Introducing the Multifamily Scholarship Program

March 23, 2011 by Jonathan Saar 15 Comments

The Training Factor is always looking for ways to support multifamily education. We are proud supporters of the Peggy Waskom Super Bowl, an event that supports GAIEF and future careers in the apartment industry. We have come to realize that there are numerous individuals who are interested in a career in multifamily and there are many individuals who are trying to advance their career path but may not be with a company that has active training and coaching program in place. Hence the decision was made to launch our own “Aspire Multifamily Scholarship Program”

The Program

At the end of each quarter we will be providing two multifamily scholarships to successful nominees. The two students will be able to have a one year subscription to our course catalog and will receive certificates of completion for each course that they take. Proper education and training will be of great benefit when applying for a job in multifamily and will help students who are looking to advance their careers.

Conditions

Qualified nominees will be required to keep up with the pacing schedule that will be outlined for them and to post feedback about each course on our website and through any social media tools that they frequent. In order to qualify you need to be interested in a future career in multifamily or already working for a property management company. You will need to frequent one or more social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

The Training Factor team has already made one of the nominations. We are pleased to announce that Jolene Sopalski will be our first student to participate in our program. Jolene has already taken a couple of our courses and has expressed to us how much she has learned from them and appreciated. Jolene demonstrates an amazing passion for the multifamily industry and is always seeking knowledge and is willing to share hers. We are very proud to have her as our first candidate. For our second candidate we are going to have a little contest for you in order to qualify.

How to Win

In the comment section below tell us why you think training is so important for professionals and how do you think training will make your life and career better. Also give us a little bit about you and why you think you will benefit from this scholarship. I have enlisted the help of three amazing professionals to serve as your judges. Your comments cannot be anonymous. Kim Cory from University Village, Mark Juleen from J.C. Hart and Ryan VanDenabeele from Property Counselors Management Group will be your honored judges. They will be voting on the best comment to the above questions. Next Tuesday at 4pm we will be announcing it live via BlogTalkRadio. A link will be provided for everyone to listen in.

We are in eager anticipation to see how this program works out this year. Ultimately our goal is to continue to strengthen our industry. With proper apartment training we know that our scholarship students will succeed. We see it every day with our own clients and very much look forward to seeing our first two scholarship students do the same. Even if you are not trying to enter the contest, please share any of your thoughts on this new program below in the comment section.

Written by Jonathan Saar

***Side note 1- If you wish to connect with me on Facebook feel free to do so here.

pf button Introducing the Multifamily Scholarship Program

About Jonathan Saar

Jonathan Saar is the Vice President of Marketing for The Training Factor. He also blogs on his personal website. You can follow along or contact Jonathan on Twitter via @JonathanSaar, Linkedin Jonathan Saar or on Google+.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHWN5MEZ236CYQDEV5NAYZVLUU SummerCreek

I am the right person for this scholarship. Based on my willingness to persevere and continue pressing forward despite whatever objections come my way. I understand that I make an outstanding match as I have both qualification and willingness to achieve excellence. Another positive thing that fits me well in this position is that I have self-learning capability.

I am a sincere hardworking person with a strong desire to do something great. I strongly believe in myself. I am fully confident, optimistic, co-operative and a very sensible person. I take my responsibilities very seriously and believe that what we have to say can effective the community immensely. My goal thru training is to create and provide value that can be shared with everyone on my team, my company and with the property management industry. Therefore, I need to make sure that I always focus on what I have learned and will continue to learn thru proper training avenues in order to further ascend the property management industry. Our tomorrow completely depends on today.

