Next generation Apprenticeships are becoming a more popular route into property. But compared to graduates, there is a lack of networking events catering to their needs. The Apprentice Network is plugging that gap, says 19-year-old CBRE apprentice Sammy Kingston
Coming into the property industry at 16 has given me the opportunity to meet people in my chosen profession at an age when most are still at school.
There is no doubt that I have had a head start, being exposed to companies and people I would not have otherwise met. However, my experience is very different from university graduates and that means I am also at a disadvantage.
Graduates come into property familiar with the faces they have met at university, starting their jobs with other grads in a similar position. As this has been the traditional route into property, networking events have catered to this type of group for a long time.
Apprenticeships are a more recent initiative in the industry and so the networking events just aren’t there. This is why I founded the Apprentice Network with my colleague Walé Sanusi in 2014, so apprentices can attend events and form professional relationships with people at the same stage in their careers and get access to established industry people who are glad to share their experience and knowledge.
The idea to launch a networking platform was a light bulb moment in our second year as apprentices at CBRE. While at college one day a week studying for a BTEC and NVQ in real estate, we noticed that all the CBRE apprentices would sit together and everyone else would sit with people they knew, which is not conducive to building professional relationships.
Our launch event at CBRE’s London head office was followed in November 2015 with #TheMeetUp, an annual event dedicated to first-year apprentices. Paul Morrish, chief executive of LandAid, spoke about LandAid’s mission to end youth homelessness and there was a real moment in the room where everyone felt grateful to be in the positions they are at such an early stage in their life.
Following the event, he asked the Apprentice Network to become an ambassador to LandAid and we were flooded with requests to do more events.
Our 2016 summer event, #Innovation, was hosted by Hammerson and we had four incredible speakers, including Peter Lennon of Appear Here, Luke Appleby and James Townsend from Kontor and David Atkins of Hammerson, who encouraged us to make an impact in the industry.
Even though we are getting a great response to our events, Walé and I remain hands-on. We still sometimes believe no one will turn up (though this has never happened). We now run our events under the tagline ‘Bringing Apprentices Together’.
We created the network to promote knowledge sharing among apprentices in the property industry but we see benefit in extending our platform to apprentices in other industries such as banking, law and construction, and so this is the direction we would like to see it take.
Walé and I now attend Kingston University once a week, studying for a BSc in Real Estate. We are set to graduate in September 2018 and will be taking our APC in October 2018.
We expect our workload to increase, especially as this initiative grows, but we have got used to juggling our commitments. And as long as apprenticeships continue to be a popular route into property, we will continue to develop the Apprentice Network.
Sammy Kingston was talking to Rebecca Kent
For more information, visit www.theapprenticenetwork.co.uk
• If you have a story for property’s next generation, send it to rebecca.kent@estatesgazette.com
