What does a real estate career offer youth today?

Until sometime back, real estate was not the preferred go-to career option for young people. Much of the cynicism stemmed from the sector being perceived as unstructured and unprofessional. With the introduction of reforms like RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority), the sector has slowly evolved, with a higher number of professionals working in the field and greater transparency and accountability.

However, the recent pandemic has brought the cynicism back. People are now sceptical about the sector’s growth and unsure if they should opt for a career in this sector.

Today, there is no sector that is untouched by the Covid pandemic and real estate is facing the heat too. Home buyers are reluctant to make a big investment and want to save money for the unforeseen.

However, real estate is one of the few industries which offers a plethora of career options. Right from an engineer and architect to an interior designer and sales executive, there is room for everyone.

With several new projects in the pipeline, civil engineers can look forward to a satisfying career here. It is a profile which requires a unique blend of technical expertise and creativity and there are multiple job roles with excellent pay potential available.Also, this role allows you to workoutdoors. However, civil engineers have to work on remote locations with stretched working hours and there are some health hazards which one may encounter while working on a construction site.

Likewise, there is scope on the technology side as well, with organisations using virtual realty and machine learning technology. So the real estate sector promises to be a great career option for software engineers who want to create new products.

Today, there is a huge demand for skilled software engineers and the role promises great learning coupled with an excellent pay package and fast track growth.

You can also make your career as a sales consultant or property advisor where the role requires you to accompany potential customers on site visits, thereby making their home buying journey easier.One of the many perks of working as a consultant is the opportunity to earn big, as incentives in the real estate space are higher than other sectors. However, the role can be taxingas one has to pursue customers diligently over a period of time and the time taken to materialise a deal can be very long in some cases.

If you are an architect who likes to create designs for new construction projects or if you are an interior designer who finds passion in refurbishing spaces, then real estate could be your preferred career choice too.

It is not mandatory for one to have a specific degree in real estate to transition as a consultant. However, there are exclusive courses which are being offered now to groom people who want to make a career in the sector.

The sector also offers ample opportunities in the domain of Finance, HR, Marketing, Legal and other such specialised disciplines, thus, management graduates, law graduates, can also expect an enriching career here.

(The author is Group Chief Human Resources Officer in various real estate portals)