If you had told me at my graduate school commencement that, in the upcoming year, I'd become an expert on second homes in the North Carolina mountains, or make half a dozen trips to the Low Country to assess development opportunities along the South Carolina coast, or use my newly acquired skills as a city planner to forecast growth potential in metropolitan markets throughout the Southeast, my response would have been, "You mean I'll be an Senior Associate for RCLCO?"

I sought this opportunity as a way to gain exposure and expertise in a variety of successful real estate ventures. The breadth and depth of our firm's reach was an eye-opening experience. I'm still in constant awe of how effectively we respond to client issues and challenges across our engagements. While college and previous career experiences prepared me for the rigors of in-depth research and sharpened my analytical skills, little did I know how that would pay off -or how quickly I'd be integrating my observations in helping to craft informed answers and guidance for our clients.

Across a broad array of projects and land uses, I work with a diverse cast of real estate, development, and planning professionals in my daily activities-not to mention fostering constant dialogue and mentoring among fellow RCLCO consultants. A typical day will see me talking to developers, brokers, urban designers, and city planners to get a comprehensive idea of how a market is performing and what's on the horizon in terms of market trends and development activity. Being able to shift gears is a requisite for this job. One moment, you'll be working with a land planner and a developer to craft a vision for a new urbanist neighborhood; the next moment, you might collaborate with a project team to assess the level of investor interest in high-end condominiums in an up-and-coming market. That same day may require working with a local government to determine the course of their growth over the next 25 years and also present the opportunity to talk with concerned stakeholders about how development could impact their lives and livelihoods.

This dialogue is fed by a constant stream of analytical activity, using models fed by my own research, as well as outside sources, to examine a variety of market indicators such as demographic shifts, employment and income trends, housing preference, and consumer profiles. Constant awareness of the real estate world is nurtured within our team of professionals, and I love reading and thinking about economic and business news as they relate to our industry and, ultimately, our clients. As Associates, we are empowered to improve, if not create, the tools we use to lead us to our answers. Being well-informed and well-researched is critical to this success.

Empowerment is a theme permeating most aspects of the Associate's role. The opportunity to become a subject expert and point person regarding trends and market knowledge is a rare advantage this position holds over other real estate careers. It redefines the typical organization of a project team, and, even as an Associate, I am an expert and peer. Combine this level of involvement with the rapid pace and spectrum of our engagements. I'm not sure what project I'll be working on a week or month from now, but one thing I can be sure of is that I'll have more knowledge, exposure, and skill than I did the day before.