Early Careers Talent Manager - MAT Cover

The Early Careers Talent Manager is responsible for defining and delivering our early careers strategy. It involves attraction, recruitment and development of employees from grad (including work experience and interns) to Senior Surveyor/Planner recruitment and developing a clear timeline and sequence of priorities to enable timely delivery of key initiatives and project deliverables. The role offers an opportunity to apply expertise and experience of talent acquisition practices and embed it into our overall strategy to ensure the firm recruits the best talent from the broadest pool. The role sits in HR, within CMT (Central Management Team), has a firmwide remit and is integrated into everything we do as a business.

Responsibilities

• Early Careers Programmes: Create and implement internship, apprenticeship, graduate, and other entry-level development programmes that align with the organisation's talent strategy.
• Early Careers Funding and Governance: Manage the apprentice levy and bursary programme, ensuring adequate support for successful candidates. Chairing the decision-making process for all offers across all programmes and reporting on ROI to the business.
• Selection Process: Managing the recruitment process for early careers programmes, including job postings, CV screening, interviewing, and selection. Continually find ways to improve our online and in-person selection methods, including selection tools, assessment centres and interviews.
• Onboarding, induction and integration: Plan, manage and coordinate onboarding and appropriate induction arrangements for early careers hires (with support from HR Assistant).
• Talent Acquisition: Lead on recruitment up to Senior Surveyor/Planner level across the business.
• Internal Collaboration: Working closely with HODs (Heads of Department) and HR team to ensure the successful integration and development of early career talent. Proactive communication with Marketing to create engaging content and ensure collateral across platforms are up to date.
• Internal Engagement and brand: Working alongside our Brand and Marketing team in support of our employee culture and brand, manage and execute internal comms to highlight employee participation in programmes and celebrate successes.
• Collateral: Maintaining high quality, centralised recruitment materials and templates such as job descriptions, competency frameworks and assessment tools.
• Diversity & Inclusion: Manage and facilitate social value activities (via Reach AcadeME, Central Foundation Girls' School, 10,000 black/disable interns). Provide guidance to business on maintaining objectivity and reducing unconscious bias in our EC processes. Collaborate with Head of DE&I, strategising to support delivery of both early careers and DE&I strategy particularly in relation to how early careers can help meet our social value obligations.
• Reporting/Data: Create and utilise metrics to measure progress.
• Budget: Coordinate with HR Director and Finance Business Partner to manage Early Careers budget, audit monthly variance reports and track spend/ROI.
• Role Model: Act as a role model for others to follow, collaborating with other functions such as DE&I and HR team to support career paths.

External

• External reputation building / brand building: Develop our EVP in the real estate early careers space. Attend industry groups focused on early careers and talent acquisition.
• External Partnerships: Develop strategies to attract early career talent through partnerships with universities, colleges, and schools, and participating in career fairs and campus recruitment events. Building and maintaining relationships with educational institutions and industry bodies to enhance recruitment and program offerings. Key point of contact for all EC related queries.

Qualifications

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

• Extensive experience in Early Careers recruitment, including managing graduate schemes, internships, apprenticeships, or similar entry-level programmes.
• Proven track record in talent acquisition up to mid-level roles (e.g., Senior Surveyor/Planner or equivalent), including selection design, assessment centres, interviews, and screening processes.
• Experience designing, delivering, and continuously improving development programmes for early-career populations.
• Experience managing apprenticeship levy funds, bursaries, or similar governance processes, including reporting on ROI and programme effectiveness.
• Demonstrable experience in stakeholder management, working closely with senior leaders, HR teams, finance, and marketing.
• Experience building and maintaining partnerships with universities, colleges, schools, and industry bodies.
• Demonstrable experience in onboarding, induction planning, and integration for early-career hires.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE

• Experience working within the real estate, property, or professional services sector.
• Previous experience designing or implementing mentoring and coaching programmes.
• Experience with employer branding, recruitment marketing, and creating engaging early-careers-focused content.
• Knowledge of DE&I best practice, particularly regarding reducing bias in recruitment and improving social mobility pathways.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience in HR, Talent Acquisition, Early Careers, L&D, or related field.
• CIPD qualification (Level 5 or above) is beneficial but not required.