griebcw1, Author at Building Careers

10 Creative Interview Questions You’re Probably Not Using

Leave a Comment / Blog, Employers, Interview Tips, Set Yourself Up For Success

When it comes to hiring within the commercial real estate industry, there’s a lot at stake. How do you know that good first impression is really a rock star hire and not a poser? The cost of a bad hire can be startling, so knowing creative interview questions can be a valuable skill. The goal is to have a genuine conversation that fosters a better understanding of that person.

So, to find out what you need to know, what sort of interview questions will get a candidate to open up about their experience and skills? How can you find out if they’re really right for your unique needs? It helps to get creative.

Canned Conversations

Part of the problem with interview questions, is there are only a handful of them commonly asked in job interviews. So, prospective candidates can easily look them up and craft a scripted response for each of them.

The result?

A lot of canned talking points and speaking past one another. It’s entirely unhelpful! To really make it in CRE, you need better than that. You need creativity to flip the script and open a helpful dialogue. You need interview questions that really work.

So, without further ado, here are ten of the most creative interview questions that most hiring managers in commercial real estate never think to ask.

Productive and Creative Interview Questions

1. What are some of the qualities you like most in yourself?

The qualities someone prides themselves in are most likely the qualities they will work to excel in. Even if they’re not as strong in those qualities as they think, their confidence will become a self-fulfilling prophecy over time. And they just might give an example or two of these qualities in action at their last job.

2. What adjectives would your co-workers use to describe you?

Similarly, the way a candidate believes they are perceived is important in how they view themselves. And they just might be a bit more accurate when discussing the perspective of others.

3. If magic exists, how would you define it?

The great thing about this creative interview question is how it touches on their passions and gives the interviewer an opportunity to gage the way the candidate responds (behavioral interview questions can predict the future). Are they literal or figurative? Do they pause to think or shoot from the hip? Are they imaginative or a clock puncher?

4. If you had $10,000 to help the needy, what would you do?

Questions that aren’t about work are great for bypassing scripted responses and touching on the true soul of a candidate. This one helps you understand what motivates them and what kind of person they are.

5. What led you to choose this line of work?

Uncovering what fulfills someone in this particular area of CRE is helpful in understanding their cultural fit as well as their long-term potential.

6. If you couldn’t live in the US, what other country would you live in, and why?

Before asking this question, determine just what you are looking for and what you hope to learn. There is no correct answer to this question, but the way it’s handled will tell volumes about how a prospect will behave on the fly and in creative situations.

7. What’s your favorite movie, and why?

Again, this quirky question doesn’t have a right answer. But it will help you better understand the heart of your prospective employee and what drives them.

8. Let’s pretend you are interviewing me; what questions would you ask?

This one literally flips the script by reversing roles for a moment. With the candidate completely off guard, pay special attention to the focus of their questions as well as their demeanor in a managerial role.

9. If you were one of our properties, which type would you be?

This one only works if you deal in multiple property types, of course. But the responses will lend keen insights into how well they know your business, your properties, and what they value most in your company.

10. What is something you recently learned?

This creative interview question should include a time limit during which you will observe the way the candidate organizes their response, checks in for feedback along the way, and expresses emotion. Much can be gleaned from listening to your candidate relate a short lecture or moral story.

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3 Ways To Improve Your Work-Life Balance

Leave a Comment / Set Yourself Up For Success

Often, work takes precedence over everything else in our lives. Our desire to succeed professionally can push us to set aside our own well-being. Creating a harmonious work-life balance or work-life integration is critical, though, to improve not only our physical, emotional, and mental well-being, but it’s also important to improve your work-life balance for your career.

Defining A Work-Life Balance And Why It Is Important

In short, work-life balance is the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one’s career and the demands of one’s personal life. Some of the common reasons that lead to a poor work-life balance include:

Increased responsibilities at work
Working longer hours
Increased responsibilities at home
Having children

Employers that offer options as telecommuting or flexible work schedules can help employees have a better work-life balance.

