Career Path - Development or Investments/Acquisitions
Hi all,
I recently graduated from a top-business school in Canada, and have final round interviews next week with two companies. I believe I have a pretty good shot at getting offers from both (as the final rounds will both be my 4th interviews with the companies, and the HR Representatives have told me that the execs really like me).
The developer has been known to dominate one of Toronto’s suburbs for the past 60 years. The team is extremely lean (4 people). The development skill-set that I will receive from this firm will be exceptional.
The asset manager is one of the fastest growing institutional investors in Canada. It has recently been involved in JV’s with some of the the largest REPE’s firm in the world. The deal volume coming out of this shop is huge, and this is an investments/acquisitions role.
Both will provide a fantastic foundation, however, the experience that both provide will be completely different. I don’t know much about “typical career paths”, as the only information I have is from coffee chatting with brokerages and stalking people on LinkedIn.
If you could recommend which you would accept, and what a career path afterwards would be, I’d really appreciate it.
Best,
Dominic
Hi Toronto CRE Mandem, any of these discussions helpful:
Hope that helps.
My experience is limited, but what I've heard from people with more experience than me is that it isn't fun to be the low man on the totem pole in development, and that a better career would be going into development at a later stage i.e after working in acquisitions. Someone in development can probably speak to this better than me
full transparency, I'm a developer...but I would take the dev position every time. IMO young, experienced and qualified development professionals are much, much fewer and far between than young asset management/acquisitions guys. Typical development path is to do something else for a number of years (construction, banking, PE, whatever) before making the transition. take advantage of the opportunity to jump onto the development side early and it could help you get you a senior position feasibly in you late 20s early 30s if you stick with it.
Also, you will learn way more on a 4 person development team than on a big asset management team. my first development job was similar in terms of team structure and i learned more there than any job in my career.
How did you make the transition? I am pretty set on some grad school (I have read every thread here on MSRED vs MBA). I have heard the advice to jump sooner rather than later. Does this mean going in soon for Development Analyst rather than garner experience, MSRED/ MBA -> Development Associate/ Manager?
I was in brokerage, and transitioned while pursuing an MRED at night-school. I also obtained Argus and GETREFM certifications before starting that job hunt to show I was serious about addressing the largest holes in my skill set.
IMO, if you can get a development job at a reputable shop early, grad school is completely unnecessary. They are among the hardest jobs to get, and once you build up a few years of experience, that skill set will be attractive enough that you do not need the advanced degree. The two exceptions to that, in my mind, are if you get into a top 5 program, or if you want the MBA to serve as a credential for starting your own business down the road. Just my personal opinion.
I agree 100% with Ricky even as someone currently on the LP side. IMO, the breadth of real estate exposure/experience you will gain on a lean dominant institutional development team trumps any other position within real-estate. You will also have a clearer path to career growth due to far less hierarchy and organizational structure.
This question gets asked fairly often. Here's a thread you should read through:
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/development-vs-repe
What do you want to do with your life? If your goal is development, @toronto cre mandem" & @Malta Monkey" - why not get development experience as soon as you can? It's perfectly fine to not know what you want to do with your life, mind you, but don't overthink "career paths." Ricky Rosay is completely right about the advantages of getting to the development side early. There are guys 5 years younger than me in my role at my company. I'm much more educated than they are and arguably more "polished" but they have more development experience. There are some things you only can learn on the job, not in a classroom.
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