Long story short, I am about 70% sure (and growing) that I am going to quit my job in March (after bonus is paid out) without anything lined up. I will be applying, interviewing, and networking for the next few months of course, but I feel like I have to come to a point at my current firm that I am moving backwards.
Context as to why I feel like I'm moving backwards by staying:
First is firm related. It is a family office and we have basically turned into a preservation of family assets rather than investing in new opportunities. This looks like only working on dispositions, financings, and other ad hoc projects. I find it quite boring and I'm 99% sure that we will never acquire another asset again. I am learning 0 hard skills and very little soft skills in these negotiations. I also typically only get brought it for small parts of these projects and am not allowed to own anything.
The second reason is more personal related. I get no satisfaction out of any of these projects and they don't mean anything. One person benefits (sure we have jobs because of it) but there is very little or no benefit to society or the communities. I might be dreaming that there's a job out there that pays well and gives me immense satisfaction, but I feel like I have to at least do my part and look for it.
A few weeks ago I had the thought that I wished my firm would fire me in March. That's when I knew I needed to quit and was simply scared of the social repercussions of that.
Would love to get any thoughts and/or advice from y'all!
Consider staying until you secure a new role, as the market is particularly challenging for mid to senior-level professionals right now. However, there are more opportunities for analysts and associates, so the situation might differ depending on your level.
That said, if staying in your current role is causing significant psychological harm, your health should take priority over financial considerations. If it hasn’t reached that point, it’s best to hold on until you find a new position.
Remember: A healthy person may have many concerns, but someone facing health issues has only one.
Thanks for the comment. It's definitely not causing any psychological harm, more like I feel as though I am wasting time and potential by staying. Might be a little bit of the "burn the boats" fallacy? Where I think forcing myself to make this move will make me progress and really figure out what I want to do.
Another part of what I call my "mid-20's career life crisis" is that I am not even sure I want to work in real estate or be staring at a computer screen for 12 hours a day.
Some confusion as you can see haha. I go back and forth from "I am only in my mid twenties; I have so much time to figure this out!" to "I am not getting younger and have the least amount of responsibility and have the most time I will ever have; so do it now!"
if you are prepared for consequences, I’d do it man
Just know it may be hard to break in (or maybe not- idk ur credentials or connections) again
So yeah IMO if you have some savings to keep you afloat, it’s not worth being miserable. When I switched jobs I was so much happier and haven’t looked back. Prior role wasn’t even brutal hours or anything just felt incredibly soul sucking.
Completely can relate to this daily dilemma- the later always triumphs as I remind myself to not have any regrets as our time in this life is uncertain
If I were you, I wound hang on. My position is not only a wasting of time, I was chained at the computer 8 hours a day, not even knowing whether it is sunny or rainy outside. I still need to hang on until I could pivot my career.
Unless you have a bulletproof resume I wouldn’t quit. Know plenty of people who have been trying for about a year to land something and keep losing out (associate/sr associate level)
Don't quit. You never know what people think e.g. did you get fired?
I've thought about that and do have some concern with answering that question. My thinking is the explanation of I decided to quit and take off (~6?) months of work to find out what I really want to do could be desirable to a future employer since it would be a much more conscious decision on my end to go that route.
I'm sorry to be this brusque. No future employer would think that.
I was in the exact same situation as you. I started at a syndication shop that was essentially a family office. First 18 months (late ‘20 to mid ‘22) we closed 30+ acquisitions when rates were 0% and LP equity was easy to raise. Final 18months we closed 2 acquisitions when ZIRP ended and investor sentiment fell.
once we stopped being busy, I realized that the firm was simply a family office and there was really no work to be done other than underwrite deals we could never buy or do as-hoc asset management projects. Kind of last minute, I decided to pursue a T20 MBA in my state as a way to explore other industries in my first year of the program (planning to intern at a tech VC shop or maybe industrials PE firm during spring and fall of next year while doing an IB internship in the summer, idea is that I can explore other industries without any real strings attached and then pick either of those paths to take following the MBA or re-recruit back into real estate during my 2nd year.) It’s still TBD if this was the right move due to tuition costs and opportunity cost of not working, but I at least feel like I’m moving forward in my life again.
All of that to say; if you’re in a similar spot as I was then you have a ton of free time to:
1. Network around and see who is looking for people, or at least start connections that could reach out when they ultimately do need someone and
2. You have a lot of time to do some learning outside of work.
i wanted to quit too, I wouldn’t advise doing so as the above commenter said. You have no idea how long you’ll be unemployed for as the job market is not strong at all. I still have a friend at the firm that wants to leave but is staying put until things pick up again.
I have definitely thought about going the MBA route to make a career pivot or simply get additional experience and time to figure out what it is I really want to do. My issue is that I don't want to leave the state I currently live in (big support system of family and friends) but there is no T20 MBA school here.
Don't quit until you have another role lined up.
Are the hours / pay at least solid? I would love a chill and boring job that pays ok
Hours are pretty good. I average about 45 hours a week and about half of that time is just total BS. Total comp of $120k in MCOL so its fine I guess? But I only see the standard 3% raises, if that, from here on out even if there was a title promotion.
In theory it does sound nice to have a good paying job that is chill. I think the "chill" aspect of my job has just morphed into me realizing I am wasting my time here without gaining any new skills or getting any satisfaction out of my projects.
I get that the hours and chill aspect of my job is great, but my real concern is this feeling of wasting my time in my mid 20's by not gaining valuable skills and having zero interest in any of the projects my firm works on.
That latter point might be very Gen Z of me, but imagining working here for the next 40 years sounds like hell on earth to be honest.
