Standing out in online applications

I am an undergraduate student at a non-target school majoring in Finance. I have been applying for internship positions in the city I want to work in (mid level market) but I feel I will be screened out quickly due to an unimpressive resume. Are there any ways I can stand out during the application process? I've cold emailed many people before asking to talk about their position and what they do in real estate, but I wouldn't know how to structure a cold email after I've already applied for a position at their company, or if this is even a good idea.

6 Comments
 

Then make your resume impressive. Make your bullet points like "built extensive financial models for over 1B real estate development/investments in xxx, xxx, xxx markets, which resulted in blahblah instead of "built financial models" you get the point. In terms of cold email, google should be a good resource. There are so many good templates online. Make it short and concise. I personally found LinkedIn more useful.

 
Most Helpful

"Good morning, X,

My name is Thatdrewukow and I am a junior at State University. I have applied to the Real Estate Summer Analyst position listed on your website/LinkedIn but I wanted to reach out to you personally to discuss the opportunity and express my interest. Please let me know if you have ten minutes this week to discuss. My resume is attached for reference.

Thank you,

Thatdrewuknow" 

Sometimes you get ignored, sometimes the person forwards your email to HR/the hiring manager (which can be a great thing or a fuck off), and sometimes you get on the phone or grab coffee. You don't get anything if you don't ask, however. Be cordial, professional, and to the point. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Search LinkedIn for a school alum at the firm (clearly your luck on this will vary by how large your school and/or the firm is...), contact them directly, see if they will do an internal forward of your resume (not the same as acting as a reference or recommending you for the job), this bumps chances of a human reviewing it to near 100%, and thus substantially ups chance of screening interview if you so qualify. 

If no school alum, look for someone in a organization that you are a member (like NAIOP, ULI, etc.), so join if you haven't (student memberships dirt cheap), you get access to member directory with better emails than LinkedIn.

If can't find by alum/organization... find someone and reach out. With all of these, ask for quick call to learn more about the role/firm (aka an "informational interview" but don't need to use that word, keep it more casual). You never know, may get lucky and they say yes. 

Bottom line, get a human to look at your resume, and a human at that firm can forward it to the HR person and/or contact in the hiring unit. 

 

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