Real Estate Career Day

Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration (SHA) hosted Real Estate Career Day, on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 in the SHA Beck Center’s Park Atrium. Cornell Program in Real Estate (PRE) students took advantage of this great resource and met with a myriad of different real estate groups in areas such as real estate investment banking, real estate consulting, real estate private equity, real estate investment trusts (REITs), owners and developers. Representatives from real estate companies across the country came to campus to meet with students, provide information about their companies, and answer questions about potential summer and permanent positions. Some representatives, including Health Care REIT, Hersha Hospitality Trust and others, conducted interviews during their visit. Other groups used the event to collect resumes, connect with students and provide a networking opportunity to learn more about this industry segment.

Lenny DeStefano (PRE 2012) commented, “The Real Estate Career Day provided me with the opportunity to talk face to face in a non-interview setting with leading real estate companies. Many of these groups were companies that I was looking to reach out to on my own, so I was very glad that the Hotel School put on such a fantastic event! All of the groups were very interesting, in particular I really enjoyed meeting with the Ackman-Ziff Group and hope to hear more from them as the interview process begins.” Both first and second year PRE students took advantage of networking with the companies involved in the event, as many of the groups were looking to take summer interns in addition to full-time hires.  One such group, Health Care REIT, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) based in Toledo, Ohio, brought back PRE and JGSM alumnus Matt Monson for the event. Real Estate Career Day 2011 companies included:

The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group
  Archon Hospitality, a Goldman Sachs Company
  Cushman & Wakefield,  Inc., Hospitality & Gaming Group
  Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick-Goldman,  LLC
  Ernst & Young LLP, Transaction Advisory Services-Real Estate Hospitality
  Goldman Sachs & Co.,  Corporate Services and Real Estate
  Health Care REIT, Inc.
  Hersha Hospitality Trust
  Holliday, Fenoglio, Flower,  L.P
  Hyatt Hotels
  Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels
  Kimpton Hotels &  Restaurant Group
  Pebblebrook Hotel Trust
  PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
  Starwood Capital Group, L.P
  Thayer Lodging Group
  Tishman Hotel & Realty LP

The Real Estate Career Day takes place each February and is becoming more and more popular with companies across product types and geographies. In addition to this event the PRE hosts a career fair each September as a part of the annual Cornell Real Estate Conference. The 2010 Cornell Real Estate Conference Career Fair included companies such as Prudential Real Estate Investors, Morgan Stanley, Wal-Mart Real Estate, Urban American and others. These events are great opportunities for real estate companies to interface with real estate’s next generation of leaders. Simultaneously PRE students are provided the chance to meet and network with today’s most influential real estate companies.