Career clarity before commitment
Discover your future careerfrom the peoplealready living it.
Everyone has an opinion about your career. Very few people will tell you what the job actually looks like.
Every session covers pay, progression, reality, breaking in.
ExpertLinc is a UK careers platform that runs live online sessions where students and early-career people hear from two people at different stages of the same career, answering the same questions side by side.
Two hours on Zoom, one industry at a time. The first is UK real estate. More about ExpertLinc
ExpertLinc in 30 seconds
0:30Read what the film says
You pick a degree at seventeen. You find out what the job is like at twenty-two. After the loan.
Everyone has an opinion about your career. Very few will tell you what the job actually looks like.
What if you heard it from the people already living it?
Introducing ExpertLinc. Career clarity before commitment.
Two people. Never one. Five questions, answered by both: the money, an ordinary Tuesday, the interview, the ladder, hindsight.
Two hours, live on Zoom. £25 a seat. Real estate is live, and more industries are being built the same way.
ExpertLinc. The place where honest career conversations happen.
01 · Blind to informed
Every job looks the same until someone tells you the truth.
The brochure is what you have been given. The truth is underneath it.
What the brochure says
Your future starts here.
- A competitive salary
- Great progression
- A fast-paced environment
- Excellent opportunities
The truth
- Here's what you'll actually earn.
- Here's what Tuesday looks like.
- Here's how people actually get hired.
- Here's what nobody tells you before you start.
- Pay
- An ordinary Tuesday
- The interview
- Promotion
- What I got wrong
Where do you want to go?
Pick a direction. See what is actually there.
Real estate is first. Six more are being built the same way, each with two people from inside the industry.
- Live
Real estate
- Session
- Breaking into lettings: how to start, succeed and progress
- When
- New date coming soon
- Price
- £25 per seat
- Format
- 120 minutes, live on Zoom
- Status
- Waitlist open
Pay, by stage
- Graduate, entry
- Figure pending
- Three years in
- Figure pending
- Senior
- Figure pending
Source: Macdonald & Company Rewards and Attitudes Survey, RICS
- Being planned
Engineering
No date yet. Tell us which stage or discipline you want covered.
Pay, by stage
- Graduate
- Figure pending
- Chartered
- Figure pending
- Principal
- Figure pending
Source: IMechE salary survey, ONS
- Being planned
Law
No date yet. Both hosts have to be confirmed before we list a date.
Pay, by stage
- Trainee
- Figure pending
- Newly qualified
- Figure pending
- Senior associate
- Figure pending
Source: Chambers Student, Legal Cheek firm tables
- Being planned
Finance
No date yet. Front office and back office pay differently, so we are waiting for a host who can speak to both.
Pay, by stage
- Analyst
- Figure pending
- Associate
- Figure pending
- Vice president
- Figure pending
Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Glassdoor
- Coming later
Technology
No date yet. Tell us which stage or role you want covered.
Pay, by stage
- Junior
- Figure pending
- Mid level
- Figure pending
- Senior
- Figure pending
Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Levels.fyi
- Coming later
Healthcare
No date yet. NHS pay is published, so the figures here will be accurate from the day we list a date.
Pay, by stage
- Foundation year
- Figure pending
- Registrar
- Figure pending
- Consultant
- Figure pending
Source: NHS Agenda for Change and medical pay scales
- Coming later
Trades
No date yet. Almost nobody runs these conversations for trades. That is exactly why we want to.
Pay, by stage
- Apprentice
- Figure pending
- Qualified
- Figure pending
- Self employed
- Figure pending
Source: ONS, CITB industry outlook
02 · Two people. Never one.
Two points on the same career, not a panel of strangers.
Career Insider
3
“I remember what it was like to start.”
Two to four years in. Close enough to the start to remember what was actually confusing, and honest about what they got wrong.
Industry Leader
15+
“I know how the industry works.”
Fifteen years or more. Where the career goes, what the work becomes, and what you can only see from where they are now.
03 · A career intelligence file
Five questions. Answered every time, by both of them.
01 / 05 · The money
What does it actually pay?
At entry, at three years, and senior. In numbers, not in the word competitive.
Answered twice:3 years in15+ years inReal estate, pay by stage
- Graduate, entry
- Figure pending
- Three years in
- Figure pending
- Senior
- Figure pending
Source: Macdonald & Company Rewards and Attitudes Survey, RICS
02 / 05 · An ordinary Tuesday
What does your Tuesday actually look like?
Not the launch party or the deal that closed. The ordinary hours in between.
Answered twice:3 years in15+ years inMonTueWedThuFriThe ordinary day, hour by hour, is what you hear about.
03 / 05 · The interview
What is the interview really testing?
The question behind the question, from someone who asks it and someone who got through it recently.
Answered twice:3 years in15+ years inWhat they ask
What they are listening for
Unredacted on the night.
04 / 05 · The ladder
How do you actually get promoted?
Entry to manager to director, and how long each step really takes.
Answered twice:3 years in15+ years inEntry
years
Manager
years
Director
years
05 / 05 · Hindsight
What would you do differently?
The one answer no job description will ever give you.
Answered twice:3 years in15+ years indifferently.
The actual session
Two hours, measured minute by minute.
Breaking into lettings: how to start, succeed and progress
Two hours, two experts, no brochure. Twelve years and seven years into real estate, they answer the same questions from where each of them stands.
Industry Expert
Donovan McLeod
12 years in the industry
Industry Expert
Jessica Jackson
Head of Lettings · Hamptons
7 years in the industry
Running the room
Moderator
Jeffrey Igbokwuwe
Lettings Consultant · Stirling Ackroyd
Co-moderator
Virtue Igbokwuwe
Programme Manager · Cushman & Wakefield
The format · 120 minutes
- 15 min
Welcome: who is in the room, and why ExpertLinc existsBoth
Both hosts introduce themselves, and why they gave up an evening for people they have never met.
- 30 min
Donovan McLeod, Industry ExpertExpert
The five questions every session asks - the money, an ordinary Tuesday, what the interview actually tests, how the ladder works, what they would do differently - answered from twelve years in.
- 15 min
Break
A pause between the two halves. Cut from the recording you keep afterwards.
- 30 min
Jessica Jackson, Industry ExpertExpert
The same five questions again, answered from seven years in, so you hear how the answers change at a different stage of the same career.
- 30 min
Your questionsYou
Live, unscripted, both hosts answer. Ask the thing you would not ask an employer.
What’s included
- One seat, live, with your camera and microphone off if you prefer
- Questions asked live and answered live
- A confirmation email now, and your Zoom link the day before
- Your recording, sent the day after. It stays yours.
Not included
- A job, an introduction, or a referral to either host's employer
- Regulated financial or careers advice
- One-to-one time. Questions are answered in front of everyone.
The other side of the door
You don’t need to escape the working world. You need to see inside it.
The real estate session is getting a new date. Join the waitlist and you will hear the new date by email, with the link to book.