Building a Network of Professional

¶ … building a network of professional contacts. I have always been a communicative person, enjoying working in teams at school and meeting new people and this trait is one of my strongest business assets. The strength of my network afforded me access to the most up-to-date market information, as well as insight via off market information on which deals were active.

I found the "inside" information particularly useful at ABN AMRO and Morgan Stanley given part of my job was locating clients in the process of buying commercial property and assisting with financing their acquisitions. The insight my network provided me is one of the reasons I graded as Tier 1 out of 4 at Morgan Stanley, while at Unibail-Rodamco, it helped me to identify potential buyers for the assets my team was in charge of selling.

When I joined ABN AMRO I met real estate professionals and was invited by one to join a club,"Property Young and Fun." During a club dinner, I met my future boss at Morgan Stanley who "debauche" me. My network also enabled me to find a job easily when I left Morgan Stanley because of the credit crisis.

My supervisors have always praised my excellent interpersonal skills and strong network of contacts as my most salient job related strengths, as each enable me to source potential deal opportunities and generate business termed "exceptional" from a junior level employee. One of my most significant personal achievements was the creation of a female rugby team and serving as both its president and captain. While watching a men's rugby match one day, I spoke with some of the women present and suggested starting an exclusively female rugby team.

Some girls were initially reluctant however I managed to convince almost twenty girls to join the fledgling rugby team. None of us had ever played rugby so my first mission was to find a coach for the team, which was difficult as few men were eager to train girls. Additionally, I was tasked with securing a field where we could practice and play competitions. I was unanimously elected as captain of the team.

The first season was both exciting and exhausting as it was a real challenge to motivate all the girls to be on the playing field on Saturday mornings and deal with administrative, organization and financial issues. From the second season on, we made progress in playing and competing with other teams for an amateur championship. As the association was doing well, I could focus on organizing new events such as going to Scotland to attend a Six Nations Tournament match and then playing a match against a local team.

Our efforts and team spirit enabled us to win two championships in a seven-year span of competing in a ten.