When creating a schedule that works for you, think about the best way to achieve balance at work and in your personal life. Work-life balance is less about dividing the hours in your day evenly between work and personal life and, instead, is more about having the flexibility to get things done in your professional life while still having time and energy to enjoy your personal life. There may be some days where you work longer hours so you have time later in the week to enjoy other activities.

Improve Your Work-Life Balance

Here are three ways to improve your work-life balance, as well as how to be a supportive manager

1. The Perfect Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist

When you hear “work-life balance,” you probably imagine having an extremely productive day at work, and leaving early to spend the other half of the day with friends and family. While this may seem ideal, it is not always possible. A work-life balance is more of an ebb and flow.

To improve your work-life balance, don’t strive for the perfect schedule; strive for a realistic one. Some days, you might focus more on work, while other days you might have more time and energy to pursue your hobbies or spend time with your loved ones. Balance is achieved over time, not each day.

2. Search For A Job You’ll Love

Although work is an expected societal norm, your career shouldn’t be restraining. If you hate what you do, you aren’t going to be happy, plain and simple. You don’t need to love every aspect of your job, but it needs to be exciting enough that you don’t dread getting out of bed every morning. Some recommend finding a job that you are so passionate about you would do it for free.

Also, before you hand in your resignation letter, take a moment to realize that quitting isn’t your only option. It’s not possible to always love your job, but you can love the idea of working at it and love different aspects of it. Learn to love your job again!

3. Make Your Health A Priority

Your overall physical, emotional and mental health should be your main concern. If you struggle with anxiety or depression and think therapy would benefit you, fit those sessions into your schedule, even if you have to leave work early or ditch your evening spin class. If you are battling a chronic illness, don’t be afraid to call in sick on rough days. Overworking yourself prevents you from getting better, possibly causing you to take more days off in the future.

Prioritizing your health doesn’t have to consist of radical or extreme activities. It can be as simple as daily meditation or exercise.

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Learn To Love Your Job Again

Leave a Comment / Ask An Expert, Blog, Job Search, Set Yourself Up For Success

We fall in – and out – of love with our jobs all the time. Though we rarely think of it that way.

Remember the butterflies of excitement you had on your first day? You loved those weekly staff meetings, adored your training, and couldn’t wait to chat with new co-workers on coffee breaks.

It was when the honeymoon period ended that things changed. You started thinking “Really, this all over again?” when you woke up. Small irritations turned into large ones, and you started getting coffee at a different time to avoid Dave in Accounting.

Before you hand in your resignation letter, take a moment to realize that quitting isn’t your only option. It’s not possible to always love your job, but you can love the idea of working at it, and you can love different aspects of it.

How To Love Your Job Again

1. Is It Your Job Or Your Boss?

You might not want to leave your job, you may just want to leave your boss. One study found that 50 percent of employees left their job “to get away from their manager to improve their overall life at some point in their career.”

If you find yourself in this situation, but still really enjoy the company you work for, you may want to entertain the option of switching departments. Give yourself opportunities to work with other teams and see if it’s your manager or it’s the job you don’t like before you hand in your resignation. Small changes can make a significant impact in helping you love your job again.

2. Learn Something Different

If you have been doing the same tasks for the past 5 years, it is very possible you are simply bored and uninspired. Challenge yourself by learning something new and exciting.

Offer to help out a different department. Volunteer to take on new responsibilities. Take a course to advance your skills. Attend professional development seminars. Whatever you do, make sure it is interesting to you. It will help you look at your role in a new light. Boredom will never help you love your job, but being excited about something new will.

3. Ask For What You Want

Instead of waiting for your exit interview to mention all the things you wish you had been offered – ask for them! Your manager is probably not a mind reader, and they cannot provide you with what they didn’t know you were interested in.

Speak out about your goals and make your case for change so you can love your job again. Ask to be put in charge of a project. Talk about your dream role. If you are looking for a flexible schedule or salary increase, ask for that too. Have these conversations first instead of assuming your only option is to quit.

