mortgage advisor

sales and lettings negotiator

customer service representative

real estate agent

branch manager

Connells

I worked here for 2 years as a sales support administrator, at one time I was a very happy member of staff who felt that Countrywide got the best out of me as they treated staff fairly as the environment with its targets etc I could cope with as rewards were in place for the best performers. I worked through each task thoroughly following a step by step process, with productivity monitored on I-NEXUS initially. I liaised with branch managers and colleagues to help vendors properties be put on the market. As time went on the differences between how administrators and team leaders/ senior management were treated became more and more apparent, administrators felt punished for being genuinely sick, having a ''return to work interview'', even being 5 minutes late for work was recorded and frequent lateness would lead to disciplinary action being taken, any time off for interviews, important family matters, doctors appointments or moving house was frowned upon as all they see is that staff are robots, should be in work no matter what the reason(s). No talking was the general rule too or even going for a drink of water was very restricted. Yet they asked too much of staff by offering overtime, incentives to work through lunch to get back into SLA with a free lunch but not giving anything in return (above reasons).  By this time radius was monitoring staff performance and time spent on each task which wasted so much time as all this information is what team leaders went off when co-ordinating needless performance meetings. Many capable colleagues who I worked with were put on performance review just to make team leaders look good who monitored quality and productivity of work with figures from the database, had to explain every little details with regard to why I did not achieve my target e.g. IT issues, meetings, doing a long task, it felt like I was in school for the last 1 year of employment and definitely contributed to a unpleasant working environment where staff did not know if they would have a job tomorrow or 1 week from now, so many staff looked for jobs, understandably lost their interest in the role and staff turnover as a result was very high . For me to experience treatment like this was very unprofessional and for experienced administrators was very demoralising to our confidence in our abilities and I saw staff have health issues, long term sickness as a result. I definitely pity anyone who chooses to work here.

Started really well, lovely team who respected each other with clear personal and professional boundaries but sadly not much incoming business due to the area so moved to a busier office for more income. Then it went down hill…awful management, toxic environment/employees. Everyone is paid differently (generally awfully). The person sitting next to you will be doing the same job but on double the commission %. They say they won’t make you feel guilty for working long outside your contracted hours buuuuttt…. Can’t be helped if your personal life doesn’t allow you to meet the extra efforts of your employees outside contracted hours. If this won’t bother you then the 5 day week 9-5 pretty much is ok and offers flexibility with lieu days. 

Zero care for employee welfare, profit margins are most important. If you can’t fit in with clique culture, don’t work here. If you plan on having a family or already have a family, don’t work here. It will end up being your burden. Make a little hiccup (natural - we have big workloads in a fast paced office with a lot of different aspects to our actual job role), you’ll be talked about during meetings but not confronted directly. People are too afraid of confrontation and honesty nowadays. Talk to me about it, we’ll sort it and learn and grow together.

Total disregard for tenants because they no longer pay us anything (tenant fees) if they have any issues maintenance wise during their tenancy. Yes, the landlord is the client, but the excessive hardship placed on tenants pretty much because of the fee ban is harsh from many examples I’ve witnessed. Some management may be more understanding but mine wasn’t. 

Probably the only positive is how tight they are on ensuring safeties are in place for properties prior to a move, tenant safety is paramount. Internal training has really taken a hit since I joined though, and it used to be great. I felt fully confident in my job after 6 months of solid day-long, task specific training.  None of that now and jobs are at risk more than ever if anything safety wise is missed. This can be extremely stressful during extremely busy months with crazy workloads all for a NMW top up job. Now covid has passed, full classroom training needs to be implemented again.

It’s sad to have managers and employees with a lot of potential but are sadly being shaped by higher management in a way that doesn’t coincide with modern day workplaces and standards.

Don't my work for this company unless you want to be under appreciated, over worked, treated like muck and underpaid. I was one of the lucky ones who has got out.

Hours - working through your lunch is expected. I don't mind working extra, but you can't take a lunch break here, not enough staff in the branches to cover, and it's expected that you'll work through without anything back. You have to work every other Saturday with no time off in lieu (ie, a 6 day week every other week) unless you're one of the favourites or female. You also have to work most bank holidays now, you get the time back but you have to use it at Christmas when they're shut anyway!

Targets - it's a sales business so you expect targets, but at Connells they're not achievable most of the time, and even when you do well you don't get any praise, only criticism for the bits that you didn't do well on. Demotivating. Expect to book mortgage appointments, mortgage appointments and more mortgage appointments. You could smash you target for houses sold/instructed, but if you haven't hit your mortgage target you're useless.

Ethics - being told to go out and massively over value houses just to get the instruction, knowing full well it won't sell until you get the customer to reduce and reduce the price. Absolutely disgusting way of treating customers. Despite what the company want the public to think, you will be forced to book buyers in for "offer check" otherwise their offer won't be put forward. This is basically forcing customers in for a mortgage appointment. Totally illegal and Connells say it doesn't happen anymore, but it does. Your bosses tell you to ignore the group directive.

