4 Harsh Truths About The Real Estate Job Market

If you’re looking to break into commercial real estate, there are some pretty uncomfortable truths about this industry that most people don’t want to talk about, but can have a very real impact on your ability to land jobs and build a successful career.

And while you can make a lot of money and have a very good lifestyle in this business, this isn’t always just as simple as working hard in school and following a traditional path.

So in this post, we’ll walk through four things about commercial real estate careers I’ve learned in my 10+ years in this business (that most people won’t tell you).

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Truth #1: Where You Went to School Matters (But Not in the Way You Think)

In industries like investment banking and consulting, a lot of firms will only recruit from what are referred to as “Target Universities”, which can make it really tough to break into these industries if you’re not coming out of one of these programs.

But in commercial real estate, there are very few companies that will restrict their recruiting to only these programs, and a 4-year degree is typically all that’s required to get your foot in the door.

However, where you choose to go to school can have a major impact on your career trajectory in a different way altogether, because of the alumni network of your university.

Alumni connections can help you land interviews, find equity partners and lenders, and get access to internships and full-time job opportunities that aren’t broadly advertised.

With relatively few exceptions, the city your school is located in can also be one of the biggest determinants of where you end up, since the majority of the alumni base at many universities will end up working locally over the long term.

This means that if you go to USC, the majority of your alumni network is going to be in Los Angeles, and if you go to NYU, the majority of your alumni network will be in New York. So if you know where you want to be after graduation, this should be a major consideration when choosing where to go to school.

As much as it isn’t fun to talk about, student loan debt can also be a huge drag on your career options when you’re first starting out, especially if you have aspirations to start your own company. If entrepreneurship is in your future, I would also look to minimize the cost of your education whenever possible.

A lack of student loan debt can help free you up to take unpaid internships, start out with a lower salary at a smaller, more entrepreneurial firm (where there’s more room to grow), or even put together your own deals early on in your career.

Truth #2: Aggressive Networkers Win

People who send out the highest number of cold emails or LinkedIn messages, set up the highest number of in-person meetings and phone calls, and show up to the highest number of networking events and conferences are typically the people that find internships, full-time jobs, and equity partners a lot more quickly than their peers.

I know firsthand that it can feel really uncomfortable to send out emails to complete strangers or step into a room where you don’t know anyone, but these are the things that most people around you won’t be willing to do.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful if you’re not particularly outgoing, and there’s still a place for you in this industry even if that’s the case, but the reality is that relationships are what drive this business. Because of this, the people who are constantly putting themselves out there are much more likely to find opportunities than people who are blindly submitting job applications (without putting the work in to build their network).

Truth #3: People Care Most About What You Can Do for Them

Even if you’ve worked extremely hard in school or you’ve overcome personal challenges to get where you are today, the people who will review your resume will place almost all of their focus on whether you can make their day-to-day workload easier.

This means that your main job when submitting applications is to clearly describe how you can help your hiring manager get more done in less time, how you can make them look better to both clients and senior leadership, and how you can be trusted to do important work (even when you’re up against tight deadlines).

In the job search process, this means shifting the focus from yourself and your accomplishments to the needs of the company or your hiring manager directly, and applying any notable skills or experiences you have to the job that you’d be taking on.

The best way I’ve found to do this is to put yourself in your hiring manager’s shoes and ask, “What’s in it for me?” This question will give you more clarity around how you can position your cover letter and resume to maximize your chances of landing an interview, and what you should be focusing on during these conversations.

Truth #4: Transaction Activity Drives Hiring

When brokers aren’t making commissions, investment firms aren’t generating acquisition fees, and developers are putting projects on hold, the main revenue drivers for these firms start to dry up really quickly, and this results in less money to grow (or maintain) a team.

This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get hired when market conditions are slow, but this does mean that you may need to prepare for the job search to be more difficult and potentially take longer than it would in more “normal” market conditions.

This may also mean taking a job that isn’t your first choice but could be a stepping stone to your next opportunity, or being willing to relocate to a new city where transaction activity might be higher.

With all of that said, if you’re able to stick around when things are tough, you’ll be entering the business at a time when a lot of your peers will be giving up and going into other industries altogether. This means that you’ll have a smaller cohort of industry professionals as you move up the ranks over time, and less competition for more senior-level roles when transaction activity inevitably starts to pick back up.

How To Be Ready For The Job Serach

If you want to learn more about job search best practices in the real estate industry, and you want to make sure you have the technical skills you’ll need to pass an Excel modeling exam that might be given to you during the interview process, 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.