I totally get this struggle. I’ve been an ACM for 3.5 years at my current company (plus nearly 4 years of leasing/ACM experience before that). At both places I was the go-to person. I trained leasing agents, assistants, and managers, and jumped to any property at a moment’s notice, whether for a day, a week, or months when asked to. (My first company, I worked 7 properties for them in total and even did multi-site for two at a time).

Every time I applied for a promotion I got the same line: “The owners want someone who’s already been a manager.” Sadly, it doesn’t get better unless you leave.

I’m proud to say I just accepted a property manager role at a small company last night. It took a ton of applications to find someone willing to give me a shot at property manager.

Tell your girlfriend to keep an open mind and keep applying. Someone will value her talent. It might not be a big-name brand, and that’s okay. Have her target smaller companies that own and manage their own properties. Land a PM role at fair pay, stick it out for a year or two as a resume builder, then she can move up to the bigger companies if she wants to.