Finding the right employee

Hi - I have been a recruiter for the real estate industry since 2004. I work with everyone from small local investment firms to large global funds. I especially love working with small to mid-size firms where my experience can really make a difference in the direction of the firm. 

From my experience one of the most important things a real estate investor can do it hire the right people to work for them. It can really make a break a firm, especially at the earlier stages. It takes time and money to hire someone. It takes even more time and money to hire, then fire, and then hire someone else. 

What can firms do to help ensure they are hiring the "right" person the first time? Well, I may be biased, but hiring an outside recruiter may be the safest thing a firm can do to get that hire right the first time. Granted, there is an expense involved but it's nothing compared to the expense involved with hiring the wrong person. That costs money, time, and your teams moral and trust. 

So what makes hiring a recruiter so special? Well, first of all, we are experts. We spend 24/7/365 speaking to real estate professionals. We know what the market looks like. You, the client, are too busy doing your job to have the time to know what property managers managing 300 luxury units are making, for example. WE DO! :) We speak to them every day. We know what your competitors are paying their people and what their reputation is on the street. We also know what your reputation is like on the street. When you hire a recruiter we become your advocate to the market. 

Recruiters are paid to find you passive candidates, aka, off market deals. We don't have "listings" that we are shopping around town. The people we are talking to are generally not on the job market. We either have long term relationships with them and they trust us enough to only bring them "good" jobs or we are "smiling and dialing" and finding you brand new "off market" candidates. Either way, these aren't the candidate replying to your Craigslist or Monster advertisement. It may be mean, but 9 times out of 10 there is a very good reason that the person who is without a job currently is out of a job. That's why we are hired to find people who are currently working and not actively looking for a new gig. 

Also, have incentive to find you the right person. We want a happy client. That means repeat business for us. You the client, are too busy working to spend your time vetting out 20 candidates. We do. And we can find you the right person that will fit your budget, culture and job responsibility needs. 

I know this was a very broad overview of why you should use a recruiter and not real estate specific. This post was geared more toward the clients/companies. Going forward I will post about specific jobs within real estate firms, their responsibilities and how you can obtain those jobs. 

Thanks!