WorkPuzzle

The One Question You Should Ask During Every Interview

Last week, I pointed you to a helpful recruiting data site called PayScale.  PayScale is the “Zillow” of hiring —while Zillow tells you how much your house is worth, PayScale tells you how much your talents are worth in the hiring market.

Of course, people get interested in PayScale when they start to consider changing jobs.   This site passively collects data from millions of users who are in this state and uses this information to help companies and individuals better understand the job marketplace.

Follow-up With Your Candidates More Successfully.

As a real estate hiring manager, this information can be helpful.  For example, if you find out about a candidate’s work history during the interview, you can determine the individual’s earning potential if he were to remain in his existing career field.

By contrasting this information with the potential of a real estate career, you can help your candidates make better business decisions about their employment.  Initially, Most high-quality candidates will trust third party data more then your opinion on how they should proceed.

Beyond this surface data that’s useable with individual candidates,  PayScale also does research using aggregate data they collect from all their users.  This can also be helpful.

Understand Why People Change Jobs.

One of the research topics I found interesting was the motivation employees have to change jobs.  If everything is wonderful in an existing job, employees tend to stay in one spot.  Change most commonly happens when things are not going well.

PayScale recently conducted research on what causes a person to change jobs.  The research was based on survey results from more than 24,000 workers.  Here is a partial list of the top reasons that individuals start looking for a new job:

Pay.   Commonly called Total Cash Compensation (TCC), this metric combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or value of other non-cash benefits (e.g., healthcare).

Stress.  This is the proportion of respondents who answered either "Fairly stressful" or "Extremely stressful" to the question, "How stressful is your job/work environment?"

Low Job Satisfaction.   This is the proportion of respondents who answered either "Dissatisfied" or "I hate my job" to the question "How satisfied are you in your job?"

Hate Their Boss.  This is the proportion of respondents in a given category that chose "Boss" in response to the question, "If you could change one thing about your current work situation, what would it be?"

Know What Questions to Ask During an Interview.

All of these factors are important.   If possible, you should touch on each issue during a typical interview.  If you cycle through these issues with open-ended questions, you’ll strike a nerve with at least one of these topics.

If you were forced to only focus on one topic, which one of these hot-buttons tends to be most important? 

It’s questions about the candidate’s boss.

The PayScale research demonstrated that many candidates are not happy with their first-level manager.  Also, this question tends to be the one packed with the most emotion.   They don’t just dislike him—they hate him! 

As we’ve discussed in previous WorkPuzzles, finding a person’s unique pain is critical to the hiring process.   Candidates will not be open to your solution until they feel they’ve been heard, and the solutions you’re offering are customized to their situation.

This all starts with asking the right questions and letting your candidates express their pain and frustration.  Thanks to the PayScale research, you now know where you’ll most likely find this pain.

 

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

PayScale: How the "Zillow of Recruiting" Can Help You Be More Effective at Hiring

Earlier this month, we talked about employment trending outside the real estate industry.  I warned you not to become too inwardly focused as you think about hiring, but instead keep your eyes on the broader employment horizon.

Why would you want to put effort into such a task? 

If the real estate industry is going to grow over the next decade, it must regain its ability to systematically attract new talent from other industries. Real estate companies were once masters at this trade, but many lost their ability to be effective during the downturn. 

This happened as a natural consequence of the real estate industry shrinking from over 1.5 million agents in 2006 to less than one million after the downturn.  During that time period, there were plenty of experienced agents to go around, and there was not an immediate and compelling need to hire from outside the industry.

Now that most real estate markets have started to recover, once again there is energy towards hiring new talent from the outside.  As you make this transition in your organization, don’t make the mistake of assuming that the tactics that work with experienced agents will work similarly with these new-to-real estate candidates. 

Also, much has changed in the broader employment market over the past seven years.  So even the tactics you used before the downturn could be less effective considering today’s job market realities.

To be effective going forward, you’ll need to become a student of what makes the candidates in the “normal job market” tick.  In addition, you’ll need to learn how to craft your message to be heard by today’s talented individuals who will become your next generation of new agents.

To get you started on your quest, I’d like to point you to a company called PayScale.  If you’re not familiar with this company, it’s the leading website people use when they have questions about pay and benefits.   It similar to Zillow, but instead of telling you what your house is worth, it tells you what you’re worth!

