As a real estate leader or brand, your team is the most valuable asset you have. Having said that, how can you recruit the best real estate talent, and keep them?
1. Flexible work arrangements: Campaign Track recommends offering flexible work arrangements. This may mean freedom in balancing in-office hours from home hours. Flexibility can also apply to scheduling. Provided your real estate team members deliver the results, does it really matter when they do or don’t work?
2. Proactively encourage time off: Just because your real estate team has flexibility in their schedule doesn’t mean they are going to be effective at using it. There are plenty of real estate leaders, CEOs, and investors that could be sticking to a four hour work week, but end up working 100 hour weeks, 52 weeks a year. If you don’t proactively help accommodate and promote regular time off, you will lose people due to burnout. Sadly, more often than not, it is going to be your best employees. Consider prompting, and even paying them to take some time off each year.
3. Discounts and perks: Real estate companies shouldn’t go broke by offering too many expensive perks, but they can offer a substantial menu of discounts. Third party companies and service providers will often come out of pocket for the discounts in order to recruit the business your real estate company can offer. This can include insurance products, retirement plans, gym memberships, cars, housing, and closing related services. A little can go a long way in the eyes of your employees.
4. Shares: Real estate entrepreneurs with a foot in the startup world should already be well familiar that giving shares is now commonly expected for key employees and team members. If you are really going somewhere, shares can be some of the most attractive and valuable compensation. Just make sure you don’t sabotage fundraising and growth efforts in the process.
5. Education: Helping team members improve themselves and grow in their abilities to earn is only going to help your organization. Make sure you have a strong program for training, and promoting learning. This can be real estate education or task specific education, as well as motivational and inspirational events.
6. Share positive results: Don’t assume that your team members feel valued just because you keep paying them, and haven’t fired them yet. They want to know that their contribution matters, and when they are doing work that is making a difference for the mission. Don’t hesitate to let them know.
7. Have the technology and tools they want: Today, great talent is drawn to the organizations that can help them maximize their potential. If you’re strong in this area, make some noise about it! Perhaps you’ve developed new, game changing technology, or have invested in quality tools and systems that your competitors haven’t. That should be a significant perk. It could even bring in others that are equally qualified to launch their own ventures to become a part of yours instead.
8. Strong PR campaigns: Peter Theil says that, like products and services, great companies don’t sell themselves. They need PR and proactive online reputation management. Become a magnet for good employees. What will a Google search or two reveal about you and your team? Are you regularly pushing out positive PR? Will top talent in the real estate industry notice you and say to themselves “I want to find a way to be a part of that company and mission,” and proactively seek you out?
Advice via Calbank & Trust reminds us “employees are no longer looking for a career, they’re looking for an experience,” and recommends employers focus on an experience that is “rewarding, exciting and empowering.”
9. Referrals: One of the best ways to accurately find top talent in real estate is to leverage the team and connections you already have. This increases the odds they’ll be a good fit. Have you reached out and asked if they know anyone that would be a good asset?
