How to be aggressive when looking for a new role?
Currently I’m in a role that I like, but don’t love in real estate finance.
There’s a position that would be a promotion AND more inline with my long term goals.
I met a guy at the firm and a few months back reached out about openings. Looks like they had some turnover and posted an opening. I texted him, he suggest I apply and sent him my resume and stuff.
*He didn’t seem overly anxious to help me, but definitely didn’t shut me down.
I’ve always operated under the, don’t be too needy guise, but something about this role is super attractive and I want to know what my next move should be. It’s been 8 days since I sent to him, I also sent my materials to the firms generalized email.
I did mention him in my CV, that I learned about the firm through him blah blah. It’s only 50 people.
I don’t want to be super needy, but I do kinda wanna aggressively pursue this option. My only real concern is they’ll think things are bad at my current shop which isn’t the case.
On a side note, prior to me applying, we’ve arranged to grab coffee again before work on Friday, not sure how to act but either way he’s cool, a good mentor with a love for the industry and could see us working together in the future, on deals maybe outside of work.
Any ideas what to do from here? I’m not actively looking for work. I was just interested in this specific opportunity.
I applied for a position a few months back and the HR person reached out to me saying they wanted to have a phone interview. I replied back 'absolutely, let me know what day and time I can make anything work'. They didn't reply. 2-3 days later I sent a follow up to my reply. 6-7 days later I sent a new email regarding the phone interview expressing my excitement and letting them know I would stop following up if the opportunity were no longer available. Turns out the guy was on vacation, and that they filled the position internally. I still wound up having a phone interview with him though. My fiancee had to push me to follow up the third time. It didn't pan out to anything, but I had a phone interview with him, connected on Linked In, and he is HR for another company in my industry. Point being, I hear ya- I HATE feeling so pushy/needy, but at the end of the day if you don't get the position, will you look back a day/week/month later thinking "man I wonder if I just bugged him/reached out to him if it would have made a difference?" That's my opinion- not saying it's the right one.
No that’s very fair and I tend to agree with you. It’s certainly what I did in undergrad. Now it just feels different, and don’t want to rub the firm the wrong way and give them the impression that I’m unhappy in my current role, have no future there, going to get fired, you name it!
Since it’s been 8 days I think a follow up is in place, but should I follow up with the guy? My biggest thing is getting the guy who’s on the investment team to vote for me or AT MINIMUM, push for an interview.
First off - you should absolutely follow up. People are busy - it slips through the cracks.
Second, HR can be notoriously slow. Excruciatingly. Slow. Did I mention slow?
As far as how to act - normal. Exceedingly normal. Say hey, appreciate you passing my resume along, I followed up and applied via the portal or whatever - let me know if there's anyone else I should reach out to in HR (blah, blah, blah) and then move on.
For the majority of people, if you make the ask and follow up on the ask - they will deliver. Sometimes you have to prod one final time, but generally people are helpful.
Don't waste your time with HR, they merely run the process on behalf of the actual decision makers. You have nothing to lose in cold calling/emailing every guy in a senior position at the company to request a coffee meeting based on the premise you want to learn more about them and their company. At the meeting, softly express an interest in what they are doing and ask if they have any recommendations of how to follow in their footsteps. People talk internally, they may connect the dots in the office and bring your name to the forefront. HR is only going to get your resume included in the massive pile of resumes the MD is reviewing in the first place...
You mean emailing my CV/Resume too? Or just pulling the coffee card?
Send your resume as an attachment when asking to get coffee so they can "get familiar with your background."
This x100. There have been numerous times when MD's at top firms have reached out to me directly wanting to interview after my resume got "lost in the shuffle" by incapable HR women.
By then it was too late and I had already moved on.
Does the "coffee meeting to learn more about the firm" generally still work when there's an existing job posting that I want to be considered for? I'm worried that the coffee meeting route is too roundabout / would imply that I'm simply networking for future opportunities, when I want to be considered for the existing role.
Usually most of the old school guys in RE finance respect the hustle. The key is to be as aggressive as possible without annoying but toeing the line. This is how the top brokers operate to sell their service and win deals, which is exactly the same mindset you should have when approaching VP's/MD's.
Jeez man you might as well ask this contact out to dinner at this rate.
In all serious, I was just in your same boat and if you push it won't necessarily make you appear needy(granted you're not harassing everyone in the office for an update). You need to convey your genuine interest in this role & company for XYZ reason. They will 100% ask why you're looking to leave, which will elicit a response on your end. So if I were you, i'd get really good at curating your story other than "you don't like it there", since they might just throw back the whole "what makes you think you'll like it here" basic vetting out argument.
Best of luck!
Would it be bad to reach out to another in the firm without asking permission from my contact?
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