RE Dons,
I'm an MBB consultant looking to move into the real estate space (development) next year. I've got a bit of an operational background in the industry, given that my family has a development and acquisitions shop in a T3 city. I can see myself working there farther down the road, but now I want to cut my teeth in a bigger city and build the hardcore skills.
Do you recommend going to a RE shop in a top city (NYC, Chicago, LA, etc.) for a few years instead of starting in the smaller pond?
And more than anything I want to really grind and cut my teeth doing the grunt work like finding deals (rather than pure modelling in an office). I'm happy to be on smaller commercial deals and think its important to find a little company with more opportunity to learn from senior guys. What smaller firms in these big cities have caught your eye?
And if you've got any advice on how to pick up the hard skills and jargon, let me know too
Since you are making a full jump, you should probably plan on applying to a range of shops assuming you like each and their markets. If you have any firms as clients, that's usually the easiest route.
As a general rule, but not universal, easier to start at the top (big city, big firm), then move on than the other way around. Further, its the big firms in big cities that are going to recognize your MBB background, down the chain it won't carry as much weight (at least for some). Still, developers like hiring people with RE experience, so it all depends how natural this transition looks from your current role. Smaller firms (whether big or small city) are all over the place in what they look for and will expect you to do (but yes, generally easier to have a diverse set of duties at a smaller shop from day one). All about networking to get into the smaller shops, less likely to advertise positions.
As for hard skills/jargon, you may want to look at some of the re certificates some of the big universities offer (Cornell, NYU, MIT, etc.). Not a bad way to get up to speed on the industry and won't hurt your resume (don't expect any big help either). Join NAIOP and ULI, get as active as you can (weird given pandemic, but events still happen), just attending those meetings goes a long way to talking the talk if you are reasonably intelligent.
Good luck!
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