What are some things that commercial brokerages want to see when hiring interns/summer analysts?
So I'm really hoping into getting an internship this upcoming summer with CBRE/JLL, etc. I have decent school extracurriculars related to real estate as well as a previous internship experience doing market research for real estate. 

However, my resume still has one retail level job which is not involved with real estate what so ever (I did the free food demo carts and sales that you see in Walmart and Costco). I'm looking to replace this with something more relevant to real estate to make my resume stronger. 

Any ideas? I'm going to begin doing informational interviews with current commercial brokers to help myself network in, but I want that retail job outta my resume
[{"id": "do5l3i3", "text": "Take an Argus class/certification", "replies": [{"id": "do5l6ku", "text": "In one! Will be learning the new Argus version, as well as 'hypo excel' whatever that is. I assume I should put argus on the resume? Under skills or something?", "replies": [{"id": "do5lcyg", "text": "Yes I would call that out as much as you can. Hiring managers will see Argus specifically as a buzz word that shows you have at least shown commitment to commercial real estate. That can go a far way as a lot of your competition are smart business or finance majors that aren\u2019t necessarily committed to, or know a lot about, commercial real estate", "replies": [{"id": "do5lp3c", "text": "Im actually a finance student! So do you think I should keep the sales job since it shows people skills? Or work on a personal project thats related to real estate and put that on my resume instead?", "replies": [{"id": "do5md99", "text": "You\u2019re on the right path. Sales is the best skill you can have so stick with it until you have mastered it.  Learn as much about business as you can as well. Learn how to start your own business instead of working for other people\u2019s businesses. Create jobs. Get rich. Give back", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "do5meaa", "text": "Personally, I think a real estate project done on the side is more impressive than a retail job. This is coming from someone who currently works at a major brokerage in agency leasing. Of course, networking is by far the most important thing you can do at this point. In the couple hundred interns that I\u2019ve seen come through our firm, I\u2019d say 90% of them either had a family connection to a senior broker or used their alumni network or to get a broker to vouch for them. It\u2019s really not what you know but who you know because we get 1,000s of resumes to comb through every summer you essentially need someone who is going to make sure your resume goes towards the top of the stack.", "replies": [{"id": "do5ofva", "text": "That's what I heard as well regarding the networking side of things. I'm planning on sending some handwritten or typed letters to some local VPs, and following up with a phone call if I don't get a response. Is this cheesy? Should I just email them? \n\nAll regarding hopefully setting up informational coffee chats ", "replies": [{"id": "do5pncs", "text": "Handwritten is always the way to go.", "replies": [{"id": "do5qnf0", "text": "Time to get my pen out and learn how to address a letter to an office. Thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}, {"id": "do5z7c1", "text": "It\u2019s certainly unique, and anything you can do to make yourself stand out is helpful. It also depends on what role you are trying to get in to. For instance if you are looking to get into tenant rep, a jr tenant rep broker will be cold calling people all day. If you can cold call your way into coffee with a broker,  it\u2019s a good sign you could actually do the job. ", "replies": [], "depth": 7}, {"id": "do6vl34", "text": "thats the way to go.  better yet look into ccim, irem, local chamber events, university events, etc etc.  be familiar with the brokerages in your area.  When you run into those people, in person, introduce yourself and say you actually applied to their firm :) or would love to be an intern there.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "do5o46x", "text": "Depending on where you are from, if it proves to be too competitive to get into CBRE look at maybe joining a boutique firm to get your foot really in the door and work your way up.\n\nI took an internship this year (senior year) with a local firm who is not too far behind CBRE in yearly transactions dollar wise in our area, and a few months in I was offered a full-time associate position upon me getting my license. I took the opportunity to see where it takes me in life, but I can say so far I\u2019ve learned so much a classroom cannot teach you, and I feel like I could have a fighting chance if I wanted to make the switch to a top tier national firm like CBRE.\n\nGood luck in whatever path you take!", "replies": [{"id": "do5od03", "text": "I'm in Alberta, so CBRE doesn't even have an official internship program for the cities here. \n\nInteresting to hear about your experience! I'm considering joining some boutiques as I bet you learn so much more in the same period of time compared to a bigger brokerage. ", "replies": [{"id": "do5onbc", "text": "I\u2019d like to add I had ZERO intentions of ever being in real estate. I took the job for the resume builder and to be the \u201cExecutive Intern\u201d and learn to run a company. As I worked on projects and people took the time to teach me I fell in love with CRE. \n\nI cant speak for all firms, but you get the one-on-one mentoring at a boutique firm. If you can get in at a big firm highly consider it, but definitely look at a boutique for now if you cant.", "replies": [{"id": "do5ov77", "text": "I'll definitely consider it. Thank you for all the feedback. What market are you in?", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "do751h4", "text": "Check out Marcus and millichap they have a Calgary office.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "do72c7k", "text": "I would agree. As an owner of an NAI firm, we have found great success with our internship program. Which market are you targeting?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]