by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Knowing what you’re looking for is the first step to finding it.

For hiring, this means identifying the characteristics of your ideal recruiting prospect.

The characteristics on your list might include items such as education, work history, character traits, and other work-related factors.

But, don’t stop there.

Author Allen Dib warns that a list of characteristics will remain inert unless you bring it to life by turning it into an avatar.

An avatar is a detailed exploration and description of your target prospect and their life.

Like a police sketch artist, you piece together a composite that creates a vivid picture of them in your mind.

It helps tell their story so you can visualize life from their perspective.

The value of creating an avatar or your ideal recruiting prospect is twofold:

Reality. It convinces you that the people you’re trying to recruit actually do exist. If you’re not “seeing” these people in your recruiting network, you’ll know some adjustments are necessary.

Recognition. A hiring manager recently told me he saw a picture of an agent he knew pictured on a shopping cart advertisement at his local grocery store. “I had forgot about her—she would be a great fit for my office.”

Your brain loves patterns. Help it out by giving it a way to recognize your next hire.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Many of you who read Insight every day are trying to build teams, offices, and companies inside the insanely competitive real estate industry.

From a recruiting perspective, it’s harder than ever to separate yourself from competitors based on traditional features and benefits.

So, how do you differentiate yourself? 

To find the answer, I encourage you to set aside some time this weekend to listen to Marcia Kilgore’s story.

Marcia was the founder of Bliss, and over an 11-year period she differentiated her company in the ultra-competitive world of skincare services.

She had to answer the question: What is the real difference between a facial given by one esthetician and the next?

By successfully answering this question, she went on to sell Bliss for over $70M and then founded 5 more companies.

You’ll, for sure, be inspired by this story, but you’ll also pick up some ideas on how to differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

The most reliable recruiting lead measure is the face-to-face appointment/interview with a viable prospect.

But what if this lead measure is not producing the lag measure of new hires?

One option is to disregard (or replace) the face-to-face appointment as the lead measure with some other metric.

Before exercising this option, ask yourself these questions:

Do I have realistic expectations?  Not every recruiting appointment is going to turn into a hire. If you’re selective and you have good competitors, a reasonable appointment-to-hire conversion rate is about 25%.

Are my recruiting prospects viable?  Most recruiting problems start as sourcing problems.If you’re not impressed with the people you’re meeting (as human beings), make some changes to how your sourcing is done.

Am I a competent interviewer?  At ThirdPool, we get to see much of the recruiting process from a data perspective.  There is a wide variance of success rates among hiring managers, and much of that variance can be tracked directly to what happens during the interview. If your interviews are not converting at a reasonable rate, take a look at how you’re interviewing.

The most successful hiring managers stay focused on the face-to-face appointment as the lead measure, but make sure their appointments are high quality interactions.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

In the 4 Disciplines of Execution, the authors recommend identifying a wildly important goal.

For many real estate companies, recruiting is the objective that won’t be achieved without some special attention.

We know that lag measures track the success of a wildly important goal.

How many new and experienced agents do you want to hire this year?

We also know that lead measures track the critical activities that drive the accomplishment of the lag measures.

They predict the success of the lag measures.

For real estate recruiting, the most important lead measure is a face-to-face recruiting appointment with a viable prospect.

After observing the performance of hundreds of hiring managers over the last decade, I have not seen any exceptions to this rule.

This is an activity you can directly influence and will likely produce the lag measure of new hires.

Note: If you’d like a quick summary of the 4 Disciples of Execution, here is a quick 5-minute video by one of the authors summarizing the book.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Authors Dave Ulrich and Arthur Yeung define talent via this simple equation:

Talent = Competence × Commitment × Contribution

Yesterday we discussed competence, the first and most important component of the talent equation.

But hiring for competence alone leaves an organization vulnerable to future problems and diminishing return. Here’s why the other two components are also necessary.

Commitment

Committed or engaged employees work hard, put in their time, and do what they are asked to do. 

Commitment shows up in an employee value proposition: employees who give value to their organization (through insight, hard work, and performance) get personal value back.

Contribution

The next generation of employees are making a real contribution through their work (finding meaning and purpose in it)…. [When they’re not making a true contribution], their interest in the work will diminish and their talent will wane. 

Contribution comes when employees move from behavioral commitment to emotional connection because they believe that the organization’s purpose will help them fulfill their personal values.

The first component of the talent equation (competence) focuses on what the agent can provide to the organization.

The other two components focus on what the agent intrinsically receives from working with you and the rest of the team.

