If your career as an Architect, Engineer, or indeed, as any Built Environment professional, hasn’t quite worked out as planned, don’t despair – your in-demand transferable skills could stand you in good stead for a range of other creative pursuits!

What do musicians John Denver, Art Garfunkel, Seal, Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop boys, and three of the original members of Pink Floyd have in common? What about American actors Courtney Cox, James Stewart, George Takei, and Samuel L Jackson? Or politician Benjamin Netanyahu, journalist Janet Street-Porter, and fashion designer Tom Ford? The answer is that they all studied architecture or engineering before changing career direction.

Training to work in the property sector provides a great liberal arts education and anyone who has gone through the process is likely to be an open-minded, flexible thinker, who is able to provide creative solutions to all manner of problems – qualities which are highly-valued by employers and co-workers in many different sectors. So, if you think that maybe, just maybe, there’s something out there you might be better at – say, creative writing, music, acting, journalism or even running a magazine, then you should feel confident about considering a change of direction. Property people can understand and interpret the requirements and constraints of a “brief,” can set clear objectives and milestones, are good at time management and team working, and have the ability to carry out thorough research; studying examples of the product they are trying to create. These are all key to the success of any project; whether it’s designing a building, writing a song or story, or developing a character in a play or movie, it’s the same analytical, disciplined process.