Callum Livingston

After 8 years at Aberdein Considine, I moved to Ledingham Chalmers Estate Agency for a new challenge as a Sales Negotiator. In this role, I continued to develop a number of skills I gained in previous roles, in particular my communication and negotiation skills with clients and solicitors. I managed a portfolio of around 100 properties on a daily basis where it was my responsibility to keep my clients updated regularly on property activity such as viewings, notes of interest and offers received. Once an offer was received, I had to provide my client with the correct advice on the market conditions and answer any questions which they may have.

After almost a year in this role, I was promoted to Sales Negotiator Team Leader. This was a different type of challenge where it was my responsibility to manage all members of the team on a daily basis, and ensure I was on hand to help provide guidance on any challenges the team came up against. I also helped develop our new case management system with our IT and marketing teams to ensure this was as user friendly for the team as possible. Within this new role, I gained a wealth of management experience, as well as other traits such as decision making, time management and communication.

In November 2022, I moved out to the Banchory branch of Aberdein Considine to become a Property Adviser. This role included assisting the valuers with preparing properties to go onto the market, arranging and conducting viewings on behalf of the client, obtaining viewing feedback and communicate to clients, Identifying viewers specific property search requirements, cross selling properties, highlighting the properties main features and encourage viewings, selling the advantages of our valuation, mortgage and solicitor services to potential sellers and buyers, Identifying other services that are relevant to the viewers situation and promoting the benefits of using Aberdein Considine and assisting the property team within the office dealing with general property enquires. While in this role, I have improved many skills such as customer service, persistence, team work, determination and the ability to be thorough and pay attention to detail.

Following 3 years of Paralegal work, I then moved into a different role within Corporate Conveyancing as a Property Coordinator. We were instructed by the bank to manage repossessed properties which included, instructing contractors to clean and clear the property following the eviction and instruct any maintenance works which may need attended to before placing the property onto the market. I also spoke to many customers who had been evicted to grant them access to remove any personal items. I had the responsibility to instruct a local estate agent to market the property and advise them what value to market the property at by contacting our client. I gained a vast amount of experience from this role as I dealt with many difficult customers who had unfortunately been evicted from their home which has helped me develop many different skills such as adaptability and empathy.

Following the completion of my apprenticeship, I was promoted to Trainee Paralegal within the remortgage conveyancing department where I was provided with my own case load of around 100 clients. Duties included, keeping in regular contact with our clients to provide them with regular updates throughout the process, importing details onto the case management system, requesting documentation from the customer and their current lender, setting a relevant completion date and ensuring all statements are correctly calculated. During my time in this role, I developed numerous skills including communication, time management and problem-solving. I was then promoted to Paralegal and took up a more senior role in the team after a couple of years due to the experience I had gained. I helped train new members of the team on various parts of the process as well as peer checking any work when required. I was also on hand to assist with any difficult telephone calls with clients.

I started my professional career at Aberdein Considine Solicitors at the age of 17 where I completed an apprenticeship in Business and Administration within the Lender Services department. I assisted with answering any incoming calls, scanning incoming mail and setting up team meetings while also making time to complete my apprenticeship.

- Shadowing senior members of the Business Technician team