Location

Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Cardiff, Colchester, Croydon, Edinburgh, Exeter, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield, Southampton, Wembley.

About the job

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are the public sector’s property valuation experts and advisers. We are one of the largest employers of surveyors in the country offering access to a whole host of learning and development opportunities to support your career development.

We’re looking for talented people who are eager to contribute to vital public services and assist us to deliver taxation and benefits support to the government and local authorities. Your skills and experience will enable us to provide an efficient, effective service right at the heart of the public interest.

At the heart of the agency, we are committed to providing our people with a work environment which is accommodating and accessible to all and which values diversity and inclusion in everything we do.  We encourage our people to bring their whole selves to work by providing a culture that values different perspectives to help tackle complex problems, promote innovation and deliver stronger decision making in a safe and supportive environment. We therefore welcome applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds to join our organisation and enable us to be representative of the communities we serve.

Our people have the freedom to manage their own diaries and are empowered to deliver under their own autonomy. We trust our people and look forward to welcoming your skills into the VOA community.

Job description

Role Overview

We'd like to hear from you: 

• If you are currently studying on a RICS-accredited Real Estate, or Valuation sandwich degree course, and 
• Your degree is deemed suitable for the RICS Valuation Pathway (denoted by the abbreviation '(VAL)' in the RICS Accredited Course Listing 

https://www.ricscourses.org/ 
 
How will we support you? 

The VOA Work Placement Surveyor programme aims to provide industry experience aligning with your academic journey. We hope to inspire a career in surveying and provide valuable experience to kickstart your APC and is also a great way to prepare for a future career within the VOA.

Join our Placement Student training programme and you’ll be given early responsibility for your own caseloads. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be left to cope alone – as a key member of one of our teams, you’ll be supervised and supported by an experienced Chartered Surveyor. 
Working with colleagues and other team members on valuations, inspections, and negotiations, you’ll quickly gain experience. Additionally, you will be appointed a team leader who will be on hand to provide you with advice and guidance throughout the programme. 
 
We will support you to start recording experience against APC on the Valuation pathway whilst you are with us and will provide support with this from our extensive pool of experienced APC Counsellors. Meanwhile we’ll do everything we can to make sure that you get the right mix of work and breadth of experience required. 
 
Following your 12 month placement; there may be opportunities to remain working in the agency on a part-time basis around your degree commitments in the final year of your studies. 
In addition, there may be opportunities to gain a place on our structured Graduate programme through internal assessment centres.

Successful completion of a VOA Work Placement means you may be offered a quicker route through our Graduate Surveyor scheme selection. If you receive a positive appraisal during your placement and then apply for our Graduate Surveyor scheme that year, you could be fast-tracked past the initial online selection stages.

We're passionate about diversity and we strive to be an inclusive employer, providing everyone with the opportunity to thrive, develop and be themselves at work. While we work hard, we respect your work-life balance, with flexible working conditions reflecting the best in the sector.

Job Title – Key responsibilities

• Adjusting and analysing rental evidence: making sense of lease terms and incentives to determine current rental values in terms of £m2.
• Market knowledge and intelligence investigating market changes and trends to support decision making for valuation.
• Deciding whether property inspection or further evidence is required, discussions with customers and/or agents, determining outcome of cases including re-assessment as needed.
• Undertake inspections of commercial and residential properties for various valuation purposes.
• Valuation: producing high volumes of rental valuations across a broad range of property classes.

It is also possible we may have opportunities for work placements within District Valuer Services (DVS), the VOA’s commercial property arm. Roles in Edinburgh will be DVS only.

Person specification

Full details of the person specification and eligibility requirements are contained within the candidate pack which can be found at the bottom of the advert.

Essential Criteria

• Currently studying a RICS accredited Valuation Pathway undergraduate or Masters level degree such as Real Estate or Property with an agreed work-based placement year (sandwich year) as part of their degree.
• We will expect students to be undertaking a degree which involves valuation modules, given the nature of the work and experience we can provide.
• Ideally your degree should be deemed 'most likely' to be suitable for Valuation pathway by the RICS as denoted by the abbreviation '(VAL)' in the RICS Accredited Course Listing https://www.ricscourses.org/ 
• The ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
• Sound analytical skills and good judgement to inform their decisions or when providing opinions or advice to others.
• As part of your application there will be three role specific questions that you must complete to evidence your academic alignment.  

Qualifications

You must be currently studying on a RICS-accredited Real Estate, or Valuation sandwich degree course, and your degree must be deemed suitable for the RICS Valuation Pathway (denoted by the abbreviation '(VAL)' in the RICS Accredited Course Listing https://www.ricscourses.org/

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Developing Self and Others

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Candidates will be asked technical questions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,360, Valuation Office Agency contributes £7,657 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The VOA operates a Flexible Working policy, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments.

The VOA also operates Hybrid Working – your role will be a combination of office and home working. 

We offer a generous leave allowance that starts at 25 days and goes up to 30 days after 5 years’ service.

• Pay – In the last few years, we have increased both the minimum and maximum pay points for everyone in the VOA.
• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to approximately 27% of their salary. Please click on this link for further information Civil Service Pension
• Family friendly policies – Our maternity, adoption or shared parental leave encompasses 26 weeks with full pay followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid at your discretion. We also offer paternity leave of 4 weeks at full pay.
• Personal support – We offer extensive special leave to help balance your life and work commitments, a variety of non-financial rewards (including a Cycle to Work scheme of up to £4000) and we work with professional providers to provide occupational health and full mental and physical wellbeing services.
• Coaching and development – We are committed to continuous professional and personal development. You will be supported by colleagues with a wealth of knowledge and experience to continually grow in your role.
• Essential Equipment - VOA will support everyone to get additional essential kit and equipment, to make sure they have a suitable and safe home working environment.

Download the Employee Value Proposition for full details of the benefits of being a VOA employee at: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency/about/recruitment