Career Pathways in Strata
Careers in Strata
Working in strata management is vibrant, challenging, social and flexible. Your career in strata can take you all over the world and the impact you can make on the lives of people living in strata communities is immeasurable. Where will your strata career take you?
A career in Strata Management has numerous tiers of roles and responsibilities.
Roles start from the assistant level and progress onto manager, senior manager and may even lead to becoming a principal. Responsibilities generally include managing committee meetings, governance and legal conduct, ethical conduct, budget and maintenance plans, financial management and controls, risk management and insurance, property maintenance, contracting, human resource management and record management. The strata industry is also about working with people, which makes social activities and networking a must. The industry provides an abundance of opportunities to get together with peers where war stories, best practices and laughs are shared.
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Assistant Strata Manager
Assistant strata managers are at the foundation and starting point of a career in strata management. It is their duty to assist the strata manager by ensuring that all activities are prepared and coordinated.
This role helps to build organisational skills, communication skills, customer service skills and the ability to function as an effective and efficient team member. This is the first step to understanding legislation, by-laws, budgets, meeting agendas and minutes, liaising with committees and importance of due diligence and process.
Typical duties of this role are;
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Support and organise meetings
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Diary organisation and prioritisation
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Customer relationship building
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Data entry and record maintenance
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Responding to enquiries
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Assist with basic finance applications
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Preparation and dissemination of documents
An assistant strata manager is required to be client focused and solution orientated.
Through continuous education, training, and hands-on experience; this career path will continuously hone soft skills such as empathy, adaptability, flexibility, emotional intelligence, resilience, critical thinking and creativity. It will assist in the development and enhancement of many skills including project management, communication, time management, conflict management, negotiation, diplomacy, public speaking and presentation skills. A wide range of educational opportunities ensures everyone in the strata industry is well informed of all legislative requirements, changes, new applications, and best practices.
Strata Manager
Liaising with owners, property managers and contractors, chairing meetings, preparing and reviewing budgets and financial statements, overseeing and scheduling maintenance are all part of the roles and responsibilities of a strata manager.
A strata manager is generally expected to demonstrate ability to use creative techniques to find appropriate solutions to complex problems. This role requires knowledge of the appropriate strata legislation in their states (e.g. Strata Titles Act), analytical and strategic thinking skills, and a true willingness to learn and grow with the industry.
With increased knowledge, competence and proficiency, typical responsibilities of this role include;
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Managing a portfolio of building/s
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Reading, understanding, interpreting and providing guidance on legislation
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Convening and conducting meetings
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Preparation and review of budgets and maintenance plans
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Overseeing and scheduling maintenance works
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Liaising and building relationships with all stakeholders
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Providing support and guidance to junior level employees
A strata manager is a well presented professional who stays in tune with the industry.
Senior Strata Manager
Expertise, and continuous professional and personal growth leads to senior strata management. Along with all the duties of a strata manager, this role requires a higher level of autonomy and accountability with the expectation to manage the largest of projects. Stronger mediation, negotiation, influencing and conflict management skills are required at this level.
A senior strata manager is a leader, mentor and diplomat who has strong emotional intelligence. They are advanced critical thinkers and have the ability to deal with conflicting priorities. This role may also require additional duties in office management, human resource management, preparation/execution of agreements/contracts and budgeting controls.
With its many tiers of employment and ample room for personal and professional growth, "strata management" is a true definition of a "career" that spans over many years even a lifetime.