2016 Mentor Program Call for Participants

UPDATE: Deadline extended. Sign up today!

The NAIOP Mentor Program, kicking off its fifth year in October, is now calling for new and returning mentors and mentees to sign up to participate for 2016. This program matches up young professionals and students planning to enter the field (mentees) with seasoned industry veterans (mentors). The mentor and mentee monthly for coffee, lunch or at a location of their choice to share ideas, discuss professional development and talk real estate in a casual atmosphere. The time commitment is very light at just one hour per month and the benefits for both parties can be quite substantial.

One NAIOP mentor writes:

I have enjoyed working with the NAIOP team over the past 3 years on the mentoring program. The way the program is set up is different than most of the other mentoring programs I participate in now or have participated in in the past. I think of the NAIOP program as kind of a mentoring speed dating program, since we only get to meet with our mentees once, but we get opportunity to meet with a wider audience. There are a couple of NAIOP mentees that I have maintained longer term relationships with, typically by the choice of the mentee. If I feel like there is a connection with the mentee and an interest in a more traditional mentee/mentor relationship, I offer up the opportunity for future meetings.

The advantage of this program for a RE professional such as me is that I get to interact and network with a broader range individuals from the RE and development community. I see mentoring as a means of recruiting talent to our industry and fostering an exchange of perspectives from the next generation of industry professionals. Commercial RE management and brokerage career paths are only now just becoming recognized education tracks in the college environment. Historically we have had to rely on new talent “falling” into our industry.

The program is structured as a rotation with each mentee meeting with a different mentor every month. Mentees are matched with mentors based on the fields they are interested in. Currently the program runs from the fall through the spring; kickoff will be at an event in late October in downtown Seattle. Mentors and mentees will be matched over November and December, and monthly meetings will run January–June 2016. 

Sign up today - deadline is October 9.  

Become a mentor: NAIOP members with 10 or more years of real estate experience and the desire to mentor are encouraged to sign up. 

Find a mentor: NAIOP members just starting their careers are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this program.

Please send your contact information, and whether you are a mentor or mentee, to Andrew Donaldson and Allison Shephard, by October 9.

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