Justin Bryan
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Thanks Justin so much your excellent comments. I love the detail you put into your comment. It shows a lot of careful thought. Are you in the multifamily industry already?
Chrissy Surprenant

This is so exciting and to think I just jumped on here because I was simply posting a question to Johnathon’s blog! I think all of us who have chosen to be in this career path know that without training and consistently refreshing our standards that we will have a hard time succeeding. I’m not saying that you can’t be great but there’s a reason why Joe Cocker sang it, “we all need a little help from our friends”. I work for a small company by choice because it allows me the freedom to work and still have time for my family but the training budget is not there. So, I do it myself and research and brainstorm new and fresh ideas. I LOVE IT! I’m a proud Multifamily Dork! I share what I find with my sister property and I even have developed my own brainstorming book of ideas. Implementing them is not always the easiest because there is time and there is a budget to consider so I always need to take a great idea and take it outside the box. I have been in this business for 13 years and I plan on retiring in this business. My career goal is to be a part of or head up a management company’s training department where I would train new recruits and help those that need the extra help. I hope you consider me for the scholarship because I promise I’ll make you look good
http://profiles.google.com/angela.n.irizarry Angela Irizarry

Find me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, Check in at ‘my spot on the narcolepsy couch’ on Foursquare, Skype me, IM me, connect with me on LinkedIn, watch me on YouTube, Stumble Upon my Blog and friend me on Myspace. All those things mean I’m WINNING right?? The industry now demands that we be accessible 25 hours a day, 8 days a week, do it with a smile and stay two steps ahead of the competition all while being conscious of Fair Housing and consistently focusing on resident retention. Once I found the multifamily industry I knew I was in it for the long haul. With the condition of the economy, it’s more important than ever to utilize continuing education. Someone once told me ‘don’t be irreplaceable, if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted’. What?! That mentality will get you replaced! I heart learning Training never stops, but it’s not all Farmville, trending topics and hash marks, it’s conflict resolution, training techniques, money management and good ole HARD WORK. Many of us are being left behind due to lack of training…myself included. Help me manage the mayhem Training Factor!!
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Good morning folks and thanks Chrissy and Angela for your great comments. Don’t forget to tell us a little about your career background and which is your favorite social media platform you frequent. You guys have written some inspiring thoughts! All the best to you!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHWN5MEZ236CYQDEV5NAYZVLUU SummerCreek

Thank you. Yes I am.
http://profiles.google.com/angela.n.irizarry Angela Irizarry

Hi Jonathan! I started in the industry in September of 2007 as the better half of a custodial couple Having done nothing but office work and customer service prior to that, I soon moved out of the vacants and into the office as a leasing consultant at a lease up student housing project. I assisted with all aspects of marketing and leasing. After successfully surviving that lease up, I moved on to an established college community as a leasing specialist. I’m now a leasing manager at the same company for their brand new lease up student housing community in Akron, Ohio. I LOVE it here! I wouldn’t be where I am today without training programs. Just about everything I know about the industry, I learned from taking online Grace Hill courses. I stopped taking those courses over 2 years ago and I’m sure I’ve missed a ton! Currently I keep up with multifamily news on Facebook and Twitter. I’m proud to admit that I’m a social media junkie. I’m also a review stalker. I don’t buy anything without reading every online review possible. I would be happy to review and promote your training program. PICK ME PICK ME!!!
Chrissy Surprenant

Johnathon,
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook… I’m a little obsessed!! I am just now striking out into the Twitter world.. I have to admit I don’t quite have my golden wings yet! Tomorrow I will be doing a little Twit-training as I have kindly nicknamed it… although I’m not quite sure if when we refer to the twit it’s me or the media outlet One of my bosses is an avid Twitter follower so he’s going to be help my poorly misused and abused twitter account… And as you know I am a blogger on multifamily insiders which is a great outlet of mine, so if I win… we’ll have some great blog topics as long as Jolene doesn’t beat me to it! In regards to my background, I started in this industry 13 years ago as a secretary for a realty office and within a few months I was promoted to the rental department and a few months after that I was the lead rental coordinator of 700 plus units. I decided after 4 years to actually take my supervisors advice and take my talent to a larger company where I can be compensated for my abilities. Due to hard work and getting our name out there we went from having 700 units to over 1000. I was offered a job at Millennia Housing Management, LTD out of Cleveland, Ohio to manage a small HUD property in Kent, Ohio. After a year of turning the property around they promoted me to a larger property including a desk job at the home office once a week. I spent almost 5 years at MHMLTD where I managed a 120 unit HUD property including a Senior building of 50+ residents, spent two days a week at home office as well as traveling to various properties helping with training as well as auditing until 2005 when I had my daughter. The tides changed and I wanted to move closer to family and resigned in late 2005 where I spent a year at home raising my daughter. My husband had to have emergency surgery in 2006 so I began looking for employment where I was offered several jobs in the industry just not the “right job”. I came across my current position as I was interviewing for two seperate jobs one working as a case worker for Jobs and Family Services and the other through Akron Metropolitan Housing where I was on my third and final interviews with both. I received a call from my now supervisor asking me to come in for an interview and he hired me on the spot and I took the job on the spot because it allowed me to do what I love and still have time to be with the ones I love. I was unsure of my decision because I had a choice of jobs at that point, which is a nice situation to be in, but I followed my instincts and I couldn’t be happier. I currently work for a company that is treats me like family and I have worked very hard to turn my property around. I am proud to say that we went from a F property to a very nice C property (location deters us to get to that coveted A property status) but I do what I can and have improved our apartmentratings.com score to 93% and I will reach a 100%! I have learned, working for a smaller company, the most vital lesson in property management and that is to “think owner”…
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

