How to Get a Job in Real Estate in Victoria

Victoria’s real estate industry is not short of people who want to enter it. It is short of people who enter it prepared. The ones who land roles quickly — and keep them — are those who treated getting the job with the same seriousness they plan to bring to doing it.

This guide walks you through every stage of the process, from understanding what the industry actually involves to making yourself genuinely compelling to the agencies you want to work for.

01 · Know what you’re actually getting into

Real estate has a reputation problem — not because the career is bad, but because the version of it that most people imagine before entering bears little resemblance to the daily reality. Before you invest time and money into qualification and job-seeking, spend some time getting honest about what the role involves.

Victorian residential real estate means weekends are your busiest days, not your days off. Auction Saturdays are not optional. Evening appointments are standard. Income in your first year is almost entirely commission-based, which means the gap between effort and payment can be several months wide. You will face rejection regularly — from vendors who choose another agent, from buyers who disappear, from listings that do not sell. Emotional resilience is not a soft skill in this industry. It is a core requirement.

It also means working with people through some of the most financially and emotionally significant decisions of their lives. That is genuinely meaningful work.

02 · Get your qualification: the CPP41419

In Victoria, the Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice is the qualification that meets the educational requirement to be employed as an Agent’s Representative. Completing it lets you apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria for registration, pass a national police check, and begin work.

The qualification is nationally recognised, which means the certificate is the same wherever you study it. What differs is the experience of getting there, and how prepared you are when you arrive.

03 · Choose your first agency carefully

Your first agency shapes your first two years more than any other decision you make. Look at who is training the new people, how long the last three juniors stayed, and whether the principal is present in the office or absent from it.

A well-known brand with no mentoring is worth less than a small office where someone senior will sit with you.

04 · Build your personal brand before you apply

Local visibility matters. Principals hire people who already look like they belong in the suburb. Know the streets, know the recent sales, know which agencies dominate which pockets. Turn up to opens. Introduce yourself.

05 · Approach agencies the right way

Most junior roles in Victorian real estate are never advertised. They are filled by someone the principal has already met. That means the direct, specific, well-timed approach beats the polished application sent to a job board.

When roles do get advertised, they appear on the major job boards, on agency websites, and increasingly through industry networks and word of mouth.

06 · Ace the interview

Expect to be asked why real estate, why this agency, and what you understand about the work. Have specific answers. Then ask your own questions — about training, about who you will report to, about how commission is structured. The candidates who ask good questions are the ones who look like they intend to stay.

07 · Set yourself up to succeed from day one

Real estate in Victoria is a relationship industry at every level. The professional network you build in your first two years will pay dividends for the next twenty.

Getting into real estate in Victoria is not complicated, but it is not passive. The qualification exists. The agencies are hiring. The opportunity is real. What separates the candidates who land roles from those who do not is almost always preparation — knowing the industry, knowing the qualification pathway, and approaching agencies with the same professionalism and specificity they will expect from you on day one.

Your first year is not about making money. It is about learning the craft from people who have already mastered it.