In the world of real estate recruiting, candidates are sourced from three distinct locations:
Pool #1: Experienced Agents. These are agents currently working for a competitor.
Pool #2: New Agents. These are prospective new agents who have self-activated. They are actively engaged in getting a license and prepping to start their new career.
Pool #3: New-to-Real Estate Agents. These are prospective new agents who are still working in other industries and considering a real estate career for the first time.
Many of the most successful and talented agents in real estate companies today were sourced from the 3rd Pool. Agents from the 3rd Pool bring innovation, energy, and insight to companies seeking to compete successfully in the rapidly changing marketplace.
While this type of recruiting is critical and often produces the best long-term results, it’s also the most difficult to execute. It’s prone to discouragement because the results are not immediate and some of best success stories go unnoticed.
Over the next few months, I’m going to help fix this problem.
How? By sharing some encouraging success stories of agents who came from the 3rd Pool to find extraordinary success in the real estate industry. I think you’ll not only enjoy these stories, but also find new energy to engage those 3rd Pool candidates who can seem elusive and troublesome at the beginning of the recruiting process.
First up…Brooks Brittingham, a young, energetic restaurant manager from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Brooks’ Story
Three years ago, 28-year-old Brooks Brittingham (now 31) was frustrated with his career. He had been working as a restaurant manager for two years and could not see a pathway to experiencing the career success he wanted in his role.
So, he started to search internet job boards in hopes of finding a new career opportunity. In this process, he ran across an ad placed by Berkshire Hathaway Home Services (BHHS) Carolinas Realty. This started him down a path he never expected to travel.
Here are some excerpts from my recent interview with Brook.
Dave: What was your biggest frustration with your previous work?
Brooks: There were several factors, but primarily I was frustrated with not having a clear path to making a wage I believed possible considering my work ethic. I thought long and hard about increasing my chances by going back to school and earning an MBA.
When I came upon this option on a job board, I took the assessment and believed I owed it to myself to at least check out the possibility of working as a real estate agent.
Dave: The next step in our system is being scheduled for an interview with a manager. How did that go?
Brooks: I was scheduled to see Tracey Goetz (of BHHS Carolinas Realty), and by the end of the interview I was certain she would be the one who could help me reach my goals.
She was attentive to my agenda, not hers. She listened carefully and answered all my questions. I can be analytical, and she patiently and thoughtfully answered all my questions. She knew that I was interviewing her as much as she was interviewing me, if not more.
I left feeling a connection with her, which has remained to this day. I interviewed with another manager from another company but the connection with her is what made the difference.
Dave: You’ve been an agent for 3 years now. What’s it been like for you?
Brooks: The first two years were difficult. I worked really hard and was not making as much as I had been as a restaurant manager.
In some ways I am glad that I was in “new agent bliss” for the first few months because the reality or what I was experiencing might have scared me away. But at the same time, that tough start-up phase has paid off very well. I learned to persevere.
This last year (my third year as a real estate agent), I made two times what I made previously. This coming year, I am on pace to quadruple what I could have ever made in restaurant management.
There was a point during those first two years when I considered quitting. I again considered going back to school to get an MBA and eventually pursue something different. But, I stood the course.
Dave: That’s great tenacity. How did Tracey encourage you to keep going?
Brooks: She helped me keep my eyes on the goals I was striving to attain. She has a mantra she often repeats: 5-5-5. It means: Where will I be in five days, five months, and five years?
As long as I remembered where my daily execution was going to lead, I was able to persevere and ignore the temporary pain.
Dave: Where would you be now if you had pursued an MBA?
Brooks: I really don’t know. It’s hard to predict what would have happened, if I selected a different path. But, I do know this: There is no way I would be making what I am now. Also, I would have $50,000 in student loan debt!
I am so thankful I made the right decision, for me. I am also thankful I connected with a manager who believed I could do it.
Brooks closed 28 transactions last year, and is on pace to far exceed this achievement in 2015.
Tracey Goetz, his manager, did not hesitate to hire this young man who required a long process of decision making, licensing, learning, and growing. I think it worked out for both of them.
If you have similar stories of candidates you’ve hired from the 3rd Pool, send me their name and contact information, and I’ll help tell their stories to WorkPuzzle readers. These stories inspire us all to patiently pursue the high quality, but difficult to reach candidates.
If you’re a hiring manager who just focuses on the 1st and 2nd pool of candidates, consider spending some time pursuing your own 3rd Pool candidates. There are hundreds of people in your community who share Brooks’ frustrations with their own careers.
Some of these individuals are not only a great fit for working in the real estate industry, they’re also well-equipped to become your next generation of high performers.
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