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How To Improve Teamwork in the Workplace

Leave a Comment / Blog, Employers, Set Yourself Up For Success

Teamwork. It’s a word that is thrown around in the office on a daily basis, but when was the last time you took a step back and actually evaluated the teamwork in your workplace?

Why Is Teamwork In The Workplace Significant?

Without effective teamwork, productivity and quality of work will likely suffer, even with a group composed of multiple brilliant individuals. Likewise, without effective teams, companies will struggle to keep pace with competitors who do have effective teams.

Multiple studies have shown that promoting good teamwork in the workplace will have positive effects on productivity, quality of work, creativity, innovation and job satisfaction, all of which benefit the company itself.

In a recent study by Stanford, participants who were working on a team as opposed to working alone persevered longer on difficult tasks, showed more interest and enjoyment in working on the tasks, required less self-regulatory effort to complete tasks, and generally performed better on the tasks. The participants who were part of a team even decided to do more tasks related to those performed in the study in a personal setting 1-2 weeks after the study.

How Can We Improve Company Teamwork?

Now that we’ve established the importance of teamwork in the workplace, let’s talk about how we can improve. Here are 8 tips on how to improve teamwork within any organization.

1. Build Diverse And Inclusive Teams

First and foremost, it is important that we focus on creating diverse teams rather than teams of all like-minded people. A group of people with different backgrounds are more likely to bring diverse perspectives and ideas to the table. With more perspectives, comes more thorough decision making. We often tend to want to surround ourselves with people who think and act in ways that reflect our own thoughts and actions.

While a group of like-minded individuals with similar backgrounds may get along great, we have to think about the bigger picture – Will they bring fresh ideas to the table? Will the team members challenge each other to tackle a project from all angles? Or, will the team members be so agreeable that they come up with ideas that don’t get questioned or elaborated upon? If all team members think the same way, come from similar backgrounds, and have the same beliefs and opinions, the work that the team produces will likely be one-sided and less creative. Whereas if each team member has unique opinions, beliefs, background, etc. they will likely produce work that reflects more creativity and innovation.

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CRE Job Market, Facing Cooldown, ‘Like 2 A.M. In A Club’

Leave a Comment / Blog, Building Careers, Employers, Industry Insights

Taking the temperature of the labor market anytime between Memorial Day and Labor Day presents challenges, considering huge strategic decisions tend to get pushed to the fall. But the general sentiment of analysts, brokers and recruiters interviewed for this story suggested that anxiety had already curtailed opportunities, firms were taking steps to slow down new hiring, and any significant slowdown could have significant impact on the long-term recruitment of younger talent, especially brokers.

These shifts in the job market have taken place against a backdrop of declining CRE deal volume, which dropped more than 50% from a recent record of $347B in Q4 of 2021 to $172B in Q1 of this year. Many experts predict rising interest rates will dampen enthusiasm for deals going forward.

The foreshadowing of a more difficult job market on the horizon contrasts sharply with the optimism felt at the end of 2021 and early 2022. A Bisnow/SelectLeaders survey of 130 industry HR execs from February found many expected the year to bring more jobs, higher compensation, even additional benefits; more than half expected to hire more in 2022 than 2021. And in late 2021, industry experts argued that firms, stung by labor shortages, were gearing up to pay more.

Those predictions have generally held through the first half of 2022, especially in many of the hotter sectors in CRE, such as industrial, life sciences and multifamily.

But the job market is increasingly taking a conservative turn, said Kaitlin Kincaid, Keller Augusta senior managing director, with companies becoming more thoughtful about budgets, more choosy about roles and taking more time, especially when deciding on management and executive roles and specialty positions.

Jackson Lucas Managing Partner Chris Papa, who runs a CRE-focused recruiting firm, said that there’s increasing interest in debt and equity-focused roles, as well as a demand for asset managers: It’s vital to be important with your assets during a downturn.

“I feel the changes have been in the amount of hiring,” Building Careers President Carly Glova said. “Teams are looking at whether they really need to hire someone.”

