by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Many of you are fighting the real estate recruiting battle every day.

Faced with our own challenges, we tend to think we have it more difficult than leaders in other industries.

Dr. John Sullivan would take issue with that thought. Collecting data from multiple sources, he makes the case that hiring is difficult all over.

A 2019 survey of CEOs ranked their No. 1 internal business challenge as attracting and retaining top talent.

A similar survey revealed that 80 percent of CEOs worried about the availability of key skills.

Part of their unhappiness may be because research indicates that 46 percent of all new hires fail within 18 months….

Surveyed executives also revealed that 10 to 25 percent of new hires leave within the first six months.

Everyone is dealing with the same problems, and they’re often expensive, complicated, and exhausting to solve.

If you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, don’t give up. Your talent, effort, and focus are needed more than ever.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

When stuck in a work routine, many people operate from a dark place. It becomes difficult for them to recognize the reality of their situation.

Your job as a recruiter or hiring manager: Turn the lights on!

Researchers have discovered what tends to make a workplace a bright place. We covered two factors yesterday, and here are two more.

Culture Fit. Performance and happiness at work are really high when employees feel they fit within their organizational culture. Not fitting in a job is like wearing the wrong clothes to a party—all the time. It’s hugely draining and de-energizing.

Shared Commitment. Commitment matters because it taps into the macro reasons of why you do the work you do. Some of the underlying elements of commitment are perceiving you’re doing something worthwhile, having strong intrinsic interest in your job and feeling that the vision of your organization resonates with your purpose.

To turn the lights on, craft questions that uncover the unhappiness that a recruiting prospect may be experiencing.

“Do you have good friends and colleagues at work who value you and how you contribute?”

“Do the goals and objectives of your broker resonate with your personal goals?”

The research leads you to the place where the pain most likely exists.  The questions bring the pain to the surface.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

I recently had the privilege of hearing Paul D’Arcy summarize some of the latest employment research compiled by Indeed.

Here are a few of the trends I found interesting:

81% of employed individuals are actively looking or open to a new job.

49% of workers report always looking for a new job.

While this research was compiled across all industries, it’s reflective of those working in the real estate industry as well. Agents are more open to changing companies then it may seem.

80% of jobseekers start pragmatically. 20% seek out certain brands.

When someone is considering changing jobs or moving to a different company, they’re usually trying to solve a problem in their life or current employment situation.

65% of job seekers are affected by reviews.

Like other parts of the marketplace, employee reviews about your company affect hiring. For better or worse, the way you treat your existing agents and employees will be known by your recruiting prospects.

Summary: More agents than you’d expect are open to making a change if you can authentically help them solve their problems and overcome the obstacles they’re facing.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

For most real estate hiring managers, there is an unfortunate correlation between recruiting and procrastination.

When it’s time to focus on the proactive tasks that produce long term recruiting success, there is always something better or more interesting to do.

How do you overcome procrastination? 

The Quartz business blog recently summarized some of the most successful procrastination hacks.

Tiny steps: Take a micro-step toward the thing you’re supposed to accomplish, like writing one sentence of an email you’re avoiding. The rest may flow.

Lean on a friend: Often called bookending, share your goals and a timeline with a friend. Short timeframes work better than long ones. “I’ll check back in an hour to hear about your progress.”

Guided visualization: Spend several minutes vividly imagining the consequences of procrastinating.

Pomodoro technique: Work in manageable 25-minute chunks of time using a pomodoro or “tomato timer” countdown app. If necessary, take five-minute reward breaks.

Structured procrastination: If you have something important to do, re-evaluate stuff lower on your list as more important. You’ll end up doing the first thing soon enough by procrastinating on the stuff you reprioritized. (Yes, it’s a mind game; it was invented by a philosopher.)

Try one of these techniques the next time you feel like putting off your recruiting tasks.

Recruiting success comes to those who consistently do the important-but-not-urgent tasks that frequently get put off until tomorrow.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

A few weeks ago, Stefan Swanepoel and T3 Sixty hosted their annual T3 Summit for real estate leaders in San Diego.

In an interview format, Stefan spoke with 13 of the top CEOs in the industry and published an executive summary of their insights. If you haven’t done so already, it’s worth downloading and reading.

Here’s a subset of some of these CEOs’ thoughts related to recruiting:

Rich Barton (Zillow): Zillow Group is going to move from search and find, to buy, sell and rent…

Ron Peltier (BHHS): The industry has over 80,000 brokers. There are too many brokers. We may only need 20,000 brokers, or 10,000 brokers, [or less].

Robert Reffkin (Compass): Agents are loyal to their manager and to the simplicity, ease, support and marketing brokerages provide them. But more than that, they are loyal to their family and entrepreneurial passion. I do not believe in loyalty to brand above all.

