Q&A: Five minutes with Sarah Cox, head of Carter Jonas’s northern planning team

How did you join the property industry?

After completing my planning course at university, I joined local government as a planning officer. It was terrifying, worlds away from the planning course I had studied, and offered a steep learning curve.

What does your job entail?

My role is to lead our northern planning team and work with colleagues to assist and support our clients in achieving their aspirations and goals.

What do you like most about the property industry?

No two days are the same and the projects are so varied. I am constantly learning and adapting to new challenges as the industry evolves and reacts.

And what do you dislike most about it?

Rather than a dislike, it’s more a frustration with the speed of the planning process, the lack of local authority resourcing and the poor perception of the planning profession, which is criticised for the failures of the system.

What would you change about the property industry?

Diversity has improved immensely during my career, and I have been lucky to have worked, and to work currently, in a business that champions this ethos. However, I still find that I may be the only woman in a meeting or on a presentation panel. It is a real loss if the industry is overlooking people who have different life experiences.

What barriers or challenges have you overcome?

I am not alone in having to break through stereotypes throughout my career. When I started out as a planning officer, people would try and use my age or perceived ‘inexperience’ to their advantage and not afford me any professional respect.

Thankfully, things are changing for the better, but it certainly shaped my experience. I learned very quickly that it was key to be confident in my knowledge. I also look back and really appreciate those professionals who I worked with over the years that behaved in a fair and professional manner and were so gracious with their time.

What are you most proud of in your career?

What I am doing now. Relocating from the South East a few years ago and establishing myself in a new region has taken time and determination.

What do you value in people?

Commitment and hard work: people who are committed to do their best in everything they turn their attention to, even if they haven’t found it easy. Their positive attitude to work to the best of their ability makes working together a pleasure.

What advice would you give someone starting a career in the property industry?

Take every opportunity you can. On first look, the project may appear unexciting or not what you envisaged working on when you were at university, but you don’t know where the project and the contacts you make on it will lead