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VIRTUAL REMOTE Internship - Valuation Intern for Small Businesses

KW Commercial / Keller Williams Realty
Email
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NO COVER LETTERS, PLEASE!
NO TRANSCRIPTS, PLEASE!
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT YOUR RESUME & ANSWERS TO OUR QUESTIONNAIRE
(minimum 200 characters per response, most accepted applicants submit 5-8 sentences)

MINIMUM 200 CHARACTERS PER RESPONSE, MOST ACCEPTED APPLICANTS SUBMIT 5-8 SENTENCES, ALMOST EVERYONE SUBMITTING MORE THAN 8 SENTENCES IS ACCEPTED INTO THE PROGRAM
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Overview: Small Business valuations. NOT securities. Interns with less than 8 weeks financial experience (<5% of applicants) are generally not allowed to join the Valuation Team because the emphasis is on soft skills rather than hard skills. The sophisticated nature of the subject matter as well as the significantly skewed population of interns with +100 weeks experience (>90% of applicants) creates the demand for a higher level experience among colleagues of similar abilities. The role is the most competitive role. The privilege of being able to put the name "KW Commercial" on the intern's resume is tantamount to an intern's ability to get future jobs, especially as it is juxtaposed with the results of the internship experience. The role performs real work, BUT most of it has already been completed for clients and is being redone by interns in a mock environment. Real work may be ad hoc and nominal, representing less than 1-5% of the entire experience, which in comparison to the overall experience, is a significant comparative positive impact on the intern versus on the company.
Time commitment: 
  • Most Interns = minimum 5 hours per week, 120 days
  • Internship for School Credit = aligned with semester, likely 7-12 hours per week
  • OPT = minimum 5 hours per week for 120 days, but 20 hours can be accommodated
Payment: see below
Benefits:
  • $100 gift (discretionary, not guaranteed) may be given to unique interns who display above average leadership skills and passion for learning
  • real* projects with measured impact
  • leadership experience at several tiers of leadership up to "director-level"
  • letter of recommendation
  • eligibility for scholarship/grant for post-graduate degrees, certifications, or designations
  • long-term relationship with a mentor who cares about your long term success
  • reimbursement* for real estate license education, exam, registration, insurance, etc. (please inquire for details)

" "real" projects are defined both as assignments with real companies and other assignments. Note that if you are looking for LESS of an educational experience and MORE of a practical experience, then you should pursue a paid internship. This is an FLSA-compliant unpaid internship, so the emphasis is on learning.

Qualifications:
This role is focused on soft-skills as well as hard skills of valuations, but due to the Skills Gap, most applicants take far too long to complete hard actions within a reasonable time frame because they lack the soft skills for making it possible to be a paid role. It's because of this educational structure that our internship program is FLSA-compliant. However, we get many applications from students who want to learn how to do valuations, and many times only because they lack any experience in doing them. This role is not for them. This role is for interns who already have hard skills AND experience in valuation work. This program fosters an environment in which these individuals can learn more about soft skills. If you have zero valuation experience, the amount of effort it will take you and the other interns to support you will be a detriment to the experience that our interns have come to expect. If you do not have valuation experience, you are strongly encouraged to apply for the Sales role where you will get experience in communicating about valuations rather than performing them. If you still want to learn about valuations, consider paying for the valuation course such as those offered through the IBBA.

Commitment:
This is a VERY POPULAR internship. However, many students fail to understand that the quantitative analysis of a valuation is very easy and that the qualitative analysis supporting quantitative assumptions are very important, too. A strong work ethic and understanding of statistics, finance, and economics is strongly desired. Before applying, please first ask yourself, are you the type of person who is willing to dig deeper and to think critically, or are you afraid to ask questions or to challenge assumptions?

Long Term Relationship:
The program administrator created this program for 2 reasons. First, to recruit and develop future business brokers and investment bankers. While most interns will not immediately begin pursuing this career, some may return to this career option in 5-10 years. The second reason for starting this internship program (and this reason applies to +90% of interns who participate) is to form long term relationships with those who will likely be very good referral partners in the future. If you cannot see yourself being able to refer a client to the program (even if you enjoyed the program and enjoyed the mentorship and companionship of the program administrator), then please do not join this program.

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Universities Requiring Unique Disclaimers:
see below for disclaimers from the following Universities:
Florida Atlantic


Location Requirements:
This is a VIRTUAL / REMOTE internship. However, if your school requires you to visit a physical commercial location, it can be arranged for you to visit almost any Keller Williams branch that is convenient for you on a weekly basis. There is often extra space available in a friendly and professional atmosphere. If this option is used, neither that office nor its associates will be responsible for you. You will report virtually and only to Russell Bernstein.

