Young Professionals

Get your career off to a great start

INREV can make all the difference for aspiring young professionals

Getting on in life – and your career – can often be a question of who you know, but in such a multi-faceted industry as non-listed real estate, arming yourself with knowledge is equally important.

INREV takes this to heart and believes in investing in the industry’s next generation. For the last ten years, we have been organising initiatives to help you build up your network, share experiences and at the same time expand your knowledge and market know-how.

This now includes a wide range of events from an annual conference to informal get-togethers, as well as a programme of training courses to allow you to continue your professional education and also to formalise your knowledge by working towards a training certificate.

The highlight of the Young Professionals’ programme has to be the INREV Young Professionals Seminar – this year taking place in Barcelona. This flagship event is closely tailored to the interests of young professionals and brings in high-quality speakers from both inside the industry and out to discuss the latest market trends.

This year under the theme of ‘Future perfect: Projecting the next decade,’ the event will not just be looking at the prospects for real estate markets and the business over the next 10 years, but also at the way careers in real estate are likely to evolve in an age of rapid and sometimes disruptive technological innovation.

Joining INREV has really helped me to build up a network of contacts in the industry and to get an idea of the paths my career could follow as I gain in experience. The INREV Young Professionals’ Seminar is a great way to meet up with peers who are at a similar stage in their career and to learn from senior industry experts.

Barbara Maltha-Koppelman, CBRE

For the rest of the year, INREV offers a busy event programme through its Link & Learn events, which take place in major European cities such as London, Amsterdam and Munich. These provide a local forum for young professionals to discuss hot topics and practical subjects.

Upcoming events include a German get-together on Wednesday July 19 in Munich, which will include a look at the German residential market, before an opportunity for networking. In Amsterdam, a meeting on August 30 will discuss the potential impact of technological change on parking. And on 7 September see a Link & Learn meeting on development – including a site visit – in London.

The second major strand of INREV support for Young Professionals is training for the non-listed investment industry. Across the year, INREV offers 12 training courses, all of which offer practical professional education taught by industry practitioners.

This underlines a core principle of Young Professionals programme, which is to ensure that you get access to more experienced real estate investment professionals and senior leaders, both to learn from them and also to share your experiences as members of the younger generation.

A cornerstone of this training programme is the INREV Foundation Course, which is geared to the needs of industry newcomers and provides an overview of all the major aspects of investing in non-listed property investment. This two-day course focuses on the role of non-listed real estate for investors and how fund managers can help them achieve their aims – in particular through good due diligence, corporate governance and transparent reporting.

Other one-day courses taking place in a range of European cities include Portfolio Construction, Effective Due Diligence and Fund Valuation and Reporting.

To support continuing professional education among young professionals, the programme has now also been formalised to allow you to work towards the INREV/Henley Certificate in Non-Listed Real Estate Investments. This new qualification – available in two distinct streams, Portfolio Management and Corporate Finance – is set to be widely recognised and sought after by both employees and young professionals in the industry.

INREV training courses have helped me to get a better understanding of some key elements of the non-listed real estate industry. The courses are very practical in their approach and provide knowledge that has various applications in the professional lives of investors, fund managers and investor relations professionals.

Michael Hass, Hines

Finally, INREV also stresses the needs of young professionals in all its communications. This IQ magazine includes a young professionals section that goes back to basics and gives a beginner’s guide to often complicated real estate subjects. There is also a Young Professionals LinkedIn Sub-Group, which is open to all INREV members, for joining discussions and commenting on topics specifically relevant to those who have recently joined the industry.

These are just a few of the areas where INREV can help a burgeoning career in non-listed real estate. But it’s also good to remember that all of our activities are just as relevant to those starting out as those with years of success in the business. We encourage our young professionals to keep up to date on all main areas of activity – research & market information, professional standards and tax and regulations – and also to get in touch if you have ideas of further ways we can support you.

View an overview of activities for young professionals at inrev. org/about-non-listed-real-estate/for-young-professionals