Over the last few
years, we’ve worked with several real estate hiring managers who insist on
seeing a resume before meeting with a candidate. When our account
managers ask for an explanation, the conversation usually goes something like
this:

"My time is
valuable, so I want to make sure the person is both serious and qualified to
become a real estate agent.” 

One manager recently
said:

"If they can't send me a resume, I don't want to waste my time on
them." 

Is this a good
policy?  Let’s investigate the pros and
cons of this stance.

First consider that every
business practice is an expression of various underlying assumptions.  From that premise, let’s try to surmise what
possible assumptions are being made in the “resume first” stance and then assess
their validity. 

Assumption #1: Any candidate worth
interviewing will have a resume handy and be eager to show it to me before a
meeting. 

I want you to
consider the best people who have entered and thrived in your organization. How
many of them would have sent a resume or even had a resume handy when they were
first hired?  How many of them would have
come to an interview if you asked them for one?

It appears to me (for reasons I
will go into below) that only the most desperate (and perhaps confused), would
feel compelled to bring a resume to the first interview when considering
becoming an independent contractor within the real estate industry. 

Assumption #2: You interviewing them is
more important than them interviewing you.

This assumption is
clearly communicated in the request for a resume. In many highly competitive
corporate jobs where a salary, benefits, and security are provided, this is
certainly to be expected. But, in the real estate industry, there is a
different set of expectations. 

Most
candidates know that becoming a real estate agent means signing up to invest
significant resources to become an independent contractor.  From this perspective, it only makes sense that the first interview would be a two-way street of reciprocal respect.

Remember, you need
great candidates as much as they need you. If, after the first interview, you
have doubts about the person’s potential to perform, asking for a  resume
would seem reasonable.  At this juncture,
it makes sense to test a weak candidate’s follow-through or investigate their background.

But if you ask a savvy candidate for a resume, you run the risk of alienating them because they are often employed successfully and want to assess you (and the real estate career) before you assess them.  

Assumption #3 Your time is more
important than their time.

Most working
professionals do not have an updated resume in hand.  Most people do not prepare a resume until
they are unemployed, or think they will soon be unemployed. I know many people
who have never needed a resume because their reputation and professional
performance speaks for itself.

How do you think the most
capable candidates will respond to this request? Do you believe that they will
spend the time necessary to prepare a resume just for you? They will only do so
if you have earned the right to make such a request.  Instead, most candidates will interpret your request in
one way:   "My time is more
important than yours." 

Assumption #4: You're in the power
position not them.

The very act of
requesting a resume communicates a great deal about your assessment (or your
insistence) of the balance of power in the relationship. You might as well be
saying: "Yes… I think I'm more important than you".  Even in competitive corporate America when an
important executive is being courted for hiring, the resume is not requested until
it makes sense to everyone involved.

In order to attract
the best candidates you must not assume this power position.  The relationship has to feel peer-to-peer,
especially in the first meeting.  In my
opinion, some managers who request resumes before the first interviews have
issues around fearing vulnerability. 
This technique may help them from exposing this apprehension.

Assumption #5 : You don't expect to
interview successful candidates.

This assumption could
be based on past experiences of interviewing terrible candidates. The problem
with this assumption is that protecting against “wasting time” with unqualified
candidates kills the chances of engaging better candidates in the future. It would
be similar to a fisherman giving up casting because previous casts were
unproductive.  Yes, he’ll save a lot of
time.  But, the chances of catching fish
have diminished to zero.

In our experience
working with real estate hiring, about one third (33%) of interviews result in
an engagement where the managers is truly excited about the candidate’s
potential.  Of the third who fit into
this category, usually one half (50%) of those candidates end up joining their team as an agent.   Working backwards on these percentages, it
takes an average of six interviews to hire one high-potential “new to real
estate” agent.*

If you disagree with
my analysis of this problem, don't hesitate to let me know. I have been wrong
before and expect I will be again. But, in my view so far, the basic rule of
thumb is this: 

If you want to
attract the best talent to your team, you must treat everyone, initially, like he/she might
be the best candidate you've ever seen. 

*Note: The overall
hire/interview percentage is higher than 17% (1 hire in 6 interviews) for most high- performing real estate organizations.  This happens because some
of the “not-so-great candidates” also become agents.  Overall, high- performing real estate companies
see 25% of their total interviews eventually convert to hires.  This data is based on the companies who are
clients of Tidemark.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.