Alumni Success Profiles: Amy Swindell

(5 min read)

Name: Amy Swindell

Current role: Personal Assistant at British Land

Multiverse Apprenticeship: Business Administration 

What are the main responsibilities of your current role?

The main responsibilities of my role include:

• Diary Management
• Emails
• Arranging Meetings
• Salesforce Champion
• Registering Hospitality and Legal documents
• Expenses
• Logging deal enquiries for office space
• Preparing proposal packs to send to brokers

What does a typical day in your role look like?

A typical day can vary however, I share diary management with another PA Monday-Wednesdays, so on these days, I help out with the leasing team with logging deal enquiries for office space, sending current space available along with floorplans and preparing proposal packs to send to brokers. On these days I also help out where I can with asset managers' diaries, expenses and other admin duties. Then on Thursdays and Fridays, I solely look after the asset managers as well as filling the gaps with leasing jobs if my day has enough capacity to do so. As well as this, I'm also a member of two networks at my company, Sports and Social and a new network called NextGen, so I also fill my time working with the committees as well as helping out the finance team every so often with jobs.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy the variety, no day is the same! I also enjoy learning about the property side of things. I quite enjoy leasing as I log deal enquiries for office space and when I found out that a space is in negotiations or under offer it can be very exciting! I also enjoy planning and mapping out diaries and meetings as well as helping towards planning events for the company through the committees as I think events is something I would like to eventually get into.

What are the challenging aspects of your role?

Challenging aspects of my role can sometimes be to do with popping meetings in especially valuation meetings which I do for the finance and analysis team. These are done every quarter and involve a lot of meetings, time and attendees. I have to plan months in advance to get these into the diary. These meetings are put in place to allow us to know how much our assets are currently valued at allowing us to know how much our portfolio is worth.

Why did this role/industry appeal to you?

I was previously a chef and would go from place to place and something wouldn't fit right. I am quite an organised person and love planning my day and events and I always liked the thought of getting an office job and so I did some research into roles. Multiverse were really helpful in that sense as they reached out and sent some job roles over for me to look through to allow me to actually decide what I wanted to do. A personal assistant role appealed to me because it was exactly what I was looking for! Property was never an initial thought of the type of industry I would get into but so far I have been really enjoying it and find it quite interesting. It has also been beneficial knowing some of the terms used potentially when looking to buy a house in the future.

What skills do you use and develop as part of your role?

Organisational skills are definitely one of the big ones as well as time management and being able to prioritise your tasks to fit into your day. Over time this role has also allowed me to develop my interpersonal skills and confidence, as I am currently communicating with my managers and colleagues all the time and this has allowed me to come out of my shell and has made me feel confident in asking questions. My IT Skills develop each day through colleagues or simply searching on Google. I'm able to find out tips and tricks on how systems work and how I can streamline certain processes. The list goes on!

What are your future career plans?

As said before, I really enjoy planning and I'm currently in talks of shadowing our marketing team for a few days to get some experience in planning events and what goes into them.

How did doing a Multiverse apprenticeship support your career journey?

Doing a Multiverse apprenticeship allowed me to build my confidence and has allowed me to get a better understanding of what I want in life.  My coaches pushed me to my limits which was what I needed to succeed. This allowed me to really push myself to be the best version of myself. They offered great resources, events and advice which has been beneficial and being an Alumni I'm still able to enjoy and benefit from.

What achievement are you most proud of since completing your apprenticeship?

I think it's got to be my recent award following the Multiverse Commencement Ceremony. I was not expecting to receive an award but was surprised to have received one for communicating and being a key role on the Community Hub. It was lovely to be recognised for the work I had done which makes a huge difference and allows you to keep shooting for the stars (sorry for the cheesiness)! XD

Can you provide a brief history of your career journey since completing your apprenticeship?

I completed my apprenticeships in March 2021 and from June/July I was made permanent. My salary increased and I was given more responsibilities. I have since been recruited for a new network called NextGen, which focuses on new joiners and early career starters who are just starting their journey in property or at British Land and allows them to be set up for success. It's very exciting to be part of a new network and I'm excited to hopefully help or guide new joiners where I can! As I also said I'm also looking into events/marketing shadowing so will allow me to gain some experience in this department!

What advice would you give to current apprentices who want to progress in a similar role?

Speak to colleagues for advice and maybe have a sit down with them to really discuss their role and what it entails, maybe ask to shadow them for a few days to get a feel for the role and don't be afraid to ask questions and express your interest in what you want to do! At the end of the day you have got to look after number 1 and do what is best for you and to progress your career is always a good sign of positively contributing towards your development.