When a person is considering a new job, they enter some basic information about their education, experience, and the new job they’re considering.  PayScale then delivers a salary report that outlines what he or she could expect to be paid for a particular job in a particular market.

It’s possible that many of the “new-to-real estate” candidates you interview are using a tool such as PayScale.  If you were to request information on being a real estate agent in my local market (Seattle), you might get a report like this:

 

So, a full-time agent with 10 years of experience operating in the 50^th percentile can expect to make about $60K/year in the Seattle market.   To make $120K (or more) per year, a person would need to be in the 90^th percentile.

While this is all interesting information from the candidate’s perspective, how is it going to help you? 

If PayScale has millions of people entering pay and benefit information, it becomes a rich environment for employment research.  I’m sure that PayScale sells this information (in detailed and specific versions) to all types of companies. 

However, they also make a bunch of this data available to the general public at no cost.  By just reading and digesting the free reports and information, you can get quite an education on the employment market.

I encourage you to view these reports on your own.  In my next couple of WorkPuzzles, I’ll highlight several reports I found most interesting and relevant to  real estate agent hiring.

In the meantime, go to PayScale and find out what they report for agent wages in your market.  It would be interesting to hear from you on how accurate this information is for your area compared to the actuals you have in your company.  Like Zillow, sometimes the estimates done by PayScale are not completely reflective of reality.

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

How to Take Advantage of the 2014 Hiring Trends

I’m sure most of you are already knee-deep into all the activities that the New Year brings.   I love this season because we seem to approach our professional lives with a new sense of energy.

However, the new energy soon translates into busyness, and there’s a tendency to quickly fall into old habits.  This is especially true when it comes to recruiting.  As we work hard at “doing what we’ve always done,” it can become difficult to recognize new trends. 

However, these trends signal changes that are happening in the world around you.  Making even small tweaks to your daily activities in response to these changes can improve your effectiveness.  By ignoring trending information over time, you may turn yourself into a dinosaur. 

The hard part in this process is finding and recognizing which trends are important.  Hopefully, WorkPuzzle will be helpful in this quest.   As you might suspect, we spend a lot of time reading the recruiting press (most of it from outside the real estate industry).  On either side of the New Year there are hundreds of articles published taking stock of what happened in the previous year and making predictions for the months ahead.

As I sorted through a lot of these articles, I found one in particular that was helpful. The article was published by Chad Brooks at Business News Daily and summarizes research recently conducted by CareerBuilder.

The research was based on recent surveys of more than 2000 hiring managers and human resources professionals.  Here are some of the most interesting and relevant hiring trends for 2013:

Part-time hiring on the rise.

Seventeen percent of employers expect to recruit part-time workers over the next 12 months, up 3 percentage points over last year.  While various factors will influence this trend, 12 percent of all employers stated that they will likely hire more part-time workers in 2014 due to the Affordable Care Act.

If companies are increasingly hiring part-time employees, there are a lot of people who still want full-time positions but can’t find openings.  As we discussed in previous WorkPuzzles (1,2,3), this is a strategic opportunity for real estate companies.  You could be providing talented candidates the full-time alternative. 

There is lots of competition for sales and information technology candidates.

For those companies that are planning to add new staff, sales and technology positions are the jobs they will be trying to fill most. The research shows that 30 percent of hiring managers plan to recruit full-time, permanent employees for sales positions, while 29 percent will do the same for information technology jobs.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but looking for new agent recruits among those who are considering other sales positions will probably be unproductive.  Why?  There is too much competition for candidates.  It will be more productive to focus your candidate sourcing activities among other competencies (ex. customer service, marketing, health care, etc.)

Skills gap is widening.

Half of human resource managers surveyed said they currently have positions for which they can't find qualified candidates.  Forty-six percent said these positions go unfilled for three months or longer.

In the recruiting industry, a “skilled position” is one where a certain qualification is necessary to even be considered.  For example, not just anyone can be a Registered Nurse—a nursing degree and certain qualifications are necessary for the job. 

Real estate agent positions are unique in the sense they do not require these types of pre-defined qualifications.  Many candidates are considering “going back to school” to earn qualifications for these skilled positions.  For some of these candidates, becoming a real estate agent may be a better option—less expense and a shorter runway to a viable career and substantial income.

