Need advice on getting into property management industry.
Hello everyone,

Hopefully some of you will be able to help me. I am in the process of changing careers and interested in the property management industry. However, I need some advice on how to get my foot in the door. First, I will give you a brief back story.

From 2004-2008, I attended university and earned a B.Comm in marketing. While I was attending university, I worked part-time in various customer service roles. I discovered the property management profession while working as a concierge/security guard. I knew I wanted to work in this sector after getting my degree. As you likely know already, 2008 was not a good year for the economy. After having trouble finding work for several months, I decided to join the military as an electronics technician in order to learn a hands-on trade. During my six years in the military, I did preventative and corrective maintenance on electronic equipment. I was also promoted twice and given additional responsibilities such as monitoring and operating ship support equipment such as diesel generators, compressors, chillers, and HVAC systems.

Now that I am out of the military, I am trying to find property management companies to work for. I feel that I could benefit a PM the most in a maintenance/groundskeeper role and move up from there. However, there are some things I need guidance on.

1) What specialties have better long-term job prospects and potential for future growth? Commercial, residential, or strata?

2) I like the idea of dealing with tenants, but have no desire to do commission-based sales. What higher positions in a property management company could I work toward over the long-term?

3) Are there other positions in a property management company that I am overlooking that I am already qualified to do?

4) What can I do now to get more exposure, become more knowledgeable, and network with people in the industry?

Thanks!
James

[{"id": "d0bfkjk", "text": "It sounds like you'd be good for a engineering position. What market are you in?", "replies": [{"id": "d0c0rdd", "text": "I'm in British Columbia.", "replies": [{"id": "d0c7p8f", "text": "Here are some positions with CBRE you qualify for. They're the biggest CRE company in the world, so there is room for advancement.\n\n[Mobile HVAC Technician](http://cbre.referrals.selectminds.com/jobs/mobile-hvac-technician-1962) - 3 positions open in Vancouver\n\n[Client Services Assistant](http://cbre.referrals.selectminds.com/jobs/client-services-assistant-2686) - 1 position in Vancouver, 1 in Victoria. This is probably below your skill level and desired pay, but it would be a way to get your foot in the door.\n\nIf CBRE has this many positions open, I think you will have a LOT of success in the British Columbia market. Good luck!\n\nAlso, not sure what the other guy was saying about turnover in our field. I was at CBRE for 3 years and the property management employees (engineers, property managers) were all long-time veterans and loved CBRE.\n", "replies": [{"id": "d0c8b4y", "text": "I guess this kind of work is not for everyone. Something tells me he was referring to residential management. This morning I was reading a lot of blogs and forums about people's experience with managing commercial and residential properties. It sounds like commercial would be the more interesting route to go.\n\nSo what did you do at CBRE if you don't mind me asking? Is that where you started out?", "replies": [{"id": "d0c8jbh", "text": "Yeah, the 10,000 units gave it away. Residential and commercial are completely different ball-games. Very different clientele: In residential, you're mostly dealing with people who can't afford houses. In commercial, you're dealing with business-owners.", "replies": [{"id": "d0cg8vl", "text": "Cool. Thanks for the insight. I just went to the CBRE website and downloaded the 2016 Canada Market Outlook to get better informed.\n\nYou say that property employees at CBRE have worked there for a long time and love it. What factors led them to staying put over the long-term?", "replies": [{"id": "d0ci3sc", "text": "I can't speak for your market, but my market (Phoenix, AZ) had a lot of great people who stuck around because of a few things:\n\n* Sense of community - since everybody in CRE is working on different properties all the time, it's difficult to have a \"core\" team that meets regularly in the same place. We had monthly or bi-monthly meetings, but the higher-ups made sure they were fun and worth coming to. We might, for example, tour an interesting building and get ideas for what we might do in our own buildings. And that would be our meeting! So the \"learning\" portion of our meetings was experiential, and we could hang out and talk and get to know our coworkers. Later, when we're in a jam, we'll know someone to call for help!\n\n* Ethics - Almost every company has some sort of skeleton in the closet, but CBRE is really committed to being ethical. The worst things you can say about their practices are (1) they buy out smaller companies all the time, and (2) they export a lot of positions, such as data entry, to India or Poland. However, they have strong practices in place to encourage that every employee is behaving ethically, and encourage their properties to leave very small environmental footprints.\n\n* Upward mobility - Oh man, CBRE loves to promote from within. I was there for three years and my career path was: Accounting Clerk, Accounting Coordinator, Associate Accountant, Accountant. And they taught me and built me up to be qualified for those positions. In fact, CBRE has a reputation that their positions are tough: a \"manager\" at CBRE has the roles/responsibilities of a senior manager at another company. I eventually left because I did a small career-change, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I stayed there.\n\nI have nothing but good things to stay for the company - I'm still in touch with my old bosses there. \n\nAnd that's not to say there aren't any other good CRE companies in your market, I'm just speaking about the one I know of.", "replies": [{"id": "d0czda0", "text": "That's awesome and CBRE sounds like a great company to work for!\n\nJust to backtrack a bit, I was looking at the HVAC Technician job that you posted. In addition to my experience maintaining and operating electronic and mechanical equipment, I earned a 2-year diploma in electro-mechanical engineering from a civilian college. Would I be overlooked for not having the other certifications like CFC, refrigerant, etc? How stringent is CBRE with these requirements? ", "replies": [{"id": "d0da6bc", "text": "We have different certification requirements in the United States, but I do know that most of the younger engineers don't have any certification of any kind. \n\nIt's one of those things you learn on the job, because although someone might be an expert on HVAC systems, they might not know anything about how elevators work. So there's plusses and minuses, and every property has its own needs.", "replies": [{"id": "d0e8qgy", "text": "Okay that makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain this stuff. I really appreciate it!", "replies": [], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d0bkdo0", "text": "Word of advice, stay out of it.", "replies": [{"id": "d0bzzj4", "text": "why?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "d0c17ol", "text": "Please elabortate", "replies": [{"id": "d0c8v53", "text": "I started a management company that ultimately came to manage 300+ units and commercial as well. I hated the whole experience so much that I gave away my company and moved on to something else. Dealing with that many tenants who constantly nag, dealing with evictions, leasing,and repairs, doing it all seamlessly and all the logistics is a nightmare I don't wish on my worst enemy. We had a great reputation but it took years off my life.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d0bz59s", "text": "have you tried just looking at help wanted ads or contacting the larger providers in your city?  \n\nIt sounds like you want maint type jobs, and holy hell are those high turn over.  I'd expect you to easily find a variety of them to apply to.  \n\n1- just depends really.  It probably matters more on the company.  You are probably more likely to go from maint tech to property manager in a commercial setting, where most of the actual work is in building maint vs dealing with tenants.  If you find a large res company you can also get promoted to positions above property level too.  Of course, the larger companies typically do all 3.\n\n2- Most property managers work on salary + bonus as far as I know.  It isn't a commission heavy field once you get above leasing agent.  Even then, at least in my experience, at least 70 percent of your income was just straight hourly.  Where you go straight commission is when you are offering independent management usually as an agent/broker.  You should look for staff positions.\n\n3- You sound qualified for maint or leasing.  \n\n4- Just start filling out apps man, most people in those jobs don't last a year and the ones worth a shit get promoted quickly  opening the entry level jobs back up.  If you find a company with at least 10k units they will pretty much always be hiring somewhere and once you get your foot in you can jump around.", "replies": [{"id": "d0c16th", "text": "Thanks for the reply NumNumLobster. Just curious, why do the maintenance jobs have high turnover?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]