Transitioning into CRE

Good afternoon - thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to provide any feedback. I have been interested in the CRE industry since college, I graduated from a non-target school with a double major in Finance & Real Estate.

Out of college I had ambitions beginning my career in CRE but never secured a full time position. As a result, I have spent the past three years working at a fortune 100 company (Automotive) with experience in Market Representation & Sales Operations.

Given my background, is there a sector of CRE that I should be focusing on to improve my chances of breaking in? Market Research? Also would I be better off applying for entry level jobs or look for positions that typically require 2-3 years of experience even though my experience doesn't directly translate?

Separately, how big of an impact would completing online real estate modeling courses help in my job search? As I mentioned, I had some exposure to modeling in undergrad and was Argus certified as well.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

Unless you can demonstrate you'd have the skills of someone with 2-3 years of experience you'll almost certainly need to come in at the bottom floor (maybe with a bit higher pay, but analyst title). 

I'll ask you the question, is there a sector of CRE that you're interested in? If you're talking raw skills then excel/modeling is #1. The rest can't really be measured, but you're going to get a test on that.

 

Appreciate the feedback! Development would be the area I am most interested in but I understand that's not really an entry sector. Given my experience, I imagine my background would translate closest to acquisitions/market research but would be willing to consider anything to get a foot in the door. 

 
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So I would offer the advice of any legit CRE job is a good job at this point. Getting in the game is the most important, exactly where/what less so. You can always move/advance. Given that you have a dual finance/RE degree and even stuff like Argus, I think you are reasonable qualified for entry level positions. The automotive industry exp is not a negative, but not likely to make you like much of an "experienced" hire, but you do get the benefit of being older/more mature (trust me, a lot of firms hate hiring 22/23 yos). 

I would join some real estate organizations in your market (like NAIOP/ULI, etc.), and start networking. It up your alumni base that is in real estate (regardless of what degree program, when graduated, etc.), they can be of great help. You can/should apply online for jobs you see, but getting referred in is 10x better! 

As to the online modeling course, I see no reason not to do them, but don't expect putting that fact on a resume to be a game changer. Still, it will make you more knowledgeable and may make you able to get past technical interview and even modeling tests (very very common now). So, bottom line, can't hurt and only helps.

I'll point out the three fields in CRE that are most open/willing to hire new people w/o grad degrees....

1. Brokerage (all types - leasing/IS/DE)

2. Appraisal 

3. Lending/Banking

This isn't to say a buyside role in investment mngt or development is unobtainable, but they do have the luxury of hiring those from experienced roles in the three above fields and often do. Buyside can also require or preference grad degrees more of the time. Still, apply widely, no reason to limit yourself at this stage of the game! 

 

Wow really good stuff here, greatly appreciate the advice. Quick follow up question, would it be possible to break in to a major market with my background or would I be better off in a small/middle market? 

 

So, are you intent on moving or targeting a specific market? I don't think your background is going to make that much of a difference. That said, markets like NYC/LA are hyper competitive because people literally want to move from around the globe to work there. So roles that in a secondary market might get filled with a UG from a state school get filled by a someone with a grad degree from an Ivy (yes, seen that in NYC all the time) because it is a major market. Still, plenty of jobs down the "food chain" even in NYC where it won't matter. 

I'd guess you'd face less competition in "small/middle" market, but also less roles/opportunity, so like all things.. a trade off. 

Personally, I'd "target" a market to hunt for roles/network/etc. if you have such ability. It's far far easier to get hired as a "local" in real estate than as a "relo" candidate. Ideally, this should be a market you are willing to spend the rest of your career in if so incented. You mention above that development is an area of high interest, that is one field that being "local" to the firm is almost needed to get top consideration (exceptions to this of course). Knowing a market can be very beneficial to getting a job, so if you have long history (as simple as growing up or working there), it can actually help. This is clearly the case with market-centric roles, which are often people's first jobs, national centric ones, less of an issue, but those are in the "harder to get" category. 

 

Like everyone else, I have aspirations to work in NYC but I guess I am trying to determine the feasibility of that given no real experience. I have plenty of family/friends that live in the area and have the financial bandwidth to relocate there myself but landing a job would obviously be crucial.

You mentioned there are plenty of jobs down the food chain, how far down do you believe would be an obtainable starting point? 

 

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