To read the full article, visit the link below.

https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/top-talent/real-estates-red-hot-job-market-on-precipice-of-slowdown-113787

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Define Company Culture

Leave a Comment / Blog, Employers, Job Search, Set Yourself Up For Success

Company culture is a hot topic right now. Since 2020, COVID-19 has made a BIG shift in this area for many organizations. In this blog post, we are going to define company culture, how it works, and why it’s important!

Define Company Culture

Company culture refers to the attitudes and behaviors of a company and its employees. It is evident in the way an organization’s people interact with each other, the values they hold, and the decisions they make.

Company culture encompasses a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, leadership style, values, ethics, expectations, and goals.

How Does It Work?

A company’s culture may be expressly and deliberately cultivated, or it may simply result from the accumulation of decisions made over time. With a strong company culture, employees understand the expected outcomes and behaviors and act accordingly.

Some companies have a team-based culture that emphasizes employee participation on all levels, while other businesses have a culture where formal, traditional, or hierarchical management is valued.

When you work at a company with a traditional management style, your job responsibilities will be clearly defined, but there may not be opportunities to advance without going through a formal promotion or transfer process.

At a more casual workplace, employees often have the opportunity to take on new projects, and additional roles, as time permits.

One example of company culture can be seen at Netflix, where it is encapsulated in their philosophy of “people over process.” In its company culture document, Netflix spells out its company values: judgment, communication, curiosity, courage, passion, selflessness, innovation, inclusion, integrity, and impact. These values are expected to be upheld by employees in every action and interaction, resulting in a creative, collaborative, and successful organization.

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CRE Compensation Still Rising

Lingering Effects of the “Great Resignation”

In 2020, when literally one in four firms froze hiring and most jobs were either put on hiatus or changed to work-from-home status, the prospect of a labor shortage might have seemed silly. Yet within a year, what has come to be described as the “Great Resignation” rocked the workforce. As many preferred to go into early retirement or work a side hustle or just stay home, firms began noticing how challenging it was to find new hires.

Pair this was with a period of significant economic growth in the rebound from the COVID crisis, and you’ve got a major talent war. In 2021, a large segment of firms in commercial real estate began reporting difficulty in meeting their hiring needs. Since then, however, the problem has only worsened. And now, in 2022, firms are still feeling the lingering effects of this stark drop-off in talent.

Around 60-70% of all CRE firms are still challenged by the lack of supply. As a result, the cost of filling a new opening is mounting. This is especially true for roles in high-demand fields where competition is fierce. Anything requiring specialized or technical know-how are commanding top dollar right now. Analysts are in very high demand. This is also true of professionals with a more general proficiency in a variety of skills.

And because the cost of turnover or replacing existing staff is so high – as much as twice their annual salary in many cases – there is also an emphasis on retaining top talent as a cost-saving measure.

Facing the Rising Cost of CRE Talent

In response to these shortages, salaries and compensations packages are rising dramatically. Some executives are reporting upwards of 20% compensation increases when they switch companies. Most companies are hiring middle management in particular. And diversity candidates are among the most sought after. But firms are learning they will have to pay for them.

This has brought about a shift in compensation packages – a reset of sorts. The talent crunch has brought workplace issues back to the table for renegotiations. CRE professionals are expecting more flexibility and work-from-home options. In reality, there is still a gap between what they’re asking for and what firms are willing to pay. But many are offering telecommuting options up to four days a week. And bonus realizations based on performance goals were at about 90% last year.

In reality, there is a renewed push for reevaluating corporate culture as a whole. Today’s CRE professionals are empowered by these changes and can demand more for their investment in a firm. Thus, CRE businesses should carefully analyze what they offer these candidates and expect to significantly alter their compensation packages – not only the bottom line, but also in work-life considerations and cultural concessions.

With around 78% of CRE firms aiming to have an increased workforce in the near future, some are even offering equity to middle-to-lower management to sweeten the deal. CRE compensation is becoming especially negotiable around young and promising new talent capable of pivoting these companies into the “new norm.” As the commercial real estate landscape evolves, those leaders who can facilitate a transition are particularly valuable.

