If you’re a young person with ambitions of starting a career in property management someday, naturally, you may have some questions regarding what steps you can take now to not only prepare for your eventual career, but also make the right impression on potential employers in the future.

No single blog entry could cover all the ways you can position yourself for success in this line of work. You should strongly consider reaching out to other property managers to ask if they’d be willing to offer their own advice or even become a mentor.

In the meantime, though, the following tips will help you generally understand what a young person should do to improve their chances of becoming a successful property manager. Be aware, while this list is written under the assumption that the average reader will either be a college student, a college graduate, or a young person who plans on attending college in the near future, it is technically possible to achieve your career goals in this industry without a college degree (though it may be more difficult).

If you’re considering becoming a property manager in the future, you should be taking such steps now:

Familiarize yourself with practical factors

You might not be entirely certain property management is the ideal career for someone with your goals and talents. A career in property management may be one of several options you’re considering.

If so, you can start to better determine whether this is a career you’d genuinely be interested in by researching certain practical factors. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, the median pay for a property manager was $59,660 per year. Depending on how much money you wish to earn in the future, this may make property management a more appealing or less appealing career option.

You should also review the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ general overview (linked to above) to learn more about what the day-to-day work of being a property manager typically involves. For instance, although most property managers have offices, they may also spend large portions of their time showing properties and performing other out-of-office tasks. Once more, this may appeal to some job-seekers, but not all.

Consider studying business

Some colleges and universities offer academic programs specifically focused on property management. If you truly aspire to this career, and you attend a college with this type of program, you should of course enroll in such programs. However, many property managers simply studied business administration in college.

Keep in mind that, even if you’re not a college student or graduate and don’t expect to attend college, you can still earn a certification in property management. This is another means of ensuring your resume stands out to employers if you don’t have a college degree. Research your options to determine if you should pursue a certification.

Be patient

Once you have the necessary qualifications, you should apply to jobs or internships at property management companies with the understanding that you’ll likely have to accept an entry-level position at first.

When describing how they achieved their career goals, successful property managers often explain how they started in temp positions or as low-level assistants. They were able to climb the ladder by not only consistently impressing their employers through the quality of their work, but also by openly expressing their desire to become a property manager, volunteering for new assignments, and pivoting to new roles at other companies when opportunities for advancement with their early employers were limited.

Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list of the steps you can take to become a property manager. It’s wise to actively research this topic in greater detail. That said, this brief guide hopefully provided you with a sense of what such a career entails, and how you can begin pursuing this career.