“Sharp as a tack.” “Nerves of steel.” Pursue your goals even if the odds are against you and perhaps someday the world will describe you that way too.
This Los Angeles Times article published by Samantha Schmidt on April 16th, 2018 details how her approach to parenting mimicked her approach to her career.
“We endeavor to teach our children to be leaders, not lemmings,” she wrote. “This is especially important when it comes to making the right choice while the crowd is pulling in the other direction.”
Career growth is the #1 reason we hear for why someone is considering a new position. Keeping this in mind with current employees will help tremendously with employee retention and satisfaction.
Is the traditional resume becoming obsolete? The short answer is no. If we spent as much time on our resumes as we do on our social media profiles, maybe we would get as many likes from potential employers as we do from social connections. While this might seem blatantly obvious to most, it’s worth reiterating how important it is to take the necessary time to devote to continuously updating the best resume possible.
Take the Time to Review the Entire Resume and Ensure Proper Tenses Are Used
One of the most crucial things you can do to put your best foot forward is take the time to properly update your resume when it’s time to look for a new position. Many candidates have great content in their original resumes, however, it may have been years since they have looked for a job and therefore last updated their resume. One of the things I frequently see reflected in candidates’ resumes is a sense of urgency. They’re rushing through edits, only adding their most recent position, and forgetting to put the previous one in past tense. Take note, if you are no longer working in a current position at a current company, the associated bullets/description should be in the past tense. A lot of candidate’s older positions will be past tense, with the top two incorrectly being present tense. Only your current position should be in the present tense.
Employ Proper Grammar and Punctuation and Have Another Set of Eyes Review
On that note, whether you’re applying for a new position or simply wanting to give your resume a fresh look, it’s always a good time to proofread your resume for grammatical and spelling errors more than once in more than one way. Have a peer read through it, read through it yourself a couple of times, and/or enlist the help of a professional resume consultant to, at the very least, give your resume a once over for basic spelling and grammatical mistakes. You’d be surprised at the number of periods mistakenly following incomplete sentences!
Tailor Your Resume to the Job You Want
Your current resume may not be properly tailored to each job you’re applying for. Take the time to read through the job description of your desired position and make notes of the requirements and skills with which you have experience. Ensure that those are clearly spelled out and exhibited in your resume. Having the right key words in relation to the job description is critical!
Quantify, Quantify, Quantify
Be clear about what you have contributed to past and current employers in definitive terms. For example, how much did you save the company in operating expenses on their assets by implementing a new vendor proposal system? What is the magnitude of assets you have sourced, underwritten, and closed? The more specifics you can offer on your resume to a potential new employer, the more they will recognize your value.
Your resume represents you and your qualifications and is essentially seeking the respect of hiring managers and potential employers. Don’t rush through a quick revision and send your resume to the hiring manager of your dream job without giving it some TLC. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
If it’s time for you to give your resume some much needed attention, please feel free to connect with me at JETurpitConsulting@gmail.com to see how I can help.
Many of our clients value the skills that a property manager brings to the asset management side. Find out how to avoid roadblocks and think in terms of value-creation and financials if you are considering making the transition.
A few tips include:
Become familiar with the finance side of the assets
Prepare to take a step backwards (in title and financially) in order to learn the analytical aspects
Think about ways to enhance property value and financial performance and effectively get clients on board with those programs
Originally published by John Salustri on GlobeSt.com on April 2, 2018
I recently heard Hamid Moghadam, CEO of Prologis, speak at Burnham-Moores 22nd Annual Real Estate Conference. He ended the conversation by discussing his company’s policies to increase the number of women across all departments. It was empowering to hear that a company with such a presence on the world commercial real estate stage has specific policies to promote women. Many more companies and countless organizations have pledged to be champions and advocates of women in the commercial real estate space. We are proud to work with a number of clients who make this diversity a focus in order to compliment their already successful businesses with women that can take their companies to the next level.
These changes are even taking place on construction sites. Construction sites and careers have a reputation that has not historically been conducive to women. Read here about the incredible organizations across the country who are working tirelessly to promote diversity in the trades.
Building Careers is sitting down with the movers and shakers of the commercial real estate scene here in San Diego to find out how they got to where they are and what they want to see in people on their team.
Kicking off our blog series, I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the Q&A you can expect with some of my own thoughts.
Describe your background and how you got into the industry.
Architecture and home design always interested in me, but learning that I could apply intangible finance underwriting to commercial buildings that everyone could see, touch, and have an opinion on opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. This light bulb went off when I stumbled upon a commercial real estate finance course while I was an undergrad at Penn State. From there, I worked in the industry in a finance consulting capacity, on the private equity side, and in-house for an investor, developer and operator.
I came upon a career crossroads. After conversation after conversation with many of you fantastic mentors and role models in the San Diego commercial real estate world, I realized that I wanted to have those types of conversations on a daily basis. I wanted to be that sounding board and advisor to anyone at any stage in their career to ensure that their role aligned with their life goals and motivations. What better place to do that than in the commercial real estate industry that I know and love? Since founding my executive search and recruiting firm, Building Careers, I am motivated every day by inspiring people to succeed.
What exciting projects are you working on?
My team and I are currently working on finding the right fit for an acquisitions analyst, development director, senior design manager, controller, lease administrator, corporate finance director, project and construction managers, and acquisitions, leasing, and asset management senior associates, among others. We are consistently recruiting for exciting opportunities with growing companies, so if you want to stay up to date on open commercial real estate career opportunities, visit the job page of our website or email me. I look forward to hearing from you!
What are you seeing in terms of hiring?
It is a candidate’s market right now. Quality talent that aligns with each company’s specific culture and way of working is very difficult to find. When companies identify someone that aligns with what they want on their team, I would recommend that they be ready to make a strong offer and on-board that person quickly. Offers that allow candidates to feel valued by the company and communicate to them that the company is invested in their long-term career growth are extremely effective in the current market. Knowing and living your company culture everyday will make an efficient hiring process more seamless.
What can candidates do to stand out?
Candidates who know themselves and what they bring to the table set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. Those who can clearly communicate their value through concise examples put themselves in a position that aligns with their strong suits. Operating this way is paramount in achieving long-term success for not only the employee, but for the employer as well. As a resume is most often a candidate’s first impression, stay tuned next month for additional suggestions on putting your best foot forward through your resume.
What is your one piece of advice for folks trying to make it in the commercial real estate industry?
Make meaningful connections with those that you cross paths with in your professional network. Having advocates and sponsors as resources is essential to career growth and learning, especially in the commercial real estate industry.
Interested in hearing more from some of the industry’s leading faces? Be on the lookout for future interviews!
The Real Estate Roundtable’s Q1 2018 Economic Sentiment Index shows that executives in the commercial real estate space still anticipate “strong near-term asset values and capital availability.”
Highlights from the report include:
Survey respondents feel comfortable with where the current 2018 market is, but are concerned about 2019
Capital sources are making more calculated decisions
Asset values seem to be peaking
Competitive and available sources of capital are prevalent
Read the summary and access the full report at Connect.media.
According to NAIOP Research Foundation’s annual report, commercial real estate development and operation of existing buildings generated the following economic benefits:
Supported 7.6 million American jobs in 2017 (a measure of both new and existing jobs).
Contributed $935.1 billion to U.S. GDP.
Generated $286.4 billion in salaries and wages.
Read the full report to understand the full impact that commercial real estate has on the economy. Originally published by Dr. Stephen S. Fuller in January 2018 on NAIOP.org.