I think the point here is that you have an astronomical amount of time for recruiting at your leisure. So you want to jump ship? Fine, you have 20 hours free per week OF PAID WORK TIME to make this happen. Why would you quit, burn savings and add stress to your uncertainty to recruit when you have the opportunity to do it while getting paid? I had no time when I was an analyst, including when I also pivoted industries early in my career which was scary and hard. You are blessed with a ton of free time for your age to figure out your life and are complaining. Perspective is important. You're in a good position, use it.
Second this. Working 45 hours a week, clipping over 100K, and living in a MCOL city..... no offense but unless you're feeling depression, go take a cold shower and then ask yourself why you're considering that. Quitting your job without a solid reason doesn't make you eligible for unemployment. This job isn't permanent and you're not going to stay there for 20 years and honestly if you do from the sounds of your current situation it doesn't sound like the worst outcome. You can fulfill your life in other ways at the end of the day that could morph into a new path for you later but right now you're in a good place? Instead of the 20 year scenario, imagine this one, you quit your job without grounds that allow you to collect unemployment, something happens that tanks the job market, and in 1 year you have made no ground whatsoever and are unemployed, without unemployment benefits, for 6 months longer than you expected with no improvement in sight. That is a legitimate scenario to think about if you want to start framing this from the tail ends of probable outcomes (i.e. 20 years without gaining any new job skills...)
You have time to study, interview, and even socialize. Buy the ACRE class with the disposable income you have, join local ULI and get into their mentorship groups (you should do this or NAIOP regardless, truthfully), check if your local university has extension classes on negotiation, public speaking, start reaching out to people (cold email, cold linkedin) to network from the perspective that you're early career and exploring potential career routes and it'd be great to learn more about them and their career because it interests you, etc..
This job isn't permanent and your weekly hours at it do not control your agency to make decisions to build your skillset in other ways or find a new job. Even if you were late 20s you have time to do that. If you make a decision to do something and that ACRE course or ULI group was good but not the silver bullet, fine, make another decision. The important thing to start making those decisions and get things moving, over time, that'll compound and you'll be better for it.
This might be blunt but this is the blunt constructive advice I would go back and tell myself in that situation. People sympathize with you, trust me. But many people in their mid 20s have truly no idea how many of their contemporaries might be experiencing something similar because 1) some are still on their "path" and won't have a similar "20s crisis" until that's closer to the end and 2) at that age, many wouldn't want to share it because of the instagram "awesome life" culture.
What you're going through internally is so common, and won't be the last time you have a feeling of "is this what I want to do for the rest of my life", but your emergency eject cord option is in case of very real emergencies only. Don't choose it as the path of least resistance.
Thanks for advice, sincerely appreciate it! I do think I have come back down to earth a bit and am recognizing that quitting would be a rash and potentially very bad decision.
I think I was so tied up in having to make a decision ASAP that it felt like it had to be a huge decision i.e., quitting my job. I think that mindset of making continual decisions, albeit much smaller like joining a local ULI group, is very insightful.
As someone who has about 15 years on you in the industry, absolutely do not quit. You'd be very dumb to quit. Yes, you may feel like you're not moving forward but you're in your mid-20s, making six figures, and only putting in around 25 real hours of a work a week. Not sure you understand how good you have it. You easily have enough time on the side to network, look for new opportunities, and explore your options while still getting a paycheck. If you quit, in this economy, you could go a lot longer than 6 months without a new role and the wider the gap that gets, the more employers are going to scrutinize it. Now if none of this is of concern to you because you have a trust fund or a ton of money in the bank, then disregard.
But everyone wants that ideal job where they get immense satisfaction from their work while making excellent money. High paying jobs usually come with long hours and the pressure and expectation of finding workable deals and being responsible for the prudent deployment of other people's hard earned money. One error and you can be out on the street. But that is how people derive satisfaction in this industry - being the one getting deals done and those deals being successful.
Thanks for the insight. Definitely not coming from trust fund money and could probably only survive 2 years off savings, mostly due to a low cost lifestyle.
People think I'm crazy for saying this but I WANT to work more hours. At my prior firm I worked ~20 more hours than I currently do but I really enjoyed the work I was doing that it didn't feel that bad.
I just think that in my mid 20's is when I'll have the most time to dedicate to work and gain skills without much family responsibility and I want to take advantage of that, at least for the next 3-5 years.
Don't trick yourself into the notion that having no job will make you more hungry or something and find a better job.
Hah I definitely thought that a little bit. Partly because I could survive a little while on savings which would give me time to not force myself to make a rash decision.
Candidly, you sound entitled and naive. If you’re unhappy bust your ass networking to find something else. Quitting would be self-sabotage. Work isn’t supposed to be super rewarding at age 25 - you don’t know anything.
Of course I'm naive, I'm in my mid 20's which is why I was asking for advice? Calling me entitled because I'm going through a bit of a crisis seems like a petty insecure insult based on nothing.
As someone who quit in a similar boat to you, without anything lined up, I’d figure out what exactly you want to do first. Do you want to find a new role or do you want to take some time for yourself to travel, reconnect with family and or figure out what it is your passionate about? If you want to do the former, find a job before quitting. If you want to do the latter, don’t hesitate with quitting after bonus is paid. After sometime without the monotony of day to day working you’ll be able to figure out with better clarity what exactly it is you want to do. It could be working for a social/affordable housing developer, it could be working in hospitality or it could be completely outside of real estate.
Get an offer before you quit - especially if your work doesn't take too much time. Job hunting is like dating—you’re way more attractive when you’re already taken.
I think it's mostly a question of pride. If they pay you well and support you, why would you want to leave unless you feel proud enough to burden yourself with finding a new job without anything lined up?
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