Many lifetimes ago, a young but ambitious 20-year-old left her small Ohio hometown and moved to Florida. Her reason? The beach. Having never seen it before, she knew she needed to try something new, see new places and meet new people…what she didn’t know was that she’d also end up finding her career, one she had never considered nor even really knew existed.  

That girl was me; when I found an apartment to live in, the community manager approached me asking if I wanted a job as a leasing consultant for the community. I politely declined, seemingly uninterested until she mentioned I’d get a discount to live there. Reduced parking too? My ears perking up, I filled out both an apartment and employment application that day - and the rest is history.

Flash forward some (several) years, markets & communities later: In my current role as a National Trainer, I often host new-hire orientation classes and as it turns out, my story is not so unique after all. While I know there are degree programs, or those who enter this wild & crazy industry because they have family who are gluttons for punishment enjoy the challenges and rewards the multifamily lifestyle provides, I find an overwhelming number of employees simply fell into this industry, oftentimes under similar circumstances as my own early experience.

I also find that many don’t intend to stay long term. They think this industry won’t provide the career growth, opportunities, job function or variety that they’re looking for. What they don’t realize is how vast this industry is, and just how far reaching the effect of it can be. From climbing the corporate ladder to marketing, accounting, audit, or legal…. even aspects such as human resources, new construction, acquisitions, software, IT and training support… there are a lot of ways to branch out in this industry, even if they “just” start out in leasing. In fact, starting out in leasing is a great skillset to have no matter what role entered in a multifamily career as having that onsite experience will provide a special insight; learning how to be adaptable, detail-oriented but still yet personable and a multitude of other traits serves very well no matter the industry you’re in.

And in case you forgot the part where I mentioned the challenges and rewards of this wild and crazy industry, you are guaranteed to never forget it either. Multifamily management professionals see and do it all: we are there for the good and bad times in our customers’ lives, we celebrate with them and comfort them. We take care of their service requests, we welcome them home after fun vacations and long workdays and we always make sure to give their pup a scruff when they come by. Some days you may find that you’ve had no time to get anything done but were somehow so busy you didn’t even have time to eat lunch. Other days you will have a chance to breathe, to catch up on that pile of files that have been neglected or walk that part of the community that you’ve been meaning to get to since last week…but every day will be a different day. We are multifamily management professionals; we are counselors, we are referees, we are caretakers and most importantly, we are helpers.