Valuation Trainee
Turner Drake & Partners Ltd.
Halifax, Nova Scotia

This is One Cool Career!

You will walk through the pristine forests of Nova Scotia one day: and through one of the region's former military buildings the next. You will wade through the inner workings of a factory one week: and then dive into a spreadsheet the next. You will spend time walking through airplane hangars, fish plants, dairies, and warehouses. You will also spend time crunching the cash flows of apartment buildings, office buildings and shopping malls.

If you are a recent graduate with a Commerce degree, have private sector work experience, an interest in real estate, and are looking for a career rather than a job, one that offers challenge, variety, excitement, early responsibility and the opportunity to marry your university education with real world skills delivered by our seminal training program… together with the prospect of being mentored by some of the most highly educated and well respected professionals in the industry… this is it.

Your Commerce degree (finance, accounting, economics, or marketing major) can unlock the door to a career as a Chartered Valuation Surveyor. Humdrum it is not… you may find yourself providing advice to potato farmers expropriated for the Trans Canada Highway on Monday; assessing a fire damaged warehouse on Tuesday; valuing a million dollar waterfront lot for capital gains tax on Wednesday; appearing in Court as an expert witness on Thursday; and advising a client what they should pay for an office building on Friday. This is a career most have never heard of… but once discovered find exciting, challenging, satisfying, fulfilling, remunerative, where you will be limited only by your own ambition. The position requires a broad skill set (critical thinking, financial analysis, negotiation, court work, etc.) and further company funded study for the University of British Columbia's real estate degree by distance learning. From our offices in Halifax your work will take you throughout Atlantic Canada. It will offer a good balance between office and field work. The work environment is friendly, supportive and (usually) good fun. Our IT resources are state of the art. Check our web sites www.turnerdrake.com, www.turnerdrake.net, www.turnerdrake.org and www.turnerdrake.ca for a more detailed look at us.

Skills and Qualifications

You are a recent graduate with a commerce degree (finance, accounting, economics or marketing), with above average grades. You will have private sector work experience (of any type) and be well grounded: this is not just a number crunching job, it is important that you can see the forest as well as being able to count the trees. You will be interested in a career rather than just a job, something which will get you up in the morning with a spring in your step. You will want to work with colleagues who share your enthusiasm. You will enjoy variety and merit the respect of your peers. You will value working in a team environment, have an eye for detail, be thorough, trustworthy, reliable, and will benefit from the opinions of your colleagues. You will have an enquiring mind and a sense of humour. This position is the antithesis of a government job, so if you enjoy the mundane this is definitely not for you.

Training

We have a choreographed training program which blends company funded study from the University of British Columbia's real estate degree, our own 27 in house training modules, and on the job training under the guidance of a mentor. We will give you responsibility to take jobs from start to finish within the first two months of you joining us and will carefully increase that responsibility as you gain knowledge and experience. We will cycle you through our Lasercad® Space Measurement, Economic Intelligence, Valuation, Property Tax and Counselling Divisions so that you can benefit from a broad exposure to real estate counselling. You will also work with our Planning and Brokerage Divisions. Our training program is designed to "stretch" you, so a keen interest in learning and a desire "to be the best" is essential.

The Sexy Stuff:

We asked four members of our professional staff who had recently joined us after university what they enjoyed most about their careers with us. This is what they said:

"What I like most about the job is that I've only been working full-time for just over a month and I have already been given the chance to do work on my own, which gave me a sense of pride and felt rewarding. It's something that I never thought that I would be doing (a career in real estate) but have found it very interesting and I am always learning new things".

"Dealing directly with business owners… ability to be autonomous in my work… having the breadth of knowledge in the different Divisions means that I've got access to colleagues who provide advice on so many facets of real estate: it would probably take three to four companies to amass the same type of exposure to these types of people if I hadn't come to Turner Drake. At my former employer (a bank) we also spanned several Divisions but generally the physical separation of employees prevented a lot of exposure to different business lines".

"The workload is always changing and evolving. Unlike most office jobs we spend a fair amount of time in the field as well. Doing inspections allows us to interact with clients and continuously expand our knowledge of buildings and their structural/mechanical make-up which allows us to stay current with today's technology and building systems… The knowledge base which we are surrounded by is incredible and always available to us. We can walk across the hall and get advice from some of the industry's leading consultants while also having in-house training modules and postsecondary studies provided by the company… The training schedule provides structure and motivation looking forward to the future".

"My favourite aspect of the job is the variety of work that I have been exposed to in my first two years with Turner Drake. I like that there is a mixture of time spent at the office doing 'desk work' (CAD drawings, research, etc.) mixed in with inspections. I've also really appreciated the mentor/mentee system. Having a senior staff member to work with early on has proven invaluable in my learning process. I also liked the opportunity to act as a Lead Consultant on large Lasercad® assignments within months of starting at TDP".

Compensation

This is a salaried position with a benefits and pension package (after a vesting period).

Commencement Date

Available immediately.

Application

Submit your CV, together with a letter (? 500 words) explaining why you believe you are suited for this position to:

M.B. Turner, B. Comm., BBRE, MRICS, MAI, AACI
President
Turner Drake & Partners Ltd.
Real Estate Counsellors
6182 North Street
Halifax NS B3K 1P5
Email: [email protected]

Please feel free to direct any enquiries to Mark Turner (902) 429-1811 Ext. 325 or toll free (800) 567-3033 Ext. 325 or by fax (902) 429-1891.

Closing Date:

Applicants will be interviewed as they apply. An "official" version of your University Transcript is not required at this stage… a copy will suffice.

The position will be closed when the post is filled.