(RealShare New York comes to the Grand Hyatt, New York, NY, October 9.)

NEW YORK CITY-It wasn’t pretty. An overwhelming number of respondents to our latest Quick Poll—this one focused on the issue of mentoring young brokers—gave CRE firms terrible marks in the subject.

In fact, of the 620 people who voted, a shocking 61% believe that “Real Estate Firms Suck at Mentoring.” By comparison, a measly 13% stated that “Mentoring Is a Priority at My Firm.” Interestingly, 26% put the burden of learning on the Young Bucks’ backs, saying that “It’s Not About Mentoring. It’s About Initiative.”

(Got a Young Broker story to tell? Email John Salustri.)

Larry Heard, president and CEO of Transwestern in Houston, isn’t surprised by the sentiment as much as by the size of the split. “I am surprised by how skewed they are,” he tells GlobeSt.com, “but not by the answers in general because only the best firms do it. It’s a significant investment in time and cost.”

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And of course, Heard, counts Transwestern in that rarified number. “This is an investment in human capital, and it’s vital to our future as a company.”

He compares the care and feeding that young brokers need to a newly closed deal, an apt analogy given the impact of each on the bottom line. “You wouldn’t buy an asset or commit to a new development and then just sit back and watch it materialize. You work to enhance that investment. You have to view human capital the same way. Once you bring someone on, the last thing you would do is just give them a telephone and say, ‘Go to work.’ ”

For Sayres Dudley, who recently became executive vice president of executive search firm DHR International, the question isn’t quite that simple, and he bifurcates the market. While he sees brokerage firms as less likely to embrace mentoring—in part because of the time it takes away from transactions, “the financial firms are better at it.”

In that domain the investment aspects of a new hire—the same qualities Heard pointed out--stand out more clearly. The capital-markets firms are more likely to hire MBAs, and “because of that, they have a substantial investment in these young professionals. They’ll put the new hire into programs where he or she can link up with teams where they can be truly mentored, whether they start as analysts or in some transactional role.”

He notes that while brokerages have “some semblance” of a training program, for the most part, “the young broker is left to come in and attach themselves to a team or a mentor. It’s catch-as-catch-can, and it all depends on the importance that senior broker places on training that young professional.” So what’s a young gun to do?

For Dudley’s part, he says hook up with an association. CREW, BOMA and IREM are but a sampling of the professional associations with continuing education and/or certification programs. And chances are the brokerage you hook up with is already paying into the group and so, indirectly at least, supporting your advancement.

Heard recommends simply that you choose your target firms wisely. While he wouldn’t recommend that a young broker walk away from an opportunity that doesn’t come with a mentoring program, “it is a key differentiator between the alternatives they’re reviewing. I would tell any young executive that it’s incumbent upon them to interview the firm just as the firm is interviewing them.”

Obviously, however, if there are two or three opportunities, and “one has a very strong mentoring approach, nine times out of 10 that young professional should pursue that course.”