Hey everyone, I have heard that big capital markets shops "promise their young analysts that they will become a broker one day" but that's really somewhat of a lie unless you have an inside track. Is this true? Does anyone have direct experience moving from analyst to broker and what was that process like?
If I do want to become a producer one day, what's the best route to take?
| +52 | Leave brokerage to be GP | 12 | 1d | |
| +46 | New Comp Database - Google Form (Now with Data Validation) | 24 | 1d | |
| +24 | Seeking Career Guidance in Real Estate Development Post-Graduation | 3 | 3d | |
| +23 | Going out on your own | 4 | 2d | |
| +23 | Spreads over SOFR/UST | 5 | 14h | |
| +22 | REPE/Development GPA | 15 | 4d | |
| +21 | Real Estate = complicated + underpaid | 15 | 2d | |
| +18 | High achiever that doesn’t want to work weekends | 11 | 2s | |
| +17 | MSRE/MSRED with no RE experience; Naive to think I’ll land a job afterwards? | 4 | 6d | |
| +17 | Fisher Brothers | 6 | 2d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Figure out how to bring in and originate business. You’ll become a broker. I don’t mean to be snippy, but that’s literally it. If you are an analyst, get the promotion to associate. Then start asking how to get to VP. And the response will be, we will write you up on these tickets (if you do a good job) but you need to figure out how to bring home the business. Otherwise, you won’t become a producer.
Best person to ask would be your team lead on what you can work on to best position yourself for the promotion. In my experience I was getting pushed to get licensed and make the switch as this frees up the senior producers to work on larger mandates and you can take care of the smaller deals that they don’t necessarily want to work on. Over time, you will be given more responsibility and you’ll build a client list thereby growing the team’s book.
Before any of this can happen you will likely have to remain an analyst for a couple years to give your team comfort in sending you out to speak to client’s, as they don’t want to risk the team looking bad if you aren’t ready for it.
Thanks for the insight, I'll be interning this summer so just trying to figure out the landscape.
Brokerage isn't an industry where people are going to just hand it to you. Leverage the mentorship of your team lead and be aggressive in asking for guidance, expressing interest in production roles, networking, etc.
Definitely depends on what company/team you're with, but if you're a dedicated analyst to a specific brokerage team and churning through work for them, I feel like you're a shoe-in to be a producer.
From my experience, I hit the 2-year mark and was told to become a broker or lateral to a principal shop. I went principal but showing you can dig up leads is crucial should you want to be a broker long term.
What made you ultimately jump to the principal side?
My experiences dealing with brokers from a principal side perspective have led me to never ever want to work in that part of this industry because it's full of some of the most narcissistic, dumb, self promoting dumpster fire human beings.
And no other part of the finance world has those types of people, right?
Got any stories to share? I’ve had good experiences dealing with brokers so far (4.5 years in so that might change as I get seniority)
delete
If you’re a good analyst asking your team how to be a broker, they are not incentivized to lose a good analyst for someone who needs to be handheld into a producer role. If you’re a bad analyst, you won’t last on the team.
Therefore, be a good analyst. Don’t ask how to be a broker. Be a broker. How do you be a broker? Go get business. Business is real clients. Bring a listing, a deal, relationships ready to execute. That’s how you become a broker. If you don’t proactively do this and insist on becoming a broker, because you naturally are already operating as one…you will remain a valued analyst.
It’s really that simple. Any other efforts/conversations are a waste of your time, and your teams time.
Go get clients, bring in deals and negotiate a 50/50 split. Learn the ropes, do all the work.
Hope the message is cemented ;)
Hunt and Eat what you kill.
Quia nemo facilis id sit. Accusantium quasi eveniet et expedita velit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...