Discussion: If you could rewind to when you just graduated college, what would you have done differently?
Hello everyone, I just graduated college in May and am having some trouble finding a CRE gig in South Florida. 

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My strategy thus far has been to basically network with professionals in investment sales (what I'm interested in) professionals, both established and young, with the goal of getting my name out there and eventually finding a job. I try to make 2-3 calls a day and ask them for advice, if they know of any openings, and if they would put me in touch with anyone else that may give me some advice/help.

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I graduated from a decent state school in the south with a double major in Real Estate and Marketing, was active on campus, and took several relevant courses pertaining to CRE and have familiarity with ARGUS, but I only have internship experience in residential (new home sales). 

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My question to you all is: If you were in my position, as a recent grad searching for a job, what do you wish you had done that would possibly accelerate your career trajectory? 

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Any advice or feedback is much appreciated!
[{"id": "eu1s27u", "text": "Find a well established full-service CRE firm that has property management, brokerage, and development services. If they are top tier they will likely have opportunities for someone with your background. What you should seek is experience in all the departments to understand the business capabilities and roles and to find out what you enjoy doing. Also, attend some ULI, CCIM, and other local real estate related seminars/conferences where you will meet industry executives that will likely help you.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu1whp5", "text": "I work on the Commercial side. A lot of the bigger firms will start you off as an analyst and then work you into the agent/broker position over a few years. I've been at Marcus and Millichap for about a year now and from what I've gathered they are one of the top companies that will put you straight into the agent role but there is a high turnover rate because the role is Straight commission.", "replies": [{"id": "eu3k3rr", "text": "At all the top companies with analyst jobs, from what I can tell aren\u2019t easy to get. They want Masters degrees and previous experience.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu22iq4", "text": "Look nationally and internationally for job opportunities, position myself for the down cycles(another one will come soon enough), live as cheaply as possible for the first several years out of college, and put in a ridiculous amount of hours into the job- because early experience and jumping to the next level earlier on the career is invaluable.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu2jpwa", "text": "The biggest problem young people have is not thinking big (or widely) enough. \n\nAssuming you are young, you need to have a diversity of interesting experiences, even at the cost of higher income.", "replies": [{"id": "eu6i1tx", "text": "Thinking big in what ways?", "replies": [{"id": "eu6uofz", "text": "Typically people make plans on a very small scale, they think about tommorow, what they're going to do next week or next month but this is an opportunity for you to think on really large scales.\n\nGetting an overseas job would be a good step to thinking really big.\n\nWhy not think of 10 of the most amazing people you know in your career field and write them a letter and go meet them?\n\nThe point is that I don't know what thinking big means to you.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu8mci5", "text": "Keep doing what you're doing. I got in with the brokerage shop I'm at now (coming from a different industry) by targeted cold calling/meetings, leveraging my network however I could, and being tactfully relentless/shameless. I'm in year 4 in the business, 3 in brokerage.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nI started with a list of 3 contacts and grew it to 30 brokers by calling, asking for advice on getting into the business, and ending every call by asking for 3 other names of people I should reach out to. After a couple months of this, I had a job in a market where I had minimal prior connections.\n\nRecommendations:\n\n\\- Make your calls before 8:00 AM or after 5:00 PM. Brokers are overly protective of their time and working hours are for working on deals. Also, most brokers are in the office before 8:00 and after 5:00.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n\\- Attend junior broker/broker happy hours even though you aren't a broker yet. It's weird, but do it and let people know what your goals are (see shameless above).\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n\\- Be methodical with your follow up. If you leave a voicemail, follow up with an email and another call a few days later. The managing director in our office intentionally does not return calls like this on the first go because 1) he gets a ton of calls and 2) he wants to see how bad people want it. Anyone can make one call. If someone does take your call or meet with you, send a handwritten thank you note the next day. \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n\\-Be open/eager to taking an analyst type role that transitions into a brokerage role. It allows you to learn the market while making a little money (and I mean LITTLE money), but it allows you to cut your teeth, build relationships and dependability with other brokers in the office, which in turn leads to them being more eager/open to partnering with you when you move into a brokerage role. I was an analyst for 10 months.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n\\- Read \"Brokers Who Dominate\" -  Santomassimo\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n\\-Avoid the thought pattern of \"I'll get into Residential and transition to Commercial down the road\". It's doable but more times than not a kiss of death.\n\nGood luck and don't stop until you get what you want if it's really what you want.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "euhis6a", "text": "Thanks for the feedback!! Crazy, I just attended my first networking event on Friday and just got \u201cBrokers who Dominate\u201d in the mail off amazon a couple days ago. I think I\u2019m gaining a little traction!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]