Joe
Lalley

Tell us about yourself..

Hi, my name's Joe. I'm from Manchester, and I work in the Savills Manchester office. I studied Property Finance and Investment - and it's an RICS-accredited degree. What that means is it streamlines the way you go into the industry. So with that degree, you don't need to do two years extra for your Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) and then you become chartered.

What's your role at Savills?

Currently, I'm in the property management side of Savills for commercial property and I'm working in workspace which is industrial and office space. I tend to do lots of things involving policing leases.  We're the middleman between the landlord and the tenant. We have regular catch-up meetings with them. We're also on-site a lot, so depending on how many sites you manage, you'll go there a number times during the year, and you'll liaise with the regional facilities managers.

How did the course help you in achieving your career goals?

The course was essential in building my confidence for the role that I'm in currently. It does that in a multitude of ways. You have to do presentations as part of the course as well as submitting assignments so it really gets you involved presenting and caring about the work that you're doing.

A lot of the lecturers are former professionals themselves; they've been in the industry.

What support did you get from the employability team at NTU?

When I was applying for placements for sandwiches and also for summer placements, I was trying to tailor a CV and a personal statement for companies. what really helped me was going to the employability hub and speaking to all the professionals there. I think it really helped me in getting the role that I'm in, so I can't recommend that service enough for people.

NTU massively helped in opening the door to the start of my career journey in real estate.