Advice on Offers
Got 2 open offers and would really like some advice on possible exit opps or career opportunities that each may offer. One is for a regular FA position at (CBRE, JLL, C&W) however it is mainly just dealing with the overall firms finances, accounting etc. The pay is ass and is temp to hire (with the managers stressing they really want to hire whoever they bring on (me) but had to list the job like this for HR reasons. This also means I wouldn't get benefits for 6 months. The pay is horrible in a high COL area and would lose my current access to bene's so my pay would be even worse. The second offer is at a lesser known shop as a RE Valuation analyst (Altus Group) . Pay is better than the first and get bene's right away.
I try to network a lot and would ultimately like to end up in investment sales, acquisitions, or at an asset management shop. Is the opportunity to rub shoulders with the guys at the bigger name shops worth the pay cut and the loss of benefits for 6 months? Granted, I think being exposed to valuation right out of UG would offer better opportunities then just being a regular FA.
Was Currently studying for CFA level 1 before I got these RE offers as I wanted keep as many doors open as possible. Also open to going back for an MBA sometime down the road.
So, if I am following this correctly, you have one offer in the back office of large brokerage firm (i.e. the CBRE/JLL/CW), and this is true back office finance stuff, not part of an actual deal/service team. And another offer with Altus Group as an RE Valuation analyst, i.e. a true job in real estate services.
Even before pay and benefits are factored (or uncertainty of temp-to-hire, especially given that the firm is doing that because it laid off the last person, most likely).....
I see this as a no brainer (assuming you want a real estate career and not corp finance), take the RE valuation analyst job. That is a real legit job in commercial real estate services. You will be learning very valuable skills for the institutional RE world, and likely doing work for the exact you want to work for on the buyside. Those are great positions for entry into the industry. Seriously, I cannot see a single legit point in favor of the other job.
Yes when you describe it like that I do sound like an idiot for even questioning. I was just thinking twice about the name of the 2 brands. Thank you so much redever!
I wouldn’t be so concerned with the names here...most in the industry know know Altus and know that they created Argus.
Happy to help, this type of question is one of the best uses of WSO!
Also, I can't imagine why you would be concerned with the "brand" of Altus Group, they are literally at the upper top tier of that space. Beyond everyone knowing them for Argus, the valuation group pretty much serves some of the biggest names in institutional, including all those who are worshiped on WSO.
So your clients could literally be Blackstone, CBRE GI, etc. If you want to engineer a move to buyside, you would be as well positioned as anyone.
Take the Altus role. It’s valuations. You’ll be easily able to transition in 1-2 years to whatever you want. I’ve seen many people leave Altus for equity acquisitions or asset management roles as well as debt investing roles. It’s a very well known name in real estate. I actually wouldn’t consider them tier 2. They are probably tier 1. They work with tons of large institutions for quarterly valuations and you’ll learn a lot about how institutions value deals. It’ll be a great role! Good luck!
I 100% disagree with all answer here.
Your best bet is to take the Offer from a larger company assuming the pay is similar... If the pay is 30% larger go with smaller company..... Otherwise stick with the larger one...
Think about CEOs of companies like Bank of America? Do you think their previous jobs were working at rinky-dink small companies? Obviously not.
I used to recruit engineers so obviously I know who gets hired and who doesn't.
Let's say you worked at Google before... Would Facebook, Amazon or Tesla hire you? 95% chance they would... Now if you worked at Yelp before (no disrespect to Yelp) what would your odds of being hired be? Maybe 2%?
You clearly have not heard of Altus Group.
Regardless, for your proposition to be true, I think the jobs would have to be equal. The OP literally posted a back office temp role vs. front line real estate job. Might as well compare apples to orangutans. Still, my career was 100% in reverse of that, meaning I started at literal no name (and no longer exists, thank you 08 GFC), and just "leveled" up in size factor successively. Lot's of paths work well in the real estate world, can't speak to others, but I'd bet money that a kick ass person from Yelp could get a job.
No way. I used to place engineers to work at Intel and Microsoft. Ask any managers there the probability of them hiring someone from Yelp versus Google. They would say that ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL there's a 15 times chance they would pass on the Yelp worker if the choice was between Yelp and Google.
