Alex joined Madison Lincoln in 2022. Her extensive Real Estate recruitment experience means she has a deep understanding of the organisations and roles within our industry, enabling her to better advise our clients on shortlists, job specifications and the interview process.
After graduating with a degree in French and Business, I took an internship in New York. After a year, I came back to London to join Foxtons in Mayfair, where I caught the real estate bug! Although I didn’t want to pursue a career in estate agency, I was keen to explore opportunities in real estate recruitment. I spent 10 years at a recruitment consultancy, where I headed up the town planning division before moving into general practice.
Juggling a career and having three very young children was tough. For me personally, a short career break allowed me to have some much-needed balance. During this time, I retrained as a personal trainer and sports massage therapist. This gave me the flexibility to work but also be available for my family.
For many women, their career (which may span 50 years) doesn’t need to be a linear line. However, I do see many talented women, often in their thirties, leaving the real estate industry.
Many of us, not just mothers, have other responsibilities outside of work. Women often bear a disproportionate share of household duties and other obligations, creating a much larger mental load.
The workplace environment and recruitment processes tend to be skewed towards men. The real estate industry is committed to recruiting more senior women, yet not enough firms are making the fundamental changes required to attract female talent.
More challenges are going to come back for women as the post-covid workplace necessitates people in the office more. Some companies are navigating this issue very well for all employees, whilst the larger firms tend to adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Flexibility is still of central importance to many women of all levels in the industry.
As well as an innate understanding and passion for the real estate industry, I would say that it’s the softer skills that enable me to effectively connect with the candidates that our clients want to attract. Honesty and integrity throughout are key to not mis-selling or misleading at any point in the process for both sides. This allows me to build long-term relationships with our clients and to create a constructive and fulfilling process for candidates.
