BOMA's Plan to Solve the Labor Shortage
S.F.'s hyperactive development market could be facing a problem, as the number of people retiring from the commercial property labor force will soon outpace the number of people entering, according to Kiplinger. We sat down with BOMA S.F. EVP Marc Intermaggio, who tells Bisnow about the group's plans to combat the coming issue.
Marc tells us a partnership with San Francisco State University to produce "job-ready" commercial property management candidates has taken off since launching last year, leading to a number of other groups joining the effort. Now IREM San Francisco Bay Area, NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and BOMA Oakland/East Bay are on board as a newly formed coalition, called Commercial Real Estate Alliance for Tomorrow’s Employees (CREATE). They already have a fundraiser on the books for May 14 with Arthur Gensler Jr. Money will go toward professors teaching real estate classes at SFSU and scholarships.
Marc says as new buildings are constructed or purchased, employers already find it hard to obtain competent employees to manage and service commercial properties. He expects the problem to rise as more Baby Boomers retire. Under the program, students earn a B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance and a certificate in commercial RE. The public-private partnership includes job shadowing, field trips and career tours, mentoring, and paid internships at companies (a crop of interns, above).
Here's instructor Dave Hysinger teaching a course. As of March, 27 certificates have been earned to date (and 36 by the end of the spring). A dozen students were offered summer internships in 2014, and most received job offers. Participants have earned positions with CBRE, JLL, Kilroy, the City and County of S.F., DTZ, Harsch Investment Properties, Presidio Trust, and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
