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Breaking Into Commercial Real Estate

Updated August 2026

If you’re reading this page, chances are you’re a student, recent graduate, or early-career professional looking to break into commercial real estate. As summer winds down, now is a good time to think about what you did over the past few months to move your career forward and what you can do next. 

Start by updating your resume and LinkedIn, and if you’re thinking about your next career move, check out RETS Principal Kent Elliott on the NAIOP SoCal & Connect CRE CREative Connections podcast, where he discusses CRE hiring, career growth, and industry trends. Listen on Spotify!

Some CRE private equity firms begin recruiting for summer internships in the fall, so now is a good time to explore roles, research companies, and start making connections. It’s also a great time to sharpen your technical skills through financial modeling, Excel, or ARGUS courses, or by working toward your real estate license.

Use this time to explore different roles and asset classes, talk to people in the industry, and start building the skills that will make you more competitive when opportunities open up. The resources below are a good place to start, with practical career tips and firsthand insights from young CRE professionals.

New to CRE? Welcome!

Breaking Into CRE: The Challenge and the Opportunity

Breaking into commercial real estate (CRE) can feel like a classic “chicken or the egg” scenario: how do you land a job without experience, and how do you gain experience without a job? Everyone in CRE has faced that hurdle at some point.

Since 2003, RETS has focused exclusively on recruiting and executive search in the CRE industry. If you’re thinking, Finally! A firm to help me break in! Well, not so fast. Our clients rely on us to find experienced professionals, and internships, while valuable, typically don’t meet the experience requirements for our searches.

As someone with three college aged children (at UCLA and Tulane), I understand the challenge firsthand. I regularly hear from friends, industry contacts, and parents looking for advice on helping someone get started in CRE. We genuinely want to help, but our responsibility to our clients means we can’t always provide one on one guidance.

That’s why we created this resource guide. After more than two decades in CRE executive search, we’re sharing practical advice, industry insights, and resources to help students and young professionals better position themselves for a career in commercial real estate. Whether you’re a college student, recent graduate, young professional, or a parent helping someone navigate their next step, we hope this makes breaking into CRE a little less overwhelming.

Now’s the time to get started!

-Kent Elliott, RETS Principal 

kent@retsusa.com

Now, It’s Your Turn!

If you’ve gotten this far, connect with me on LinkedIn and the rest of the RETS team. Be sure to follow our LinkedIn page for industry updates, job postings, and insights.

Shoot me a message and mention that you’ve read this—we’d love to hear your thoughts and know if this has been helpful!