The population of potential workers is shrinking, and Generation X and the Millennials cannot add up to the Baby Boomers' 76 million-member workforce. "We're starting to feel that, especially as we look ahead to the Baby Boomer retirements," said Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. human resources vice president Monna Nevils.
Less talent means more competition to grab what is left, and real estate companies need creative, proactive strategies for recruiting and training quality candidates. Developing strong relationships with universities and embracing technology, especially to develop talent pools, give firms a leg up on landing relative rookies and even those experienced professionals who are funneling out of graduate programs. Online networking communities, other professions that promote skill sets valuable to real estate companies and good old-fashioned poaching fill out the talent scout's arsenal.
Once new employees make it onto the payroll, though, firms take on a different task. Switching from recruiter to coach, the company aims to provide the new hire with the tools needed to be as productive and competent as possible. Firms also want to bring hires up to speed quickly, and they do so using a blended approach to teaching: mentoring, classes, Web-based seminars, field training and peer coaching.
Field of Candidates
Last year, the state of New Jersey and Cushman & Wakefield of New Jersey Inc. commissioned a survey of the state's major employers. Results revealed that workforce quality serves as a major driver in businesses' investment and expansion decisions. Though this information serves Cushman & Wakefield's clients, the company and others in the industry can take heed, as well. "One of the things we can do to attract high-quality workers is to create talent pools, and education plays a key role in this," said Cushman and Wakefield of New Jersey executive managing director Gil Medina.
Thus, Post Properties Inc. recruiting director John Williams increased the number of universities from which the company pulled interns into its residential-property management program from five to eight during the past year. He also established presences at 13 other universities' career fairs and expanded the percentage of property management positions filled by new hires from 79 percent to 95 percent. "I don't know how a company cannot have an effective campus recruiting program," he said. "We also advertise on Web sites at hundreds of universities across the country to gain awareness among college students."
A local talent pool may prove a boon for hiring companies, but the Internet has brought previously unreachable candidates much closer, a benefit that proves quite handy for recruiting more experienced professionals, who do not typically convene in bricks-and-mortar school settings. Though executives cited employee-referral programs as a top source of candidates and poaching remains a time-honored method for identifying experienced talent, Nevils reported that recruiters are increasingly turning to Web-based networking services like ZoomInfo and LinkedIn. "We're able to tap into talent pools we were not previously able to tap into or who may not hit our Web site."
This includes professionals experienced in other industries. Law and business make for obvious choices, but companies are also thinking outside the box as the competition tightens. "Some of our offices have hired athletes or those with military or law-enforcement backgrounds because they have a certain personality makeup that makes them a good fit," said David Birnbaum, senior director of Commercial University for Coldwell Banker Commercial. Midcareer transfers with sales experience, even if gained outside the commercial real estate realm, also embody viable alternatives.
Indeed, net lease specialist Stan Johnson Co. prefers those experienced in the workforce world over new-grad net leasers. "We intentionally do not hire new grads," said president Phil Baxter. "Our candidates are very often on their second or third jobs and are ready to commit to a long-term career."
That is not to say that one cannot find experienced candidates at educational institutions. Dawn Taylor, president of New Jersey-based recruiting firm Dawn Taylor Associates Inc., pointed to Arizona State University's Master of Real Estate Development Program, which almost exclusively attracts midcareer professionals who have seven to 10 years of commercial real estate experience. "Almost 40 percent of the class has a master's or JD degree when they enter, so we're attracting those who are already involved in the industry … who are being sent to our program either by their company or on their own who want to learn what it takes to be a real estate developer," said Ryc Loope, director of real estate programs for the institution.
Harness the Potential
The quickest way to enable new-grad hires to impact business lies in indoctrinating them into mechanics of office life, such as logging on to their computers and ordering supplies, as well as introducing them to co-workers (see "To Draw Out the Best," above). In addition, of course, they need more-in-depth basic training both in the specific property types with which they will be working and in functioning within their organizations' broader plans. Coldwell Banker Commercial's four-month Emerging Broker Training program—conducted through the firm's Commercial University and aimed at professionals who possess less than one year of experience in commercial sales—offers classes taught by Certified Commercial Investment Managers and Society of Industrial and Office Realtors members. The instructors train hires in, among other activities, strengthening a company's business in particular territories or property types, negotiating transactions and gauging customer satisfaction.
Experienced real estate professionals that hail from other companies, and thus other cultures, simply need help assimilating, which comes via day-to-day interaction with peers and higher-level executives. They can also benefit from advanced training programs like Coldwell Banker Commercial's Platinum Producer, a three-day regimen for those who have experienced some degree of success but are gunning for the next level. And professionals from other industries need a little of all of the above, depending on where the gaps in their knowledge and experience may lie. Ultimately, firms derive the most productivity from new employees by adapting training to the individual's and clients' needs.
Stan Johnson Co. now offers three training programs. SJC Bootcamp serves those with no real estate experience. SJC Art of the Deal teaches brokerage fundamentals to those who have some business or sales experience but are new to real estate. And SJC Team Leader Sales Essentials trains those who have investment sales experience but are new to net lease to be Stan Johnson team leaders.
"Even a broker with previous team-management experience would spend time one on one with our executive managing director learning why our teams are so successful and all that is unique about our culture," Baxter reported. "Because we're essentially helping this new broker create a business they will run, we want to ensure they have all the necessary elements in place to be successful."
