In honor of National Apartment Careers Month, we shine a spotlight on professions within the multifamily housing industry. Accountants embrace a multifaceted career that stays relevant even when the winds of change blow their hardest. Their versatile skills sets prove useful in various arenas of the field, offering the professionals options for growth and new challenges. Across the board, accountants enjoy the dynamic atmosphere of the housing industry. It’s not a matter of sitting at a desk for hours, pushing paper and crunching numbers on the same tasks day after day. Tiffany Godley, Senior Accountant at Avison Young, values the flexibility offered by the field because it allows her to remain passionate about her job and interested in her continued growth. “It’s not monotonous by any means. There are new challenges every day; the market is changing every day. Real estate offers so many different avenues to take: apartments, retail, hotels, commercial properties, building–once you’re in, you’ve got so much flexibility. It’s actually hard to get bored.” That flexibility comes in the form of vertical and latitudinal job tracks. Real estate firms open a world of career options for accountants. Sandy Roberts, Controller at Thomson Companies, discovered that her degree and experience qualified her to wear many hats within the company. “[A controller’s] responsibilities can vary, from financials from the beginning to the end of projects, as well as human resources, payroll and beyond. Accountants are under a large umbrella with lots of potential.” Such endless possibilities make accountants an invaluable part of the housing industry. “Accountants become the go-to person that’s always in demand,” she says. Such demand has not seemed to dwindle in face of increasingly sophisticated software. Rather, advances in technology have enabled accountants to perform their jobs more efficiently without...

February may be best known for its short duration and lineup of “fun” holidays – the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day always make the second month of the year quite delightful. It’s also a month to celebrate career opportunity in multifamily, with the National Apartment Association’s National Apartment Careers Month. “We find that many people who would make good candidates for apartment industry jobs simply are not aware of the many career opportunities to be found in our industry,” said Maureen Lambe, CAE, Executive Vice President, National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI). “College Hospitality, Marketing and Business management majors are especially suited to our industry but have never heard of us. It’s also an opportunity for us to encourage hiring managers to not just look for previous industry experience when evaluating job candidates but also to look for those core competencies that are key to the industry, such as delivering good customer service, solid problem-solving skills and the ability to juggle many different tasks without dropping any of them.” Post-recession, the multifamily industry has rebounded strongly, creating many opportunities for employment. Apartment careers typically offer work that will be interesting and involve varied tasks, people skills, and excellent chance to advance in the company. As John Cullens, president and founder of ApartmentCareers.com, told us in 2012: “The job growth we’re going to see because of new development that has to happen is going to have our industry grow somewhere in the 20 to 25 percent range in the next 8 years. We had a lot of units that needed to be added to the mix.” Some apartment industry vocations are already seeing shortages of qualified candidates. That’s why the NAAEI has created professional development programs that aim to get workers ready for skilled...

Maintenance technician positions have some of the highest turnover rates in the apartment industry. Augmenting the demand, there’s no established pipeline of trained, qualified candidates to step into apartment maintenance careers. These realities are motivators behind an exciting new grant-funded effort from the National Apartment Association’s Education Institute (NAAEI), which has established a pilot program to train maintenance technicians and English language learners at Montgomery College Rockville Campus in Montgomery County, Maryland. The first round of 19 students have just completed their training, which involves 90 hours of coursework from the NAAEI certificate program Certificate for Apartment Maintenance Technicians (CAMT) and completion of the EPA CFC Certification, over six weeks, but also included instruction of technical skills with applied English lessons for limited language speakers. The language training is part of a program called I-BEST – Integrated Basic English Skills Training. Developed in partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, I-BEST allows low-literate and low-skilled adults to earn college credits and credentials through Adult Basic Education, GED, and English as Second Language courses and career skills instruction. Preparation for the hiring and interview process, resume writing and speaking skills were also emphasized in the NAAEI apartment maintenance course.  A job fair with recruiters from the Washington D.C.-area apartment industry and a graduation ceremony marked completion of the six-week program. “In the Washington D.C. area, we just can’t train enough maintenance technicians,” noted Maureen Lambe, NAAEI Executive Vice President. Students were pre-screened for eligibility to work in the U.S., ability to pass a drug test and criminal background check and if they hold a valid driver’s license and have access to a vehicle. After completing the coursework, they are ready to step immediately into entry-level maintenance tech jobs or take internships with apartment communities to prove...

The National Apartment Association’s Education Institute Capital Campaign announced a $500,000 contribution from Yardi Systems this week. “Yardi has a strong commitment to the industry and our future work force,” said NAAEI President Bill Wollinger, CAPS, SHCM, President, WinnResidential, Boston. “We thank the entire Yardi team for the confidence they have placed in NAAEI in helping us to achieve the goals of the Institute.” The NAA’s Education Institute is the professional development arm of the association. Goals of the program include increasing awareness of apartment careers, creation and maintenance of a comprehensive managerial development program; providng a recruitment pipeline for the multifamily industry; and advocacy of Skill Standards for Leasing, Maintenance and Management careers. “NAAEI’s continued commitment to education is important to the future of this industry.  It will help us improve professionalism and the quality of service provided to the multifamily industry,” said Anant Yardi, President & CEO, Yardi Systems. “We are pleased to be able to support NAAEI in this quest and pledge our continued support.” The contribution brings Yardi’s total investment in NAAEI to $800,000. The company contributed $300,000 in 2007....