Companies building the perfect employee instead of waiting for one.

In light of the skills gap, 49 percent of employers plan to train people who don't have experience in their industry or field and hire them in 2014, up 10 percentage points over last year.  Twenty-six percent of employers are sending current employees back to school to get an advanced degree – and picking up all or part of the cost.

Just before Christmas, I spoke at a manager’s meeting of a major regional real estate company on the West Coast.  During the Q&A period, the CEO of this company stated, “We need to embrace the idea of ‘creating new agents’ from scratch.  This will differentiate us from our competitors and allow us to compete more successfully in the next few years.”  Maybe he’s onto something.

Companies looking for recruits in high schools.

More companies are connecting with future generations of workers to establish a pipeline of job candidates. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers have promoted careers at their firms to high school students or, in some cases, even younger; 25 percent plan to do so in 2014.

This trend surprised me.  We’re constantly encouraging real estate hiring managers to focus on building recruiting pipelines, but I had no idea “traditional companies” were targeting the high schools to find talented candidates.  Focusing on this age group may not be the best idea for a real estate company, it does validate the importance of building a recruiting pipeline.   Successful recruiting companies know that talented individuals must be engaged and courted over a period of time.

Here’s your homework:  Based on the these important recruiting trends, what changes should you make to your day-to-day recruiting activities?  As you consider these ideas, initially think about small tweaks that are visible and measurable and then build from there. 

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

Looking Good at Your Holiday Parties

I’m going to veer slightly off course today from our normally serious and thought-provoking WorkPuzzle content and talk about something different:  Men’s fashion. 

Ok, maybe that’s a hard right turn, but it does have something to do with performing at a high level during the next few weeks.  Even if you’re one of our female readers, I promise we’ll have some fun with this topic and you’ll learn something too.

Here’s the topic:  How does a guy successfully wear a sports jacket with jeans?

Of course, if you’re a guy you can immediately see why this is an important topic.  Dressing to look your best for a holiday party often means balancing a casual look with something that still looks sharp.  If you can learn how to master the jeans and sports jacket combination, you’ll be well on your way to making a great impression.  If you look good and feel good, you’ll be well-equipped to do some of your best networking.

What about the ladies?  Well, I would never be so foolish as to try to give you fashion advice, but many of you have guys that you coach on what to wear (or what not to wear). Truth be told--if my wife did not coach me on fashion issues, I'd be lost.   Perhaps you can pick up a few pointers for the guy you're coaching from this discussion as well. 

Our expert on this topic is Antonio Centeno, the founder for Real Men, Real Style.  Earlier this fall, wrote a very detailed article on the pairing of jeans and a sports coat. 

There are two ways to digest the information, a great 11-minute video that outlines some of the highpoints of this topic:

  

 

If you’re more of a reader, I’d suggest taking a look at his complete article.  It has lots of pictures and examples.  Here are some of the high points I found helpful:

Selecting The Right Jeans

“The jeans you wear with a jacket need to look dressier (if there is such a thing!) than your basic worn out work jeans for this to be a good combination.

‘Dress jeans’ is something of a contradiction in terms, but people should be able to tell at a glance that you don’t wear these pants for working on your car or hiking in the woods.

A good pair of jeans to wear with a sports jacket should have the following “dressy” features:

Close fit. They don’t have to be skinny jeans, especially down below the knees, but there shouldn’t be any sag up around the thighs and crotch. You want a smooth outline of your body, not a drape of loose cloth that you can wave back and forth.

Dark color. Deep indigo is most common, but grays and black are also typical choices for nice jeans. More fashion-forward men may also experiment with white or very light gray jeans, or even brighter colors, but beginners should stick to jeans that are darker than the jacket.

Proper length. You’re going to be wearing nice-looking shoes with most of these outfits, and the cuff of the jeans should rest very lightly on the tops of the shoes when you stand straight.

You want to stay away from fashion details that make the jeans look more worn, even if it’s a deliberate fashion statement:

Severe fading or “acid wash” patches, rips or tears of any kind, fraying at the cuffs and pockets, cargo pockets or gear loops.

