Meet Stephanie Dixon: at home edition

Fri 15 May 2020

Meet Stephanie Dixon, a Graduate Commercial Surveyor at our Grey Street Office. Continuing our ‘at home series', we asked Stephanie some questions to allow you to get to know her better.

How long have you been at youngsRPS?
I started working for youngsRPS on 1^st April 2019. I was their April fool!

Give us an overview of what you do day-to-day?
I’m a Graduate Commercial Surveyor and I’m working towards a RICS accreditation. Day-to-day. I answer enquiries, carry out viewings and inspections, deal with rent reviews and lease renewals and provide support to both Michael and Paul. I also action any property management issues that tenants may have and update clients on their portfolios.

What attracted you to your industry?
I have always had a keen interest in property with my family already being in the industry, it just took me a while to realise that I would follow in my father’s footsteps and become a commercial surveyor. I started out working in residential property and fell into commercial; I’m now taking the professional route to becoming chartered. Had I known earlier that this is where I would find my passion, I would have entered this career pathway earlier. Though, I do believe that by not following the traditional route to becoming a chartered commercial surveyor, I have gained essential skills and knowledge that have enriched my practice.

What would you say you specialise in?
I predominantly specialise in landlord and tenant work and sales and lettings of commercial property.

What do you enjoy doing outside of the traditional working hours?
I love working with others and completing tasks as a team. I have completed the 3 Peaks Challenge, which I did with colleagues back in 2017. Away from work, I have completed a number of car rallies including ‘Barcelona or Bust’, ‘Monte Carlo or Bust’ and ‘Inverness or Bust’. I do this with a group of friends who have a similar interest in cars and rallies. I enjoy picking up skills and knowledge from them; I can apply them to scenarios I may be faced with at work. Witnessing and being involved in negotiation and disputes amongst teammates helps me to apply the skills learnt and observed to rent reviews and lease renewals.

What do you love about working in Newcastle city centre?
The fact that I can pop out of the office for literally two minutes and I can guarantee that I will bump into at least one familiar face. This can be a great way to network and also a way to reset your mind if you have been looking at the computer screen for the best part of the day! Newcastle is full of wonderful architecture that I find people often miss, as they rarely look up. Today, we are all guilty of having our mobile phone in our hand, thus constantly looking down and not taking note of our surroundings! I would love to one day go up Grey’s Monument and really take in the city from above!

How do you get the best out of what you do?
By always being honest and approaching things in a friendly manner. I always try to go over and above no matter the nature or scale of the task.