Career Advice & Conceptions about prestige

Ever since I was a sophomore in college I´ve been in love with Real Estate, especially with the development side; I´ve settled in the city in Mexico where I studied college; Monterrey which is one of Mexico´s most attractive destinies for investment thanks to all the nearshoring coming from the US and other countries.

My career started back in 2018 when I first took a Real Estate Diploma course a few months after a weeklong course from a major local developer in conjunction with my school Tec de Monterrey; the professor who imparted the diploma course gave me the chance to do my internship in his firm which is a smaller consultancy focused on development and investment he pretty much became the Qui Gon Jinn to my Obi-Wan Kenobi; my only break from Real Estate has been after graduation a 6 months-long test stint at a major non-banking services firm (Vector Casa de Bolsa) in their Corporate Services and ForEx division which failed to materialize into a longer full-time contract (due to unfulfilled goals of 50k Mexican Pesos of profit in 3 non-consecutive months and the fact that the market is saturated by your own colleagues and major banks) but that helped me rekindle a friendship with a really special lady.

Afterward, I returned part-time to my professor´s firm but he had stopped focusing on commercial, industrial, and hotel developments due to the effects of the pandemic and began focusing on horizontal residential development; I worked at the best of my capabilities but I need to think in my future and he began pushing me to search for more opportunities where I can also grow and his company has been struggling for a while. I also furthered my Real Estate credentials by obtaining an Online Certification in Real Estate Finance & Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science and another in Construction Project Management from the Columbia School of Engineering and I want to study an MBA in Real Estate and Finance at a prestigious school in the United States (as such education in Mexico is rare to come by and is mostly geared to architects, civil engineers and urban planners and people studying such majors) and I´m also considering to take on a law degree program down the line as well.

I´ve applied to almost every company in town first by taking a prestige-based tiered approach based on my professor and his brother-in-law´s opinions (who´s also a role model and a highly successful VP of Development at an investment firm in the United States and whom I try to impress so I can get a job in his company down the line) which is (partially):

Tier 1- The major international & domestic companies: CBRE, JLL, Hines, Newmark, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers, Citius AG, FIBRAs (Mexican REITs), RE Private Equity divisions of major banks and investment firms 

Tier 2-Major Local Real Estate Developers (NEST Desarrollos, U-Calli, Terra Regia, Internacional de Inversiones, etc.) 

Tier 3-Smaller regional developers franchise brokerage agencies 

This tiered list is based on their view on how working in such companies may reflect on a recruiter or admissions official once you move on to the next step of your career (either a higher-paying job or graduate studies) and well those 2 fellas have some credentials to their names both studied at my same school but did their graduate studies at Cornell and my professor even worked for JLL´s Bill Sanders himself and at GE Capital and Vornado Realty before.

I´ve applied to such companies in all tiers every time an opportunity shows up (to JLL I think I´ve applied 5-6 times for example) while also doing some freelance work for the professor when he has, but I haven´t found anything; I´ve tried to pivot to other areas of work but for example, back office corporate finance jobs are pretty much only hiring accounting graduates.

I´ve not only applied online but also even went as far as personally delivering printed copies of my CV around town (with mixed results) and asking everyone I know if there´s any opportunity they know about but to no avail; its almost like if HR departments and recruiters only seek people who studied architecture or engineering and to also being honest unemployement anxiety is taking a toll on me (and I go to therapy thanks to my family´s insurance), I can´t move to other areas of Mexico in search of work due to family reasons or to the US because both my professor and his brother-in-law told me "You´re Mexican and if you want to work in the US you need both experience and to arrive with some added value such as contacts or investment capital or project leads that can result in succesful projects" and besides the current climate for immigration to the US which it ain´t in my plans for the short and mid-terms; it also has been feeling as if I could be blacklisted (which in fact may have occured at JLL according to an acquaintance who works there) I can´t go on my own because to become a developer myself (my dream and ultimate goal) I need capital (which my family isn´t in a position to provide) and a track record (which I can´t get due to my current situation) ; I´ve also tried to do side hustles but to no avail (ridesharing isn´t an option due to my vehicle´s insurance policy) also comissions-based brokerage isn´t an option due to my financial situation.

I just wanted to get all this weight off my chest and to seek anyone´s advice and recommendations if y´all are so kind. I don´t feel entitled to a job I just want something that I know how to do, that I enjoy doing and that can help me grow more and progress while also providing a much-needed bedrock of stability for the next stages of my life. 

Thank you very much