That’s not to say that some men don’t wear deliberately distressed jeans with jackets, but it’s a fashion-plate look — affected and a little over-the-top. Don’t experiment with it if you’re just trying to look a little sharper.”

Selecting the Right Jacket

“The other half of the equation is your jacket. There’s a huge range out there to choose from, and no one ‘right’ style. But think about a couple important factors when you choose one:

Casual Jacket Fabric – This is more important than a lot of guys realize. A very fine, worsted wool jacket pretty much screams “suit jacket” to a practiced eye. It can work with jeans, but it’s not the unthinking casual ease of something more relaxed like corduroy or a visible twill weave.

Relaxed Jacket Cut – The advantage of any men’s jacket is the added definition, but don’t overdo it. You don’t want a razor-edged Italian suit here. A little softness in the shoulder is good, and the taper at the waist shouldn’t be too extreme. For tightness, remember the name of the garment — it should be loose enough that you could do “sport,” i.e. hunting and hiking in the countryside, comfortably.

Bold Jacket Color & Pattern – A solid jacket is fine, but you’re not going to be wearing it to any business meetings. Have a little fun. Colors like browns and grays work well, as do patterns like windowpane checks and plaids. In general, keep the dominant color lighter than your jeans, and if you’re wearing blue jeans steer away from navy blue jackets.

A jacket that you’re buying to wear with jeans is also a great place to play around with unusual decorations you don’t wear on your other jackets.  Ever wanted to see how you look with leather elbow patches, or with big, square, accordion-style pockets? This is the place to try them out.”

I know that some of our clients (especially our East Coast clients) have accused me of being a little more casual in my attire than is sometimes appropriate for the real estate industry.  Hopefully, this is some middle ground that will help you feel confortable at your holiday parties, but also sharp enough to feel confident.  If it doesn’t work…just blame it on the guy you know from Seattle!

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

Why Your Brain Loves Lists: The Psychology of Digesting Information

About four years ago, I wrote a popular blog on an obscure medical book called the Checklist Manifesto.  Since then, that book has become quite popular and the principles outlined by the author for hospitals have benefited managers and individuals in many industries.  Hopefully, you’ve used it yourself!

Since reading this book, I’ve often wondered why people are naturally drawn to the concept of a checklist. Whether I’m talking with a seasoned executive or my 7-year old, it just seems right to create and follow a list.  I never get an argument on this topic—it’s always, “…of course we’d need to create and follow a checklist, that only makes sense.”

Well, I need not wonder any more.  Best-selling author Maria Konnikova recently wrote a fascinating article in the New Yorker magazine that reveals the science behind the ubiquitous success of the list.

It’s a long and very detailed article (that surprisingly does not contain any lists), but here are a few of the points I found most interesting:

"Your mind seeks organization. “Lists tap into our preferred way of receiving and organizing information at a subconscious level; from an information-processing standpoint, they often hit our attentional sweet spot.

When we process information, we do so spatially. For instance, it’s hard to memorize through brute force the groceries we need to buy. It’s easier to remember everything if we write it down in bulleted, or numbered points.”

Your mind wants to categorize. Lists also appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since they chunk information into short, distinct components….

Because we can process information more easily when it’s in a list than when it’s clustered and undifferentiated, like in standard paragraphs, a list feels more intuitive. In other words, lists simply feel better.”

Your mind wants to know how long this will take.  “The more we know about something—including precisely how much time it will consume—the greater the chance we will commit to it. The process is self-reinforcing: we recall with pleasure that we were able to complete the task instead of leaving it undone and that satisfaction, in turn, makes us more likely to click on lists again.

The social psychologist Robert Zajonc, who made his name studying the connection between emotion and cognition, argued that the positive feeling of completion in and of itself is enough to inform future decisions. Preferences, goes his famous coinage, need no inferences.”

Konnikova’s insight has a number of applications in the real estate industry.  Here are a few that come to mind quickly:

Recruiting.  During an interview, help the candidate categorize the dissatisfaction they feel in their current job/career by creating a list.   Prioritizing the list will help them feel and remember the dissatisfaction.

Coaching.   You have important concepts that you want your agents to understand during a coaching session.  Present the information in a list.  It will be easier to remember and refer back to later.

