I had the opportunity to spend some time with the executive
team and managers of Ruhl &Ruhl Realtors in Davenport, Iowa late last month.  Caroline Ruhl and her team lead a highly
productive company that is full of optimism and contagious energy.

Caroline’s company is very successful at attracting talented
young professionals to the real estate industry.  They are far ahead of most of their industry
peers and have a bright future emerging. 

By chance, I happened to arrive for a pre-planned speaking
engagement on the day when the company surpassed a very aggressive recruiting
goal they’ve been working on for several years.   

The impromptu celebration (which started at 9am) included
cake, sparklers, candy, champagne, and balloons.  And not just any balloons, the meeting room
was filled with balloons that each had the individual name of one agent in the
company written on it.  It was quite
impactful to look around the room and recognize the lives that have been
impacted by the recruiting process.

Doesn’t this sound like a fun place to work?  Darcy Holle and Sally Atwell planned the
surprise celebration.  Both of these
ladies are great recruiters and lots of fun at a 9am party too!

I relayed this experience to you as a way of introducing
some new research that was recently published in Forbes Magazine.  Not surprisingly, Caroline pointed me to this
article during my visit.  It only makes
sense that a fun place like Ruhl & Ruhl would discover this research!

The research was done by an online career community called
CareerBliss, and it involved collecting surveys from more than 65,000
employees.  Forbes magazine reported:

“Employees all over the country were asked to evaluate ten
factors that affect workplace happiness. Those include one’s relationship with
the boss and co-workers, work environment, job resources, compensation, growth
opportunities, company culture, company reputation, daily tasks, and control
over the work one does on a daily basis.

They evaluated each factor on a five-point scale and also
indicated how important it was to their overall happiness. The numbers were
combined to find an average rating of overall employee happiness for each
respondent, and then sorted by job title to find which occupations had the happiest
workers. A minimum of 50 employee reviews was required to be considered for
CareerBliss’ 10 Happiest Jobs in America, and executive level jobs, like chief
executive, were excluded from the study. “

And the results…

"The happiest employees of all aren’t kindergarten teachers
or veterinarians. They’re real estate agents. Professionals with this job title
are typically responsible for renting, buying, or selling property for clients.
According to the BLS, they study property listings, interview prospective
clients, accompany clients to property site, discuss conditions of sale, and
draw up real estate contracts. They make about $51,170 per year, on average—but
top earning real estate agents rake in over $92,000.

With an index score of 4.26, real estate agents said they
are more than satisfied with the control they have over the work they do on a
daily basis. They’re also fairly content with their bosses.

Real estate agents have definitely weathered quite a
financial storm over the past few years but right now [mortgage] rates are
between 2% and 3% and inventory is low, making it a real estate agent’s dream
as new homes hit the market and are getting multiple offers in the first
week….  Happy times.”

This is great information to have in your back pocket during
your next interview.  If you’re
interviewing a “new to real estate” candidate, a high percentage of these
individuals are leaving jobs/careers that make them unhappy. 

As we’ve discussed many times in the past, make sure you
listen to their story first and address the unique points of pain that you
uncover during the interview.  As a side
point, after the groundwork is laid, it may be helpful offer this independent
research as a way of driving your point home.

During our next discussion, we’ll spend some time learning about the most
“unhappy jobs” in America and how this information can also improve your
recruiting results.

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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.