Looking Forward

With talk of a recession mounting, it would seem that the era of rapidly rising salaries and compensation packages for commercial real estate is nearly over. There have been recent talks of layoffs for the first time since 2020. In June of this year, layoffs in the tech-related sector were announced.

While once thought invincible, CRE jobs in the tech space are now in question. But some believe this is only part of the cycle and that the overall trend will be for higher and higher demand, even in this space. Of course, no one can predict what the next year will hold. But the strong demand in commercial real estate, coupled with the historically low supply of talent, seem to spell continued growth in CRE compensation.

Now is an exciting time to be working in CRE. Those seeking to grow in their career have ample room for it. And those firms seeking to evolve and improve have an opportunity to address workplace norms and culture in new and unprecedented ways.

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Making The Right Connections For Your Career

Leave a Comment / Blog, Set Yourself Up For Success

How do quick start a career that you love? Maybe you have a vision, a passion, an idea of where you want to go, but you’re not quite certain how to get there. This is where making the right connections comes in.

There’s a big difference between aimless networking and intentional networking. Needless to say, it’s key you make the right connections for the career path you’re pursuing.

So how do you make a connection, and then maintain it? Here are five steps you can take to meet the right connections, and foster beneficial work relationships to get your career started!

1. Determine Your Sharable Value

It might not always feel like it, but everyone has value to give to everyone else. If you know what value you present to others, you’ll be able to connect more easily and confidently. This could be something as small as finding something in common (for example, maybe you and the person you’re connecting with went to the same college). It could also mean offering a favor such as a link to an article, sharing information, giving them a referral.

2. Build A List

In order to connect, you should make a list of those you want to or should reach out to. And not just any list — an extensive list! Write down everyone who could possibly be a connection, even if they seem out of reach. The more people you have on the list, the less daunting it will actually be. Think about it this way: if you only have five people, you feel pressure to reach out to all of them. The longer your list, the less pressure you’ll feel, and the easier it’ll be to reach out. And maybe you will end up reaching out to those out-of-reach people. You never know! But having a list will at least give you somewhere to start.

3. Attend Networking Events

Did you know 85% of people find jobs through networking? Clearly, you want to take advantage of this. And what better place to network than events? Maybe you have a friend or coworker that needs a plus one to a conference or talk. Maybe you took to Google and found networking events near you. Whatever the case, put yourself out there and connect with as many people as you can. Bring business cards, talking points, and your best smile. This will help put you on the path of making the right connections!

4. Use LinkedIn

When it comes to networking, social media is your friend. LinkedIn is an especially great tool for reaching out to connections you’ve met at networking events or through your peers. Shoot them a quick message, making sure you give detail as to why you’re reaching out and how you know them. After all, keeping in touch is key to cultivating and maintaining relationships.

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Top 3 Steps to Help You Identify Your Dream Career

Leave a Comment / Blog, Job Search, Set Yourself Up For Success

You don’t always have to hit rock bottom to figure out your career path, but there are some things you need to learn about yourself if you want to identify your dream career.

These three steps might come immediately, or they might take years to uncover. Either way, consider them without judgment or blame for not knowing the answers, but with curiosity.

1. Identify Your Strengths

Stop everything you’re doing and take the Strengths Finder assessment today. It’s the most valuable assessment tool I’ve used. Know your strengths to the finest degree to discern what job is best for you.

According to Donald Clifton, founder of Strengths Finder, we’re the happiest when we get to use our strengths on a daily basis.

2. Who Is In Your Support System?

Another step is to identify your dream career is to think about who is in your support system. Sure, you might not have enemies in your job search, but it’s important to know who’s in your inner support circle. Sometimes, it can take a while to identify who is your ally, but pay attention to who gives you strength and who squashes your ambition.

Notice all of your conversations. Who is continually supportive? Who encourages you? Who makes you feel afraid or anxious?

Many people feel scared when you are reaching and leaping towards an edge, and they will project their own fears onto you. Don’t let them. Make a point to cut them off (kindly) or resist from talking to that person about your “big, hairy, audacious goals.”

