Entry-Level Positions For Aspiring Financial Analysts
Sydney, a Senior Financial Analyst at Berkadia, recommends entry-level financial analyst roles at high-volume brokerages as "the best place to start," emphasizing the accelerated learning from "a ton of properties" and diverse deal types. Alternatively, analyst positions on the principal (ownership) side offer more specialized experience, though typically with less volume and a narrower market focus, a contrast Sydney notes from their own high-volume, diverse experience.
Financial Analysis, Real Estate, Entry-Level Jobs, Career Development, High-Volume Transactions
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sydney Ladrech
Senior Financial Analyst
Berkadia
California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obsipo
N/A
Business Management & Admin
Real Estate
Real Estate
Video Highlights
1. Start as a financial analyst with a brokerage doing high-volume deals to learn the market and different property types quickly.
2. Consider analyst positions on the principal (ownership) side for specialized experience, though volume may be lower.
3. Look for teams that provide exposure to a variety of deal types and markets to maximize learning opportunities.
Transcript
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
I would say it's where I started. Now I'm kind of more like an associate senior financial analyst on our team. As soon as we hire behind me, then I'll just be fully focused on production.
I think starting as a financial analyst with any brokerage that does a high volume of deals is the best place to start. That's what I was told, and I've learned it to be true.
It's a great way to learn your market, all the different buyers and sellers, and the different product types, even within a certain asset class. You learn so much because you're "B-O-V-ing" a ton of properties, and they're all over your market. Every deal, you learn something new. The more volume your team does, the more you're going to learn in such a short period of time.
I think the second best would be starting as an analyst on the principal side, which is just another word for the ownership side. These companies are the buyers and sellers of these properties, but they tend to do less volume and be more specialized. You're not necessarily seeing everything.
For example, our team does land and existing buildings. We'll sell both, but a lot of shops only buy existing buildings. They only buy value-add properties in Sacramento. We see value-add across all of Northern California, in Monterey, in addition to core, core-plus properties, and then development deals all across those markets. I think that's what really drew me to my team initially. I can't really imagine being in another position where I would have learned more.