Pay - as a neg you're on below minimum wage. If you don't earn any commission they top you up to minimum wage. If you do earn commission, you only get the bit above minimum wage. For other senior positions, they pay differently, not based on skill, but based on whether you're a favourite, one of the several offspring of the area director (nobody knows because their surnames are different) or if they're really desperate at the time of recruitment.

All in all, a terrible company to work for and by far the worst job I've ever had. Would never work for them again, or sell my house through them for that matter!

Only given 1 star because I had to, it's actually zero stars.

Working as a mortgage adviser at Connells presented both challenges and learning experiences. A typical day at work was marked by stress due to the pressure to meet a target of three signups per week. Unfortunately, the lack of support from negotiators in booking appointments and motivation contributed to the overall sense of frustration.

The management at Connells was a significant concern, as branch managers failed to provide adequate support and motivation. The blame culture within the workplace, where mortgage advisers were criticized for not meeting targets, created a negative atmosphere.

The workplace culture suffered due to insufficient staffing in the area, leading to difficulties in achieving targets. Branch managers' complaints about advisers' performance, rather than providing constructive feedback, further contributed to a demotivating environment.

The hardest part of the job was the undue pressure to meet targets and the blame placed on mortgage advisers for factors beyond their control, such as house valuation. The practice of pushing clients to find more deposit or risk putting the property back on the market added an unnecessary layer of stress.

Despite the challenges, the most enjoyable part of the job was gaining insights into the mortgage advising field and learning to navigate a competitive environment. However, the lack of a supportive and positive work culture overshadowed the potential enjoyment.

In summary, working as a mortgage adviser at Connells was marred by a lack of support, undue pressure, and a negative workplace culture. The potential for personal and professional growth was hindered by management practices and insufficient resources.

A typical day at work consists of going through sheets of papers with companies, firms, banks, surveyors, booking clerks etc. This is called a chase sheet. Working as part of a team, I am required to chase the relevant individuals, companies and/or banks to get up to date information regarding the mortgage valuation and/or survey instructions assigned to us to carry out. When I get this information, I  update the Quest and Valuation Exchange database. The aim of this is to help ensure that work is done within Turn Around Time and we meet up to the Service Level Agreement. The most important thing is to provide the best possible service to our customers and clients.

I have learned a lot especially when it comes to the way different banks and firms work and their requirements. I have also learned how  to take payment from clients who have cases assigned to us.

The management team is a strong group of inspirational individuals who know their work and the people in this group are helpful. They surely have a lot of knowledge in their field. I would consider them to be good leaders as they have successfully taught me how to manage   myself and how to prioritise work based tasks.

Majority of the my co-workers have proved to be very helpful, showing good communication and team work. There is always someone available to help and they are always ready to help or direct one to someone who is able to do so.

The hardest part of the job is making sure that all jobs assigned to us are completed within the right time frame. Sometimes we get so many calls, we don't actually get through the chase sheet, which means that there may be the risk of not meeting up to TAT and SLA. This is also affected by different factors as well as there being a little too few people to handle the amount of calls, requests and customer queries.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the hospitality within the company. I can surely say that the work may be challenging and strenuous but the atmosphere created by my co-workers makes the work easier to do.

Worked at Countrywide in Annesley,  Nottinghamshire as a property manager, dealing with inbound tenant and landlord queries, liaising with estate agents and tradesmen to action repairs etc. First few weeks were OK when shadowing a colleague I was taking over from. After that you are expected to deal with everything yourself and I found that tough. My confidence took a battering when I was called out by management in front of the office for being too empathetic with an inbound call from a tenant (What I was doing well I was doing too well?) What I did not do well was met with open exasperation and was made to feel stupid. I'd like to say that was unintentional on the behalf of the manager who done this however, I  seen several instances of fellow colleagues being belittled publicly. Mental health of several colleagues suffered due to the heavy workload and of the 20 people I worked with 8 have left. 
To be replaced by 5... There was hope when Connells acquired the Countrywide brand that conditions would improve with their experience and knowledge to filter down but this has not happened and instead they have renamed the job role and stripped the necessity to study for industry qualifications rendering you unqualified on paper to join another company in the same field. Something I probably would not do as I now work a stress free blue collar role paying five grand a year more with less hours. I miss my wonderful colleagues from there and that's the best I can say about working there. If you want poor wages and a stressful unrewarding career sign up now, I hear there is always a vacancy or two!
I know this reads like I have an axe to grind and I suppose I do. Could be a good place to work for but the company has a lot to do before it is.

I started out as a Negotiator and quickly moved to Senior Negotiator within the company.

