Career/Internship Advice for a senior in college with no relevant experience
 

Hey guys,

I'm in my senior year of college and am trying to land an internship in CRE as ideally an analyst. I have no relevant experience, yet alone internship experience. I have already applied to a couple of internship postings and have gotten rejected, so am having doubts whether I can actually pursue this career path. I attend Arizona State University remotely in Los Angeles and am majoring in Business Administration with a minor in Business Data Analytics, holding a 3.5 cumulative gpa. I have completed the REFM certification levels 1-3 as well as the ARGUS software certification. Given these credentials, what are my chances of landing an internship at a brokerage firm like JLL or CBRE? Are there any other internship roles I should try to pursue to gain relevant experience towards CRE? (mortgage loan officer, escrow officer, etc)

Appreciate any help.
[{"id": "hk0o7av", "text": "You have a few questions to which the answers are: it really depends on what role you're planning to apply for. I also think that looking for an internship your senior year is a bit late to the game.\n\nThe two companies you mentioned are part of the \"big 4\" of CRE, and therefore are more sensitive to 1. where you went to school and 2. where you interned.\n\nGiven ASU is not a target school for these companies, you should have realistic expectations about getting a front office role. I'm not saying it's impossible, but unlikely.\n\nStay away mortgage loan officer work--there is nothing to gain from it and has 0 relevance to CRE. Same with escrow officer work.\n\nI would say, broadly speaking, you have two options:\n\n(1) If you want to be working for these firms you may need to start off in a middle- or back-office role and try to work your way up. This route has worked for some people I know, but generally seems to be very difficult. You will need to do a lot of networking and studying in your free time to make this work.\n\n(2) Look for a front office role at a middle-market or lower-market regional firm with lots of deal flow, and then make the jump to the \"big 4\" after a year or two.", "replies": [{"id": "hk3iux7", "text": "Thank you. This was actually very helpful", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]