Rethink recruitment with retention in mind

Recruitment should be about far more than just placing someone in the right role, one specialist in the field has advised real estate agencies.

According to Zoe Tink, managing director of The Recruitment Partners, if you’re not thinking about retention as part of your recruitment strategy, then you’re selling your business short.

“Sometimes the best form of recruitment is keeping your team happy, so you don’t need to recruit,” Ms Tink advised.

She believes that a good hiring strategy includes looking at ways that both you and your employee can make alterations to ensure each and every worker is in the right role for them.

“In a shifting market leaders need to ensure they are providing an environment that lays the foundation for success and growth, while also having the flexibility to revisit systems and policies if needed,” she said.

Recruitment, in her view, does not stop when the contract is signed.

“It’s about ensuring a successful partnership between employer and employee and constantly reevaluating your systems and expectations”.

How can you ensure you have the right environment to retain staff and keep the team positive? Ms Tink suggested four tips to help agencies refocus their emphasis on retention.

1) Be prepared to change: Look over all of your current weekly schedules, KPIs and financial targets frequently, Ms Tink advised.

“We need to accept change in a changing market,” she reminded.

For real estate agents, she noted that factors outside of their control might also dictate the need to change.

“Your direction should be changing just as often as the current housing market is, this could be daily, weekly or monthly,” she said.

2) Review: Change in itself doesn’t necessarily produce results; it’s learning from the new processes you’ve implemented that will help you home in on the right strategy for the right moment.

“If your targets have been changed from 100 calls per day to 150 and the results are the same, review and alter again,” Ms Tink said.

“In order to make the right changes, you need to understand that the change is not an automatic fix. You took the first step of making the changes, you need to check in and alter as you go, learn your market, what is working, what is not working, make alterations and go again.”

3) Lead with confidence: When people are concerned or scared, this affects their work and general performance.

“A principal’s role is to keep your team on track and let them know they have someone to lean on and look to for support,” Ms Tink reminded.

When your team comes to you for support, it’s important that you reinforce their confidence, Ms Tink advised. But she noted that it would be a hard sell if you yourself aren’t projecting that certainty and stability.

“All of this process is a domino effect,” the recruiter reminded.

4) Prioritise mental health: “In order to be the best version of yourself, your mental health needs to be at the forefront of your day,” Ms Tink said.

“This [will have] a ripple effect within your team.

A great strategy to assist your team around their wellbeing and mental health is to simply ask them, ‘what can we do to help you?’

Get the whole team involved, suggest ideas to your staff and colleagues and write down three group activities you can do once a week to help each other through these challenging times.”

But remember that you can’t force it.

Make sure you let your team decide on what would be most helpful for them. Encourage conversation so that your workplace feels supportive and one where colleagues can talk to each other.

This article first appeared in REB

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