Unless you have all three components, you’ll not reach the goal of a talented hire.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one’s prior beliefs or hypotheses.

We’ve discussed leveraging this human tendency to recruit more successfully over the last couple of days (Part 1, 2), but it can also be used to improve retention.

According to Seth Godin’s essay, there are two more components to confirmation bias worth noting.

Ritual

When we engage in a physical transaction with someone else, we increase the self-talk that leads to [confirmation bias]….

The ritual creates a receptive person susceptible to the influences of authoritative culturally sanctioned powers.

When agents come into an office, interact with the same people, and develop a routine, they put themselves in a state where they’re more likely to do what the organization wants them to do (i.e. I want you to remain part of our team).

The ritual creates the person’s state, and the state is what creates the affect.

Fear

Fear underlies just about everything we do. It keeps us from starting, helps us finish and can transform our experience of almost anything.

Fearful feelings can keep an agent’s desire to change from taking root.

It confirms the belief that the world is a scary place and staying right here is the safest option.

Providing rituals and a safe place contributes to the confirmation bias that will keep your agents from leaving.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Yesterday, we discussed how confirmation bias is one of your best recruiting allies because expectations and beliefs drive reality.

In the same essay, Seth Godin makes the point that comparison and affirmation are the building blocks for confirmation bias.

Comparison

Our culture has pushed us to compare everything.

These comparisons almost always happen before we engage with the product, the service or the cure, and they build up confirmation bias as they do.

Affirmation

But to reach the level of confirmation bias, some affirmation is often needed.

Who said that? What do people like me do in this situation?

Peer pressure extends far, far beyond high school….

Marketers in the old days called this the bandwagon effect, and it’s magnified by the intense pockets of tribal behavior that the internet now enables.

Your recruiting tactics and pitches should frequently include comparisons and affirmations.

Favorably compare yourself to other options your recruiting prospects might be considering.

Then validate these comparisons by showing how others they know, respect, and admire make similar decisions.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

One of the most powerful tools in a recruiter’s toolbox is confirmation bias.

A few years ago, Seth Godin wrote an article in Medium explaining how it works:

Confirmation occurs when we expect something to happen.

When we spend a lot of money on [stereo] cables, we want them to sound better….

When we choose to make a living selling something, we decide that the thing we sell works.

Confirmation makes sense.

No one particularly likes being wrong, and once an expectation is set, once we have a cultural or tribal reason to buy into an event occurring, we’re going to do what we can to make it happen.

Since most measurement of joy, well-being and effort is internal, the confirmation bias produces huge impacts.

What you start to believe about yourself and your organization is the foundation for most of what happens thereafter.

What your recruiting prospect expects to happen is the rudder guiding them to their final destination.

With this in mind, the most successful recruiters put less emphasis on the tangible and focus more attention on expectations and beliefs. 

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Last week, I heard a real estate leader from one of the major national franchises estimate the cost of unwanted attrition.

It costs 10 times more to acquire a new producer than it does to retain the producer you already have on your team.

This doesn’t negate the need for recruiting (if new people are not joining your organization, you’ll stagnate), but it does shed more light on the importance of retention.

Dr. John Sullivan recently published a very informative article which includes more than a dozen actionable retention ideas.  Here is the best idea on his list:

LinkedIn found that “tell me why you stay” interviews can result in a 38 percent reduction in turnover.

Stay interviews are proactive periodic one-on-one interviews between a targeted employee and their manager.

Key employees are asked, “why do you stay?” by identifying the precise “sticky factors” that tie this individual to the job and at the agency.

A manager can then act to reinforce each of those “sticky factors.”

These interviews should be held at least once a year and more often when an individual has a high risk of leaving.

For a hiring manager who wants to build a sustainable, high-producing office, the “stay interview” is just as important as the recruiting interview.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) periodically measures the “quit rate” in the U.S. job market, and voluntary separations (quits) rose to new highs in recent months.

Based on BLS estimates, about 29% of the workforce will quit their jobs this year.

What does this tell us about the workforce?

Unhappiness Abounds. Researchers have found that individuals usually change jobs in response to some kind of pain or difficulty they’re attempting to resolve. 

Willing to Risk. When someone leaves a job, they usually take another one. At this juncture, there has to be a belief that better opportunities are readily available.

Recruiting is Active. People rarely leave jobs without some sort of external prompting. The prompting can come from a friend, a business associate, recruitment marketing, or direct contact with a recruiter.

It may seem counterintuitive, but some of the most active recruiting happens when the unemployment rate is low and the job market is strong.

