My Internship experience at Nrep
– Daniel Aaltonen, Investment intern, Helsinki (Fall 2024)
Introduction
My internship at Nrep has been an incredible learning experience. It actually began with a team day, which provided a fantastic opportunity to get to know everyone in an informal setting and created a welcoming atmosphere right from the start. This initial introduction made it easy to feel like part of the team and set the stage for a smooth transition into the role. Despite having no prior background in real estate, I have quickly been able to grasp key concepts, thanks to the comprehensive onboarding provided by the team and their willingness to address any questions I have had.
My tasks as an investment intern: diverse projects and learning opportunities
The past four months have flown by, and looking back on it, there have been quite a lot of bigger and smaller projects and tasks I have had opportunity to work on. I would say the main work I have done has focused on preliminary modeling of prospective investments, working on investment committee presentations, and working on a wider residential market study. In addition, my work has includedgeneral data gathering and screening, as well as smaller ad-hoc tasks here and there. The projects I have participated in have covered many of the key segments in real estate including residential, commercial, logistics, and healthcare, providing a very comprehensive overview of the industry.
The internship has certainly ramped up my financial modeling and analysis skills. Furthermore, it has offered a great opportunity to develop personal management and prioritization skills.Sometimes, you may end up working on multiple things at a time, each progressing on its timeline. Finally, my internship provided great insight into how the process leading up to an investment decision actually works.To put it simply, all the analysis and number crunching you perform must be tied up into a thorough and comprehensive presentation, culminating in the investment committee meeting where the final investment decision is made.
The culture at Nrep
Already from day one (or perhaps from the “day zero” team day), it was evident that the Transaction team at Nrep is an easy-going and tight-knit group of people. Of course, this is not team specific: everyone within the larger organization I have worked with has been outgoing, friendly, and generally great people to spend your day with.
I would certainly highlight the team’s responsiveness to personal requests. Early in the internship, I expressed an interest in modeling prospective investments — something I had not previously done. Looking back on the past four months, I can certainly say that the team has ensured I’ve had ample opportunities to develop these skills, which speaks for the internship program’s commitment to fostering growth.
I would also highlight the feedback culture at the firm as a strong point. After all, receiving constructive feedback for things you are doing well and things you could improve on are invaluable to personal development. In my experience, the feedback has been structured, thoughtful, and very detailed, which has facilitated a steep learning curve and helped me grow significantly in a short period of time.
Who should apply?
I wholeheartedly recommend this internship to anyone curious about real estate and private equity, regardless of their academic background. Coming from a computer science and mathematics background myself, I can attest to this; being curious and open-minded goes a long way. The internship at Nrep will provide you with interesting projects, great learning opportunities, coupled with some memorable social gatherings and activities.