How did you get your current job? Tips & advice.
How did you end up at your current job? Was it through a contact you knew? Graduate school? A website you recommend?
Any advice for someone who is on the quest for landing a solid job. Thanks.
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Internships: alumni directories and hustling REIT/PERE/Development 1st job: contact from internships REIT 2nd job: headhunter Development
Networking.
I reached out to a company I admired and struck out because they weren't hiring, but the owners liked me and recommended me to another company they knew well. It turns out that one of the principals of that second company hired my boss when I was a summer associate to his first job in the industry. Between those two recommendations, I had an in.
Interesting. Thanks.
Would you recommend reaching out to companies I admire as well while employed?
What if your boss is well known in the industry? Is it bad applying if he/she finds out or is that normal?
There’s definitely companies I would reach out to but I feel like it’s a long shot since they a) aren’t hiring b)want to hire MBAs or people with more experience or 3) hire someone from another top company.
I guess you got lucky and made the best out of it which is amazing. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained.
You definitely need to have tact about it. When you're a student, you can take meetings with everyone and anyone and blast 100 resumes via email a day. When you're employed, you need to be far more targeted and far more discrete. Remember - almost everyone in this industry in a certain market knows everyone else. Job hunting isn't some horrible crime - everyone does it - but it's worth doing it with class.
"I guess you got lucky" is something you probably shouldn't say to people when networking.
I applied on linkedin to a job post for the West coast (I'm on the third coast) and the recruiter (internal, not 3rd party) there hooked me up with a local recruiter even though there weren't any openings posted for my location. The West coast recruiter originally tried to get me to go to Omaha. Ended up getting the job/position I wanted in my local city.
Honestly had to google that
I don't think most people would recognize it. Probably more of a regional/locals jargon.
Edit: I just google'd it to see what comes up, and wikipedia tells me the folks in the Great Lakes area also say it - had no idea. I'm on the Gulf Coast.
Cold emails and networking.
Did you cold email while you were employed?
I haven’t yet, but I also approach it a couple different ways. One way that I’ve found success is setting up Google Alerts for certain job searches. Once I get a notification I immediately reach out to someone at a VP or Director level asking about the job. It’s gotten me in the door every single time I’ve used it.
No one got their jobs from campus job fair?
In real estate? Unlikely
I tried but there aren’t too many openings. RE companies are very selective. Had an interview but never got the job. It was for a REIT.
May have been 2 (at most) RE companies at mine hiring for Property Mangers.
Networking. Family friend sent me an opening. Two established alums who I had been networking for months had relationships with MDs and got me in the door.
summer intern in the IT division of a BB...spent the summer building spreadsheets and writing Excel VBA and SQL code...became a full time analyst doing the same for 2 years..lateraled to another BB bank doing the same for 3 more years for a rates trading desk...then got offered a seat as a junior trader for one of the guys i was doing IT work for, and now i'm a rates trader.
How did you learn VBA and SQL and how long did it take you? Any resources or guides you recommend? Thanks. I’d like to learn but it seems like it takes time to get a good grip on it.
1) Excel VBA for Dummies 2) SQL for Dummies 3) download the free MS SQL Server (i think its 2012 now) and the tools also, from Microsoft 4) do a project where you use those skills...build a spreadsheet that is useful for something (tracking some stocks, pulling live data from yahoo), build a table in the MSSQL Server database to store the data...learn to write VBA and SQL code to insert the data into the empty database you built....code a stored procedure to Select some data and create a report in another tab in your excel workbook.
This will teach you all about how to code VBA and SQL (will force you to learn how to program). Suggest reading a book about "best practices for writing code".
remember..."Necessity is the mother of invention."
Jobs 1, 2 & 3 cold e-mailing/networking. Set up coffee meetings under the premise of an informational conversation to learn more about their company/business and would usually drop a bite that I was looking, which usually led to new introductions/meetings or interviews. Checked in with all prospects every 45 days. On average, took ~6 months each time with 2-3 meetings per week. All three times, getting the job was a function of modified luck....I ended up in the right place at the right time, but had done all the legwork (meetings/check-ins) to get there by making sure I was one of the first people they would think of when an opening popped up.
Not to sound socially incompetent, but how would you go about these check ins every 45 days? Just email mentioning something you spoke about (personal or professional) that came up that made you think about them?
I would usually try and time it around something happening with the company, or as a thank--you follow up for a new connection they facilitated. So either "hey john, great news on your new lease/press/deal/hire, looks like a really interesting project. I'm still looking to jump on a development team at a well-capitalized and active developer like your shop, please let me know if anything changes regarding plans to expand your team." or if a follow up, thank them for the intro, let them know you had a good meeting and then say the same thing.
Took a summer internship at a well known and growing development shop through my schools alumni network.
Connected with others in real estate throughout the industry and met one person who dominates Investment Sales throughout my region. Compiled a list of job postings at the company requesting feedback from that contact, who ultimately put me in touch with my now manager. Said one of the reasons they were interested was because of my internship with the development company.
It all comes full circle eventually. Just network smart, and keep in touch with people that can help you. Often times candidates reach out to individuals once looking for jobs at their specific firm. Keep talking to people and tell them what you are interested in, and bounce ideas off of them. You don't always have to ask to be put in touch with people, just show persistence and interest and typically those contacts will be willing to help.
Cold e-mail
Saw the job posted on Select Leaders > went to the company's website to see who was most senior acquisition person > figured out what the email address would be > sent intro email with resume > got reply next day that they forward to HR > week later HR sets up interview > week later go in and interview > 5 days later received offer. In total that process took 24 days, and email to first day on job was 40 days.
This sounds ideal and most realistic.
Slept with the CEO
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Internship - Called a alumni met for a drink put in application got hired to his/her team
Full time - Saw posting on LinkedIn found a high ranking alumni gave him a call and he referred me to a different alumni and ended up with the job
Full time 2 - Head Hunter
Applied directly to the companies job listing on their website.
I also was offered a job last year that I applied to on Select Leaders, but turned it down.
Why did you turn it down?
1st job at Big4: Family connections got me an interview 2nd job: Recruiter contacted me
In between I moved countries and spent a few months job hunting
1st Job - On Campus Recruiting (real estate lending at a large bank)
2nd Job - Selectleaders Job posting (small RE opportunity fund)
3rd Job - Headhunter (large family office)
Online application on company's website. NYC metro area.
I have a passion for real estate home staging. I took home staging license from Global Staging and got the job.
All Internships -- through my HS FT 1 -- OCR FT 2 -- Applied online, put a friend from college who worked there down as my referral.
Very standard through a recruiter.
Spent 2 years at a boutique IB focusing on real estate/infrastructure, then after getting no bonuses despite working on projects that brought in a fair bit of fees I had had enough. Reached out to recruiters and found my current RE role.
Unfortunately it was a bad error, I moved too quickly into a role that I perhaps wasn't 100% keen on and ended up in a place where I'm still unlikely to get bonuses (firm is doing badly) and where I'm not really getting helpful or interesting experience. Now less than a year in, I'm desperately trying to get out to get my career back on track.
Junior Summer Internship: Both alumni and cold networking. Got the call for an interview from an alumni just after accepting another internship (non-RE). Did the interview, got the offer, and never looked back. This role was in CRE debt AM.
1st Job: Accepted an analyst position at the same firm. They couldn't commit to an offer at the end of my internship, so I was able to test the waters during senior year. Ultimately decided to go back.
2nd Job (current): Applied totally cold on SelectLeaders. The process took about a month and included two in-person interviews and a case study/modeling test. This is an investment role at a REPE firm.
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