How to Sell Yourself in Interview
Looking for interview advice. Lets say you went to a non-target, have a couple years experience in appraisal/valuation, and are interviewing at a REPE firm (analyst level) going against people from target schools and people with prior deal & investment experience. How would you try to sell yourself in an interview to stand out given the challenging hiring environment?
As someone who has hired analysts over the years - candidly you're in a tough spot if you're competing with candidates with deal experience at the analyst level in this job market. However, you need to be able to show a mastery of Excel (or ARGUS if this is in the office/retail space). You need to be able to demonstrate that you know how a deal ticks and how your assumptions move each return metric. I'd spend your time constantly improving your modeling capabilities and know how cash flow and waterfall modeling works (and/or how things like tenant improvements and different retail lease structures work when modeling). The more fluently you can talk about these things (IRR, NPV, UYOC, etc.), the better you're going to look. During past interview processes, I've given candidates a sample deal and have asked them to analyze it and give me their thoughts. Hope this helps.
In your situation, it really depends on the personal connection you make with the interviewer(s). You’re not going to be the most qualified candidate, but you’re also there for a reason, so don’t go into it thinking you don’t belong, but also don’t go into it thinking you can just tap your resume and that’ll be enough.
The interviewer is going to care about some soft skill tremendously, whether it’s personality, or eagerness to get things accomplished today instead of tomorrow, or ability to take on projects and see them through to completion with minimal oversight, etc. so you should try and anticipate a few of these and have non-corny stories of you doing them that you can weave in to the “walk me through your resume” portion of the interview. Some interviewers come right out and say it, others don’t, but you’re attempting to cast a wide net here in hopes that there is just something about you that gets you moved on to the next round.
You also need a fantastic story about why you want to work not only in REPE but at that firm in particular. Do as much background information as you can about the deals they have done or something unique about them that stands out. This doesn’t have to be long winded or ridiculous, but it helps for it to be honest. “Your firm really found success in X” or “Your firm really seemed to anticipate Y” or “Projects like Z are what I want to work on, and your firm is one of the only firms that do them.”
As TheFranch7se says, you also can’t show any weakness on the hard skills. Don’t give them a reason to make you a first round cut. There are a ton of online modeling and real estate resources that are free or near-free that you need to pour yourself into and overcompensate for your relative lack of experience.
You would be shocked how far “there was just something about this kid” or “I really liked that guy” gets you in the interview process. Be that guy, or “be Him” as the kids call it today.
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