3. Pinpoint Your Goals

Where do you want to go? It’s a big question and if you don’t have the answer now, ask yourself every day until it starts to unfold. Take out a big huge notebook (the kind you’d buy a kindergartener) and colored sharpies and let your creativity flow.

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Top 10 CRE Career Paths to Choose From

Leave a Comment / Blog, Building Careers, Job Search

So, you’ve decided a career in commercial real estate is just what you need to find fulfillment in your work. Good for you! But there are so many CRE career paths to choose from. Which one is for you?

Commercial Real Estate

When most people hear “commercial real estate,” they immediately conjure up images of a real estate agent posting a “for sale” sign in a yard somewhere. When they finally wrap their minds around the commercial aspect, they still tend to think in terms of either brokers or developers.

But the truth is, if you want to get into commercial real estate, you have virtually endless options to make that happen. So, before you go out and start polishing up your resume and branding yourself for that perfect CRE dream job, let’s take a step back.

Just what direction should you go? What are your options?

10 CRE Career Paths

While there are literally dozens of CRE career paths, most of them fall into a handful of categories or basic fields. Some of these may fall within your goals for your career, whereas others might simply be a bad fit for your personality type.

Before deciding on a specific field to enter, be sure to take personal inventory and weigh the pros and cons of a career in commercial real estate. Then, hone in on that part of CRE that especially inspires and fascinates you. From here, you’re prepared to dive into the varied and rich paths that make up this special industry. While this list is not comprehensive, here are 10 of the top choices for CRE careers.

1. Brokerage This is probably the most well known of the CRE career paths. There are exciting opportunities to be directly involved as intermediary between both sides of transactions. Brokers sometimes also provide other services, like investment banking, research asset management, property management, and more.

2. Property Management

Generally speaking, commercial properties require rather sophisticated management services. In this field, you may carry out services like tenant relations, maintenance, budgeting and other tasks related to managing a high-value commercial asset.

3. Construction and Development

While two separate paths, construction and development professionals tend to work closely together. Entitling parcels and managing the process of building new CRE assets can be invigorating for the creative and visionary types (development) or project and process-oriented types (construction).

4. Acquisitions

Acquisition professionals manage the sourcing, analyzing, and closing tasks for acquiring new properties, whether underperforming or performing. These are properties that produce cash flows for the company acquiring them.

5. Asset Management

Those responsible for asset management focus on strategy and oversee execution of the financial, operational, and marketing aspects of commercial real estate.

6. Leasing

If an investor/developer chooses to have an in-house leasing team, the leasing individuals will have day-to-day negotiation and lease creation/oversight responsibilities for the company and coordinating strategic efforts to develop prospective tenant relationships, which could also be done alongside an external broker.

7. Accounting

Accountants will run day-to-day management of the company’s accounting operations, including financial reports, accounting records, cash flow projections, loan draws, budget analysis, and budget reforecasting.

8. Architecture and Design

While not often in-house, architect and designers will plan and design and facilitate the execution of new buildings, expansions, renovations, or interior build-outs.

9. Valuation/Appraisal

Within the various CRE career paths, there is a distinct need for valuation professionals who appraise properties for reporting purposes, as well as loan applications, strategic estimations, and more.

10. Other

Most of the disciplines above are most commonly seen on the investor/developer or owner/operator sides of the business, but you can take your career in a myriad of other directions as well, including capital markets, investor relations, lending and portfolio management for governmental entities, academia, banks or on the corporate real estate side.

While there are other CRE career paths to follow, this list represents the most common fields. And each of these paths may vary based on geography, asset class, and other factors. By carefully considering all factors, your career in commercial real estate can be profitable and fulfilling.

Sources:

• How to Find Fulfillment at Work | Building Careers (buildingrecareers.com)

• How to Brand Yourself for Your CRE Dream Job | Building Careers (buildingrecareers.com)

• The Pros and Cons of a Commercial Real Estate Career | Building Careers (buildingrecareers.com)

• Anatomy of Commercial Real Estate Appraisal: TOP 10 Q&A Guide (rweiler.com)

• Careers in Commercial Real Estate | Adventures in CRE

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