Training.  As the Checklist Manifesto taught us, if you want someone to consistently do something, create a checklist. This will be good for your brain and the person you’re trying to train.

Communicating with clients.  Teach your agents to use lists in their communication with clients—especially marketing pieces. As people skim information, their eyes are naturally drawn to lists.

Follow-up emails.  When you’re finished with a meeting and write a follow-up email to those who attended, use lists to summarize.  Here is what we discussed (bullet list).  Here are the action items (2^nd bullet list).

There are many more applications (another hint; done’ make your lists too long), but you get the idea. 

The psychology of digesting information is key to your success as a communicator.  If you think about it, getting people around you to hear, digest, and act upon the information you’re communicating is the main part of your “job description” as a leader.   Make sure you become proficient at using this tool.

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

You’re Talking, But What Are Your Candidates Hearing?-Part 2

As we discussed earlier in the week, there is no such thing as an “active candidate” (someone that needs a job from your company) in the world of real estate.  By default, all prospective agents are “passive candidates.” 

Since passive candidates don’t need a job at your company, they are evaluating if working with your organization is better than what they are currently doing.  Often, their easiest option is to do nothing.

To treat passive candidates (especially new-to real estate prospects) as if they are active candidates is a mistake.  It destroys your chances of convincing high-quality individuals to join your organization.

With this foundation in place, Peter Weddle addresses one more issue during telephone screening that commonly derails the passive candidate recruiting process. 

The issue is inconsistent messaging. 

Peter puts it this way in his recent newsletter:

“In order to engage and effectively influence passive prospects…the recruiter begins the call and continues the selling effort for an opening that was begun in the recruitment ad to which the applicant replied.

This short but carefully orchestrated period should not be used simply to restate the information in the ad, but rather to highlight the key elements of its value proposition. In other words, what makes this opening a special opportunity and what makes the employer a special place to work?

The purpose of this initial interaction is "re-recruitment." It's done to remind the passive prospect why they applied for the job and to reinforce the position's potential advantages for them.”

Notice how the telephone screening builds upon the message the candidate “heard” when they responded to the initial sourcing event.    Typically, a sourcing event would be a job advertisement, but it could also be something like an agent referral or a visit to the career page of your company’s website.

If the initial sourcing message and the next contact (the telephone screening) do not complement and support each other, the candidate will typically sense the disequilibrium.  When this happens, the red flags go up in a prospect’s mind. 

Researchers have frequently demonstrated that the human mind doesn’t like disequilibrium when it is trying to assimilate new information.  If candidates can’t quickly find equilibrium during the telephone screening (“This makes sense based on what I initially heard…”), they’ll eject themselves from the recruiting process to find that equilibrium (“Changing careers was probably not going to work for me anyway.  What was I thinking?…").

By the way, the same principle applies to the interview stage of the recruiting process. 

If the messages at these three recruiting junctures (initial sourcing event, telephone screening, and interview) do not match and support each other, your recurring success with passive candidates will be greatly diminished. 

If you remember the take-away from part one of this discussion—all prospective agents, new or experienced, are passive candidates—you can see why it’s so important to master this technique.

Here is some final advice from Peter:

“The telephone pre-screen is often implemented as a mechanical element of the recruitment process - a pass-fail test that is all about what the employer wants to know. By [being consistent in your messaging] you can both assess applicants more effectively and get more of them - especially those elusive passive prospects - to accept any offer that is made.

Consciously or unconsciously, passive prospects believe that the way they are treated in the recruiting process mimics the way they will be treated as employees, so it's essential to optimize their experience from the beginning to the end.”

Exactly.  

---

Join the WorkPuzzle Discussion at the Tidemark Online Community (TMOC)

Engage in the WorkPuzzle discussion by joining the TMOC private social network.  Commenting on a public blog like WorkPuzzle can be a little intimidating, so why not join the discussion inside the privacy of the TMOC discussion group?  

By joining TMOC, you'll get to see who else is in the group and your comments will only be seen by those whom you trust.   Joining TMOC is quick, easy, and free (no kidding…this takes less than 2 minutes).   To get started, click here.

Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

---

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. 

You’re Talking, But What are Your Candidates Hearing?

