Pros
Equity is the largest REIT in the country which is great for your resume or starting a career in Real Estate. Depending on the property you work at, you can and will learn a lot from the building, your co-workers/managers and the tenants themselves. I would recommend a Leasing Consultant job to anyone who has graduated High school and wants real estate, sales or customer service experience. Great Employee stock share purchase plan, 15% discount. Health Plan, not bad Rent Discount if you live in a company property - 20% (should be higher..)
Cons
Being the largest, it also comes with a handful of cons. Employee moral and climate vary from property to property. The worst is the schedule. Work life balance is non-existent and even though you get 7-10 holidays/PTO it often times is denied by managers when requested. Weekends are required at every property. Friday, Saturday, many Sundays too. Mid-level management positions have been eliminated making it nearly impossible to advance unless you possess accounting skills. Overtime is necessary during busy seasons but highly frowned upon by managers who are charged with balancing a property budget (ie. Overtime pay kills their budget). If you are unlucky and get a bad community or property manager you will be miserable. All training is baptism by fire or on the computer, so, not effective. Finally, it is a public company so the top 3 priorities of senior management is 1) Stockholders, 2) Stockholders, 3) Earnings report for Stockholders
