Unpaid internship for experience?

I am a second year at a non-target in the boston area. I am interested in working in the real estate industry possibly in research or portfolio management for commercial real estate. I clearly don't know what I am talking about but I'm trying to learn what I want to do. Is it smart for me to take an unpaid intern position at a real estate brokerage firm. It is part time and I would probably only work 1-2 days a week and be the office bitch. This would just be to throw on my resume. Waste of time or no?

 

At semi-target, did a non-paid internship and it was the best decision looking back. Was ass showing up and leaving with no money in the pocket, but was always the most interesting discussion point on the resume given the firms reputation

 

If you don't have family in the industry that can guarantee junior year / FT roles, you need to build your resume in any way you can. A few months working unpaid means nothing when you break into the career you want to in the long-term.

 

Companies that specifically offer unpaid internships are shitty. That said, that doesn't mean it isn't worth it. I found 2 partners that had a very small PE shop in my town at a non-target and I harassed them until they agreed to give me an unpaid internship - that experience was awesome because the company wasn't just looking for free labor. 

Don't @ me
 

Was in nearly the same circumstance as you in college. I didn't decide until my senior year that I wanted to go the CRE route. I had Zero CRE experience up until this point, so I knew I had to hustle and take what I could get. After 100+ job apps and networking a ton, I got an unpaid internship at a family friend's NNN lease brokerage shop. Was doing rent comp and market research reports for him for a couple of months and I landed my first full time role because of that unpaid internship. 

 

Relevant and useful experience over a certain threshold of time trumps everything in RE. It will trump an MBA and an MSRE.

 
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