How to convince HH / Land interviews when from a No Name shop

Hi guys,


Sorry in advance for this grumpy post but current situation drives me crazy:


Mid march got laid-off from a small fund targeting mostly developments in living sector (Shared ownership, Seniors, Care Homes, Social Housing...). Reported directly to founder & partners, not performance based, references available from big d*ck partner (previous C-suite in IB blabla...).

IB (Debt team) before these 2y of RE invest, Internship in RE Fund Management prior to that, master degree in finance (EU BS)... 


My flatmate is looking for a new role, he's an analyst in AM at a decent shop in London (very good name in Industrial) and he gets a ton of calls and interviews for Investment Associate roles while I'm only getting calls from HHs for middle office, portfolio management or 60k base investment roles at weird shops...


Same headhunter would tell me nothing is available and would call him next hour for brilliant investment associate roles even if he's never seen a model at work and he's basically a leasing agent for warehouses. He fucked up more than 10 processes in 3 months after reaching the modeling test step... (Nothing against AM in general but his shop treats him like an intern and pay is horrible).


Should I try to directly PM people on Linkedin in funds I'd like to target? VP? Directors? Isn't it pointless as they would potentially only work with HH?


Should I sell myself in a different way? Maybe "Hiding" the dev aspect of the role? 


Honestly that's frustrating I feel like I won't find anything before September. I'm marketing myself as an associate but I gained the title of senior associate after a year at my previous gig in order to gain exposure, built the whole new fund model from scratch, can model any type of asset-classes Acq or Debt, complex Eq&Debt structures, managed a whole DD process, created an IM + a research paper shared with 110+ investors to back deck & model assumptions... Don't want to sound cocky, that's what you would expect from a guy who works hard in this field. Frustrated as I don't think lack skills to land an Investment role at a decent shop.


Again, sorry for the moaning time, any advice more than welcome!

 
Most Helpful

Truth time.... take a deep breath, let go of the ego, try to look objectively. Few things

- stop thinking you're better than your roommate, and start asking what is it that they have that I don't? Because, it's evident there's something. Off the bat, you said the have warehouse experience, what's the hottest sector atm? 

- you as a candidate are a reflection of the headhunter, so, treat them well, they'll work to treat you well, too. If they don't work, move to the next. If you haven't already asked the HH what is in demand vs your resume, do it immediately

- you're a 1yr 'senior associate' with specialized real estate experience, that's going up against a very experienced talent pool who may have more relevant experience. Originations are in the toilet for the most part, and the refi wall scaring folks. A benefit of  these type of niche shops is a blessing and a curse. Great experience, difficult upon exit

At some point you need to assess the situation, adapt, and carve a new path. Tough love - you may not be as good as you think you are. If you were, you'd have a lot of offers. That's a hard pill to swallow, but honestly churn it into something tangible. Right now it's like you're driving a car with blinders on, not seeing the off ramps & heading straight for a big pile-up of crashed cars.

I mapped out 3 paths in my latest search: the ideal, the in demand, and the backup. Sounds like you should do the same. Careers aren't linear, it's chaotic. You need to get a new gig, period. But you first have to realize this may be a speed bump.

My suggestion - Port mgmt is an in demand opportunity with an ability to do a lot of workouts. It is in a lot of places still front office. Get a job into a good firm, get experience, and maybe be able to lateral. You may end up enjoying it, you may hate it, but is that better than burning through your savings? 

Good luck

 

I'm assuming you've already reached out to your network and asked them to keep an eye out for positions?

If head hunters aren't finding you, then it might be time to SEO your resume/LinkedIn to make it better. Instead of "development associate," use "real estate development investment associate." Highlight the transferable skills in your work history. Modeling, market research, specific deals you've worked on. 

Also, realize that the job market is pretty shitty right now, employers hold most of the cards and as someone 1-2 years out of MBA, you are competing with a lot of people that have "perfect" resumes. 

I'm at a fund and our interns this summer all had sophomore summer internships at banks, development firms and other funds. You are competing with a lot of people with similar type resumes. 

My advice is to take every interview you can and see what happens/if you can leverage the position offer to get where you want to go.

 
Associate 3 in RE - Other

Honestly that's frustrating I feel like I won't find anything before September. I'm marketing myself as an associate but I gained the title of senior associate after a year at my previous gig in order to gain exposure, built the whole new fund model from scratch, can model any type of asset-classes Acq or Debt, complex Eq&Debt structures, managed a whole DD process, created an IM + a research paper shared with 110+ investors to back deck & model assumptions... Don't want to sound cocky, that's what you would expect from a guy who works hard in this field. Frustrated as I don't think lack skills to land an Investment role at a decent shop.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but none of this is that impressive.  Modeling is the least important part of the business, and it sounds like the only part you have any competency with.  Finding someone with Excel skills is easy!  Your skill set is in a field that isn't in demand at the moment, that is easily replaceable, and that only covers a tiny, tiny piece of the investment process.  And while I'm sure you work hard and are very intelligent... so are 99% of the other people in this business.

By contrast, asset management is insanely important and in a period of retrenchment like we have today, that's doubly true.  You seem to look down on your flatmate because he's in AM, but this is one of the reasons that's a more secure career path.  Moreover, who cares if he's built a model or anything like that?  If he can keep operating costs down and understand how to bid out repair work, etc... then yeah, he's a more valuable employee than you.  To make an analogy, you're an F1 supercar - built to do one thing really really well, and overengineered to the point of absurdity to do it (build underwriting models).  But you are totally impractical for anything other than that one purpose.  Your flatmate is a pickup truck.  Not sexy or expensive or sleek, but can be effective doing anything.  Of course people will choose the pickup truck 99% of the time... especially when your skill set is extremely replaceable in today's marketplace.

 

I mean I’d rather take an F1 car then a pickup truck so not sure that’s the best analogy.

 

I mean I'd rather take an F1 car then a pickup truck so not sure that's the best analogy.

I mean, fine, your mileage may vary as far as the analogy goes, but... why in the world would you take the F1 vehicle?  At least in the US, you can't drive them on a street, so it's functionally useless to get you around, even if you could take advantage of the performance.  And even if you could, no one else can get in, you can't put your groceries in it, it has absolutely no functional value beyond the confines of a track.  How would you even get to the track to race it without a car?  The fuel costs like 2-3x more than normal premium fuel, so you're spending like $20 (according to google) to go around the track just one time.

 

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