My career at St. Modwen Logistics

How did you join St. Modwen, and what made you decide to choose us?

I came to St. Modwen after completing my Masters in Real Estate, at the University of Reading. My career advisor sent me some information about the graduate scheme at St. Modwen — after reading about the company and learning about the rotations, I was convinced that this was the best place for me to develop further.

I started in the Development Team, and spent the first few weeks sitting in on meetings with consultants, landowners, legal teams and agents, before starting to have my own responsibilities like producing appraisals, and helping development managers pull together investment committee papers.

What sort of work are you doing, and what skills are required?

The work in the Development Team is very varied, which I enjoy. One day I can be focused on appraisals and the financial viability of a scheme, and the next I can be communicating with agents about the market and demand in certain locations.

There’s one scheme that comes to mind, where we were struggling to make the scheme financially viable. But, by engaging with agents to increase rents and finding ways to reduce both land and build costs, we were able to remove the gap in the appraisal, and made the scheme viable.

An important skill to have is problem-solving, as each scheme provides its own challenges — just because something works in one scheme, it doesn’t guarantee that it’ll work elsewhere.

What makes St. Modwen a special place to work?

The people. They’re great. From my first day, I was made to feel very welcome by everyone I came across. And, the projects we work on are best-in-class in the UK — so we have a combination of amazing people, and amazing projects. It’s a great place to work!

What are your tips to secure a role in Real Estate, or at St. Modwen?

It’s really important that you build a strong network. Real estate is a small industry, so going to networking events is a great way to meet people who you’ll likely be working with in the future. Also, I’d tell people to stay on top of industry news — be interested in what’s going on, and follow news articles and relevant reports.

As for St. Modwen, learn about the company and what we do. Be prepared to talk about what makes you stand out as the best possible candidate! Also, demonstrate that you can work under pressure, and as part of a team. Give examples of where you’ve done this in the past — it’s a critical part of working in Real Estate!

Do you have any final comments to people reading this?

Good luck!