Optimism is part of the job description for estate agents. But what possessed the latest crop to go for a career in property in the middle of a bust? They tell CIAN TRAYNORwhy they're confident they have a future in the business

ANNE-LOUISE HANNON, 24, Savills

A CAREER aptitude test at school confirmed it: Anne-Louise Hannon was made for a career in property. “That’s when I knew,” she says with a laugh. “I mean it does suit my personality. I’m quite an enthusiastic and optimistic person. But from a young age, I was keeping an eye on what was going on . My parents were the same and we would drive around to show houses together.” By the time Hannon began a PLC in auctioneering and estate agency at Senior College Dún Laoghaire, she was spending her weekends working at show units for Hooke MacDonald.

After transferring to property economics at DIT Bolton Street in 2006, Hannon could see the the affect of the oncoming downturn on dropout rates. “I think we started out with 100 people and ended with around 30 in second year. There wasn’t interest there anymore – and it got worse. But, if anything, it gave you more drive. I wasn’t just going to pack it all up a few years into it. The ones who stayed around – we finished in May – you could tell were hungry for it. They have jobs now.”

Hannon and nine others won a place on Savill’s two-and-a-half year graduate programme before even completing their final college term. Just two weeks into it, she’s upbeat about embarking on a career in property during a recession.

“What better way to learn, than in a market such as this, rather than going in, say, five years ago? It’s the best time to begin, I think, because clients expect the best service possible. It drives you to work harder. I know things aren’t looking great but in three or four years’ time, there will be a need for more graduates. You can already see things picking up.

JOHN SHANNON, 29, residential letting agent at Space4U

WHEN John Shannon decided on a career in property, it didnt feel opportunistic. “I remember someone telling me, ‘you really missed the party on this one. You’ve arrived at three o’clock in the morning, there’s no booze left, all the women are taken – you’re on your own’.”

Still, it wasnt enough to dissuade him. Until his mid-twen ties, Shannon had a series of unfulfilling jobs. “If you’re not happy in what you’re doing, it affects the rest of your life and you can’t see your way out of it. But once I grew up sufficiently and wanted a career instead of just living for the weekend, I started looking seriously at property.”

His father was a chartered surveyor, his mother a conveyance solicitor, and Shannon realised he was “bred for it”. But while seeking relevant work to balance a part-time BSc in property studies at DIT Bolton Street (where he is now in his third year), prospects looked bleak. He aired his frustrations with his tutor, Dr Paul Kelly, and was put in touch with Dublin estate agent Stephen McCarthy of Space4U, who was looking for a letting agent.

Shannon has spent the last year at Space handling distressed auctions, an area that’s thriving. “I don’t see any other part of the property industry providing me with the level of experience I’m getting now,” he says. “I’m happy here and if I can learn to make money in this depressed market at this stage in my career, then when things do recover I’ll be set up with a different type of experience that perhaps others agents won’t have.”

SINEAD DUFFY, 24, Savills

FOR Sinead Duffy, studying property economics in DIT Bolton Street seemed like a sensible prospect in 2005. “Not only could you work anywhere in Ireland but there were opportunities to travel around the world,” she says. “Then, when we were going into third year in college, things were changing. Our economics teacher began telling us about the property cycle, how the boom is followed by the bust.”

Following her degree, Duffy spent three months doing unpaid work experience at home in Monaghan with a local auctioneer while undertaking a part-time AITI (Associate of the Irish Taxation Institute) taxation qualification course. She knew Savills had run a graduate programme in the past and took the initiative and approached them.

When they re-opened the scheme shortly afterwards, they snapped her up. These graduate programmes, Duffy says, suggest the industry hasn’t slowed down as much as people think.

“Although transactions are at a minimum, agents are still busy, be it with consultancy roles or customer relations,” she says. “And while there are a lot of experienced people moving between different companies, I think there are more opportunities for young people coming in.”

NIAMH MOONEY, 22, Michael Guiry Auctioneers

NIAMH Mooney, right, started studying property economics in DIT Bolton Street in September 2007. About two weeks later, Northern Rock collapsed. After that, it was all downhill for property, which might have shaken her belief in her choice of study.

But in spite of having no family background in the business, Niamh had always had an interest in property, in going to auctions.

A spell of work experience with an auctioneer in her hometown of Waterford in transition year confirmed her interest.Some classmates opted out over the next few years. But not Niamh: last autumn, she started unpaid work experience with Waterford agent Michael Guiry – and after graduating this month, he gave her a full-time job. “I am now starting to put the theory that I learnt in college into practice and I am enjoying every minute.”

In Guiry’s country practice – where the work takes her around Waterford city and county – she has been thrown in at the deep end, and gets to do a bit of everything, from handling sales and lettings and valuations of apartments, houses, land. Cattle auctions? “Ah no, I’d draw the line at that.”

She fairly bubbles over with enthusiasm for the life she’s chosen and clearly has the optimist gene that’s a crucial part of estate agents’ make-up.

She says that business in Waterford is far from stagnant, and if asked “when will the market turn” says “the market’s already turned in some sectors”.

Now she plans to register with the estate agents’ professional body, the SCSI (Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland), and to do the exams to get her APC, the internationally-recognised qualification of professional competence.

Is she confident about the future?

Her answer’s unequivocal:

“Yes. The property market is cyclical and property by its very nature is more of a medium to long-term investment. ”

A time for tenacity - The future for young agents:

Ed Carey, chairman of the residential professional group of the SCSI

“I think, in some respects, the market has gone full circle. When I got out of college in the late 1980s, you started at a low level with basic stuff. Things weren’t booming by a long shot and you had to work hard to get work. Now it’s the same for graduates, whereas before they could pretty much walk into a job.

“During the boom years, employers were so hungry for staff they basically took anyone. That’s not to say the quality diminished; it just meant graduates could join agencies at a higher level due to demand.

“When the lean times came, the more expensive staff went, to cut costs. I think the dynamic has shifted a bit now. There are vacancies at lower levels but employers are going to be a lot more demanding because the conversations are different. There’s negative equity, different schemes available – it’s no longer just about selling the house.

We’re working in a market that’s been pretty much hammered and it can be a hard thing to get up every day and walk into a job where youre not going to be sitting back and waiting for business to roll in. It requires tenacity.”

Martin Hanratty, head of department of real estate, DIT Bolton Street

“Up until a few years ago agencies just offered people jobs and said ‘come on in. We’ll train you up’. Now most of the big, reputable agencies run graduate programmes offering guaranteed work for two years with no commitment beyond that. I presume they keep the ones they want and let the others go.

“The better firms rotate graduates from residential to investment to valuation, etc. The graduates also do an Assessment of Professional Competence which is like a self-study of what they have learned over that time and, when that’s combined with academic qualifications, they can join the Society of Chartered Surveyors so that if they go abroad, it’s easier to get a job.

If firms can lay off someone at 45 whom they’re paying €100,000 and can bring in someone at €20,000-

€25,000 who can do almost as good a job, it’s tempting . . . especially when younger people are flexible and will do whatever they’re told.”