Also... You are saying "a kick ass worker." Is the person posting this a kick ass worker? No they're entry level.
When I recruited engineers we only recruited senior level guys making top dollar like $150 to $350 per hour plus perks. And since the engineers were making that much per hour, that means my company was billing like double that.
So you just seem to want to talk about blacklists. I agree knowing a possible blacklist may be helpful, but how are you providing a visible plan of someone actually getting hired?
The person can also read business books. I learned a lot from Bloomberg by Bloomberg, and Joe Girard books. Joe Girard did hold sales world records. So every good business person should have sales/networking skills. Whether your a doctor, lawyer, stock trader, painter, museum director, etc. People can make bank in multiple sectors.
Altus is a great brand name. If you’re not familiar with them then either study up or get out of the RE forum.
You have no idea what you’re talking about, real estate is a different beast
I'm not sure if you are being serious or just trolling. But if you are commenting seriously, then your logical reasoning skills is so poor that I'm rather surprised that these larger companies allow you to handle recruiting efforts for them. First off, as you stated yourself you
"used to place engineers....They would say that ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL there's a 15 times chance they would pass on the Yelp worker if the choice was between Yelp and Google"
Do you notice that in your own statement you are comparing engineers of Yelp to engineers of Google? The key difference in your argument is that you are comparing engineers to engineers...they both have the engineering knowledge for the job. In OP's case, the FA job (although at a large brokerage shop) does NOT provide him with the relevant skills...what if the role was working as a janitor for CBRE? Would you still advocate that he take the job over Altus because of the brand name?? OP's goal is to work in acquisitions/asset management/investment sales one day...Employers for one of these positions couldn't care less about the brand name of the firm if OP doesnt have the skills needed to do the job. This is common sense...
Second, it is well known in the real estate industry that brand name/prestige matters WAY less than other subsectors of finance such as IB/PE/etc..what matters the most is the ability to do the job. If you're not familiar with the real estate industry, then you really shouldn't be providing advice to people who rely on this website for career advice..so as The_Muffin_Man said...gtfo.
In response to OP's post, as others have already voiced, take the Altus job. It's a no brainer. Valuations gets overlooked or looked down a lot because its not as "sexy" as acquisitions. But in reality, it is a great place to start a career in real estate because you really learn how to analyze markets and value property, which you will be doing in acquisitions/asset manage/IS all the time. Also, you might not want to name drop the specific firm on here. It would be easy for someone who works at Altus to identify you if they read this thread
Altus is a great brand name in real estate and many many institutional people in the industry know it. You’re on the real estate forum talking about tech - it’s not apples to apples. What you’re saying for tech may be the case, but I have no clue as I don’t work in tech. Similarly, real estate cares much less about where you worked prior. It’s your network.
Taking it a step further, if the OP works for Altus, he/she can probably transition the job to a client of Altus’. Which, if you were in the industry, you would probably know is a significant number of institutions. AKA, the Altus job will set OP up to move easily.
Which company of the two is larger? Based on my argument.. Which company would I be routing for? Meaning which has a bigger market cap?
Also no one answered the question in regards to pay... If it was a huge company making 50k per year or a small company making 150k per year then obviously I would go for the small company... Why is everyone leaving out the details ????
So, I'm working with the idea that you are at least somewhat genuine in your intentions. What everyone is pointing out the the OP got an offer for being in a true real estate front line, as a RE valuations analyst for what is easily one of the most top tier boutique shops in the industry. The other position is not a real estate job at all, it is back office corporate finance, via a temp deal, for what is probably the largest RE firm in the world, CBRE.
So, to follow your logic. You would be recommending the OP take a job as a greeter at Walmart vs. a Sales Associate at Louis Vutton.... because.... Walmart is bigger. Even in your tech example, you are advocating for someone taking an office assistant job at a bigger firm vs. an engineering firm at a smaller firm. I'm guessing that an Engineer from Yelp stands a better chance of getting a job at Google (as an engineer) than an office assistant from Microsoft.
Thus, you are getting the comments because you do not realize the profound difference in the jobs being offered. Further, your experience in the engineering world does not translate very well to real estate/finance, very different contexts.
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