John Peyton (Realogy): Human nature is about loyalty…. For real estate agents and brokers–belonging to a tribe, with a common language and vision is important.

Glenn Sanford (eXp): The percentage of agent-mediated real estate transactions may drop from the 90 percent range today to perhaps a 60 percent range in the tech-mediated future.

Glenn Kelman (Redfin): Outside the U.S., buyer’s agents have always been less common and now U.S. buyer’s agents are coming under pressure.

Panel of 6 Large Brokerage CEOs: Many brokerages will have to hire a whole new breed of agent to work online leads as most existing agents are horrible at [this task]. The current agent population is too slow to adopt new tools and relies too heavily on assistants. In the end, most will be left behind.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Perhaps you’ve thought about the possibility of converting gig workers to real estate agents.

After all, there are lots of them. The Federal Reserve estimates there are between 50-70 million gig workers in the United States.

Before heading down this path, it’s important to take a closer look at the typical gig worker.

According to employment expert Jeff Dickey-Chasins, skill-level separates the gig worker from the general employment population.

We’re talking about low or unskilled workers doing simple tasks – driving a car, delivering a package, walking a dog, and so on….

Highly skilled jobs requiring considerable expertise, experience, and training are less likely to be affected by the on-demand economy, simply because employers need a higher degree of reliability and continuity than [the typical gig worker] can provide.

Low or unskilled workers do not make good real estate agents.

To find productive agents, you’ll have to jump in the employment marketplace fray and compete for higher skilled individuals alongside other industries.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

It could be argued that real estate agents were the first “gig economy” workers.

Decades before Uber employed independent contractors, real estate agents owned their own businesses and worked for themselves.

As the “gig economy” has grown, is it fair to equate real estate agents with other independent contractors?

According to Caroline Pegden’s recent article in ERE, a quick look at some basic employment metrics will shed some light on the realities of gig economy work.

Pegden studied gig workers in England and discovered that 87% of them earn less than $13,000 per year, and the median annual income is just $485.

Only 8% of these workers are able to turn their efforts into a primary source of income.

Gig working is not bread winning….Gigs are in fact a top-up, a complement to workers’ income, and…[not] a primary source of income.

Because independent contractors are so prevalent in today’s workforce, it’s important to help your recruiting prospects make a distinction between working as a real estate agent and doing gig work.

During a screening call or interview, start inserting a question such as:

Do you view working as a real estate agent as your primary source of income?

If a recruiting prospect gives anything less than a believable “yes,” you may want to think twice about moving them forward in the hiring process.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

If you’re not already a regular listener of Steve Murray’s REAL Trending podcast, you should start soon.

It’s one of the most productive ways to spend 15 minutes each week if you have an interest in understanding the trends and strategies driving the real estate industry.

In his podcasts, Steve frequently says the real estate brokerage business boils down to a few simple things: recruiting talent, developing talent, and spending less money than you’re collecting in revenue.

It seems many of the top brokers in the country agree with him.

In RIS Media’s recent Power Broker Survey, broker spending followed a similar pattern.

RIS Media asked more than 1000 real estate brokers: Where are you spending the most resources in your brokerage?

1. Recruiting
2. Training
3. Technology
4. Online Marketing
5. Opening New Offices

While technology-related issues commonly get a disproportionate amount of press attention, the acquisition and development of talent is the true differentiator for who wins at real estate.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

In a recent podcast, psychologist Adam Grant described an interaction with a student who came to him for some career advice.

The student briefly expressed her concerns, and then Dr. Grant spent most of the conversation pontificating about the career path she should take. 

He went into great detail about the problems she would likely face and how to navigate the path ahead.

At the end of the conversation, the student said something surprising but remarkably insightful.

I feel like you’re a logic bully. You just overwhelmed me with rational arguments. I don’t agree with all of them, but I can’t fight back because I don’t have enough information.

Adam replied, Good, that’s my job! You came to me for advice, and I provided the insight you needed.

The student replied, I understand what you’re doing, but I really wanted to own my decision. You’ve taken that away from me.

There are many early-stage interviews that follow the same pattern.

When a recruiting prospect comes to you to investigate a new career option, the best recruiters and hiring mangers skillfully and carefully guide them through the process of owning their decision. 

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

By getting inside the minds of your recruiting prospects, you’re equipping yourself to be more successful at recruitment marketing, interviewing, and other parts of the recruiting process.

Unless you’re a mind reader, a recent nationwide survey of employees will give you some much needed insight into what recruiting prospects are thinking.

