Getting very burned out on interviewing and rejection.
I might just need to vent, but some advice or insight would be helpful. I have been unemployed for about 7 months now after being laid off. I have around 4 years of solid, brand name, experience. I have had some pretty good luck with getting invited to interviews and decent opportunities. However, I keep getting rejected after the final round. I keep getting told I was the second choice, and barely beaten out by another candidate. I have even had multiple hiring managers refer me to their clients or other openings. The rejection is starting to take its toll and it's hard to not get bitter. I'm trying to keep my head high but damn is it hard when I keep being the runner-up on being selected.
Have you looked into a Masters/MBA program? I don't think you need it, but may be good to get some time for the market to recover and look for new roles. I'm graduating from a Masters program in December your post makes me nervous.
I have not and I probably won't. I don't think it's necessary for me at this point.
What market are you located in? Honestly, it’s just extremely competitive right now and there’s less openings right now as we start to approach the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc). I was in a similar position, was unemployed for about the same amount of time, and had to move back home, but ended up obtaining a new role.
Try to keep your head up! One thing I wished I would have done more of was showing excitement for the different roles I was applying for. I had a scarcity mindset and I think it was showing during my interviews. I understand where you’re coming from and am sorry you have to go through it too.
I don't want to give specific market, sorry, but I can say it's not NYC. I have actually seen a lot more openings this past month than I have in a while.
In similar position. Keep grinding, the tide will eventually turn and your hard work will pay off. At least you are getting to final rounds, means you are close and most likely bound to get one of these next ones. My guess is it will be slow for the next two months but hopefully we see a large uptick in January.
Thank you. Luckily I just began rounds with a few firms that are my favorite/best opportunities I have had so far. However, they are also probably the most competitive.
Would be nice if we see the uptick in January... I also have been out a job since July (left for family reasons). It has been super tough on me mentally as well. Just trying to keep a positive mindset, complete a couple of online classes for certificates, and keep interviewing. I am in a worse situation i would assess - I was a first year IB analyst (left a week before I would have been promoted) and moved home. We can do this! Keep your head up.
Go take a couple months off on a beach in a cheap country and come back in January. What's the rush right now?
Well it has been about 7 months now of not working and I'm honestly more than eager at this point to get back to the grind.
I hear you, but as you already know there aren't that many positions right now. It's sort of like when someone is so desperate to find love they usually end up with a bad partner and regret it years later. The world can work like that in many ways. You're very susceptible to not being clear headed and taking whatever position you can get right now instead of planning for the long term (as you noted yourself, you're applying to literally everything real estate related). Hence why I say go step away and have fun and come back when there's more opportunities. 6 more months is negligible in the long term. Imagine you end up taking a mediocre position just to get back in the mix. Now you have to stick it out a few years so you don't look like a flight risk, next thing you know you're pigeon holed or golden hand cuffed into something you're not thrilled about and have to fight to move to where you actually want to be when you could just wait it out now and let the right opportunities open up next year.
Haha I just got back from Ireland! It was great.
What positions are you interviewing for?
Capital markets, IS, acquisitions/development, underwriting. Pretty much everything.
I’m in the same situation, it’s tough right now.
I'm in the same boat, been unemployed for a month and have had multiple interviews, including some final rounds ultimately ending in rejection. Afraid that once unemployment lasts more than a few months I am totally screwed. I literally want to grind and work really hard... just need an opportunity.
Why would you be totally screwed after a few months? Everyone knows how rough the hiring market is rn, I haven't seen any interviewers flinch about my time unemployed, everyone seems to be understanding.
I'm the same one who made the comment above, but seriously if you can afford it I'd reccomend going to take a few months off in a cheap country and enjoy yourself. If you want, do it somewhere close like Mexico and keep interviewing and fly back if something gets serious. There's unlikely to be that many job openings right now as we head into the holidays in the worst market in over a decade. When hiring picks up, you can just tell people you decided to get the travel experience out of you while everyone was getting laid off and the job market was a mess instead of having to admit that you've been interviewing for jobs for 6 - 12 months and haven't landed anything. We've interviewed so many people over the years that took time off to travel and it never impacted any of them. We even hired two (one an associate and the other a VP). It's tough to admit, but if I'm interviewing someone that hasn't had a job for that long, even while I know everyone has been getting laid off to no fault their own, and I know they've been interviewing the whole time, I'm going to start asking myself if I'm missing something in this person to be the first one to actually make an offer. On the flip side, if they told me hey I got laid off like everyone else, tried interviewing a bit and realized the market sucked, so I just went to go travel until things are better, I would think that's pretty interesting and glad you got to have some fun while the opportunity existed.
