One of the most fundamental skills in growing any Real Estate business is Recruiting!
Most of the top-performing Real Estate Agencies in the country are not just the best because they sell the most property, it's because they are exceptional at recruiting the right people that sell the most property!
Recruiting in Real Estate is quite tricky as you could imagine. There are many different personalities from many different backgrounds that find themselves in Real Estate, and usually the client (Agency) is only interested in a few things...
"How many properties did the candidate sell in the last 12 months?"
"Do they have experience doing this work already?".
It's the Recruiters job to shelter the client from the barrage of people who want to give Real Estate a go, but take up the clients valuable time in screening everyone. Recruiters may screen 10 - 20 - 30 - 100 people before they identify the "Right one" to put-up to their client. Doing it this way ensures the client can stay focused on their business, and only spend their time talking to the right people.
What Real Estate Agencies really want from a Recruiter is Talent, not staff! Real Estate is a essentially "A business within A business" and the success of any Real Estate Agency depends very much on the talent within the team, but more importantly, finding those people who bring not only a level of skill & motivation to the job, but the ability to fit with other team members & goals of the business. This is called a "Cultural fit"...
Of course, every Sales Agent that we speak to considers themselves as doing exceptionally well, regardless if they are selling 7 properties a year or 107. They are sales people after all, and they will usually try to tell you exactly what they think you want to hear to get themselves what they want... true?
A similar thing could be said for the Agencies. They are all trying to attract the best Sales Agents to their business. They all advertise jobs as them "being the market leaders in their area" and have won the most awards or have the best agents working for them etc...etc... but which Agency is the right one for you at the time in your career your at now? That's exactly what a recruiter can help you uncover...
Recruiters are experts at seeing through the smoke and know how to frame an approach. They slow things down and break it up into a few fundamentals to make a great hire. Personality traits, Cultural fit, Skills for the task, Motivation and Willingness...
What is Recruitment?
Recruitment has been around for centuries. It all started way, way back, even before slavery and way before picking the right crew for exploring the world onboard ships. It came about when people started to organise and needed specific skills to get things done!
Recruiting was fundamental in the growth of early industry, helping factories & farms find skilled labour and it fuelled the growth of the modern corporate environment as we know it today...
The fact is, Recruiting has been around since the first order was given..."Find me someone that can do this task!"..."Who are the right warriors to take into battle with me?" "Who knows the right crew to sail this ship?" "Who do you know that can build the ships?" "Who can cut the stone to build this pyramid?"... and so on...you get the idea...
Recruitment even goes back further than religion...where followers would recruit more followers to expand their teachings... Maybe it even goes back to things like finding the right partner... "who do you think would be a good match for me?" or "who makes the best weapons?"
The Recruiter is that person that knows who or how to find people with skills and more importantly, how to connect them! This is how recruiters make a living...
Being a generalist Recruiter for all industries is very hit and miss. It's extremely hard to get a solid grasp of the who's who of all the different industries your trying to target, and you can end up being a jack of all trades, master of none. Being a specialist means you hone your time and efforts in on one industry...and you get really, really good at it over time by building key connections and more importantly, knowledge.
Do not confuse Recruiting with HR Management. Recruitment is not taught in Universities and it's not something you can just pick-up without training...it's a craft learned over years of doing the job and analysing where it went well and more importantly, identifying and unpacking where it went wrong...and learning from it!
Everyone in Real Estate should use a Real Estate Recruiter!
Why? It doesn't cost the Job Seekers anything to use a Recruiter (the client pays the recruiter) and the information you can access could mean the difference between making a mistake in your next move or finding the perfect opportunity...
Employers only pay a fee if the Recruiter finds them someone they want. It's purely performance based. Recruiters charge a percentage of the overall annual salary package (10% - 18%) or sometimes negotiate a flat fee if the role is commission only. Recruiters are even happy to negotiate rates with clients that use them all the time. There should also be replacement guarantees in place if the candidate doesn't work out, the recruiter will replace the candidate for no charge.
A specialist Real Estate Recruiter already knows of Jobs that may suit you and can connect you with opportunities you don't know about. Not every job is advertised.
A good Recruiter is exceptional at analysing personalities with a view to matching the right ones with a specific skillset for the client. A Recruiter is a specialist in identifying key traits in a person to ascertain if they will be suitable for a task or not.
