Received development internship offer: what skills should I develop
I recently got an offer to intern for an industrial developer. I cold called so the company does not have a formal internship program. The ceo has asked me to tell him how I want to tailor the program. What type of skills should I say I want to learn and be trained in to have a successful real estate development internship and what parts of the company should I focus on being involved in.
[{"id": "ekmytx3", "text": "Development is the catch-all where you need a reasonable understanding of finance, design, construction, etc while also being able to lean on your experts in each of those realms (architects, GCs, consultants). Not sure what your goals are etc but generally I'd recommend you: get a basic understanding of how to underwrite a deal from scratch, get a basic understanding of the major design and construction considerations for industrial properties, and attend as many meetings as you can to soak up bits of knowledge here and there. Underwriting a deal will require research up front on the market (types of tenants? average vacancy? average rent? etc), construction costs, design options, etc as well. Good luck.", "replies": [{"id": "ekmz2jg", "text": "I am civil engineering major but I want to learn more about the finance aspect of development because I have previous construction internship experience. So are you basically talking about sourcing deals?", "replies": [{"id": "eknfha6", "text": "Become a numbers guy. Finance and deal sourcing/packaging is what you should start to develop. You\u2019re in a good spot, so use this opportunity to your advantage.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eknfe9h", "text": "I want to echo this point - DEFINITELY sit in on any meetings that you can get into. I worked for a developer in the past and seeing how the various shareholders came together was not only interesting, but extremely useful.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eknq9vc", "text": "How big is the company you cold called?", "replies": [{"id": "eknqdgx", "text": "It\u2019s not large. Small to medium sized.", "replies": [{"id": "eknqi70", "text": "Thanks for the quick reply, I\u2019ve been cold emailing some companies. Going to try and focus on smaller - medium sized.", "replies": [{"id": "eknqsl9", "text": "You should definitely do that. The larger ones with formalized programs are less likely to listen. Another tip: check the online development pipeline for your city/region to see what recent developments are being done. It\u2019s a great way to find companies that you would not find searching google. I\u2019ve already got 3 offers doing it like that.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]