For real estate brokerages to grow, they need to hire talented real estate professionals such as agents and brokers. To do this, it’s a good idea to work with real estate recruiters. They not only know where to find top-notch candidates, but also how to attract them to submit their applications in the first place.
Still, it can be a little tricky to find a reliable real estate recruiter for your brokerage. This is especially true for those who haven’t availed of a recruiter’s services before. To help you decide, here are some of the top qualities that a skilled real estate recruiter should have:
Tech Savviness
Recruiters can get caught up in the tedium of their job, especially with regards to scheduling, keeping track of leads, and maintaining client relationships. Thankfully, technology has made it easier to handle these concerns in a more efficient manner. Remember: the more efficient the recruiter, the faster you can fill a spot and the higher the chance of landing a good hire.
When looking for a real estate recruiter, therefore, ask them if they use apps and other software. One such real estate recruiting solution is Brokerkit, which can help recruiters automate processes such as email management, appointment setting, and SMS. You can even use it to automate campaigns. It can also import, capture, and segment leads from different sources, which makes it easier for recruiters to find candidates.
Marketing Prowess
Real estate recruiters are essentially marketers in that they’re “selling” your brokerage to potential recruits. In short, you have to hire a recruiter who has top-notch marketing skills. This can help lessen the effort you need in actively searching for qualified candidates. Instead, the talented applicants will be the ones to come to you.
In addition, a good real estate recruiter has to be able to effectively market your brokerage in various forms of ads. They should also make it a point to accurately communicate your company’s culture, mission, vision, and values. Finally, they should understand their target market. In this case, the market is a pool of real estate job seekers.
Negotiating Skills
Recruiters need to be able to manage not just disagreements, but also expectations. This goes both for candidates and your brokerage’s hiring managers and HR team. More importantly, good real estate recruiters can spot potential issues and work with the brokerage’s management to prevent problems from happening in the first place.
When it comes to interviewing qualified candidates, skilled recruiters should be truthful and be able to compromise. This way, when the candidates get hired, there’s less chance of disappointments (which can be an issue when it comes to retention).
Humility
Good recruiters are humble. That’s because, sometimes, they may not have all the answers to a candidate’s question. It takes humility to admit this, especially because recruiters are expected to be experts in their fields.
Still, it’s better to have a humble recruiter who isn’t afraid to ask questions than a confident one but paints your brokerage in a bad light. You need someone who isn’t focused on keeping up appearances, but rather one who seeks more information before answering a client.
Skepticism
A good real estate recruiter has a healthy dose of skepticism. This quality allows them to read between the lines and figure out if a candidate or an offer is simply too good to be true. Critical thinking is something that can be practiced, but natural curiosity is more difficult to find and cultivate.
You need to find a recruiter who, as earlier mentioned, isn’t afraid to ask questions. They have to be able to identify not just the good things about a candidate, but also the bad ones. If an applicant is only good on paper, a recruiter who takes everything with a grain of salt can help you weed them out.
Local Knowledge
It’s only natural to look for a real estate agent who has comprehensive knowledge of the area they’re going to cover in the course of their job. However, you also need to have a recruiter who knows the ins and outs of the town, city, or even the state. After all, how are they going to be able to determine if the candidate they’re interviewing actually knows the ins and outs of the locale?
In addition, local knowledge can also help develop rapport between the recruiter and the candidate. This is a crucial element that may boost the chances of getting a good hire. It can also be the launchpad of conversations when the need for networking arises.
Obviously, a real estate recruiter should be good conversationalists and listeners. However, the qualities in this list are sometimes overlooked. Make sure to look for these skills when you hire a recruiter for your brokerage. With well-rounded recruiters, you’ll have an easier time finding and retaining talented employees.