One of the purposes of WorkPuzzle is to aggregate recruiting information and best practices from traditional recruiting industry sources.  While many of the topics that corporate recruiters and staffing companies discuss do not apply to the real estate industry, there are occasional parallels that are instructive.

Peter Weddle, an author and popular recruiting columnist, recently addressed such an issue in his bi- weekly newsletter.   The topic was telephone screening, but the application for the real estate industry has broader implications.   

We’ll discuss not only the nature of the candidate (who are you talking to?), but also the message your candidates are hearing as they progress through the recruiting process in your organization.

Nature of the Candidate.  For traditional recruiters, candidates come in two flavors—active candidates (those who need a job) and passive candidates (those who are already employed and would consider changing jobs if a better deal came along).

Depending on the nature of the candidate, the initial phone contact (often called a telephone pre-screen) is handled differently.  Peter makes the following distinction:

“Traditionally, the telephone pre-screen has primarily been used to verify the qualifications of candidates and determine if they should be invited for an on-site interview. The assumption behind this approach is that every applicant has already been sold on working for an employer.

While that may be true for active job seekers, it's not true for most passive prospects.  This difference occurs because passive prospects have a choice, and active job seekers don't.

Active job seekers are almost always unemployed, so their application for a position signals their genuine interest in it and, more often than not, their intent to accept an offer made for it. They have applied because they need the job.

Passive prospects, in contrast, are almost always employed, so they can choose to stay with their current employer or to accept any of the offers they have likely received from other employers. They have applied because they are interested, but not yet sold on the job.”

In the real estate recruiting world, there is no such thing as an active candidate. 

Whether you’re recruiting new or experienced agent candidates, they are all, by default passive candidates. 

Why?  Due to the independent contractor nature of the agent/broker relationship and the fact that your competitors are always hiring, no one “needs” a real estate agent job.  Any candidate can easily find a broker at any time with which to hang his or her license.

While this concept probably seems simple and self-evident, it’s amazing how many real estate recruiters treat prospective agents (especially new-to-real-estate candidates) as active candidates.

In the initial telephone pre-screen, they make the assumption that most candidates are unqualified and need to prove themselves worthy of evaluation by the company. There is also a secondary (more subtle) belief that most candidates don’t have other compelling employment options, so they’re considering real estate.

Peter points out that this attitude greatly hinders the recruiting process if the objective is to hire talented individuals:

“Why worry about the different responses active job seekers and passive prospects have to a telephone pre-screen? As the Golden Rule of Recruiting acknowledges: what you do to recruit passive talent will also recruit active talent, but the converse is not true.

In other words, if you configure your telephone pre-screen for active job seekers, it will work just fine for them, but will turn away many if not most passive prospects. On the other hand, if you design the pre-screen for passive prospects, it will have a positive impact on them and on active job seekers as well.”

From this discussion, there are two questions worth considering:

How does your organization treat candidates during their initial phone contact with the organization? 

If you don't know the answer to this question, find out by asking some questions of those making the calls and listening to some of those calls as a third party observer. 

Does the messaging in the telephone pre-screen (positive, passive-candidate messaging) carry over into the other part of the recruiting process (interview, post-interview, etc.)?

We’ll cover this question in Part 2 of this discussion.  As you probably guessed, starting off on the right foot is an important part of connecting with talented individuals, but communicating consistently also plays an important part in shaping the candidate’s perspective. 

 

---

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. 

The Perfect Conference

Earlier this week, Dave wrote an insightful blog on how to improve your presentation skills.   There were several great tips that would help even the most experienced presenter to make improvements. 

But, what if you do find yourself attending more presentations than you do actually giving them? It may surprise you, but there are best practices for getting the most out of situations where you’re on the receiving end of presentations.

For an owner or hiring manager, many of these receiving opportunities come at conferences.  The real estate industry is not alone in its affinity from getting together under the auspices of the professional conference.  

Besides being fun to attend, the sharing of information and the face-to-face networking has numerous benefits.   There is no doubt conferences will continue to be an important business tool in years to come.

The downside of professional conferences is they often cost thousands of dollars to attend, and they are not of equal benefit to everyone attending.  This is why a recent article by Siraj Datoo and Gideon Lichfield caught my eye.  The article titled The Complete Guide to Getting Your Money’s Worth Out of Conferences, was originally published on QZ.com and list 13 insights on the topic.   Here are the five I found most helpful:

 "Arrive a day early so you’re not groggy.

