CCIM Central Arizona Launches Mentorship for Undergrads

The Central Arizona chapter of CCIM has launched a mentorship program for undergraduate students. The local chapter launched its first mentoring session last month at Colangelo College of Business at Grand Canyon University. The program will include analysis, students creating and presenting a broker opinion of value, listing pitches and sales offering memorandum.

“Our Central Arizona Chapter’s mission is to provide the premiere education in commercial real estate. University outreach was on my agenda for this year, so I reached out to Mr. Colangelo at the CCIM economic forecast in January,” Jenette Bennett, first VP at Kidder Matthews, tells GlobeSt.com. “The Colangelo College of Business had just been announced in the media, so I thought it was a perfect time to introduce a customized CCIM curriculum and mentorship to the undergrads.”

At an introductory session announcing the program, 45 students in attended with 30 expected. Needless to say there is a lot of interest from the students. “We had a strong response from the students at our first meeting,” Bennett says. “GCU had announced the CCIM mentorship during their back—to-school night, and distributed our agenda. As of now we have over 50 students who are enrolled and matched to a mentor.”

The goal of the program is to connect students with real estate executives and educate young students on the industry. “The goal is to educate students about what careers are possible in commercial real estate,” says Bennett. “This semester of mentorship is about learning what brokers do on a daily basis. The monthly assignments are for them to create a 10-year financial analysis, an opinion of value, a listing pitch, and a sales presentation. Of course, it’s also important to introduce them a network of professionals. The CRE brokerage workforce is shrinking, so it’s important for those of us in the industry to foster the next generation as they establish careers.”

Most mentorship programs target graduate students, making this program unique. “We found in past years that the grad students were often already employed and taking the grad classes at night,” says Bennett. “So, they were in school to expand on existing careers, and not as likely to change paths if they weren’t already a part of commercial real estate. Undergrads are at a good stage with a lot of career options, and generally more time for clubs and internships.”