While most people are familiar with the powerful image of a person lifting up a number plate at an auction and bidding millions of Hong Kong dollars on a piece of land, this is just the beginning of a long process.
Working in the property sector is all-encompassing. 'You have to know property development, leasing and sales, and talk to customers even make sure that the washroom is clean. You have to be be prepared to learn the nitty-gritty,' says Alice Ip, Sino Land's executive director.
Its management training programme - launched eight years ago - received some 9,000 applications in 2011, with 7,500 from the mainland. Sino Land hired about 20 candidates.
The training programme has been refined several times to respond to business requirements, and the 18-month course now has three rotations.
In the sales and marketing stage, trainees study the kinds of properties people look for and how to sell new projects. In the leasing stage, they learn how to manage investment property and shopping centres. Finally, in the property management stage, they come to understand how best to maintain brand image.
To broaden the horizons of management trainees, there is structured training and periodic exposure to large-scale investor relations meetings, media events, sales roadshows in China and sales launches of new properties.
