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Need Advice on Experienced Hire of NYC B4

I want to move to NYC and join one of the big four and I need advice on what I need to do to make it happen.

I am a 2-year tax associate in a regional public accounting firm on east coast. I am not a senior yet, since my current employer requires at least 3 years to become a senior. I am doing general tax, while my current main client is a real estate group. I graduated from a MACC program and got my CPA this year.

Below are my questions:

1. What level of position should I apply? I want to join B4 as an experienced associate. However, I didn't find a lot open positions of experienced associates on their website. They seem to need seniors.
 

2.  I am interest in Real Estate group. But I found Real Estate Group of B4 have a lot REIT clients, while I have never worked for REIT. Will this become a problem? 

3. My friends in NYC Big Four referred me, but I haven't heard anything for a month. Should I do anything special instead of just wait?

4. It seems that B4 have layoffs this year. Do the layoffs represent the decrease of open positions this year?

Thanks a lot!