What do I need to get a Research Associate Real Estate position - and what actual skills do I need?

I'm graduating soon with a liberal arts degree and looking for a job so that, come graduation, I'm not out on my ass with nothing to my name but a dirty smile and this bittersweet piece of paper. To be frank, I'm tired of being a poor arts student and I've always dallied with the idea of getting into banking. During my daily (and increasingly futile) job search today, I found Research Associate and Analyst positions, one of which is in the Real Estate division of a certain bank.

My question thus is 1) what meaningful (as in, what will get me the job) experience or skills do I need to get an interview with said bank; and 2) what does a "Real Estate Research Associate" at a bank actually do?

106 WSO Academy Real Estate Session Reviews: 4.91/5

Class of '29 Sep 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Career Roadmap (optional)

“Nick was extremely informative and gave me a lot of solid and practical advice. He answered all of my questions clearly and thoughtfully. I really appreciated that he gave me an actionable plan for how to approach recruiting and developing my career in general. He was very open about sharing his own experiences. He also gave me helpful perspective on how to differentiate myself during the recruiting process and make my conversations with professionals more meaningful. I feel like I have a clearer understanding of what I should focus on and concrete next steps. This was overall a helpful and valuable conversation. ”

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Mock Interview

“Nick was fantastic. He didn’t just glance at my resume and give me generic advice—he explained exactly why it wasn’t telling the story I wanted it to tell, then helped me figure out how to fix it. He pushed me to be more intentional about how I talk about my experience and gave me concrete steps to prepare for interviews, from tailoring my resume to practicing financial modeling. I also appreciated how candid he was. When I asked about real estate capital markets versus sales and trading, he gave me his honest opinion while being clear about his own perspective. He shared interview guides, answered all my questions, and offered to do a more detailed mock interview if I move forward with JLL. I left with a lot of work to do, but also a much clearer idea of how to do it. I’d absolutely recommend talking with Nick.”

See All 11,060 WSO Academy Reviews

Trending Content - Real Estate Forum

+60	What it's like to try and start your own shop and fail	24	1d
+26	Lean acquisitions team at a large owner/operator — normal growing pains or wasting valuable early-career years?	4	3d
+21	10-Year at ~5.25% When Reprice?	7	4d
+9	European Bank RE Debt Modeling Test – Senior Analyst	1	5d
+7	Would You Sell a Property at a Discount to Avoid Renovation Costs?	2	4h
+7	Moving From Dallas to Charleston	7	1d
+3	Insights on MonticelloAM?	1	5d
+3	anyone have a data center/capital markets modeling test to share?	0	2h
+2	Take my price reduction b***h	1	1h
0	Net Lease - What are your thoughts and opinions?	1	9h

Career Resources

1	redever	99.2
2	BankonBanking	99.0
3	Secyh62	99.0
4	kanon	99.0
5	Betsy Massar	98.9
6	CompBanker	98.9
7	DrApeman	98.9
8	dosk17	98.9
9	GameTheory	98.9
10	Kenny_Powers_CFA	98.8

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

Elite Career Bootcamp. Top Job Offer Guaranteed.

What do I need to get a Research Associate Real Estate position - and what actual skills do I need?

Score Breakdown

Feedback

Score Breakdown

Feedback