Grads4Nottm

This year Norman Galloway Lettings were pleased to be part of the Grads4Nottm NTU scheme by providing an exciting challenge to three graduated university students: Windson who studied Property Finance and Investment, Aurelia who studied Business Management, and Kimberley who studied Strategic Marketing.

We set the grads a 2-week challenge to create a comprehensive 6-month marketing plan, including a comprehensive marketing timeline that we could deliver over the next 6 months.  The brief was to research what we need to include – specifying what topics we should include on a week by week timeline. We were delighted to find that the subjects studied by the grads fitted so well with our business, and would be beneficial for them whilst working on our challenge.

Due to our facilities, we were fortunate in that we were able to offer the grads their own Covid Safe space to work within our Training Hub. With their own dedicated space on our second floor, they were able to meet our team and each other. 

From the first day, the grads got straight to work on researching our competitors, opportunities in the market, and what would set us apart from other letting agencies. Additionally, we made all of our staff available to them so they could ask any questions, such as what are the services we provide for landlords and/or tenants currently.

Being able to work in the office, provided the grads with an opportunity to experience what day to day office life is like, helping to prepare them for the world of work.

Throughout the first week, the grads were tasked to agree on a plan and how they would tackle the challenge. They decided on who would be responsible for which elements depending on their area of expertise and interest and how they would then bring that together to deliver the project brief as a group.  

We were very impressed with the grad’s commitment to the internship as they came in Monday to Friday for around 5 hours a day for the two weeks. As part of the challenge, we provided the team with the opportunity to present to the entire company partway through the second week. This was an invaluable part of the process, as it gave the grads an opportunity for feedback and to address any areas of concern in their presentation and highlighted where they had missed key elements of the brief.  Unfortunately, one of the grads was not able to attend for the second week due to prior commitments and did not take part in any of the presentations or have the opportunity to follow up on feedback on how to improve their work. This was a shame, as she missed this learning opportunity which was an integral part of the challenge and a precursor to what you would expect in the world of work. 

We’d like to say a big thank you to the graduate team working on our challenge, and of course NTU for creating such a beneficial scheme. We feel that it is essential that our young people are prepared for the world of work, including those leaving university, college or school. It is a huge step, and there is a massive difference once they start to work for an employer. Most employers are not looking for theoretical solutions; they often know the theory themselves. What employers are looking for in our experience, are real-life, practical ways in which to improve their business. The Grads4Nottm initiative gives young people the opportunity to learn the difference and enable them to be better prepared for the world of work and we would definitely recommend other businesses to take part next year.