In the current market it should come as no surprise that paid and unpaid real estate internships are becoming harder and harder to find. Interns are typically viewed as expendable to companies and in the current economic downturn it seems only natural to cut back on hiring interns. But could this initiave hurt companies more than they know? Interns are often hired as full-time entry level employees upon graduation since they already know the philosophy, mission, and environment of the companies they interned for. However without this natural progression, companies will be hiring their new employees from a much bigger pool of potentially lesser qualified individuals.
College students in Texas attending Texas Christian University are finding it harder and harder to get their foot in the door in the Real Estate Market. Kelly Faerber, a senior majoring in TCU’s real estate market was lucky to get an internship with N3 Real Estate, saying ““I talked to a lot of companies and a lot of them said they are having to cut back, but I think students see how important it is to get the experience…I would much rather not get paid and get the experience than have to miss out on the opportunity.”
Glen Hahn, the CEO of Fort Worth-based Innovative Developers Inc. commented on the situation saying “We have offered an internship for several years, but what we’re seeing different this year is the number of activities that we have for an intern to do, we want the experience to be productive for that intern; be able to bring them in and show them the inner workings of a real estate development company and give them some job experience. But at the moment, our number of new projects has skinnied down a little bit, so it’s disappointing, but I don’t know that we’ll have an intern this year.”
Real Estate isn’t the only market where students are struggling to attain internships but it certainly is one of the hardest hit markets in this economy making it increasingly difficult for interns to get their foot in the door.
1 Comment until now
Internships are fleeting across New York City as well. Its not hard to understand either, as the market is falling faster buy the minute. Although being in the real estate sales arena these days can sure feel like an unpaid internship.
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