$10B+ AUM Acquisition Role vs. Institutional Investment Sales Analyst Role Direct From Undergrad
Need help in deciding between the following scenarios direct from UG:
- Acquisition role at a shop that owns $10B+ AUM and continues to raise and deploy capital every 2-3 years, ranging from $1-1.5B per fund
- Average deal size is $70M - $100M+ with a main focus on office and multi investments across the U.S.
- Institutional investment sales analyst role (not Eastdil) with a team that is number 1 in the league tables specializing in mainly one product type
- Think CB/JLL/HFF/CW for office/multi/hotel in one major market (NYC/SF/LA)
Which path would you take and why?
Congrats, both jobs sound great. However, the acquisitions role sounds like the exit opp for the investment sales analyst role (brokerage can be a grind and there are often caps on upward mobility).
What do you want to be doing in five years?
Hey, thanks for your response. I could see myself moving up with the team to help source institutional type deals (they never run out of these "large" deals) over building relationships with other brokers to find deals to invest in. Although I think both of these senior type roles may take at least 7-10+ years to cultivate.
Call me crazy; my answer is definitely more contrarian.
Buy side, 100%
Acq role 100% and you shouldn't think twice. JLL/CB/HFF are all sell-side stuff and buy side is the end goal
Would moving up to a number 3 or 4 on a team similar to a Spies/Harmon/Darcy/Bill not be as lucrative as in acq.?
You can essentially always move from the buy side to the sell side but not the other way around. That's how the industry works, unfortunately. Moving from UG, I would personally take the option that provides me the widest career ops which is the buy side
So first off-ignore every comment of people telling you what the end goal is. You need to think about what your end goal is! And if you try one of the two and don’t like it, you can always switch. Sit down and think about what you think you’ll enjoy more and which team you think you’ll fit better into the culture and lifestyle. Try that role (assuming you’re excited about it because if you don’t like it, you won’t be good at it). And give it 12-24 months. If you don’t like it, look for a new role with something you think you’ll enjoy.
My experience is, yes I agree, BUT i've know people with less than $10Bn AUM fund experience get into JLL/C&W/CBRE brokerage/IS. It is much easier to get into brokerage, and much harder to switch into MEGA Repe, or whatever.
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