After a fulfilling journey to gain her new qualification in housing, Sally Bennetts is overjoyed to celebrate her recent achievements with her family.
With her baby girl now three years old next month, Sally is proud of her achievements and is overjoyed with the support she was offered by us.
Sally Bennetts, Sales Negotiator at LiveWest, said: “It wasn’t easy juggling my work/life responsibilities, but it has made the end result even more rewarding.
“Due to Covid-19, I only had one face-to-face meeting in London with my course provider and peers. It was difficult switching to an online style of learning, but then… I had a baby in the middle of it.
“One of the reasons why I chose the surveying route is because there is a very low percentage of female RICS professionals and I wanted to make a small change to that number.”
To help Sally take a step forward in her career, we offered her a Surveying Technician apprenticeship and continued to support her along the way with her studies and family commitments.
She said: “I left school with GCSEs, and this is the first formal qualification that I have obtained since then, which was a long time ago!
“I came back part-time after I had my daughter, and it was difficult to fit work, studies and childcare into my reduced hours.
“But, it was worth the challenge because the qualification is a stepping stone into surveying. I can widen my horizons and explore different aspects of the housing sector.
“With my experience in property sales and finance, the apprenticeship was a perfect fit.”
With always having a passion for housing, passed down through her dad’s surveying career, Sally joined LiveWest in 2017 and has since thoroughly enjoyed her time advancing her expertise in our Sales team.
From watching a variety of housing television, like ‘Grand Designs’ and ‘A Place in the Sun’, which influenced her to get into the housing sector, she added: “I’m passionate about property and have my dad to thank for that after growing up around it.
“He covered the whole of the South West in the latter part of his career, so we would go on holiday to North Devon or Cornwall, and growing up, he liked to point out all the different architecture, distinguishing features, and property ages to us, and it stuck.
“I go on holiday both in the UK and abroad, and the first thing I notice is the properties. Their appearance, construction, the era they were made. I love it.”
On completion of her apprenticeship, and by submitting an end point assessment, Sally has also been awarded a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) AssocRICS qualification, the professional body for chartered surveying.
With her new qualifications in hand, this means she can continue to gain further experience in the housing sector and explore new avenues.
“When I received my qualification, my dad wanted to be the first person to congratulate me as he was a RICS fellow, and that meant a lot to me,” she smiled.
“He was proud of what I achieved, and it felt great to make my parents proud.”
With her colleagues there to offer support, Sally felt really warmed by the team’s response to her apprenticeship decision.
She said: “I started my apprenticeship in March 2020, it was a busy time for our team and they were so supportive of me spending time working on my qualification.
“Having a supportive manager is so important, especially with busy sales periods throughout the year.
“I can see the skills I learned in the classroom coming into practice. I’m working towards gaining more practical experience as part of my job by surveying and inspecting homes, all whilst continuing to develop the skills I learned by completing the qualification.”