An extra night in a hotel might seem indulgent, but it can pay for itself in the value you get out of the event. Arrive the day before a conference starts and work from the hotel that day. When everyone else at the opening reception is haggard from their flights, you’ll be fairly relaxed and in a better state to network.

Be careful where you put your nametag.

If you hang your name badge around your neck it can be hard for people, especially casual passers-by, to see. Instead, put it as high as you can on your chest and next to the shoulder of the arm you shake hands with—so for most people, on the right lapel. That puts it directly in people’s line of sight when you greet them.

Don’t go to many talks—talk to people instead.

There’s a reason why an increasing number of conferences are happy to live-stream their talks and panels: They know that’s not what people pay for. Big-name speakers may draw the crowds, but going to talks is like visiting an aquarium. You look at the fish and they are doing their shtick and you cannot interact with them.

Instead, spend time in the hallways. It’s the chance to meet lots of people with similar interests, and that’s the only thing that makes a conference an irreplaceable experience.

Don’t be shy, and don’t hover

If someone you want to talk to is standing alone, just walk up and say hello. The nametags at conferences ‘imply a social contract’ that people are open to discussion.

If your target is talking to someone else, get into his field of vision from some distance away and walk up to him calmly but confidently, looking straight at him. He will usually become aware of your approach before you get there. You then have a window to interrupt politely, introduce yourself, and either join in or agree to talk later. There’s nothing more irritating than having a conversation with someone else hovering on the edge.

Be helpful to organizers—you never know when it’ll come in handy.

Get to know the organizers and try to help them out, says Vardi. If you’re a constructive member of the community, you may be able to suggest other people to invite—and nothing builds capital with contacts like getting them invited to a conference they want to go to."

Hopefully, these ideas will help you make the most of your next conference.  For more ideas, read the rest of the article on this topic.  If you’re becoming proficient in the use of social media, there are some new aspects to attending conferences that may prove helpful as well.

Bottom line…a little planning, purposeful effort, and attention to detail will insure you’re getting a return on your conference investment.

---

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. 

Shopping for a Broker: Are New Agents Buying What You’re Selling

Earlier this year, our company had the privilege of hiring Helen Jackson.  Helen is a very talented individual who I’ve known for many years.  She has served our community (a mid-sized suburb of Seattle) in many non-profit, education and athletic advisory roles.  She is known and admired by more people in our community than I could begin to count.

Her daughter Emily grew up playing baseball (not softball) with a couple of my sons.  I remember frequently asking my boys…"Did Emily strike you out today?" The answer was often…"Yes, she did!"  That’s a tough thing for a teenage boy to admit. Emily is now playing softball at a Division-I college in Illinois.

When Helen agreed to work with our company, I was eager to hear her perspective on our business and the role we play in the real estate industry.  Being competitive herself and working with so many high performers over the years, I suspected her insight would be helpful.

I’ve not been disappointed.  She has worked in a consulting role with one of our clients in the Midwest over the last couple of months.  As a recruiting coordinator, she works closely with both hiring managers and candidates.

Last week, she offered to record some of her thoughts on working in this new role.  Her thoughts (in this dialog) are from the candidate’s perspective, and I thought they were worth sharing.

"I've been working with Tidemark for several months as a recruiter and I am continuously surprised at how very few individuals truly understand the challenges and opportunities of becoming a real estate agent; particularly in choosing the right broker.

My mother was an agent and a broker well into her sixties and mentioned many times that it allowed her to survive as a middle-aged widow with no other form of income. As a broker, she had several agents working in her firm and she always said that making sure your agents were successful was the same as having a successful business.

But that was in the time of the real estate boom, in a small New England town where she knew most of the residents. What about today, I wondered?

Today, the real estate market seems to work like the stock market, albeit a little slower, but still driven by the economy and the whims of buyers and sellers. So, the broker an agent chooses is extremely important.

In researching what makes a great broker, I realized that the characteristics of a good broker are exactly what I would want in an agent if I were buying or selling a home.

I developed the following acronym to express those defining features:

Honesty. Tell me what I can expect financially and explain the relationship of the broker and agent in clear and concise terms.