Expanded Overview:
The CEO is a business broker. He sells businesses. It's like selling a house, and the CEO is a REALTOR, but selling businesses is far more complicated. It's also like investment banking, but those deals are "lower market or middle market" deals, which are $3MM-$20MM and $20MM-$100MM respectively. A business broker, on the other hand, typically focuses on small businesses who have less than $3MM in annual revenue, most with less than $1MM, and the highest percentage in the $200k-$500k range.

Intern, Bryan, said,

"These businesses are very small and with that there is often limited financial information. These are challenges you should feel comfortable working with."

This is the scope of the valuations performed, and they are performed using asset-based methodologies including DCF, Comps, multiples, etc. The math is not difficult, but there is a lot of information gathering and analysis if data is available (such as Receivables Ageing or the value of repeat customers without contracts). More often than not, assumptions must be made and explained, so a thorough understanding of economics, finance, and statistics is desired just as much as hands-on experience and compassion for the challenges of a small business owner and buyer.

Desired Skills:
  • Self-starter
  • Knowledge of finance, economics, statistics
  • Critical-thinking skills
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Client interaction

Activities:
  • You will help the management team create valuation models based on income statements, balance sheets, and other financial information.
  • You will also create custom analysis, tables, and charts to be displayed in a professionally-drafted document
  • You will get the opportunity to value a real company, but you will also meet with and share in the ideas and experiences of other interns valuing other companies

Internship Structure/Timeline:
The program is designed to be 120 days. The first 30-60 days is focused on training and learning the systems. Days 60-90 you will begin specializing in either Financial Strategy or Operational Strategy type activities and, hopefully, take on leadership roles to begin training others how to do what you have learned so far. Days 90-120 you will begin taking on new and more challenging projects, picking up where other interns slack on basic projects, and ensuring new leaders are training others properly on common projects.

Career-related learning goals:
  • Learn 3 methods of valuing a business
  • Learn financial health metrics and how they affect other areas of the business
  • Learn to communicate value to a seller
  • Learn how to navigate sensitive topics affecting the value of a business
  • Learn to professionally present a valuation in a document

Supervision/Mentorship:
  • Intern will work directly with CEO who also has a MBA, which makes it possible for interns to get course credit
  • This internship is very flexible in that YOU dictate your experience. If you solely want to perform quantitative and technical work, you may do so. On the other hand, if you would like to write analyses, interact with clients, and gain leadership experience by training others, this is also an option. The CEO will help guide you along the way, but ultimately you are in control of your learning/internship experience, and there is a lot of data collected throughout your internship experience to help keep track of the goals YOU want to achieve.
  • Intern will be asked to perform work on real projects with real deadlines. The challenge will not be to complete projects within a deadline but rather to communicate the intern's inability to complete some or all of a project so that it can be completed by employees.
  • Intern will speak on the phone with the CEO once a week for 1 hour and more frequently if the intern is available. Communications will also be via email and Google docs
  • Each task will be recorded in a task list that will record a variety of metrics including time spent, time to complete, etc.
  • Flexible Time commitment aligned with intern's personal and professional needs. For each task, the intern is asked to self-assign a deadline. If that doesn't work for the Supervisor, it will be assigned to another intern or the Supervisor will perform the work. THE ONLY THING that the Supervisor desires is for the intern to communicate when he or she cannot meet a deadline with as much notice in advance of the deadline as possible.
  • Internship Duration is ongoing

Payment:  ($100 upon completion of the program is offered to ALL interns)

  • If the intern wants to get paid, they must have or intend to get a real estate license in order to get commission (you do not have to have a real estate license before you apply)
  • If the intern does not want to get a real estate license and or ALSO wants to get academic credit, we recommend that you speak with your academic advisor on this before submitting your application to our internship program.

Course Credit (optional, not required):
  • Many universities have an independent study program or courses to help accommodate course credit for internships
  • The "independent study" course is likely 1-4 units based on the number of hours expected inside and outside the class per week. For example, a 1 unit internship would mean a commitment of 1 hour meeting per week and 1 hour of work per week
  • You likely need to get a professor at your university to sponsor your independent study. The purpose of this professor will be to approve the internship scope, activities, and goals and to help ensure that you are meeting those goals and that employers are not taking advantage of your time. Many business professors would be happy to sponsor you if you come into a meeting with them with a proposal prepared. The CEO will be happy to help you design that proposal.
  • Some universities do not require a professor to sponsor you, but they may require the direct supervisor of the employer to have a Master's degree.
  • Our CEO has a MBA, which will satisfy that requirement. Our CEO also has experience in education, both in teaching and curriculum development, as well as in coaching, once formally for the Korean National Team as well as for high school and youth sports.
  • In the case of universities without this mechanism in place, unique considerations may have to be created, and the CEO is happy to speak with your career advisor about accommodating your schools systems and protocols to get you the credit you deserve.