I'll caveat that I'm not sure I'd apply this advice if you have less than 18 - 24 months of full time experience. I think it would be tough to have like 1 year of full time experience and then a gap.
Another note, by waiting you also sort of get to see how this mess unfolds and hopefully you have a better pictures of who the winners are going to be after this whole ordeal. There are still plenty of shops chugging forward right now and possibly even hiring that are probably hiding how much of a mess their portfolio is and some of them might be at a much bigger risk for their future than you realize.
I wish I had that luxury of considering traveling. I have only 1.5 years of experience and am getting married next year. 100% committed and focused on landing a job.
I appreciate the advice. Maybe if I did this when I first was laid off, it may have been an option, but I can't make that work now. I also have a dog and don't really have the urge to get away for several months. I have vacationed a few times since being laid off, so I have been able to unplug as well.
I'm a little surprised that you would have second thoughts if you were interviewing someone that has not received an offer in a few months. I have 4 years of experience from top tier companies (CBRE, JLL, Berkadia, W&D, Newmark types). I have held my positions for 1-2.5 years. Up until this recent downturn in the market, I have never had issues receiving offers. In my experience, if I made it to the final round, I usually receive an offer. I would hope that interviewers today recognize that this is not a normal market and not hold it against me that I have not received an offer yet, and form their opinion of me by my resume, experience, and their own impression of me. I would think my track record on my resume should say more about me rather than a few months of not getting an offer, at least that is what I hope.
FFS just listen to this man people. Spitting straight facts and giving you the whole playbook and yall still arguing with him.
I was laid off for almost a year during covid, and I got back into the game because my old boss twisted my arm long enough to convince me lol. I wasn't even interviewing. Right now is the worst hiring environment we've had since 08. Stop banging your heads against the wall. You could be an absolute stud but that won't change the very limited amount of seats that are available rn.
The most important point he made is not jumping into something just to have something. I think about how this could've happened to me and I wouldn't have been in the seat I am now. My career trajectory could have been very different (worse) than it is for me now had I rushed. Patience, in the right situations, is usually handsomely rewarded.
This guy gets it
I did this right when I graduated undergrad. Took a gap year backpacking abroad after a one way ticket, it was the best time of my life. If you're sub 26 and got laid off, or just graduating undergrad, seriously think about taking a year off and backpacking/travelling if you have the means. You'll be working the rest of your life, and when you get older (like at my age), you'll never be able to do that again. Very popular to do in Europe but not as much in the US.
Na you are not screwed. I think more time teaches you that a gap doesn't really matter.
Just my gut reaction to being unemployed.
I guess it may depend on why you are unemployed.
Just got let go. I feel you. Market is really bad. Only reason some people still have jobs is because employers are hoping for some sort of rebound in 24.
Where were you working at before? An owner/developer in a major city or?
Lender
You know that there are things to do even when the market is bad, right?
Sure if you're an acq/dev shop you can shift to asset management, but not if your in purely transaction based services like brokerage, leasing, etc.
I'm hiring if you don't mind moving to the Midwest (not Chicago).
I’m in.
Message me for details if serious
Im in as well.
I suspect that you are going up against inhouse talent and the company is forced to at least go through the process with outside talent for legal reasons. Generally a hiring manager won't make any effort for you if you aren't selected, esp this early. I would take this as a positive honestly given that you likely went into a no win situation.
On a different note, how close are you with your funds LPs? We are about to be entering into a blood bath market and if you have skill and connections you could be in a good position to pick up some solid deals on your own. If you have non competes and non contact clauses I say just tell them to fuck right off. Those things are becoming very difficult to enforce. Plus you will have an ace up your sleeve, if your former firm sues you they will be risking their own LPs money. So its really a lose lose for them.
