How to Find a Job in REI Without Experience

[Ivan Zhao]

Hi BiggerPocket Friends,

I'm a 22-year old recent college grad without enough savings to really invest in real estate yet. Though I am aware of FHA and other ways of using other people's money, I want to save up my own money so that I can have positive cash flow right off the bat.

So I've been looking at jobs related to REI, applied to a few assistant property management roles, but so far I've only received instant rejections because I don't really have professional experience. I have experience with subleasing, prospecting, and collecting rent from many other college students when I was a college student, but I suppose that's not very convincing.

How does one get the ball rolling? I am applying to the lowest roles, but they seem to all require prior experience. I also do not have any connections in this niche. Are there places or positions that I might want to look into, minus cold call, sales, and real estate agent roles? I would really appreciate any ideas.