Successful people and teams have always found that selecting the right kind of talent is one attribute that sets them apart from their competition. The follow on to that is creating the work place for the talented people to maximize their skills and become a top producing real estate agent, loan officer, title officer, escrow agent or whatever the case might be.
Define The Job - You need to know what the job looks like first before you start looking for the perfect person. This may seem like an obvious activity until you drill down into the specifics about the job. Sometimes you're lucky and have a franchise like Keller Williams that has the "content" of the job already laid out for you to review along with the suggested work experience. All you do in that case is review the written job documentation, sometimes referred to as a job description; to make sure it accurately reflects the job you're looking for. Starting from scratch, however, is not always bad. The important thing is to look at the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to get the job done and committing them to writing. It needs to be clear enough for you or the recruiter (if you're not the recruiter) to understand. This will eventually become the document used to match the candidate to the job. This document becomes your job specification sometime referred to by KW as "The Missing Person's Report". Sort of like specifying what you want a new car to look like rather than just calling it a Toyota, for example.
Talentscape - The good recruiter has his or her pulse on where the talent lies and how to attract the people that will provide the maximum contribution to the team. As a recruiter, it becomes an easier task to attract the right person for the position if the hiring person/team/organization is the perfect fit as seen by the candidate. If the benefits package, compensation, salary, commission structure, and the culture fit with where the candidate sees themselves moving to, then more than half the battle is won.
The most effective method of recruiting the right person involves using existing team members who have demonstrated success in the organization or more specifically with you. Their referrals are invaluable. The other reliable source for referrals are the real estate professionals with high performance records and seen as a fit to the organization but not yet on board.
Other means to proactively acquire talent include:
- Identifying real estate schools, colleges, and trade schools that graduate students for positions you're recruiting for and selectively use marketing programs to attract them to the team.
- Participate in professional organizations and forums that may afford the opportunity to contact candidates.
- Establish a recognition program for referring team members. If the franchise has a similar program, like Keller Williams, find every means to leverage the opportunity.
- Real estate and other industry professionals like loan officers, title specialists, form opinions about other people they work with based on their interaction during transactions. Have these agents or employees on the team be alert to exceptional people that may be fit for the team/organization and have them pass the name off to the recruiter for later contact.
- Increase the team's or organization's visibility by participating in events that potential candidates participate in to demonstrate community involvement, values and culture. This may create opportunities for recruiting new talent.
- Use internet technology to reach out to new talent by actively developing relationships in the real estate community on sites like Active Rain.
This is planned as a three part series with tips and techniques to assist an individual, team or organization find new talent. I welcome any input you might have both now and as I present my point of view.
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