Why now is the time to consider outside the industry

23 April 2020 Virginia Brookes

Consider Outside The Industry

Never before in our lifetime have we seen a market downturn, nationally and globally, like this in such a short period. Even during the GFC, when my business was only three years old, I have never seen so many active job seekers in the market place. Whilst it feels like that aren’t too many solid Candidates out there in the Real Estate and Property space, I can assure you that there are some incredibly impressive job seekers out there with strong customer service backgrounds coming from industries such as travel and hospitality and I believe now is the time to consider them.

Speaking to our clients over the last few years, the feedback has repeatedly been that there has been a real lack of talent in the Real Estate space and everyone feels that they are recycling the same people over and over again. Here on a platter, you have motivated, driven and committed workers with a tremendous amount of customer service experience that are looking for new careers and these people could be the perfect addition to your team. I believe we as an industry (Real Estate and Property) are incredibly lucky in the fact that as quickly as our industry falls we pick back up just as fast, and when our markets bounce back they bounce back with a bang so it is important that you and your team are ready for this turn when it comes.

There is always talk that no new Property Managers are coming into the industry and salaries are too high for the lack of experience many have. Now is the time to bring some people into the fold that could help you expand the service levels in your businesses. Imagine coming from being a flight attendant where you have to deal with every type of person (even drunk ones!), manage expectations and where you are treated like crap so often – fixing toilets and leaky roofs would undoubtedly be a nice change. Imagine the behaviour some front desk concierges in 5-star hotels see – I can imagine it’s not half of what some of your staff get from irate tenants, landlords, vendors and purchasers.

All I am saying is that now is a time to ensure you have good training plans in place and an open mind to embrace some newbies into your business - with fresh faces come fresh ideas, new energy and bright eyes. Once trained on legalities, systems and procedures, these employees with their many transferable skills, could take your business out the other side of this interesting time.

There has never been a better time than now to explore different recruits into your business!