What Next ? Career in RE

still in RE but I’m not sure if I can even qualify for any PE / Asset Management Rôles anymore ! I feel it’s too late and annoying to jump around from one sector to another I tried applying for banks / PÈRE but nothing

Exactly.

OP - I had the chance to join Goldman's GSAM team doing Investor Relations for one of their funds. Turned it down because there was 0 financial or investment emphasis and the head of the department basically said you will not be able to lateral to the principal investing team.

I sympathize with you, but you should have done more research on what you were getting yourself into.

TheDiplomats:

Should not have joined Investor Relations if you knew you did not want a career in Investor Relations... I'd recommend going back to Big 4 and transitioning to REPE from there. It is an underrated path that not many know about.

Thanks ! I’m just in the Middle East and the networking vibes etc is very different from day traditional markets like NYC etc...

Fredfredburger:

I might be going against the grain here, but speaking from my own experience, I think the amount of emphasis members of WSO put on elite schools and job is overestimated (especially in real estate) as I didnt go to an elite university nor did I land a prestigious job out of undergrad. As a result, I think to say that 1 "misstep" into IR will derail your career is not true. Maybe it set you back by 1 or 2 years, but shouldn't be anything major in the long-run as long as you stay determined and work hard (unless you're trying to go to Blackstone or something, but your fate was sealed well before your IR job). On paper, you're clearly quite competent ie NYU MSRE, RE Dev internship, and then Big 4 RE Team, before going into IR at a REIT and I'm sure you picked up a few skills in IR (don't forget that as you move up the ladder, dealing with clients/investors because much more important than running models), that being said, I assume the roles you want to pursue (REIB/REPE/Dev) will require a strong financial modeling skill set. Since you graduated from NYU, had internship experience, and worked at Big 4, you must have some competency here. If you can't build a model from scratch, I would suggest you practice until you can or invest in a course from WSO or M&I and self-study (In my experience any buyside shop worth working for will put you through a test). On paper, your resume seems strong enough to get a first round. If you are not getting interviews, it could be how you're applying that is the issue. Are you just applying through job sites like Linkedin or Indeed? If so, you're doing it wrong. You should be finding people at the firm/team you want to work for and cold emailing them. I've interviewed with many well-respected shops, all of which were achieved by cold emailing analysts/associates on the team. Also, don't forget that we are in a recession. Many firms are reluctant to make new hires. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.