A typical day as a Senior Negotiator would start off with a team meeting on what needs to be achieved for the day as an office and individually. For a few months I was a covering manager so I would carry out these meetings and set targets for each individual which I enjoyed as I love taking on responsibility!

As a Senior I would carry out viewing feedback with potential buyers and give viewing feedback to vendors. Communication with vendors was one of the biggest things I focused on because it is the easiest way to be dis-instructed. I would also conduct valuations and take on new stock. I was fortunate enough to have an administrator in the office so I didn't need to carry out a lot of paperwork which was great as I could just concentrate on generating new business through calling leads; past leads; attacking other agents stock through door knocking and letters if we didn't have their number.

The teams I worked with during my time were great and the majority bought into the companies ethos. I originally come from a sporting background and the competitiveness within the office I didn't feel was a negative and just pushed me on to achieve the goals set.

I did feel it was sometimes hard to present new ideas to push the business on as they had a set way of doing things. The positives definitely outweighed the negatives working for a corporate agent. Along with the skills I had acquired and the exposure they can give you with the brand name can help you also win business.

The most enjoyable part of the job was working with like-minded people that also enjoy being in an ever changing busy environment where you have to be switched on all the time which I absolutely love!

I worked at this company for several years and, despite being one of their top-performing employees, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who values fair compensation, respect, or work-life balance.

You're pushed to conditionally sell to customers under pressure, often in ways that don’t sit right ethically. Senior leadership (area managers and above) are well compensated, while branch staff are left scraping by. Once you combine basic pay and commission, you're lucky to make minimum wage. Don’t fall for the “on-target earnings” sales pitch, it’s incredibly misleading. Even as a top performer, I never earned close to what was promised.

There is absolutely no work-life balance—expect long hours, weekend work, and pressure from all directions with little to no recognition. And when there is recognition? The prize for winning “Salesperson of the Year” was a £6 bottle of prosecco. That sums up how little they value their staff.

The culture is toxic. Favouritism and inappropriate behaviour from higher management are common, and they don’t even try to hide it. Promotions and perks often go to favourites rather than those who’ve genuinely earned it. Senior leadership is unapproachable, unaccountable, and frankly awful.

The only positive is career progression, but don’t expect your salary to increase with the added responsibility. They’ll happily give you a new title, just not the pay to match.

If you're looking for a role with decent pay, proper support, and a healthy work environment, look elsewhere. If you want to work in the industry, go with an independent agent who won’t treat you like an undervalued number or a robot.

The pay is appalling. Such a low basic that any commission you earn just pushes you slightly toward minimum wage. But the commission is so low that you will never get to minimum wage so the company will top up your wage.

Unachievable branch targets, set by directors who you never see and never come into your branch. 

Constantly set targets to get benefits (company car etc), but either they are unachievable or they just set more when you hit them.

So many Saturdays with no day off in the week. You will have to work late to get everything done, but there's no additional pay. No work-life balance as you are constantly at work.

Managers have little training and are just flung into the role blind. If you're mates with them it's great. But if you don't go out drinking with them after work then it's a problem.

You have to use your personal phone to call viewers. Which is not only a data protection breach but extremely frustrating and expensive when calling international numbers. It's also not ideal being woken up late at night by tenants who can't figure out their boilers and have saved your number from when you viewed with them. 

The best part was the training, which you have to travel for and gets you out of branch for a few days. Only problem is the training takes ages to be arranged so by the time you get it, you've been working there for a few months and know the system. 

If you're there, and hating it, try and stick it out for a year and then find another company. The stress and work load you have at Countrywide will make most other agencies a doddle.

As an administrator a typical day would involve answering incoming calls to the centre from customers and colleagues. you would be requires to support the customer and follow through their enquiry whilst adhering to company regulations. The role had a rota with the team to also work e-mailing coming into the business and again following these through to completion.
All actions would have to be noted on our systems and other office duties were required on hoc, for example, photocopying, printing and faxing.
Many programs of Microsoft were used on a daily basis, such as outlook, Word, Excel and full training was given on the company's own programs.
The environment was like working with your family in a open plan office where you were in direct contact with all colleagues where I feel I was always able to build great rapports..
One of the hardest parts of the role could be that too many targets would be set for different tasks that were unobtainable due to the resources of the team being to small, but you would always try to do your best. Also that sometimes you would want to help a customer more but were confined due to security.
The enjoyable parts of the role, were learning about the property market, as it was very interesting, you always learnt something new and it is information you can take on to support you in the future. The best part was when you had been able to support a customer, client or colleague to resolve their enquiry and receiving great feedback.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Mortgage advisor 7 salaries reported	£41,857 per year
Sales and lettings negotiator 20 salaries reported	£25,350 per year
Customer service representative 5 salaries reported	£19,000 per year
Real estate agent 20 salaries reported	£30,700 per year
Branch manager 3 salaries reported	£51,667 per year

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