Dec 5, 2018
Career Paths/Exit Opportunities

I think this would be very beneficial to a lot of people on this forum, so if you could list your career path to how you got to your position you are currently in now from undergrad, as well as the firm or at the least the size, it would be very appreciated.
Ex: investment sales (think cushman/cbre) -> repe acquisitions (middle market) -> principal investor
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Comments (36)
Out of undergrad, Analyst -> manager at a major credit card company, credit card business/analytics
Then switched to multifamily lending
major brokerage landlord rep leasing associate (CBRE/JLL/Cushman) for 3 years
to office developer, analyst/associate ($3B AUM) for 2.5 years
to multifamily developer, development manager (REIT, $11B AUM) current
How and why did you make the jump from leasing to development?
Reasons: a) I was already bored after 2 years. There are only so many variations of lease transactions. b) you can get pigeonholed in brokerage really easily. For better or worse, there is a general perception that brokers don't have the intellectual capacity or skill-set to do a lot of principal investing work. Plus, if you ever want to move geographically, you are almost completely worthless outside your local market. Did not want to get stuck. c) Income glass ceiling. Generally speaking, the most you can make in brokerage is $1-2M/year as a senior guy in your 40s or 50s. Great money, but bigger bucks to be made.
How: all networking. took about 6 months. leveraged office experience angle and an MRED to do execution for an office developer as an analyst, which required a 60% initial pay cut from my commission levels.
Good thread. Hope it blows up, enjoy reading peoples career paths.
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[Deleted]
Good Post.
Bump
On a conference call, so I have plenty of time to answer. If anything, let this be a lesson that a lot of times there isn't a "path"
Along the way I had to learn how to be a professional, how to channel my strengths, how to care about excelling, how to build a network, and how to mold myself into who I am today. All that said, there are infinitely easier and cheaper ways to do all of this. Proper guidance/mentorship from the start would have helped. Hell, one of the reasons I post so much on this forum, mentor students from my graduate program, and give my opinion as much as I can is to help others who were in my position.
Most people will probably find a middle ground between "the path" and my meandering nonsense. The point is, there are many ways to accomplish what you want to accomplish, and if you keep driving forward and have the necessarily skills and mentality, much is possible.
Thank you for your service.
How do you have time to write these detailed responses every day?
I write long responses maybe once a week, not once a day.
I also notice you're in banking. I work something like 55 hours a week on average. Plenty of time in a day when you're not slaving over Excel for 80.
Finally, like I said, conference calls are boring and go on 2x-4x longer than they need to.
How did you deal with all of the adjustments between switching roles within the industry? Did you find it to be challenging at all or did you find that there were ultimately a lot of transferable skills from one roll to the next?
There are a few transferable skills, but a lot of transferable knowledge. Office brokerage taught me how to read a lease and how to be comfortable and confident in talking to everyone. Property management taught me property operations and now that I lead property managers and regional managers regularly, it helps me to understand their roles, motivations, and difficulties. Acquisitions taught me financial modeling. All of those are essential skills to what I do now.
How was your comp at each of these levels? I'm really interested in how RE comps go.
Don't beat yourself up on this, Eric. Some people like taking the long way home. Who the fuck knows?
Oh lord - trying to remember.
Brokerage: $30k + Commission
Property Management: $65k + $5k lease up bonus
Acquisitions Intern: $60k pro rated
Development Intern: $75k pro rated + $2,000 moving stipend
Development Associate $60k + 20% + 50 bps at sale starting.
Development Manager: Been promoted since and make much more.
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Finance undergrad.
2 years credit analyst at regional bank underwriting general businesses loans.
2 years credit analyst at local bank mainly underwriting small RE investment / development loans.
1.5 years Masters in RE Development with solid development internship
1 year Family Office working in Development
Did you try to move into development out of underwriting? Or did you go straight for your MRED thinking that it would be too difficult to land a development role w/ your credit background.
Asking as someone with a very similar (credit) background contemplating additional schooling (MBA w/ RE concentration) in order to transition into acquisitions/development.
My goal was to move into RE and also move markets to get closer to wife's family. I saw it as a very long shot to successfully do both without going to grad school.
To answer your question - it's possible to do but I would recommend the grad school route. It will open up many doors and opportunities having the credit background with a RE focused degree. When financing real estate, I didn't truly understand how little I knew about real estate. Meaning, by the time it hits the bank, it's in a nice pretty package. The majority of the heavy lifting is done at that point. You'll learn the fundamentals and framework of all the other pieces - market analysis, design, entitlements, legal, engineering, construction, etc - and will come out more well rounded and marketable. Put simply, it's less teaching for a lean RE firm that hires you.
Thinking in the context of a long term career, grad school may help you discover your "one day dream job" and jump on the best, most focused path to get there.
Happy to answer in any other questions.
This is great, thanks @ShYzA88 . Just sent you a PM with some more questions.
@CRE heck of a route... My route is kinda similar... well, at least the bumps in the road are similar.
Similarly to @CRE I had to learn how to be professional and impress those around me. I'll tell you this for free, Principal side guys are not impressed like IS guys which took a bit of time for me to learn. My path, similar to CRE's, was not the smoothest, but hey, fortune favors the bold. I'm a pushy, confident dude with faith in what I know. I will step on toes to get where I want not because I think I'm the best, but because I believe I can add value. So, don't be frightened to be bold when the time is right. As you can see from my path outlined above... my timing wasn't always right...
I am not sharing this to brag about how badass I am or whatever. I'm sharing this because I see a lot of people in this biz that don't have the moxie. You think the higher ups think about the shy silent nerd guy yes man when they want to push someone into a deal sourcing role? Of course not.
Disclaimer: this advice is meant for those on the brink of breaking through the glass ceiling, not 1st, 2nd or even 3rd year analysts / associates.
Love this. Thank you.
1) public school in the NE. Graduated as valedictorian and attended top target (currently attending)
2) slacked off in school and got bad grades. Didn't matter. Applied to internships using my major gpa and landed one at a BB my sophomore year
3) used sophomore year experience to get internship at an EB this upcoming summer. Making $150k a year. Might do some real estate deals
Fuckin my way thru nyc one chick at a time
this kid rules.
troll post
I applied and turned down once in a lifetime opportunities as they weren't right at the time. Many people (senior military) were not happy with me and made my last few years in the military rough. Now I volunteer for a veterans program and have senior military networking with me on how to get into data science.
"I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though."
-- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Science degree at semi-target > finance degree at non-target > Big4 M&A out of undergrad > Mid market PE
How do you go mid market PE from accounting?
Big4 M&A groups have nothing to do with accounting. They basically operate as mid-market M&A boutiques that happen to get lots of deal flow from the audit side of the firms, so it wasn't too complicated. Got introduced to several shops using top headhunters and accepted an offer as I was involved in 4 different recruiting processes. Overall a good experience and was happy that it went fairly quickly as opposed to my first attempt to move to PE roughly 3-4 months prior.
Where are all the Philips Exeter --> GS TMT / MS M&A --> Mega Fund PE --> HBS --> BX PE Partner track people?
Went to public school but I have an offer from a top EB. I will most likely follow the track you listed though. AMA
Fuckin my way thru nyc one chick at a time
Lol, @EliteStudent11 goes to UNC Chapel Hill and got a SA offer from Harris Williams.
If you are good at your job, then you'll have exit opps. It's really that simple.
Environmental Analyst -> bartender -> big 4 audit -> lower-mm PE
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