What does your role entail and how long have you been doing it?
I have been an account manager for four weeks. I manage a panel of mortgage brokers to facilitate an increase in business.
What attracted you to working in the mortgage/property/finance sector?
My degree was in surveying so I already had a decent understanding of the property market and have always been interested in the mortgage market and finance.
What were you doing in the five years before starting here?
I was a business development manager (BDM) for Bank of Ireland.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
Communication skills (particularly listening) are the most important.
What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?
My IT skills.
How has the pandemic changed the way you approach your job?
The largest single change was the shift to working from home; although I was office-based during most of the pandemic I had to learn to communicate with work colleagues online.
What is the most interesting/memorable property deal/case you’ve been involved in?
It was in 2007 and was my third mortgage deal as an adviser. It was a £2.5m property looking at a loan of £1.5m for a director of BP, with a very large proc fee.
In another case as a BDM, I had to explain to a broker that being the daughter of a Rolling Stone doesn’t help with affordability or a poor credit score.
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Happy in my work and really enjoying my down time.
If you could go back in time five years and tell yourself something, what would it be?
Focus on what you really want to do, not on what you think you should want to do.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve tackled so far in your career?
The financial crash and having to move away from mortgage advice into a different role. When I went back into mortgage advice, the role had totally changed.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
The ability to fly.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
Why does the lender care what I earn?
