How to write a CV for Knight Frank's internships and graduate jobs

The Knight Frank application process is relatively straightforward: you just upload a copy of your CV and complete a short application form. The form is completed in just one page; there is no ‘next’ button or a chance to review your answers so check your details carefully before submitting.

In the application form you will need to include commonly asked-for information such as:

• Your contact details
• Your educational background and the details of your degree(s)
• What languages you speak
• The details of your work experience
• Your choice of working location
• Any professional bodies or other relevant organisations that you are a member of.

You are also asked the following two questions:

• ‘Why have you chosen the Knight Frank graduate programme?’ (250 words)
• ‘What’s your favourite building and why?’ (250 words)

Your CV is your main chance to convince Knight Frank’s recruiters that they should interview you, as you are not required to upload a covering letter and there are only two application questions. You should not send off your standard CV – you need to make sure that it is especially appealing to Knight Frank .

Do I need industry work experience to apply to Knight Frank?

A representative of Knight Frank’s recruitment team has previously told targetjobs: ‘We don’t expect applicants for our internships to have work experience in real estate.’ For graduate schemes , though, the firm’s recruiters have traditionally put a lot of importance on it when assessing applications. After all, as David Mumby, a partner and graduate interviewer, says, ‘Work experience shows me that the candidate really does have the genuine desire for a career in property.’ But, as a rule, the firm now puts less emphasis on it than before.

‘We realise that it has been difficult for students to get work experience in the past few years,’ said the recruitment professional at Knight Frank. ‘What counts is that you have made the most of the experience you do have. Working in your student union bar, for example, can help you to develop useful transferable skills, such as good customer service skills and the ability to work in a busy environment.’

However, property-related work experience is still an advantage – if you can pinpoint what you’ve learned from it. And is there a type of industry work experience that is preferred? It’s particularly impressive if you can show that you organised the work experience ‘off your own back’, as it were..

Tip 1: Decide on the best CV structure for Knight Frank

Your CV doesn’t have to follow a set format, as long as Knight Frank recruiters can identify at first glance:

• your contact details
• whether you want to work in residential or commercial (if you have a preference yet)
• your academic results
• the skills you developed and what you’ve achieved from your life outside of study – any work experience/part-time jobs, extracurricular activities or interests, positions of responsibility, years out etc.

You might choose to follow a chronological structure, a skills-based one or borrow elements from both. Think about what format would be best to highlight the experiences that you have and the skills that Knight Frank is looking for.

Knight Frank, of course, values industry work experience so if you have notable property experience to your name, emphasise it on your CV. If you are following a chronological format consider separating out your industry and non-industry experience into different sections (perhaps called ‘Industry experience’ and ‘Other employment’).

• Take a look at the targetjobs overview of different CV formats and the targetjobs sample CV templates for an idea of how best to structure your CV.

Your layout should be consistent

The look of your CV – how you’ve set out and presented information – gives Knight Frank recruiters their first chance to gauge your professionalism and your attention to detail. You want to make sure that your CV is easy for recruiters to read and that it looks neat – double check that the formatting is consistent on your headings, bullet points, paragraphs etc. Get the basic details right, too: ensure that the dates on your CV match those you put on your application form. It is always a good idea to have somebody else proofread your CV. Small grammar and spelling mistakes may not seem serious, but they will not give Knight Frank the best impression.

Open with a personal statement or not?

targetjobs doesn’t normally advise students to include a personal statement or career aim on their CV – here’s why . However, if you choose not to submit a covering letter explaining your reasons for applying to Knight Frank, it may be worthwhile including a career aim. If you do, keep it short: focus on your reasons for applying to Knight Frank and what you hope to gain from the graduate scheme or internship. So, for example, if you are applying for a role in residential, make sure you articulate a desire to work in residential (rather than commercial) and the reasons why. However, do not include a career aim if it means that you need to leave off some of your work experience or extracurricular activities.

Tip 2: Include a good mix of skills, experiences and activities

‘We like it when candidates’ CVs show them to be well-rounded,’ said Knight Frank’s recruitment professional. ‘It’s always impressive when candidates have attained good grades while holding down a part-time job or pursuing outside interests.’ So it is particularly important in your Knight Frank CV to list a range of experiences or activities from different areas of your life. Don’t leave off your bar job, your membership of the university football team or the money you raised through taking part in Cancer Research’s Race4Life or Movember because you think they are irrelevant. Knight Frank recruiters think they are very relevant.

Tip 3: Highlight the skills Knight Frank values

Knight Frank doesn’t tend to explicitly state the skills that it seeks in employees, but its careers website does say that its core values are that Knight Frank’s employees be: ‘Committed, Innovative, Enduring, Collaborative, Respectful and Inspirational’. While some of these values (eg ‘inspirational’) are challenging to demonstrate on a graduate CV, you could emphasise how you have been innovative/creative, committed to a particular group or activity for several years, or how you have worked with others (‘collaborative’), for example. In addition, crucial skills for surveyors to demonstrate are: strong communication, teamwork, commercial awareness and entrepreneurialism.

• Learn more about the essential skills that every property surveyor needs here.

To impress Knight Frank, make sure that the items you’ve put on your CV demonstrate these skills. Point out when you have called upon certain skills to get things done. If a novel way to raise money for charity was your idea, say so. It demonstrates a creative and entrepreneurial streak. If your time on a student society committee or in a part-time job involved working in a team, explain how.

Sell your skills by including appropriate detail on your activities. For example, don’t just put ‘Play football for my university’s first team’. Add information on how often you play, any responsibilities you took on and if particular achievements came out of it (such as going up a league). This gives Knight Frank’s recruiters a much clearer idea of your capabilities.