An ugly job market update and honest feedback for Gen Z real estate professionals...
----- Good news -----
Commercial real estate is an incredible sector. There's a home for just about everyone and plenty to go around.
----- Bad news -----
This is the worst CRE job market in 15 years.
----- Our perspective -----
Employers call us a lot. We hear from them when they're looking to train, looking to hire, looking to fire, etc.
They won't be honest with you, but they are brutally honest with us.
In this hyper-competitive market, we want you to benefit from their feedback.
----- Gen Z challenges -----
If we gave employers truth serum, here's what we think they would tell you:
1. Your reliance on technology sometimes hinders your ability to communicate, especially in face-to-face situations.
2. Your expectation for flexible work arrangements clashes with the needs of our business and cheats you out of on-the-job learning.
3. Your need for instant feedback and recognition can be draining.
4. I think you'll probably job-hop for the next several years, which makes it hard to want to invest in you.
5. Your desire for inclusive and diverse workplaces is commendable, but diversity also includes embracing different perspectives, even those that challenge your own beliefs.
----- Suggestions -----
1. Balance urgency with patience. Give yourself at least two years to mature in a job.
2. Define how you measure success. Who you're working with and your access to their decision-making are far more valuable than a title or an extra $20K.
3. Acquire skills like your professional life depends on it. If you don't know where to start, think about taking our FastTrack class.
4. There are no shortcuts. Valuable skills are the only sustainable path to whatever you want to get out of your career (money, autonomy, flexibility, respect, relationships, etc.), and it will take you 10+ years to generate those skills. Focus on where you'll be at 35 instead of where you'll be at 25.
5. Focus on work. The most effective way to change an industry, company, office, etc. is to change it from the top. Pull your environment in the right direction via hard-earned respect.
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