Faces of FK

Sarah Carroll, Letting Department Manager

"I came for an interview with Maryse (HR Director) in March 2007 for a Property Manager role. I didn't get the role because I didn't have any property experience, so I went away and became a Property Administrator for another lettings agency in Central Oxford. I worked there for 12 months, and went back to Maryse to let her know I had my year's worth of experience. As it happened, they were looking for a Tenancy Coordinator in the Bicester office. I'm from Bicester so it was really a coincidence. I then started working for FK in March 2008 and I've been with them ever since. In that time, I've been a Tenancy Coordinator, then an Office Coordinator, a Property Coordinator and I dealt with the accounts. Since then, I've been promoted to a Lettings Specialist, and as of November last year I was promoted to a Senior Letting Specialist in North Oxford. Now, I'm working as a Letting Department Manager in Central Oxford!"

Liam Gubbins, Corporate Property Department Manager

"Before I joined FK I worked in various finance roles for approximately 4 years. I really wanted to move into the property industry and initially joined the team on a temporary contract to help with the year-end accounts in April 2014. I became summer help for 3 months shortly after, which involved assisting the team with all things property management related. I was offered a full-time role as Property Assistant towards the end of 2014 in North Oxford before moving across to the Witney office in January 2015. After a few months I was promoted to Property Manager in April. I continued to work in the Witney office where I was further promoted to Senior Property Manager before becoming Property Department Manager less than a year later. After a short stint helping the Banbury office last summer I moved back to North Oxford to join the Portfolio Asset and Management team in late 2017!"

Alec Bayford, Office Manager at FKSL

"I started at FKSL in 2007 as a Portfolio Manager. Our roles here are different to other FK branches in that we don't have individual management and letting departments, so each team member has experience in both fields… which is fun! My role progressed to Senior Portfolio Manager 2015, Deputy Office Manager in 2017 and then this year I became Office Manager, overseeing the whole Student Letting division. Our customers are quite different compared to the rest of the letting industry, in that they are almost always renting a property for the first time. We often need to give quite a lot of guidance in how to look after a house and what our expectations are for the condition of the property at the end of their tenancy " I once even had to advise a new tenant how to cook pasta! FKSL has evolved over time with the introduction of HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) licensing. There is now a lot of legislation that covers our sector compared to the rest of the letting market, which we think has been a good thing."

Vanessa Wilson, Property Manager in North Oxford

"Before I started working at FK, I was a Property Manager at a well-known letting agent in Oxford. I was looking to progress in my career, and I came across a post for a Property Manager role in North Oxford. The reason I wanted to join was because I'd been told that FK is a very organised company, the staff were really nice, the training is very good and they put a lot of time and effort into their employees. This came from friends, that I had, that joined before me here too. So I applied and received a job offer in October 2017. I found that FK was very different to where I worked before, for the reasons that they really do invest in their staff, and there are policies and procedures in place. Everyone is just lovely."

Helen Reeves, Letting Department Manager in East Oxford

"When I was younger I was determined to build myself a career. I considered University but decided that my energy was better applied in the world of work. I was keen to work in a sales environment that would offer me a challenge, but I also had a passion for customer services and working with people. I started working for a letting agency in Reading when I was around 20 years old. I was with them for 5 years before moving to another local agency for another 3 years. They were both very sales oriented which I was good at, but the property management side of their business wasn't high on the agenda. I started working for Finders Keepers on an initial 6 month contract at their North Oxford office and I loved the atmosphere there " it was energetic and fast-paced and thankfully this lead to a permanent position with the company. Over the next two years I was asked to cover some of the other Finders Keepers offices, including Banbury, Witney and Central Oxford. Finally I joined the East Oxford office, where I been for 3 years now, heading up the letting team as the Letting Department Manager. One of the main reasons I like working for Finders Keepers is because they are different to other letting agents " property management isn't an afterthought, it's really core to their business. When I go to market appraisals I have confidence in the service I am selling in terms of this attention to detail and focus on customer service."

Want to find out more?

Click here for our current opportunities, and email Maryse Davies with your CV.