Becoming a real estate recruiter can be a daunting prospect. It’s already quite challenging trying to find worthy candidates for positions in most other sectors, and it’s certainly going to be more difficult recruiting in an industry whose professionals pride themselves on their remarkable selling skills. There’s a saying that goes “don’t BS a BS’er,” and this is certainly applicable to recruiters who are attempting win over seasoned real estate agents with selling abilities that are second to none.
If you really want to be a real estate recruiter, you have to be properly prepared for the challenges ahead. To this end, we have compiled a shortlist of important things you should know about once you decide to work in this industry.
You Need to Decide What Type of Recruiter You Want to Be
If you want a real estate recruiter, desiring to become one is not enough. You have to go more granular by also deciding what type of real estate recruiter you want to be. Perhaps, you simply want to become something like an agent recruiter, wherein you hang your license with a brokerage and then earn a bonus, commission, or profit share of some sort by urging other licensed agents to also work for that firm. You might not earn the bulk of your income this way, but the bonuses are great to have on top of the money you make from your real estate sales.
Alternatively, you may want to become a team recruiter, which involves working in a small team within a larger parent broker. This is the group for which all your recruiting efforts will be concentrated, which means you’ll be working mostly to help this small team grow under the guidance of a top-performing agent, who’s likely running their own show within the firm. Team recruiters typically take in inexperienced licensees, who are often more than grateful for the opportunity to learn and develop their sales skills.
Finally, you also have the option of becoming a brokerage recruiter, which is likely the most lucrative but also the most challenging type of recruitment position you can take on in this industry. At a brokerage level, you will most likely canvass entire metropolitan areas or even states just to find the best-performing agents. It’s going to be quite demanding, no doubt, but you are certain to be rewarded most generously whenever you successfully bring such high-powered individuals into the fold.
You Have to Customize Your Recruitment to Match the Needs and Desires of Agents
Newly licensed agents who are looking for their first working opportunity and old hands who know every rule in the book will each have a different set of expectations from a recruiting firm. As a real estate recruiter, it is your job to customize your pitch in order to highlight the different elements of your business that will make the most sense to each candidate.
For example, while it is probably most appropriate to highlight growth and mentorship opportunities to newly minted agents, seasoned real estate agents are more likely to consider the kind of compensation they’ll be offered, as well as the tools and resources that your brokerage can make available to them to help them perform at their absolute best. As such, it is important to develop real estate recruiting scripts that are tailored exactly to the needs and desires of your prospective agents.
You Need to Leverage Technology When Recruiting
In this day and age, you simply can’t set aside technology and expect excellent results when it comes to recruiting real estate agents. Software solutions make it so much easier for real estate brokers to recruit, onboard, and retain real estate agents since they integrate a whole host of tools that recruiters can use to optimize conversions.
From email automation, campaign templates, and lead data importation all the way to lead segmentation, automated social media profile lookups, and concierge coaching, these technological solutions can simplify a usually long and complicated recruitment process.
You Need to Bring Your Brand Value and Culture to the Forefront
When recruiting agents, it’s important not just to highlight the kind of compensation, non-monetary perks, and resources that your prospective agents will be able to receive and take advantage of. It’s also critical to showcase your brand value and your company culture to underscore what really sets your brokerage apart and what makes you the perfect choice for the type of people that you want to be part of your team.
If you’re proud of the kind of camaraderie and rapport that your agents have in your brokerage, for example, it’s recommended that you put them on full display instead of keeping them hidden. Consider setting up a company blog or social media page where you can offer the real estate community a glimpse of what things are like in your brokerage. Here you can publish content about company happenings, employee milestones, and other such things that highlight the positive aspects of working for your brokerage.
A good rule of thumb to follow when recruiting real estate agents is to reach out to them the way you would want to be approached yourself. By knowing who your target prospects really are, leveraging the right tools and technology, and properly selling your brand value to each candidate, you’ll have a better chance of winning over the best agents to your brokerage.