Patrick and Jordan graduated in 2014 from the same undergraduate real estate degree. This is their personal experience from university to life as recent investment professionals within mid-sized private equity real estate firms in London. This will be a regular column focused on their personal experiences in interview/dialogue form.

Patrick: To start this thing off, I believe that whilst we were at uni, the highest level of accomplishment and achievement was a career in one of the mega buyout funds that have the strongest brand/prestige within the industry, maybe naively so. What do you think?

Jordan: I think that was definitely the case at the time, as the exposure and access to smaller funds was a lot less simply by the nature of their size. I mean, a lot of us got off our second year internships at investment banks or real estate brokerages and had a taste of the investment side that was quite enticing.

P: I remember that everyone was going on and on about joining the large US PE houses. That’s not to take away from the many benefits of starting at small to mid-tier level funds that have a more flat hierarchy, flexible investment strategies and higher level of responsibility. I mean we both work for funds with AUMs in the single digits rather than tens or hundreds of billions.

J: Yes definitely and speaking for myself I think that it was a good move for my professional development. Having said all that, didn’t you have a “superday” interview session at one of the larger PERE funds?

P: Please don’t remind me of the darkest 10 hours of my life…

J: You’re just bitter because they didn’t take you.

P: Not going to lie, maybe a little bit, but I think in hindsight it was for the better.

J: Why is that?