Commercial Real Estate Job Market Summit Offers Advice to Employers, Job Seekers
Mentoring, Diversity, and Flexibility Keys to Success for Getting and Keeping Talent
The Wednesday program of the 25th Cornell Real Estate Conference began with the Commercial Real Estate Job Market Summit. The Real Estate Employer Panel discussion provided an opportunity for commercial real estate industry leaders to participate in a forum focused around current issues, trends and hiring practices in the commercial real estate job market.
The panel was moderated by Cornell alumna and Lehman Brothers Senior Vice President Lynn Gray. Panelists included Michael Butler, Senior Director of Human Resources, Tishman Speyer; Mark Grimis, Senior Advisor at Ernst & Young; David Jacobstein, Senior Advisor to Real Estate Industry Group at Deloitte; Dean Shapiro, Senior Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis; and James Toms, Vice President Global Head of Human Resources, AIG Global Real Estate.
Ms. Gray attributed recent successes in real estate investing to rising cap rates and low interest rates, and said that anyone can be successful in these conditions. She then predicted that current market conditions would make real estate more challenging in the short term. After describing the growth of real estate into a much more global enterprise, Ms. Gray turned to the panel for a discussion on training and career development.
All of the panelists agreed that, in order to ensure continued success, employers will have to embrace diversity, to recognize human capital vis-à-vis retention, and to develop formal mentoring programs. Mr. Shapiro emphasized that his firm is always looking for talent, and that they will continue to invest in human capital even during tough times. Citing the growth of real estate investment activity, Mr. Grimis commented that employers need to deploy skill sets to rapidly growing, emerging markets. Mr. Grimis acknowledged the difficulty in staffing emerging markets because it often interferes with an employee’s work/life balance and family situation, but that employers must find ways to incentivize and recruit employees to those markets if they are to be competitive.
In addition, the panel advised job seekers on the skills and qualities necessary to compete in a tight real estate job market. While Mr. Shapiro reiterated that CB Richard Ellis hires candidates that have a passion for brokerage, Mr. Jacobsen said that his firm is interested in quantitative and real estate knowledge. Ms. Gray closed the session with the suggestion that the best preparation is for job seekers to do their homework and due diligence on a firm, and to be prepared to adapt to both change in the capital markets and within an organization.
The Summit also provided an opportunity for select employers to showcase their organization to job seekers in a commercial real estate focused job fair. The list of employers included The Ackman-Ziff RE Group, LLC; AIG Global Real Estate; Brookfield Properties; Cushman & Wakefield; Ernst & Young; GE Commercial Finance; Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc.; and Toll Brothers, Inc.
“The employer showcase was great exposure to a variety of real estate organizations. Residential development, asset management firms, real estate consultants, capital advisors, and institutional investment companies were all represented and gave me a chance to learn more about each group’s role in the industry. The quality and access to employers was a great way to start thinking about summer internships and my career path upon graduation,” said Tim Yaeger (PRE ’09).