What's the best way to get into commercial appraising as a career?
Specifically the hard part of being taken on as a trainee.  Some of the big national firms have suburb offices about 15 minutes away but the only job opening publicly listed online is in the city about an hour drive away. 

Could there be any benefit to calling the local branches and asking about trainee positions? What about the small local/independent companies?
[{"id": "ddzzoxs", "text": "Here's what I did; completed qualifying education and passed my state trainee exam first. Then went to my state appraisal board website and got a list of all certified general appraisers within my MSA. Started cold calling and giving my elevator speech. Got hired as a trainee. After calling 40 appraisers or so...I think it helps to get all of your trainee credentials out of the way first. That shows them you're serious and it makes them much more inclined to say \"yeah, come on\" especially if they're backed up with work at the time. Word of warning though, being a trainee fucking sucks on many levels and finding a quality mentor can be incredibly difficult. You have to be aggressive and cast a wide net, no one wants a trainee and it's on you to convince them. If they do want a trainee, it's usually so they can work the shit out of you for pennies. My trainee experience was brutal if you couldn't tell. \n\nI'd recommend taking appraisal institute courses over any other provider especially if you're going into commercial. Also check the AI job board for postings, introduce yourself to your local chapter president. Contact your state board and get a list of approved mentors and start going down the list. Ask your state board if they know of anyone looking for a trainee, send them your resume for good measure. I found my current position on the AI website and couldn't be happier, I love my company. ", "replies": [{"id": "de0z3g6", "text": "Here's a good link that might help! \nhttp://www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/your-career/", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "de6s2em", "text": "My experience lately is that if you are terrible at assessing value of commercial real estate, then you should easily get a job. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]