Only five percent of REALTORS® stated that real estate was their first career in the 2018 Member Profile. Most commonly, members held previous full-time careers in management/business/financial sector (16 percent), and sales/retail (16 percent). Respondents are able to select from a list of options that best represents their previous career. For 19 percent of REALTORS®, they felt that their previous career fell into the “other” category. By taking a deeper look into this category, we can determine some of the unique and noteworthy previous careers of our members.
- Respondents of the “other” category are able to describe their previous career. The top previous careers included:
- business owner/entrepreneur
- finance/banking/accounting
- restaurant industry
- sales
- insurance
- marketing
- entertainment
- airline/aviation industry
- real estate related
- human resources
- Some of the more unique previous careers included:
- actor/actress
- choreographer
- equine therapist
- fashion designer
- firefighter
- mayor
- professional golfer
- polygraph examiner
- hospital chaplain
- seismic processor
- jet broker
Thanks to Research intern, Bronwen Leibe, for categorizing the responses from the "other" previous careers category.