It’s the time when many people find the courage to make a change.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Google recently announced it will be discontinuing its recruiting software product called Google Hire.

Google Hire joins a long list of other products/services Google has created and shut down (here’s a list of more than 170 others) because they didn’t meet expectations.

Why did Google Hire fail?  

According to recruitment technology expert Raghav Singh, there were multiple factors that led to its demise. Here are two of the most compelling:

Too generic: Hire’s failure is likely the result of it being a remarkably mediocre offering that tried to compete in a market that already had plenty of cool, feature-rich, and innovative products.

Recruiting software works best when it’s meeting the unique needs of recruiters inside a specific industry. A one-size-fits-all recruiting solution is not overly helpful.

Poor Connection to Sourcing: Hire does include features to source candidates, [but it didn’t] stand out from the field…. It’s strange that [Google] launched an ATS with no demonstrated superiority.

The connection between recruiting software and sourcing is critical. Without a constant flow of recruiting prospects, great software means nothing.

It’s important to learn from failures—whether they happen to you or happen to others.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

A few weeks ago, we discussed the recruiting tech stack essentials.

Once you’re proficient with these tools, you may want to add to your effectiveness by adopting some of the cutting-edge technologies.

What are these technologies?

Talent acquisition strategist, Michael Goldberg recently weighed-in on this topic:

Organizations are looking to hire faster, simpler, and cheaper.

While we have heard a lot about automation and artificial intelligence, HR and recruiting have not adapted as quickly as we should.

The AI and automation tools in recruiting already here are sourcing tools, automated calendaring, automated assistants, texting engagement, hiring and matching platforms, as well as chatbots.

These are the tools to be purchasing for 2020.

It’s no secret that real estate companies operate on low margins and operators are looking for efficiencies in every area, including recruiting.

Adopting new technologies can reduce staffing needs and/or allow your staff to focus on tasks with higher returns.

Faster, simpler, cheaper, and a better ROI—this is the game we’re playing.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Recruiting technology tends to lag consumer marketing innovation.

What your agents started doing a couple of years ago, recruiters (and recruiting prospects) are adopting now.

For example, most consumers are comfortable engaging the world with their mobile devices, but mobile recruiting engagement is just recently catching up.

According to researchers, the percentage of mobile clicks grew 25% over the last year and the percentage of mobile applies grew 55%. It will eventually hit the consumer saturation point.

As a recruiter or hiring manager, it’s important to respond to the behaviors and preferences of your recruiting prospects.

How? Here’s a quick checklist:

-Make sure your recruiting websites and landing pages are mobile-optimized. Some companies are now using mobile-first designs to cater to mobile users.

-Limit the amount of information you’re collecting from the prospect. Implement techniques making engagement on a mobile device easy (ex. pre-filled forms)

-Use texting and chat tools to communicate with recruiting prospects. This makes the transition between your recruiting marketing pages and dialog with prospects more seamless.

Keep in mind, it’s your job to adjust to the recruiting prospect’s preferences.  

This often means giving up your favorite methodologies and adopting something new.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person changes jobs every 4 years.

What drives an individual to consider new opportunities?

Increasing one’s income is an important factor, but it was only cited as the most important by 14% of job-changers.

The other reasons ranked similar to income (slightly above 10%) were disliking the work environment, needing more opportunity for growth, seeking a better work-life balance and not feeling passionate about the job.

All these reasons focus on quality-of-life issues and suggest that unhappiness isn’t just about pay.

Other researchers found that poor management tends to be a major trigger for job change.

If an agent tells you they’re leaving for a better split, dig deeper and try to uncover the more significant factors contributing to the decision.

When a recruiting prospect is comparing your offer to a competitor’s offer, have these stats at your fingertips.

Encourage them to factor in quality-of-life and management issues (as well as pay) when making the decision.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

At the onset recruiting is more about attraction than persuasion.

To get some initial momentum, best-selling author Larry Kendall says you must get prospects moving towards you.

People tend to move towards someone they know, like, and trust—someone they feel good or comfortable with. [It’s important] to position yourself as a likeable, trusted advisor….

To accomplish this, you must drop your short-term agenda and be willing to listen and serve.

By asking thoughtful questions and genuinely listening to their responses, your prospects will start to feel known.

With the unique information you collect during your initial interactions, you’re better positioned to offer assistance, meet needs, and make suggestions.

You can only become trusted and liked when you show yourself to be genuinely supportive.

Yes, this takes more effort.

But it’s the only way to recruit the best and brightest because they can see through the gimmicks and shallow pitches.

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