The longer you have been a Recruiter, the better you get at it...and using a Recruiter to find you a job or a candidate in a specific field like Real Estate, can save you huge amounts of time, money and effort.
It is quite common for people that don't know the craft of instinctive Recruiting to try and build systems to help them navigate the process. Most employers openly admit they are terrible at it, but what part of a system built by people, that are openly terrible at recruiting, would result in a favourable outcome?
When employers do find a good Recruiter, they stick with them and trust them implicitly as an extension of their team. The art of finding the best talent in the market can sway a competitive edge that feeds growth and becomes an even stronger value proposition to new recruits and a good Recruiter will drive this growth for you...not just make a placement!
Technology Vs Instinctive Recruiting...
Although a lot has changed in the world since the old days with the modern use of algorithms, AI, databases, check boxes, job boards, applicant tracking and other technologies, the fundamentals of Recruitment remain unchanged. It's about matching the right skills and cultural fit with the desired needs of the employer and putting them both together in a way that helps both parties.
What happens during the process to get someone through to a successful placement is unique in every situation. It even extends after the placement has been made. A good recruiter mitigates the risks on behalf of the employer and candidate by being exceptional at their job. It's experience. No algorithm can stand a chance...
A good Recruiter knows things a Job Ad won't explain. They ask the right questions. They understand the motivations and goals of both parties and become the conduit between the worker and the employer. The devil is in the detail as they say!
Recruiters are experts at working out what both the candidates and clients really want, below the fine print of the Job description. Recruiters can tell you things you simply cant find online or by looking at a resume. The placement is made outside the lines...
You may think, "oh, that's easy...anyone could do that" although, after thousands of placements under my belt, I can confidently tell you that there are hundreds of things that need to be managed to make a successful placement and it's not as simple as you might think, but a good recruiter will make is seem effortless...and this is what employers pay for.
The smart move...
The old saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know" is never more true than when using a Recruiter. You can leverage the relationships a Recruiter has been building for may years to your advantage by engaging the Recruiter to help you find a new role.
When reaching out to a recruiter, you should expect to be asked lots of questions. This is designed to help narrow down what may be the most suitable role for you, based in an area that you want to work and sometimes with a Brand you have been aspiring to work for.
You can help the Recruiter narrow down the right opportunity by having an up-to-date resume that they can view and have it ready to send over. Picking up the phone to introduce yourself and have a chat with a Recruiter is the best move. It's free!
In this day and age, you may think resumes are becoming a bit obsolete, but we can assure you, resumes are still the stepping stone to getting a Recruiters interest about the skill their employers are looking for.
Above all else, you must have the fundamental skills to do the work. All the other things like online profiles, your personality, cultural fit for the company, awards, what makes you tick, what your motivations & goals are, will be handled expertly and presented perfectly by your Recruiter to support your application to any job you're going for...
Use your Recruiter as a source of information and guidance, and listen to their suggestions. It is super important to be open minded as there may be key pieces of information shared that are vital to you successfully getting the job you have always wanted.
Don't be afraid if it happens fast. A good Recruiter can connect you very quickly with the right roles and you need to be prepared to act and make yourself available.
Note: Never let your Recruiter down!
Real Estate Agents seem to be the worst for this...and it's really bad. If a Recruiter backs you and gets you a Job interview with a client you agreed to meet, you show! If you fail to turn up to a meeting they have organised for you, you are not only blacklisting yourself with that Recruiter and Employer you were meant to meet, you may have just blacklisted yourself with their entire network...
Not showing makes the Recruiter look unprofessional and ruins their reputation with the Employer. You can always decline a Job if it is offered, but if you agree to a meeting, you make sure you go.
Imagine every time your name is mentioned in the years ahead, the employer is warned off you because you didn't have the courtesy to show for a meeting 3 years ago. It happens. Recruiters and Employers remember!
Looking for work or staff? Reach out...
We are constantly speaking with Real Estate employers and candidates who are on the hunt for the right people or their next move... Reach out, tell us what you are looking for in Real Estate and one of our dedicated Real Estate Recruiters @ Placed Australia will do all they can to assist. www.PlacedAustralia.com.au
