5 Things To Know BEFORE Starting The Real Estate Job Search

The commercial real estate job search is really its own animal and even if you've gone through this process before in other industries, the timelines, the requirements, and the expectations in real estate are unique in a lot of different ways. And if you go into this process not knowing the rules of the game up front, you're putting yourself at a pretty big disadvantage against other candidates vying for the same roles. So to make sure you're clear on what to expect and how to prepare for the commercial real estate job search in this video, let's walk through five things to know before even starting the application process and how to set yourself up for success when looking for new opportunities. So one of the first things to know heading into this process is that the vast majority of analytical commercial real estate roles are going to require a four-year degree. This is especially true at bigger, more established organizations and a lot of firms will immediately disqualify a job candidate up front if they don't meet this requirement. And even though in 2022 a college degree probably isn't the best indicator of someone's capability to take on a job, unfortunately this is still a very big deciding factor and a mandatory prerequisite at many commercial real estate firms. And this is really important to know regardless of whether or not you agree with these policies, especially if you're at a point in your life where you're considering if you want to go to college in the first place, if you're thinking about leaving college early to get a head start on your career, or if you're considering going back to school again to finish up a four-year degree you started but didn't complete. Now this isn't to say that there are no firms out there that will look past this and there are still opportunities out there for people who haven't gone through the traditional university system, but the options for these candidates tend to be much more limited to roles at smaller, more entrepreneurial firms. So if you want to maximize your career opportunities and a four-year degree won't be a massive financial burden on you, this is definitely something to consider. Now on that note of getting a degree, the second thing you'll want to know heading into this process is that while a four-year degree is often a prerequisite, exactly where you went to school or even what you majored in is often an afterthought for commercial real estate employers. Unlike investment banking or consulting where your chances of breaking into the industry tend to be pretty slim if you don't come from a target university, in real estate most companies just want to know that you've checked that box of having that four-year degree but will weigh your experience and your technical skills much more heavily in their decision. Real estate is very much a what-can-you-do-for-me type of industry where pedigree can help you get your foot in the door for an interview but generally won't get you across the finish line if you have zero internship experience or don't know your way around excel. We get a lot of new members in breaking the CRE academy that are concerned about their chances of landing a job given they aren't coming out of a top-tier university or have an undergrad degree that's unrelated to real estate, but at most shops these things tend to matter very little assuming you have the knowledge and skills to be able to contribute in a role. Now some major private equity firms and development firms are exceptions to this rule with companies like Blackstone and Heinz often looking for candidates with Ivy League or other top-tier university backgrounds, but for the vast majority of commercial real estate firms out there your technical skill set and your on-the-job experience is going to be much more highly valued on your applications and in interviews. Now another really important thing to know heading into this process especially for college students graduating in the near future is that most commercial real estate firms don't follow a traditional recruiting cycle and generally hire on a just-in-time basis. Again unlike many investment banking or consulting firms that will recruit in the fall for an incoming analyst class to start in the following summer, commercial real estate firms generally won't know their hiring needs any further than about 30 to 60 days out so most companies won't even consider your application unless you could start the position in the next one to three months. Graduating seniors with a focus on real estate often get really concerned when their friends are accepting offers in investment banking, consulting, or even corporate finance, but if you're graduating next May and don't have a job lined up by October there's no need to panic and you're right on schedule. Landing jobs in commercial real estate can often have a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time and this is why I talk so much about networking on this channel since many jobs in commercial real estate open up somewhat unexpectedly and you want to make sure that you are top of mind when an opportunity does come up. Now the next key thing to think about when heading into this process is around being selective with the opportunities you choose to pursue and ultimately accept and this is that in commercial real estate the easiest jobs to get tend to have the fewest and least desirable exit opportunities. Real estate is an industry where it's very easy to get pigeonholed and by accepting jobs in certain parts of the business with the intent to get your foot in the door you may actually be making it even more difficult on yourself in the future to get into a different part of the industry. Jobs in property management, 100 commission-based sales-focused jobs, and even some lending roles focused primarily on loan servicing can all make it more difficult to move into more analytical or strategy-focused positions in the future so if your ultimate goal is to work in acquisitions for example but an opportunity in apartment leasing comes up in most cases taking that offer is going to do more harm than good for your career and it's worth waiting it out for a better opportunity. Now no one is expecting you to know exactly what you want to do with your life when you first graduate from college and there is usually quite a bit of leeway as far as what you did in the first 12 to 18 months of your career to find your way in the industry but if you want to take the most efficient path towards where you ultimately want to end up being willing to put in the hard work up front to tackle the job search for the roles you really want often creates a much easier and more frictionless career path over the long term. Now the last thing worth pointing out about this process that's especially relevant when you're trying to prepare for an interview is that for analytical roles at commercial real estate firms you're often going to be asked to prove out your skill set before you're given an offer. More and more firms today are giving their analyst and associate candidates a real estate financial modeling interview exam or case study as a final stage of the process to test each candidate's general excel knowledge their understanding of commercial real estate finance and their ability to put these things together to build out a pro cash flow model from scratch in excel and with many firms putting candidates through anywhere from about four to six rounds of interviews getting to the final stage of this process and then losing an opportunity because you weren't prepared for a test will set you all the way back to square one and is not something you want to experience. We have a lot of videos on this channel that cover this topic and in-depth coursework that will also help you prepare for an exam but regardless of the resources that you use the bottom line here is that you want to make sure you're doing the things necessary beforehand to prepare for a technical modeling exam up front to maximize your chances of getting across the finish line when you do ultimately get to this stage. So I know that's a lot of information and a lot of things to think about but hopefully this helps you go into this process knowing more about what to expect in the commercial real estate job and if you want more help with this process and you want to make sure you have the technical skills you'll need to take on an excel modeling exam or case study as always make sure to check out our all-in-one membership training platform Break into CRE Academy. A membership to the academy will give you instant access to over 120 hours of video training on real estate financial modeling and analysis. You'll get access to hundreds of practice excel interview exam questions sample acquisition case studies and you'll also get access to the Break into CRE Analyst Certification exam which covers topics like real estate pro forma and development modeling, commercial real estate lease modeling, equity waterfall modeling, and many other real estate financial analysis concepts that will help you prove to employers that you have what it takes to tackle the responsibilities of an analyst or associate at a top real estate firm. And if you like this video and want to see more content on the commercial real estate job search make sure to hit the like button to let me know and let me know in the comments what types of jobs you're targeting and any sort of roles you'd like to see covered in more detail in a future video on the channel. As always thanks so much for watching guys I hope you found this helpful subscribe to the channel if you haven't already to see more videos like this every single week and I'll see you in the next one.