the client's real estate team to the local business unit and internal colleagues. I also enjoy the travel that comes with a role in the department.

A real highlight has been pitching to an international manufacturing company in the US for a global corporate services contract. I developed my skills and enjoyed travelling to the US; we subsequently won the pitch, which topped off the experience.

I think the most challenging aspect is managing transactions and ensuring that consistently high quality delivery is achieved on every project.

The global nature of the job is what makes it exciting and is a big plus for me. I would like to progress further within the firm and work in one of our offices abroad, particularly in Asia.  
 
I would recommend gaining experience through an internship in your penultimate year at university. It provides invaluable experience and demonstrates your commitment. If you perform well you can get ahead of your peers with a job offer before you leave university.

It is essential to keep up-to-date with current affairs as well as the industry. Read The Economist or Financial Times, as well as Property Week or the Estates Gazette. Many of the property consultancies produce market reports that can be downloaded for free.

Most important of all, research the APC - after all, this is what the graduate programme is all about.