I dont know what i want out of a career
I really have no idea what i want to do after graduation. I have a 3.8+ gpa and am going to a shit non-target. I have experience working as a leasing agent/property manager, working for a small-time commercial developer, and will be getting my real estate license within the next few months. I don’t know any financial modeling.
I like real estate, but i say that loosely because its such a broad statement. I am most interested in the construction process and developing projects from the ground up because its cool to see tangible results of your work.
This is where I come short. Any ideas on how to narrow my search/what to target? Any broad readings on the industry that anyone can recommend?
Ahhh there it is
Any career advice Mr Tangible?
Feel your pain. I graduated from the most no name non target, if I said the school you'd find me in less than two minutes. I now work for an UHNW family office doing everything under the sun, capital markets, development, asset mgmt, acquisitions, you name it. If you really want to get into development, with your background, I'd suggest looking for in-house leasing or property management roles. Both of these could provide a path for you to break into more of a development analyst/associate role. For reasons I can't understand, both areas are looked down upon on WSO despite the fact that without leasing activity, there is no revenue generation, so we'd all be out of work and without property management, all of our assets would quite literally crumble.
Both are fantastic opportunities to learn very crucial aspects of the business. I love when development guys have actual boots on the ground experience, so it should be an easier lateral than some IS monkey (no offense guys).
If you want to learn modelling, work through the Josh Kahn case study package + acre tutorials.
If you like construction and development, look into working at a developer either on the construction side (project management) or the business side (development management).
Know people who did this, they are paid well/decently and have a great work/life balance. The other part is once you go from a firm like Turner/Gilbane/Skanska to a private frim you really have no oversight except by your boss as nobody else can do your job.
Project management seems interesting but I've had a hard time finding entry level positions that aren't for engineering majors.
I would apply. I actually don’t know a single project managers / construction manager who was an engineer.
Well.... this was awhile ago.. but I too graduated from a "non-target" big state school with around a 3.8+ GPA and then did grad school at same.... (in fairness, the whole non-target/target think was something I never really thought about then, really not until reading WSO in last year or so tbh).
This may be very counterintuitive... but just START. Like get any job that is decently legit in commercial real estate... could be in banking, CRE brokerage (leasing/IS/DE), appraisal, development, investment management, whatever. You can figure all this out as you progress, go to grad school if you need/want, and jump around and up as you see fit.
Personally... I was very "goal driven" in UG, but my career took all sorts of unique and exciting turns that I would never have predicted as I finished UG, so I don't really have any advice other than get in the game.
Jobs that give you "transactional" experience are great to start as they can be very good for fast learning and those skills are valued almost universally. Appraisal/valuation is really under-respected at WSO, but actually a good place to start (and very wide open to the supposed "non-targets"). If you go the operational route like prop management, it can be a big lift to jump to something in the investment space, but not impossible for sure (especially if you do grad school later). Those can actually be good jobs/career paths but get no love on WSO (in fairness, I agree on this one as matter of personal preference).
Tl:dr.. just get a legit job, figure it out as you go, don't stress it, won't matter anyway!
Thanks for your response.
was this commercial property leasing of some sort.. or apartment... the former is very very useful, the later is fine but not considered a true CRE role (may help you in the apartment investment/development industry however, and would never hurt).
I'll throw an add-on thought....
A lot of people in this industry stared exactly like you did, and often took "shit" jobs out of college, like very non-institutional and everything. BUT, as their career progresses, the details of such get truncated and eventually deleted from LinkedIn, bios, and resumes... so you (and others) get a false view that people jump right up into cool careers ( realize this is true or my resume/bio/linkedin... not trying to hide anything, just not worth the space or time to write). I think many people have been exactly where you are and end up in super cool roles doing very well before too long. Just keep all that in perspective!
that's a great GPA even though you're at a shit school AND you have internships under yoru belt so the world is your oyster dude. you can find something. call and email EVERYONE. as m_1 has said, you can get a lot done by being the only one retarded enough to call EVERYONE. i have seen plenty of dumb unimpressive people end up in great junior-level jobs in CRE.
side rant. it's really funny how few people ever reached out to me as i progressed as an analyst, associate, etc. i was always open to helping younger guys, kids in college etc because when i was in your shoes i blew people up and asked a zillion questions... but when i got there, i realized, young people probably don't really do that as much as i thought. by merely talking to people you will get a better idea of what you want.
if you really like the idea of being directly at a developer and not a project manager or GC, you may have to get creative like working unpaid or doing something menial (a successful developer his own shop in the midwest started as a receptionist for a developer, comes to mind).
to redever 's point ... when i was in a rough spot i had to take a job as a leasing agent at an apt complex but fast forward a year or two later and i was financially restructuring office buildings.
come to think of it i met a lifeco lender (originator/producer) who had done the same at one point, taken some shitty job as an apartment leasing guy, haha.
oh - and stuff to read, just get a sense for what's going on... headlines at globest, NREI, REAlert, TheRealDeal, ... books: The Real Estate Game by Bill Poorvu, also Creating & Growing Wealth in Real Estate by the same guy
Great post, but to add-on... I've seen plenty end up in senior and executive-level jobs in CRE as well!!!!! (not-joking!)
Don't get me started on that one.... used to work on a floor full of them...
Can you describe what you mean by financially restructuring office buildings?
I will definitely take a look at those books. I need to build my base-level knowledge before I can narrow down what I want.
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