Staying Connected to CRE Professionals (Updated September 2024)
Lately, we have spoken to several undergraduate and graduate real estate programs. A question that keeps coming up is: “How do you recommend we stay in touch with our network?” This question is bigger and generally more applicable than just advice for students seeking employment post-college.
“The most important decisions that business people make are not what decisions, but who decisions.” – Jim Collins
Relationships are your springboard to success in CRE. Finding new, creative, and innovative ways to stay in touch with your CRE network means you are on track towards landing that job in CRE, getting that next deal, learning somethtonying new, or gaining a better understanding of the industry.
For the people looking to pivot into this CRE world, staying in touch and building your network is how you’ll learn the lingo (feel free to check out our glossary of CRE terms), find your niche, build credibility, and meet your goals.
Not sure where to start with your job search? Download our Commercial Real Estate Company Database Tool to browse over 2,000 real estate companies, filter by Location, Company Type, Job Function, and Property Type, and create a target list of companies for your job search.
Here are some creative ways to build, maintain, and never lose touch with your network:
#1: Participate in Real Estate Events
A motivational speaker, Ed Mylett, whom I listen to, frequently says, “The best ability is availability.”
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Real Estate Club Meetings
- The best part of real estate clubs is that they usually host meetings with industry professionals to share some insight into their experience with you. If you don’t show up, you will miss an awesome opportunity with a leader in the industry.
- If you know who the person is before the event starts, reach out early expressing your interest in their talk. They won’t forget you.
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Introduce Others
- If you know someone that would be beneficial for another colleague to meet, ask them if it would be okay if you make an introduction. A quick text/email saying, “Hi – Would you mind if I introduce you to this person? A friend of mine expressed interest in your company and you were the first person that came to mind when thinking about your firm.”
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Reach out to Sponsors
- When attending industry-specific functions, and you notice “Goldman Sachs” company is the Diamond Sponsor, reach out with a “thank you” and “I’d love to learn more about what you do day-to-day.”
- I receive emails from Bisnow quite often about new webinars on a national, state and city level. This is a great place to start learning about the different companies in your space.
#2: Become Active on Social Networks
A few great tools (if used properly) to find a community include the following platforms:
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LinkedIn
- Replying to posts/comments that interest you
- Connecting and reaching out to the person with a note
- Sharing experiences and resources that could be helpful for others
- Writing about topics that are important to you
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X/Twitter
I was talking with a college student last week, who is an engineer and looking to transition into CRE. After asking him about how he found out about Adventures in CRE, he said a well-kept secret is that there is a big CRE Community on Twitter!
#3: Subscribe to Industry News Emails
By subscribing to receive CRE Industry Reports via email, you’ll stay up-to-date on current market conditions and be able to make your own judgements based on this research. During conversations with CRE Professionals, you’ll also be able to draw on this info by asking more specific questions. Tony Robbins says, “Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”
Here are a few examples:
By participating in real estate community functions, being active on social media, and subscribing to CRE Industry Reports, you will start to have a better pulse on the market, who is active in it, and where you fit in.
Finally, we also have a variety of other career and education resources here at A.CRE that we’ve found valuable as we’ve blazed our own career paths (see below). Moreover, for those ready to actively pursue new opportunities, consider using our Cover Letter Composer tool. We designed this custom GPT to help you craft compelling cover letters tailored to various roles in commercial real estate, enhancing your applications and improving your chances of landing an interview in this competitive field. We also have a guide for Real Estate Interview Prep With Chatgpt-4 that outline how to use comprehensive interview simulation prompts with ChatGPT to help you practice and prepare for your upcoming commercial real estate interview. Utilizing resources like this can be a significant step towards advancing your career in CRE.