Opportunity. What are the opportunities; how long will it take for me to realize the opportunity and where are the pitfalls?

Mentoring. What classes and training are offered. Who teaches the classes? Is there a fee?

Expenses. What are they? Do you assist in developing an expenses spreadsheet? What are the splits? Can I really make a profit? How?

Support. Are you there for me? Can I come to you for advice; encouragement? Do you reach out to me to see how I am doing?"

 

Do a quick inventory:  Do you find yourself positively addressing these issues during your interactions with candidates?  It’s important to remember that new agents are “buying” a business relationship with their broker. Helen has done a great job of identifying what many of the best buyers are seeking.

---

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. 

How to Reach the Recruiting Goal Line-Part 2

Hopefully, you had the opportunity to read Part 1 of this discussion.  I thought Dave did a great job of explaining how gaining momentum in the recruiting process requires a focus on completing small tasks over time.  If you’re not a football fan—hang in there: We’re almost done with the football analogies.

For the Seahawks, the “small task” that kept them out of the end zone (a week ago Monday) was a failure to convert on 3^rd down. 

Likewise, if you’re experiencing a lack of hires, the source of the problem is always earlier in the hiring process.  If you identify and fix the upstream problems, the hires will come.

After reading Dave’s post, I spent some time studying the source article in the Seattle Times, and I was surprised what I discovered.   There was a short quote by one of Seattle’s receivers that caught my attention:

"Every week Pete Carroll (the Seahawk’s Head Coach) asks his team a rhetorical question, in which the answer never changes.

Said receiver Sidney Rice, ‘He always asks us…what do we have to do to win in third and 10-plus? And the answer is always: Stay out of that situation.'

The Seahawks have not done a good job avoiding third-and-long situations. The Seahawks have had 29 third downs this season and 21 of them have been 3rd-and-6 or longer. Of those 21, 14 have been 3rd-and-10 or longer.

Seattle has converted on 38 percent of those third downs, which ranks 18th in the league, but it’s not a sustainable way to operate. Rice said facing 3rd-and-long allows defenses to play Seattle differently than they normally have to because the threat to run the ball is gone. "

I think there are two applications from this part of the article:

1.  Professionals use metrics.  Considering these guys are a bunch of dumb football jocks, they sure do use math a lot!  Why?  Because they’re professionals, and professionals use metrics.  You should know and track the recruiting metrics that lead to your hiring success—that’s what professionals do.

2.  Don’t do all of your recruiting on 3^rd down.   Our staff works with hundreds of real estate hiring managers in different parts of the country.  At least once a week, we hear one or more of these hiring managers try to convince themselves they don’t want to meet with “new to real estate” candidates until they are already licensed or actively enrolled in real estate school. 

In recruiting, this is equivalent to gaining no yardage on 1^st and 2^nd down and facing 3^rd down and long yardage on every interview.  At this point in the recruiting game, your competitors know exactly what you’re going to do and will easily key upon your weaknesses. 

We have one client who insists on conducting only late stage interviews.  They regularly lose 50% of their recruiting opportunities to competitors—even though they are the best company in their market.   

This happens because they wait too long to engage the candidates.  At this point in the hiring process, the candidates have no relationship with the hiring manager.  They are very susceptible to being fooled by lower splits, accepting gimmicky promotions, and believing promises that will never be kept.

In contrast, we regularly see clients who engage candidates early in the process that have “lost to competitor” rates of 10% or less.  Why?  The candidates tend to sign with the person they trust.   When objections are raised late in the hiring process, they can be thoughtfully discussed and handled with the candidate’s best interest in mind. 

Getting the hire under these conditions is often a small nudge at the end of the process instead of lobbing a pass into a crowded group of competitors and hoping for the best.

How did the Seahawks do last Sunday?  They had a huge come-from-behind win in overtime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  While there were definitely some miraculous plays that helped them win, there was a small stat buried in the box score that many people will overlook:

"The Seahawks converted eight of 12 third-down situations, for a season-high percentage (.667), including their final six. The Seahawks finished with 415 yards, their third-highest total of the season. Their 26 first downs were the second-highest total."

The Seahawks learned their lesson and put themselves in a position to win.  Hopefully, you will do the same.

---

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.