success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm
the world makes way for the man who knows where he is going
excellence is never an accident. it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution
ambition is purpose-driven enthusiasm, while a dream without purpose lies dormant
to ascend is to sacrifice, for nothing of value came without sacrifice of comfort and pleasure
I see so often those posts that I might just reply with some motivational quotes to motivate you to get your shit together, because I don't believe there are no jobs out there and I really see no reason to stay unemployed for 7 months. Work at Wal-mart meanwhile you're looking, just do something. Don't stay home and expect opportunities to come at you. You're just wasting your life and you become depressed because getting a job on your field takes all your day, and if you don't get it, you feel a loser, and this sense of being a loser just grows day by day, and the stress of eating your savings also eats you day by day, and then, you reach a point, when you're savings are gone and you freak out asking for someone to loan you money and you need to get a blue collar job to sustain yourself. So why not avoid altogether this scene? get a damn job because as you see your brand names on your CV mean jack shit if you're still unemployed 7 months, blame the market and live in the fantasy world you built for yourself that you deserve to get Y job in Z field, or just put a new plan that may not be what you initially wanted but also pushes you forward in life until the circumstances are appropiate to pursue your initial wants
I am in the same boat - 8 years’ experience in investments/acq/some development/investment sales with Ivy League degree and notable real estate Master’s. Held two director level positions and was laid off in Feb 2023. I’ve been trying to travel and keep my mind off things but have applied to hundreds of jobs, had 12-15 promising interview processes that either went silent on me or picked another candidate. I’ve been speaking to one company in NYC for about 8 months now and they don’t seem ready to pull the trigger.
I’m in a situation where any junior position is too junior, any senior position is too senior. There aren’t nearly enough seats to fill the vast amount of talent in the market right now.
I have looked at Asset and Portfolio Mgmt jobs but unfortunately it’s the “Goldilocks” situation where I have too little direct experience to be considered for these roles, and more junior roles I’m not considered for because of my past Director experience.
I’ve considered a career change into something like appraisal, but it would require 1.5-2 years (at minimum) to start at a lower income and less senior role than what I have held the past few years. Any other continuing education doesn’t seem to make sense financially considering the experience I have already.
I am pretty confident in my abilities but it is seriously grating to be in today’s market. Best of luck to all.
Sorry to hear. I said this before and I'll say it again. We were in an unprecedented golden Era of real estate. The fast decrease in interest rates inflated this asset class. A rising tide lifted everyone. We won't see what we saw. The labor market for this industry will be tough. I expect a massive contraction in the number of people employed in CRE and don't see us ever seeing our peak employment for a very very long time. Unless of course the fed changes direction.
Curious what you recommend a career shift/optimal best next route might be? Happy to discuss privately as well. I’m new so can’t send DMs for a few days.
Wow that's insane, I think firms will start hiring again after the New Year. I'm 3-4 years out finishing a Masters with 1 year at a well known shop, no one's answering emails and have gone through 2-3 processes no offers yet. Willing to take entry level roles, which to me is crazy since it puts me back so far and delays my career in my mid/late 20's.
Are any of you thinking about switching careers or paths to something a bit more stable? I had a non-finance related undergraduate career and I don't really want to give up but
Not sure what I should do. I've been interviewing at 4 places and the recruiter has told me to wait until quarter one until another position opens up or firms have told me they thought I did well and want to continue going through with the hiring process but right now they don't want to hire right now. I'm in the midwest and there really aren't any CRE firms here hiring or they're too far out from me.
It's been frustrating because I have a bit of experience but no MBA and honestly wasn't planning on getting one. A lot of firms it seems are posting jobs and then not hiring or just end up going with someone else (referral, etc.).
The issue is that a lot of the other areas that seem interesting/lucrative are getting hit too. Tech & Finance are laying off more and more people so it's rough regardless. Have been seeing FP&A roles but definitely doesn't sound exciting.
Similar position but in Canada and was not seeing any roles for 5 months. Decided to relocate to Dubai for US investments role. The market is active especially the preferrered equity space.
im thinking doing for 6-7 months while actively look for a role in Toronto. Hopefully the market opens up and I can come bsck
I’m curious how you went about finding the Dubai job. Not sure I’d make a move that big but good to explore options. Thx
Can’t express how much I relate. Getting rejected after making it to the final round is pure pain, much rather be turned down immediately. Debating on giving up and moving to the middle of no where to raise some chickens at this point lol
Dude, yes. I actually had two first rounds recently that I knew were going to be highly competitive and I was not selected to progress further into the next rounds. If this were a few months and rejections ago, I would be annoyed. After getting rejected a few times after final rounds and being told how close I was, I was thankful. So tired of wasting my time, energy, and thoughts/eagerness just to get rejected.
And I fucking feel you. I came to the realization last night that if I don't receive an offer for the current roles I am interviewing for, then I am probably going to take a step back for a few months and just paint houses or something else labor intensive and just focus on my mental health and happiness.
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