FLSA Compliance Notice according to USDOL Factsheet #71

  1. The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa. THERE IS NO PROMISE OF COMPENSATION. IF YOU GET YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSE IT IS POSSIBLE TO NEGOTIATE A COMMISSION. HOWEVER, COMMISSION IS PERFORMANCE-BASED. YOU (AND WE) EARN MORE WHEN WE SELL AND YOU ( AND WE) MAKE ZERO IF WE DON'T SELL. PLEASE CALL TO DISCUSS GETTING YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSE
  2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions. THE PROGRAM IS HEAVILY WEIGHTED TOWARD LEARNING. 20% IS FOCUSED ON TRAINING OTHER INTERNS, EXPOSING INTERNS TO LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ONE WOULD NOT BE EXPOSED TO WITHOUT ACHIEVING DIRECTOR LEVEL ROLES IN A REAL WORLD WORK ENVIRONMENT. 40% IS FOCUSED ON REAL WORK, AND 40% IS TIME SPENT WITH ME FOCUSING ON THEIR LEARNING. ADDITIONALLY, AT LEAST 20% OF THEIR TIME IS SPENT WRITING ABOUT THE ACTIONS THEY PERFORMED. EVERY ACTION IS RECORDED IN INCREMENTS OF 30-60 MINUTES, AND EACH ACTION MUST HAVE A LEAST 200 CHARACTERS DESCRIBING WHAT THEY LEARNED. THIS DATA IS ANALYZED STRICTLY AND THOSE ACTIONS MERELY SUMMARIZING SUBACTIONS WILL NOT BE APPROVED. THE CEO HAS BOTH TEACHING AND COACHING EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS A MBA. IF YOU ESTABLISH A FORMAL INTERNSHIP FOR CREDIT, YOU WILL BE GIVEN A GRADE AS PRESCRIBED BY THE UNIQUE INSTRUCTIONS OF YOUR UNIVERSITY.
  3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit. THIS IS UP TO THE STUDENT TO ESTABLISH
  4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE, AND OUR PROGRAM CAN BE TIED TO IT OR ALLOW FOR THE FLEXIBILITY TO DO MORE OUTSIDE OF IT. WE CAN ALSO ACCOMMODATE LAST MINUTE AND EARLY STARTERS WHEREBY THOSE STARTING LATE (FOR EXAMPLE AT A UNIVERSITY REQUIRING 120 HOURS IN 15 WEEKS BUT STARTING IN WEEK 10, THE PROGRAM ALLOWS THE STUDENT TO KEEP TRACK OF ONGOING WEEKLY PERFORMANCE IN AN EFFORT TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL.
  5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE. THE PROGRAM IS 120 DAYS. HOWEVER, SOME INTERNS DECIDE TO STAY LONGER. THE PROGRAM IS ALSO ONLY A MINIMUM OF 5 HOURS PER WEEK UNLESS OTHERWISE PRESCRIBED BY THE UNIVERSITY OR OPT OR CPT STATUS REQUIREMENTS.
  6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. MORE THAN 50% OF ANYTHING CONTRIBUTED BY THE INTERN IS REDONE BY THE CEO. THE FOCUS OF THE INTERNSHIP IS ON 2 THINGS. FIRST, THE INDUSTRY OF BUSINESS BROKERING IS SO SMALL THAT IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO RECRUIT EXISTING BUSINESS BROKERS WHO LARGELY WORK INDEPENDENTLY. THEREFORE, THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IS A RECRUITING MECHANISM TO EXPOSE THE INTERNS TO A POTENTIAL FUTURE CAREER IN BUSINESS BROKERING AND THUS THE POSSIBILITY THAT IT MIGHT BE A SUITABLE FIT FOR THEM AND SPECIFICALLY VIA THE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CEO'S PROGRAM. THE SECOND MAJOR REASON IS THE LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS THAT THE CEO WANTS TO DEVELOP WITH GRADUATES WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN RETURNING TO THE CAREER IN THE FUTURE OR MAY SIMPLY BE A GOOD REFERRAL PARTNER IN COMPLIMENTARY CAREER PATHS
  7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship. THE INTERN IS NOT ENTITLED TO A JOB AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE INTERNSHIP. EVEN IF AN INTERN GETS A REAL ESTATE LICENSE, THEY MUST STILL INTERVIEW WITH THE CEO'S BROKER OR WITH A BROKER IN THE INTERN'S CHOSEN STATE OF LICENSURE


Universities Requiring Unique Disclaimers:

Florida Atlantic
If the student is interested in receiving academic credit, please contact the FAU Career Center. The FAU Career Center can provide advice on enrolling in the FAU Career Center's Professional Internship Course or will refer to the student's academic department if this is a better option.