RE 2026 FT

Couldn't find a thread so figured I'd start one. Looking for NYC, SF, Chicago. Would love to hear advice from people who recruited for FT, what to expect, and any spots with openings. Looking to work in acquisitions, development, banking(doesn't have to be IB), AM, or brokerage.

49 Comments
 

Will start to see more post return offers from this summer. But don’t expect analyst class sizes to increase as much.

 

I’ve seen in other threads that firms will open up later this month until the end of October. But I’m wondering if that fails… how common is it to get a full time offer in CRE post Christmas? Also, how much does networking help? Do you need to ask for direct referrals or is it just good to get your name out there? Also, some other general advice on how to attack this recruiting would be great too!

 

I graduated May 2024, I got my job offer post graduation. It wasn’t exactly what I was wanting to do, but it was in CRE. Actually got another offer doing CRE research around that time too. If you get to 2026 without an offer, you just need to lower your expectations and expand your scope but you’re not completely screwed

 

Pretty sure Eastdil apps drop in September, while CBRE and C&W don’t recruit until the spring (entirely ad-hoc). Not sure about JLL, could be earlier like Eastdil given their “Investment Banking structure”.

 

Also, is anyone getting return offers? Haven’t heard many real estate success stories from people I talked to. I had a pretty informal program but we still had 8 or so interns.

 

Hate to say it, but I think it’s only going to get 10x more competitive in the coming years as AI replaces and limits the need for as many analysts. This goes for all investment industries imo. Some companies are already starting to notice this. If you can’t land a return offer from where you intern, it’s gonna be extremely difficult to find a role. Best bet is asset management (ton of open roles that pay solid $), maybe capital markets… acquisition and debt origination are extremely competitive, like it has been for years, at literally every company, whether you’ve heard of them or not. And development, well, limited opportunities and been boring. Although, with rates coming down soon, we might finally start to see more deals pencil and a pick up in job postings.

 

Just my two cents, take it or leave it. I haven't seen, and do not expect to see, an example of swapping Analysts entirely out for AI in CRE, but I have heard from institutional leaders about a lesser marginal need for more Analysts given how productive good Analysts already are with AI. And given how relatively inflexible corporate payroll/G&A is for real estate investment businesses that are boxed out of doing deals and just trying to stay alive, we should expect demand for entry level Analysts to remain relatively flat until the macro meaningfully returns in favor of real estate proformas. If I was recruiting for entry level CRE Analyst roles, I would try to become the most knowledgeable person I can about driving AI efficiencies within a deal team and be the junior guy that everybody wants to talk to about the cutting edge/frontier of AI. I would also look at getting my foot in the door at a special servicer as you can learn as much as you want to given the information you have access to, and they will be extremely busy for at least the next 2-3 years. Or go to a grad school with a good track record for CRE job placement.

The reason I am optimistic that Analyst recruiting will pick up meaningfully during the next cycle is because A LOT of my network working in the institutional CRE grind are being passed over for promotions due to a lack of deal experience and forward pipeline. They've been stuck in a Associate/Senior Associate/ Sub-VP role for a while, and the gritty ones are going to wait it out, others will go to grad school or hop industries. Once that mid to late 20 year old cohort gets bumped up during the next deal cycle, or they leave before it happens, every VP will start scratching their head wondering where they can find more Analysts that can make their lives easier. It probably won't happen all at the same time (brokerage is usually the first subsector to open recruiting).

Good luck out there monkeys and feel free to PM to talk anything through.

 

What are people’s favorite sites for finding entry-level jobs? I’ve so far been using only Handshake and LinkedIn.

 

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