In our organizational matrix at Carter, there is a great deal of collaboration with and exposure to everyone in the company. As an intern or young professional, individuals have the opportunity to make a real impact and mark on the company. In most cases, we have good interns and young professionals and they work hard. However, it is a special case to find someone who has the ability to build strong relationships within the company and maintain the drive to go the extra mile in everything they do.

As a young professional, your appetite for learning should be insatiable. The differentiating factor is someone who figures out where they fit in to an organization, spends time building lasting relationships and works to make themselves irreplaceable. Young professionals should be incredibly competent and efficient with their work—no matter the work. Professionals that are able to recognize a need within the company or opportunity within the market, and bring new ideas to the table will set themselves apart.

My advice is to spend more time helping to make each project you are working on better. Senior leaders are always in search of people they can count on, and hard work will always pay off.

GlobeSt.com: What opportunities do you see in your market?

Nelson: We are incredibly excited about the opportunities in front of us at Carter. We are big believers in Atlanta and have several projects underway in our market. Personally, I am very excited about the redevelopment of Turner Field and the opportunity to transform the surrounding parking lots into something that the City, neighborhood and Carter can be really proud of. As we draw closer to the closing, we grow more excited each day.

ATLANTA—The commercial real estate market is shifting in more ways than one. The client are getting younger—and so are the brokers, agents, capital markets gurus and property managers.

Indeed, the next generation of commercial real estate professionals are rising up through the ranks—and they need good mentors along the way. GlobeSt.com caught up with David Nelson, senior vice president of the firm's development team, to get some advice for young real estate guns in part two of this exclusive interview. You can still read part one: How One Carter SVP Learned to Become Indispensable.

GlobeSt.com: What advice would you give to young commercial real estate professionals rising through the ranks?

Nelson: We have the opportunity to have young professionals and students intern with us each summer and throughout the year. Each member of our senior team takes a hands-on approach to teaching our interns a different part of the business. A key message that I try to incorporate into each of those learning sessions is my experience as an entitled young professional and what I learned about what it means to work when I was let go.

In our organizational matrix at Carter, there is a great deal of collaboration with and exposure to everyone in the company. As an intern or young professional, individuals have the opportunity to make a real impact and mark on the company. In most cases, we have good interns and young professionals and they work hard. However, it is a special case to find someone who has the ability to build strong relationships within the company and maintain the drive to go the extra mile in everything they do.

As a young professional, your appetite for learning should be insatiable. The differentiating factor is someone who figures out where they fit in to an organization, spends time building lasting relationships and works to make themselves irreplaceable. Young professionals should be incredibly competent and efficient with their work—no matter the work. Professionals that are able to recognize a need within the company or opportunity within the market, and bring new ideas to the table will set themselves apart.

My advice is to spend more time helping to make each project you are working on better. Senior leaders are always in search of people they can count on, and hard work will always pay off.

GlobeSt.com: What opportunities do you see in your market?

Nelson: We are incredibly excited about the opportunities in front of us at Carter. We are big believers in Atlanta and have several projects underway in our market. Personally, I am very excited about the redevelopment of Turner Field and the opportunity to transform the surrounding parking lots into something that the City, neighborhood and Carter can be really proud of. As we draw closer to the closing, we grow more excited each day.