Happy Wednesday, Hounds! This week, we are featuring Dominic Bonanno ’25 and his internship at Colliers International, a global commercial real estate services and management company operating in over 60 countries. With a focus on office, retail, industrial, and multifamily properties, Colliers is recognized as a leader in the industry. During his internship, Dominic conducted market research for the firm’s brokers and scouted potential properties for acquisition. His experience was enriched by shadowing seasoned brokers at property showings and various events, providing him with valuable insights into the real estate sector and reinforcing his ambition to build a career in this dynamic field. Read more to learn about Dominic’s journey and the lessons he gained from this opportunity!
Give a brief overview of the company that you interned with, as well as what your position was.
The company that I interned for is called Colliers International, it is a global commercial real estate services and management company. They operate in over 60 countries and are focused on office, retail, industrial, and multifamily properties. This past summer, I completed market research for the brokers in the firm as well as scoping in the field potential properties to sign over with Colliers. It was a really great time, and it also included shadowing other brokers in the firm at showings and other events.
Describe a typical day as an intern. What were your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities?
I would wake up at around 7:45 am, get ready, eat breakfast, grab a coffee, and head to the office for 8:30. For the first hour, I would go through my Colliers email to see if there were any tasks that the brokers thought of last night that they might want me to do. Then, I would open the Excel spreadsheets on which I do my property research. Each research project was by county, and it would be two different markets– properties that are 5-25 acres and 26-500 acres. After working on this research for a few hours, I go out in the field and look for properties that are not on sites like Zillow, realtor.com, etc. While I am out, I then ask the other brokers after I grab lunch and see where in CT they have showings, and I would try to drive around and make it to as many as I could before I go back to the office to finish my day.
Were you involved in any major projects or accomplishments as an intern?
The biggest project I worked on was finding properties that were 50 acres or more in New London County in CT. I found a few massive properties that were around 250 acres a piece and two of these listings were signed over with Colliers due to the preparation that a broker in my office had with my data reports that I prepared after speaking with the owners. While working as an intern, in only four months of doing market research and analysis, Colliers signed over at least 10 properties that I completed research for. After doing the hard work for other brokers in the firm, I came to the realization that I could definitely see myself working as a broker for Colliers.
What are your career goals? How will this internship help you reach those goals?
My career goal for post-graduation was to lock in a full-time position in sales for a company, and this internship accomplished this goal for me. Towards the end of my summer internship, the senior broker invited me to his office to offer me a full-time position as a real estate broker under Colliers International, which I happily accepted.
What are your key takeaways from your experience? What skills did you gain from this internship?
Some key takeaways from this experience were face-to-face client interaction, how to compose market data on a spreadsheet and presentations, how to dress and behave in an office space, how to be confident in the way you conduct conversations with others, as well as many other skills.
Why did you apply to this internship? What aspects of the position/company interested you?
Ever since I was in high school, I knew I had a passion for sales. I had faith in myself that I could sell any product no matter what it was. When I was 16 years old, I started my own shoe reselling business, and it became a success. Once I moved past that, I was in my junior year looking for internships, and Colliers International wasn’t even a thought until I met a senior broker– now a friend–Sean Kumnick. Sean presented to me a day in the life of a real estate broker. After this introduction, I did some research and saw that there were many opportunities in this field, and that’s why I applied.
How has your Assumption career prepared you for this internship?
With being a Marketing major with a concentration in sales, most of the classes I have taken this far have been business-specific courses that teach all aspects of the business world. Whether it was Finance, Statistics, Sales Management, Business to Business, Micro and Macroeconomics, etc., consuming all the information that I have learned and presented throughout my years at Assumption has done nothing but been beneficial to me throughout my internship.
What advice would you give to a student who wants to participate in an internship?
Don’t wait, apply now. That is the biggest advice I can give to any student who is in the search for an internship. Get ahead of the game before other people have an advantage over you. Companies have limited spots that they can give up to students across the country when it comes to internships. Applying before the competition automatically puts you one step ahead of others.
Also, set up a LinkedIn sooner rather than later. The earlier you network yourself, the earlier you get your name out there to potential employers.
How did your skills as a student-athlete translate into this position?
I am on the Track and Field team here at Assumption and the skills of being a teammate are more important than any other skill you can learn from a sport. Being able to work with others to achieve goals, collaborate, and put 110% effort into everything you do allows you to apply that in your everyday life and once you hit the workforce, like I did in my internship.
If you are interested in being featured on Highlighting Hounds or know of any students who would be a good candidate, please email us at careerdevelopment@assumption.edu!