The study revealed what motivates job seekers when first considering new employment opportunities. Here are their concerns in descending order of importance:

1. Salary information
2. Location of job
3. Qualifications & requirements for the role
4. Specific job duties & responsibilities
5. Benefits/health insurance
6. Growth opportunities
7. Details on next steps in the hiring process
8. Company culture
9. Employee testimonials
10. Employer awards/industry recognition

Does anything on the list surprise you? Does the order of importance seem correct?

It’s imperative to know and understand the recruiting prospects’ perspective when communicating at all phases of the recruiting process.

Keep this list handy to remind yourself of what the other person is thinking.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

In a recent nationwide survey of employers, 54% of hiring managers reported getting too many irrelevant or underqualified applicants to their job postings.

This issue was rated as the number one frustration among recruiters.

Why? Because it’s a constant struggle to sort through the noise and find the high-potential recruiting prospects.

There are two approaches to solving this problem:

1. Improve the quality of the recruiting leads. The online recruiting industry has been working on improving lead quality for more than a decade, and it’s surprising how little progress has been made.

While common techniques used to screen online leads produce marginal increases in applicant quality, the costs of acquiring the “higher quality” leads tend to skyrocket. The cost outweighs the benefit.

2. Increase the efficiency of processing the recruiting leads. This approach assumes you’ll have a high number of recruiting leads and most of them will be unqualified.

There are good tools and techniques available for making the screening process more effective. Effective methodologies combined with the focused efforts of a recruiter is a reliable way of finding and engaging talented prospects.

The first approach is characterized by promises and disappointments.

The second approach is characterized by more focus and effort, but it produces a reliable result.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

The majority of individuals actively seeking new employment opportunities are already employed.

Why are they searching for different jobs? Many of them want an upgrade.

“I’m ready and willing to change jobs if I were to find something better.”

As a hiring manager, it’s important to take an honest look at what you’re offering and how it’s better than what’s being offered by your competitors.

Who are your competitors? Pretty much everyone.

According to data recently collected by iHire, 78.3% of companies (across all industries) are actively hiring. Another 9.8% are passively hiring/pipelining candidates.

From a job perspective, it’s a buyer’s market.

There are lots of opportunities available and the recruiting prospects (buyers) can afford to be picky.

To win the attention of the most talented individuals you’ll need a compelling offer delivered in a way that captures the attention of those wanting to upgrade their careers.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

There’s a common misconception that the only people searching for jobs are the unemployed.

According the new research conducted by iHire, 43.1% of individuals actively seeking new employment opportunities are currently employed. 

Unemployed individuals account for only 42.9% of job seekers.

The remaining 14% are employed and passive (i.e. they would consider a new opportunity if someone chased them down).

This is positive news for real estate companies seeking to hire talent from outside the industry.

Employed jobseekers are frustrated with their current employment circumstances, better positioned financially to make a career change, and less risk-averse to trying something new.

This sounds like a checklist for those who frequently transition into real estate.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Success stories are often characterized by a long string of failures.

You probably know that Steve Jobs failed many times (Apple I, Apple II, the Lisa, the Newton, and NeXT hardware) before experiencing some of his biggest successes.

However, did you know that Google has more failures than any modern company?

Perhaps you don’t remember Froogle, Google Reader, Google Web Accelerator, Google Answers, Google Video Player, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google X, Google+, and Google Talk.

These are products Google tried and later abandoned. They were all failures.

Another Google product called AdSense could have been added to this list as well—it started in a similar way inside Google. However, it now produces $10 billion/year in revenue for Google.

Yesterday, we discussed how this principle applies to interviews. But, it doesn’t end there.

In order to become a high-performing recruiting organization, you must constantly try new things and fail frequently in all areas of your recruiting process.

This includes recruitment marketing, organic sourcing, recruiting scripts, contact frequency, post-interview follow-up techniques, nurturing tactics, and the myriad of other tasks that make up the recruiting process.

Learning from others and sharing best practices can help you short-cut this progression, but there’s no substitute for remaining curious and testing things on your own.

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by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting

Making progress on developing a new habit is not a smooth ride.

It requires you to push against the status quo—a formidable opponent that doesn’t give up easily.

Since failures are an inevitable part of the process, it’s important to develop a contingency plan for when it happens.

For example, if you’re time-blocking an hour a day for proactive recruiting calls, emails, and texts, what happens when you start ten minutes late?

A contingency plan could include leaving a 30-minute time slot open on the backend of your time-block to allow for late starts. 

Force yourself to make up any time you missed at the beginning of your original time block.

Author Jeremy Dean says it best:

When something breaks down, the next step to recover and get back on track must be obvious.

Without obvious recovery steps, it’s too easy to become overwhelmed and give up.

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