Talent Search in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

Talent in commercial real estate can be a number of things depending on the job specification, the local area, and the property type.  The point is that you must hire people with ‘talent’ or ‘potential talent’ if you want a better brokerage and market share.

When you are employing people for real estate roles in sales, leasing, or property management, choose those people that match the demands of the role.  Don’t employ someone that ‘thinks’ that they can do the work or is untested without applying a probation period.  Employing the wrong person can waste a lot of time and money.

Real ‘talent’ in our industry will be specific to the role required and the person, but they generally have a set of ‘common denominators’.  Here are some of those:

• An ability to self-motivate under pressure
• Real knowledge of the property type and the area locally
• A willingness to learn new things and systems in real estate
• Advanced communication and negotiation skills across all parts of the industry
• Awareness of property strategies that apply in sales, leasing, and property management
• Knows how to seek out new business and clients quickly and effectively
• The ability to set personal goals and to then take steps to move towards them
• A track record of achievement in the industry
• A client base that is deep and proven for the local area
• Someone that is personally committed to growing their business and can prove to you that they have a system to do so

Can you find a person with all of these ‘traits’?  Yes they are out there; but they do take some finding.  Question the candidates ‘track record’ in the industry and get some facts about their client base.  Both issues will be important to the future of the role.  Understand just where they have been and the achievements reached in doing so.

There are people that have some of these elements of ‘talent’, and a willingness to learn the rest.  That’s where the full review process comes into importance and relevance.  Through the job interview process understand just who you have before you and what they can bring to you.  Skills, knowledge, and market experience all have value to the employment selection process.  Make sure the person can prove that they are willing to learn and get evidence of how they have done that in other roles or brokerages.

As a final note here it is worth understanding that it takes a couple of interviews to really review a person considered for a sales position in commercial real estate.  In the last interview you can ask them to do a presentation on ‘why they should be the best person for the role’.  Don’t rush your choice or decision.  Consider all the facts before you before accepting the candidate into your commercial real estate brokerage.

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