Need some advice on breaking into REPE
Hello everyone,
I’m an undergrad senior from a non-target school, majoring in engineering with a GPA of 3.4/4.0.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- 1 internship at a small private equity firm
- 1 venture capital internship
- 1 real estate project (placed in the top 10% of a case competition)
I know I’m a super late and went non target but I really want to work at places like Blackstone, Walton Street, Stockbridge, Ares, Rockpoint, Eastdil Secured, or REIB etc.
Do you have any advice?
I’m also an international student currently in the process of obtaining a green card.
Right now, I’m targeting some real estate firms and consulting firms.
I’m considering working for a year at a random industry firm and then pursuing a Master’s in Real Estate at Cornell or a Master’s in Finance at UChicago.
Alternatively, should I aim for an MBA (after 3-5 years of experience) and then go into REIB and transitioning to PE firms?
However, I’ve heard that some firms don’t prefer candidates with an MBA background because they may not have enough real estate-specific knowledge.
If you were in my position, what would you do?
I’d really appreciate any advice you have!
Two things: 1 - if you don't land one at the majors, take a small and growing REPE firm, but it's essential you audit the team and shop. 2 - what you want now will not be what you want after a year in the field.
I started at a small shop out of college, and got incredibly lucky with the team and their direction - they were very smart and still young and hungry, so I got put on projects that no one else out of college works on. I stayed a few years and jumped to a global investor for double the money, but if you'd asked me out of college I'd have wanted to do BX or GS too. The people I know that went to those shops got chained to a desk for 3 years and even now work 50% more than I do for the same pay. Plus, if you want to do a MSRE or MBA you'll have more impactful experience to list and time to work on extracurriculars/the GMAT.
You can always jump to a bigger shop because they're machines, but the flexibility and responsibility of a very good small shop is pretty unbeatable.
Your academic year just started, so the upshot is you have a full year to network. I don't know how the big boys recruit, but if they still have some window open you should start cold calling/reaching out on LinkedIn with people who work in the area/office you want to work and getting coffees with them. There are countless other threads on WSO that discuss how to network, read those too. You probably won't get something with the firms you mentioned, simply because of the numbers, they are limited seats and every undergrad Tom, Dick and Harry who has a hard on for real estate looks to get a job there.
That being said, keep up the networking with people outside those firms, too, and you'll have a better chance of landing something. Luckily you're coming in right as interest rates are dropping so things might be picking up by the time you graduate. Smaller firms don't typically plan our hiring 6+ months in advance, so you might be jobless until like two weeks before graduation, it's just how real estate operates. Just keep your head down, practice your modeling and interviewing, read up on the industry, network network network, and you'll be OK.
If you do get a job in real estate, don't get an MBA or Masters unless it's absolutely necessary. 95% of the time you can just find lateral roles. If you land a seat with serious underwriting skills you'll be able to hop around for your early career. Debt, equity, development, it's all the same fundamentals. I'd only consider the MBA route if you seriously cannot find anything related to real estate and you really do want to break in. I'm speaking from experience here, I did engineering in my undergrad and worked in construction after school, there was zero chance of developers looking to hire me because I had zero finance experience, I tried. So I went the MBA route and it worked out, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you really need a major transition in your career or have $200k to spend on a really good time (honestly, it was a blast).
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