New Job Skills Necessary For Changing Market

Unlike many of its counterparts, real estate investment company Madison Capital is expanding. The firm has recently moved into larger offices here to accommodate its growth. It has recently filled mid level positions and is on the lookout for a more senior person. But the search criteria for this position, as outlined by Ward Dietrich, a senior executive with the company, does not hold out much hope for the large majority of financial engineers that are seeking new employment.

“I have spoken with a few people coming from larger institutions but didn’t feel as though it were a match,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “These were primarily people who originated CMBS and CDO structures. The [underwriting] standards they were used to working with were lax. We didn’t feel comfortable that they could deploy capital in an environment where the underwriting has gotten so much stricter.”

Ideally, he says, the firm is looking for somebody with a strong credit background, fundamental real estate experience and a person that can develop relationships and find deals on his or her own, “somebody who is not emotionally invested in a big company bureaucracy; somebody more entrepreneurial in spirit.” In short, somebody whose skill mirrors the needs of the few pockets of growth in the real estate debt and equity markets.