As I talk with owners and managers in different parts of the country, I’ve noticed a sense of fatigue among those who are continuing to work hard to make their organizations and teams successful. This is especially true for those who spend a lot of their time recruiting.
As the housing market continues to be in turmoil in many parts of the country, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince people that working in the real estate industry is full of hope and promise. A recruiting manager’s will to persevere can start to wear thin and before you know it, a sense of malaise can even begin to infiltrate your team.
This type of despair is deadly. If the leader of a team is not legitimately excited about the prospects for the future, it is nearly impossible to keep this attitude from poisoning the recruiting process.
In consulting with owners, often we see wide differences between the recruiting results of the various offices within a given company. I recently reviewed the results of one company where an individual office converted nearly 40% of their interviews into hires, while a second office in the same group only converted 3% (in this case, 2 hires out of 70 interviews) of their interviews into hires! I believe it is safe to say that the second hiring manager is not painting a picture of the future that his/her candidates are buying.
Can this be fixed? It can, but it has to be addressed from the inside out. In essence, leaders need to instigate actions that will legitimately increase the excitement, energy, and hope for the future within their own teams. Once you’re truly enthusiastic about what is going on in your environment, the energy and excitement will then naturally flow into the recruiting process.
While this sounds overwhelming, it may not be a hard as you think. In our next discussion, I’ll share a case study about a city in the Midwest that was experiencing the same sense of despair that many of you are feeling. This city was recently (January 2011) named one of the ten “dying cities” in America, yet over the last nine months, their prospects have significantly changed.
How? Through the efforts of two young professionals (one 22 years old, and one 29 years old) who recognized that some creativity and the coordinated efforts of many “ordinary” people can truly breathe life into almost any tired organization…
Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
