Take a look around! You will witness the manifestation of development, starting from housings, apartments, to skyscrapers. When we talk about the aforementioned establishment, we may be familiar with the term real estate within the property industry. This scope of this industry is wide starting from development to selling or managing the property. Let’s meet with Farrah Waworuntu, the Marketing and Senior Agent Coordinator in PT Farpoint Prima. She will share her experience and perspective working in property industry.

Farrah and Prasetiya Mulya

As a young girl from outside the big city, Farrah was eager to continue her higher education in Jakarta with the hope of having broader knowledge and higher and better personal skill. Having the drive to study in the capital of the country, Farrah visited our campus to get better knowledge about the undergraduate program. She met with our marketing staff and requested detail information about the program and the admission process.

Once she was well equipped, Farrah took part in the selection test. She was accepted and she had no doubt about our school. She said her conviction was based on the school’s reputation as the best business school among entrepreneurs. After one big decision, she was required to make another choice. Farrah decided to concentrate on Finance because she perceived it as the most important knowledge to have especially at work. “For me, having good financial knowledge at work is very important. It will help us understand the company’s financial situation. Besides, most of the decisions are made based on financial considerations. One more thing, we can’t understand finance just through learning by doing. I needed deeper knowledge about it so I majored in Finance.”

Farrah’s Campus Life

How long is a campus life? In general, it is four years and it’s not a short time. Farrah is highly impressed with Prasetiya Mulya’s program. She told us that she loved how our learning process maintained balance between theories and practices. She said it was very useful to know how to run business and make financial statements.

Farrah must have gone through many experiences. It was hard for her to choose one that she considers the most memorable. “There are too many. I have three things on top of my mind. First, it would be running Komodo Coffee with the team as our business. Second, I still remember community development where I stayed for a month in Sukabumi to help increase the locals’ welfare by helping them making business. Last but not least, it is none other than my experience doing an assignment by following around a salesman from a company in Tangerang. The target was to know how the sales force works, their target and incentives.”

Farrah considers her learning process in Prasetiya Mulya as a unique experience and it plays a role in her career. Throughout her study, she was assigned in different groups for discussion, task, and presentation. It helps her to learn working in team. Farrah told us that teamwork is crucial in her work because there are several teams with products to sell to clients and agents.

Farrah was also active during her study. She took part in AIESEC and performed social works.”By joining AIESEC, I can deepen the insights of the outside world, learn about cultural differences, as well as how to behave and interact with other people of different cultures. It is very useful to build our network too.”

Paving Her Career Path

As a young college student, Farrah was aspired to become a successful career woman. Her longer term vision is to have a business after she gain many professional experiences. To pursue the dream, she learned through mentoring and had career consultations. She didn’t miss the chance to attend sharing sessions from business experts or other seminars. Farrah was also determined to join an organization like AIESEC to open more opportunities.

She took part in a job fair that was organized exclusively in campus by Career Development Center. Farrah then noticed a career opportunity in PT Farpoint Prima. She applied and undergone several interviews, starting with HR to the manager. She said the process was quick at that time.

PT Farpoint Prima is under Gunung Sewu Group and Farrah was recruited as Marketing and Agent Coordinator since 2011. She is responsible to sell the company’s products such as apartment. Her roles are also recruiting and managing agent to help her sales number. “Being a marketing and agent coordinator, I must say my work is about sales and working together with agents. I conduct agent gathering and give them product knowledge. Then I also maintain healthy relationship with existing customers while opening up fresh customers. I am also responsible in sales and administrative support involving top and confidential agreements. If you think my work stops there, you are wrong. I also have to prepare sales activity report.”

If we read about Farrah’s brief job description, we might wonder how she adapts with her finance background. She explained that it wasn’t too hard to perform her marketing roles. Again, she emphasized that it is because of her learning experience in Prasetiya Mulya. She has been accustomed being a marketing or sales person when running her coffee business. Farrah also shares that she continues to improve and enhance her skill by taking courses.

With better skill, Farrah has been giving service to her company for almost six years. Just like other professionals, work must have its ups and downs. For Farrah, high target during the slowing down of the industry gives her headache. Not to mention that she also have to manage customers’ complaint. Those two things are considered as the downside of her work. Surprisingly, Farrah told us more of the bright side of her work. “Besides the target, my work is actually fun because I have the chance to meet new people with whom I can share information and experiences. I also learn many activities to increase sales and there are many marketing ideas that I want to try.”

The pressure as a marketing and agent coordinator is high. Farrah is also required to travel across the country. Despite the high expectation, she survives until now because the working environment is supportive and she feels comfortable in it. She also mentions her colleagues and boss. She perceives them very helpful and they can assist her in having alternative solution to her problems.

PT Farpoint Prima has clear career path as informed by Farrah, especially for her role. “If you start as an agent coordinator, you can be promoted as senior agent coordinator then officer, junior manager and senior manager.”

Property Industry in Farrah’s Perspective

“Property is a very interesting and challenging industry. Why? The demand is very high and continues to rise with high capital gain and quick ROI or return of investment. In addition, the price keeps soaring each year.”

Now we know why Farrah is still enthusiastic with her work. The industry keeps her feeling challenged. Besides that, the work culture is positive in her opinion. It emphasizes on collaboration, creativity and courage, and external focus. With collaboration as an important culture, it pushes employees to appreciate others’ ideas and contributions. She also learns to produce creative ideas and to think outside the box because the industry needs creativity. Last but not least, the working culture also focuses on customers’ satisfaction.

In Farrah’s opinion, the industry is a bit slow compared to the previous years. She explained that many investors are waiting to see a better and stabilized economic condition prior buying property. She added that lately many end-users are looking for apartment, especially young people, because they are looking for place to stay in proximity to their office. Despite of this situation, Farrah still considers that there are many career opportunities in the industry, starting from property agent to property management. “You just have to remember that if you work in property, you have to bear the economic condition and the high sales target.”

Just like other industry, fresh graduates are very welcome to start their career in property. They are considered new talents with fresh ideas, easy to adapt with changes, and new system. They are also easier to mold as needed by the company just by teaching them. To fulfill the company’s expectation, Farrah believes that graduates who are open-minded with broad network are needed in the property industry.

Farrah’s Words of Advice

Having to pave her career over five years, Farrah still has dreams. Within five years, she aims on becoming a manager in a property company. She also sees herself opening a business, either related with property of food and beverage.

With her working experiences, Farrah realized the difference between campus life and professional world. “When we are still in campus, we learn more case studies that we try to relate with the theory. While when we work, we have to implement the theory by adjusting it to the business world situation.”

Farrah believes that maximizing experience in campus is mandatory to be successful. First, she reminds us not to miss attending seminars from business experts and entrepreneurs because we can learn more than what we receive in class. Second, she emphasizes the importance of doing internships because we will know what our passion is and what work the most suitable for us. Last but not least, Farrah says that we have to improve our presentation skill.

To succeed, here’s a quote that Farrah likes and the one that motivates her, “Think out of the box and think beyond, give the best you can.”