Training and exposure: National companies can grow to a point where you are lost in the gears of the machine. In a local brokerage you may find greater flexibility and a chance to grow your expertise in an environment with more personal attention. You'll have to compare this to the training programs sometimes offered by the national firms. A formalized training program can be a great benefit to a new agent. However, if their program is mostly an attachment to an existing broker for mentoring, the quality of the training will be directly related to the quality of your mentor.
The money: Often national firms will create collaborative listings, with many brokers working together. This, of course, lowers the amount of the net commission to each broker. Though you may see more leads, if your commission percentage ends up consistently a third of what you'd receive elsewhere, the leads may not be worth it.
The local situation: Is there a dominant commercial real estate firm in the area? If so, you may find your decision easier, whether it is national or not. Many local commercial real estate brokerages have many years of experience and good will in an area. They boast great reputations and much repeat business. If so, you usually can't go wrong with the local firm. However, if the area is dominated by a national firm, and the locals have small market share, you may want to start in the larger firm.
Your intuitive reaction: Decisions based solely on numbers and facts can suffer if the information we have is incomplete or there are errors in it. After interviewing with the area commercial real estate firms, what is your impression of them and how you will fit in? Sometimes a smaller local firm will actually have more brokers than the national firm. Will you like working in an office with a large number of brokers?
Your commercial real estate career plan should not begin with a plan to switch brokerages early-on. However, you could go with the firm that seems to offer you the best training and a fast start, setting an income goal out a couple of years. If you're not realizing your goal at that point, considering a move might be a good plan.
