Graduate of the Month

Welcome to our Graduate of the Month feature...

We hope you will enjoy reading about the exploits of some of our alumni and gain an understanding of what can be done with a degree from Real Estate & Planning! If you are one of our graduates and would like to feature here...or would like to nominate someone else....please drop me an email: Scarlett Palmer

To see previous "Featured Graduates" visit our Graduate of the Month archive

Our May 2012 GotM is Phil Walker - Graduated 2010, now working at Monatgu Evans as a Graduate Surveyor

SHP: Many thanks, Phil, for agreeing to be our May Graduate of the Month. It's useful to get the perspective of someone who has graduated very recently. So, firstly, could you tell me a bit about why you chose to come to Reading?

PW: It's always pretty hard to choose a course, let alone a University when you are still 18 and at school. Someone suggested that I may like to try property so I managed to do a few days work experience between my AS and A2 years. This confirmed my intention to work in the property industry and having spoken to a number of the people I worked with; I heard Reading was one of the best so I went along to an open day. Once there, I liked the tutors I met and the campus had a good feel.

SHP: You graduated in 2010, looking back what do you most remember about your time at Reading?

PW: Q Bar on Mondays was always pretty memorable! Course wise, I actually enjoyed the vast majority of the lectures I went to. You hear of other people on different courses who want to change or just need to get through the final year and then try something else, I never felt that. The lectures were interesting, to the point and applied to the real world along with the tutors being helpful and attainable when not lecturing. Also, the Reading Real Estate Foundation Mentoring Scheme put many of us in touch with someone in the industry via a mentor. This was particularly useful to me as my family are not in the property business. They are not obliged to give us a job but my mentor, Bryan Laxton, certainly helped me with interview technique and CV checking - I still keep in touch with him today.

SHP: We are keen to let prospective students find out a bit more about what can be done with a degree from Real Estate & Planning. I know you are currently working Monatgu Evans as a Graduate Surveyor could you give me an example of a typical day?

PW: That's the thing with property and one of the reasons why I chose it as a career, there isn't really a typical day. You certainly don't just come in and sit in front of your computer all day every day and then leave. Ok, there are some days when you have to get a report out and you are slightly desk bound but typically my day would consist of a bit of research into geographical areas or sectors, applying that to appraise an investment or to value a building, followed by a team meeting to discuss what I had done. Then I may pop out and have a coffee to meet a client or a contact or go and see a building, come back, do some emails and on to the next task. Oh…lunch was in there somewhere too.

SHP: And what do you like most about your work?

PW: The work is genuinely interesting, I learn a lot about how the property market really works (opposed to how I thought it worked at Uni!), the feeling of being part of a team that's done a deal is pretty special and the people you meet are all generally friendly.

SHP: Where you see yourself in five years' time?

PW: Hopefully still at Montagu Evans! I have quite a lot of responsibility here, the teams are generally a bit smaller and more flexible than you get at a larger organisation so you really do get stuck in.

SHP: Now you are working full time, do you manage to keep in touch with Real Estate & Planning?

PW: Yes I do, aside from sporadic after work beers there are quite a few of us who tend to pop along to the RREF breakfast forums or evening events. It's a good way to catch up with your old friends, learn a bit more about an interesting topic from leaders in the industry and put a face to a name of someone you emailed or spoke to on the phone.

SHP: Thank you Phil, I'm sure potential students will be very interested to find out what an interesting and varied career they could have so soon after graduating. I'm pleased that you have been able to keep in touch with us through the Reading Real Estate Foundation. Good luck with the next stage of your career.