For those of you on Twitter-go ahead and follow me on @Trainingfactor and @JonathanSaar -Give me a shout out. Great comments everyone!
Bowerskatina

My name is Katina L. Bowers I am a Leasing Consultant, and I have been in the Multi Housing Industry for 5 years. Training is very important for professionals, due to the fact that this industry has frequent changes, and is very challenging. Being educated on current events in the Multi Housing Industry is an absolute must, because you don’t want to say or do the wrong thing to get yourself or your management company in trouble. So training is very essential for anyone who is thingking about or already in this industry.

I think that training for me will enhance my education in the Housing Industry, and give me a chance to reach the Sky.

I am the happy mother of 3 girls, 16, 18, and 20. My love for people is great, and I love to see them smile, once they are given their keys. I am a very jolly and bubbly person who can get along with any, one.
During 2009, I closed on 363, rental applications for one property. Every property I work with, I will make it happen. I am a great sales person, and I can close 8 out of 10 deals.

I feel I deserve this scholarship because I want to advance my career by educating myself in all the aspects of the Housing Industry.

Thanks For your Consideration.

Sincerely,

Katina L. Bowers
Michelle Fording

Hi, my name is Michelle Fording and I’m an addict. I suffer from a work / facebook / internet addiction. I am always trying to stay on top of the next great thing for property management. I have been in the industry for 10 years this December. I started as a leasing agent and quickly moved up to manager. I have been managing my current “A” property in South Florida for over 5 years. I am my companies go to girl when anyone has questions about our management software (Onesite), techie issues, leasing process, documents, etc… you name it I can help!

My regional cracks up when I request to attend ANOTHER TRAINING. I think I help support my local apartment association more than most. I also register for all ADP manager training classes and all free online webinars =) My most recent favorite was Toni Blake’s Leasing Webinar!

I dream of being an industry trainer in the near future. If my company had a need for a full time trainer I would be the first in line. I was recently flown up to a brand new property we were taking over, to set up the entire leasing office procedures. It was a dream come true… I need this training so I can continue to reach my potential and goals. I appreciate your consideration and love what you are doing for the industry.

Respectfully,

Michelle
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Good morning everyone- Here is the link for tomorrows live radio broadcast where we will announce the winner. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jonathansaar/2011/03/29/multifamily-scholarships-announced
I hope everyone had a great weekend and thanks again for all of your inspiring comments!
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Hello everyone. The judges were so compelled by your comments that it has been decided to have everyone participate in the voting process. Please check out todays post and share it with your network as much as you like. http://thetrainingfactor.com/blog/2011/03/place-your-vote-for-the-multifamily-scholarship-program/
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Congratulations Katina, Michelle, Angela, Justin and Chrissy. You are all winners of this amazing scholarship opportunity. Email me when you can so I can provide further details. jonathan@thetrainingfactor.com . I am super excited to start working with you guys.
Chrissy Surprenant

Thank you Jonathon! This is awesome! Super excited!