Been pounding the pavement over the summer for coffee chats trying to switch into CRE / REPE from public markets AM and having a bit of a tough time.
Have 0 experience with argus and have been told don't waste my money with it until I get a job somewhere. Also have no previous experience in RE but its not rocket science especially coming from the equity world.
Looking for some advice on how to approach this transition.
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REPE Firms can be very selective about who they hire. There's not a lot of reasons to take a public markets guy over the countless Brokerage / Lending / Investment Banking / other REPE applicants they will get if they put up a job post.
Even though its not hard to learn, the people with 1-2 years of experience can really hit the ground running. Have you tried any of the RE brokerage / lending / investment banking firms?
Gotcha! Makes a lot of sense to hire a plug and play and completely discount equity markets experience.
I haven't tried RE brokerage / lending / IB firms aggressively yet because i'm not sure what the best approach is to increasing my chances.
If you go in thinking "RE isn't rocket science and I can easily do it with public markets AM experience", you could potentially rub someone the wrong way. Think about it, if a software engineer went into an interview with you thinking "this 'insert finance job here' stuff is a joke compared to coding", you probably wouldn't take him/her just because that person is a douche (not saying you are, just what people might think).
I think you have to adjust your mindset and portray yourself as more of an eager student, willing to work hard and learn. People will be more likely to throw you a bone.
A lot of REPE firms hire out of MBA programs and/or investment sales roles. If you don't have the top MBA on your resume, an investment sales position at a top brokerage will enhance your resume.
Well you certainly need argus experience to get into REPE. If you get into lending or a large RE company you may not need argus experience for entry level but whoever is telling you to not worry about argus either doesn't know the industry or is lying to you, its the easiest way to cull a resume stack.
"Also have no previous experience in RE but its not rocket science especially coming from the equity world." You may want to get that line of thinking out of your head. I could say the same thing about traditional equity and other industries "I have no experience at hedge funds but its not rocket science compared to actuarial work" who cares?? non industry work is non industry work. If you're relying on the fact that you can work a spreadsheet to move into a niche industry you're thinking about CRE all wrong.
Also as someone transitioning from another industry you need a really really really good answer to the question "why real estate?"
Based on your post history it looks like you're looking for a change but aren't zeroed in on CRE. I'd make sure that your coming off as focused on this specific career change when you do coffee chats / network, and assuming you are, it just takes time to switch roles.
Also, coming out of your own pocket to get Argus experience is something that I did and something that I told people I did when trying to make the switch into CRE and that was always received well.
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