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Students from Queen’s University who picture a career in real estate are taking time this week to learn from leading industry figures in Toronto as part of its flagship event Day on Bay.
Just under 40 members of the Queen’s Real Estate Investment Association (QRIA) got up early on Thursday to travel from Kingston to downtown Toronto, where they visited the offices of major real estate firms and toured their buildings to gain invaluable experience they hope will pay off in a competitive job market after graduation.
“You get to go to the office, look at the assets, talk to the firms,” Jason Garner, co-chair of QRIA and a fourth-year student at Queen’s, told RENX in an interview. “It’s much more than just networking.”
The real estate industry is increasingly demanding students who graduate with the specializations to slot in immediately to a job, Garner said, which QRIA aims to help address with the Day on Bay. Also critical is the opportunity to polish up on the human side of real estate and in-depth networking.
As he hears anxiety from his fellow students about their job prospects, Garner believes an event like Day on Bay will be especially important to get a foot in the door.
What Day on Bay teaches
QRIA is one of many university real estate clubs across Canada that connects students to the industry and arranges educational sessions. In QRIA’s case, it focuses on commercial real estate across interests such as brokering, asset management and investment.
As part of the Ontario Real Estate Clubs Association, QRIA members also attended an annual networking event at The Well in downtown Toronto on Thursday with hundreds of students from clubs across the province, as well as industry executives.
But Day on Bay, an event taking place Thursday to Friday solely for the club, is at the centre of the trip to Toronto. Organized by Garner, co-chair Colin Lutz and logistics director Tyler Holman, Day on Bay gets “into the weeds of understanding deal flow, understanding how buildings are bought and sold and underwritten,” Garner said.
In back-to-back visits of the offices of companies like Concert Properties and GWL Realty Advisors, QRIA members listened to speakers, participated in question-and-answer sessions, learned from case studies of past deals, networked and visited buildings.
Also important is the chance to “see how it’s done” outside of the classroom and polish socializing skills that a textbook cannot teach. Most networking events are “surface level” Garner said, but Day on Bay gives attendees at least three hours per firm to talk to and learn from professionals, longer than most networking events.
Preparing for a career
Day on Bay is designed to arm attendees with the knowledge and connections that convert into a career. Garner said real estate firms are expecting their prospective associates to be highly competitive and have a solid footing in real estate, so it is vital to be well prepared to land a job or internship after graduating.
The opportunity provided by Day on Bay is one that QRIA members are not taking for granted, Garner said, because most see a challenging job market ahead of them after graduating.
With job gains falling short of expectations in February and a broad slowdown in the markets, “I would argue that’s why Day on Bay is more important than ever,” Garner said. “When the job market’s tough, firms have to be more selective, and the best prepared candidates will always win.”
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